Dixon Soileau clocks in a one hour shift every week at critical care facilities, nursing homes, children’s hospitals and sometimes even airports to help keep patients calm and lower their heart rates.
After his shift, Dixon takes a long five-to-six-hour nap to calm down his nervous system.
Patient Poppy Winders, 4, and her mom, Ryliegh, are surrounded by visiting pets, Griffin and Dixon, in Winter’s room at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Dixon is a nine-year-old greyhound and whippet mix from New Orleans.
His owners Michael and Alison Soileau have been bringing him (and his siblings) to New Orleans area care centers for 20 years as part of the Visiting Pet Program.
“It fills our buckets as much as theirs,” Alison said.
Dixon’s brother, Griffin, is always by his side spreading joy at hospitals and homes as part of the Visiting Pet Program.
The program, created in 1987, regulates the requirements needed for pets and owners to visit Louisiana’s most vulnerable.
Visiting Pet is the only animal assisted activity and therapy program in the Greater New Orleans Area. Volunteers and their pet partners visit nursing homes, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, special facilities for children and more.
Both Alison and Michael joined the program in 2005 with their whippets Sophia and Tyler — both dogs have since passed on.
“Within six months of getting married, we got our first whippet, and within that first year, we got her in the program,” Michael said. “Then we had a second dog, Tyler. We just loved it. That was our Saturday morning dates.”
Drew Williams holds up some of the playing cards given to him and his son, Cohen, 7, that feature visiting dogs at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Saturdays are normally quiet when Michael, Alison, Dixon and Griffin visit the Ochsner Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.
Poppy Winters was a patient along the group’s parade through the hospital to lift up spirits. Winters, 4, had been in and out of the hospital since she was born at a very low birthweight.
At home, Poppy has a German Shephard, a cocker spaniel and a Catahoula-lab mix.
“She misses her pups at home, she hasn’t seen them in a month,” Ryliegh Winters, Poppy’s mother, said.
Patient Poppy Winders, 4, and her mom, Ryliegh, are surrounded by visiting pets, Griffin and Dixon, in Winter’s room at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Poppy dressed up for the visit, dazzling the pair of whippets with a Jessie the cowgirl costume from Toy Story. Dixon and Griffin were impressed.
Dixon even compared tattoos. Dixon had an ID number under his ear from his years training as a racing dog (Dixon never made headway in the races), and Poppy’s father had Poppy’s birthday tattooed on his leg.
“They’re so gentle,” Poppy said of Dixon and Griffin.
That gentleness takes a lot of training, according to Alison and Michael.
What it takes
Each animal and handler must meet a certain level of requirements before becoming a therapist dog.
Cohen Williams, 7, gets a warm visit from Griffin as part of a visiting pets program at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
The animal and owner are evaluated every six months for temperament, stamina and social behavior, according to the Visiting Pet Program.
As owners, Michael and Alison have learned to be respectful and watchful of the patients and people they encounter.
Older patients need to interact with a steady and still animal as to not make them off balance, children tend to tug on ears and be intimidated by larger breeds and nurses and practitioners want big long hugs from the animals.
All of these quirks and potential disturbances to the dog or animal are temperament tested during a biannual evaluation.
Emily Leonor, 8, gives a hug to Dixon as he visits her in her room at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
“I’ve learned to watch people’s faces and how they are engaging with the dog. Sometimes parents are petrified of dogs,” Michael said. “If anyone doesn’t look comfortable, we don’t push it.”
Emily Leonor, an eight-year-old who is into magic as of late, was also visited by Dixon and Griffin.
“She’s back to her old self,” said Grace Hill, a specialist at the hospital. “I know that means so much.”
Hill is a child life assistant specialist at Ochsner Health and often guides the therapy dogs into hospital rooms on their visits. According to Hill, even five or ten minutes with an animal can make a difference.
It’s not just patients that need a bit of pet therapy. Dixon and Griffin were able to visit hospitals during the pandemic and bring comfort and much needed love to nurses, doctors and practitioners working during COVID.
“There were pictures of nurses falling to the floor for him and crying,” Allison said. “It was a much-needed serotonin rush for them.”
Patient Poppy Winders, 4, and her mom, Ryliegh, are surrounded by visiting pets, Griffin and Dixon, in Winter’s room at Ochsner Medical Center on Jefferson Avenue on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
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