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The Southampton children’s hospital therapy dogs

Meet our furry consultants! We are very lucky at Southampton children’s hospital to have access to a wonderful team of therapy dogs and handlers.

Our canine friends, led by volunteer Emily Lowther, are here to provide companionship and comfort to patients and staff, as well as supporting our clinical staff.

Picture shows two women and one man, with a therapy dog, outside the entrance to the children's hospital.
Paeds nurse Donna Austin, volunteer Emily Lowther, Barney the therapy dog and TV vet James Greenwood.

The benefits of Animal Assisted Therapies (AAT) have been extensively studied and it has been well documented that animals can reduce the stress of being hospital.

As well as visiting our wards for meet and greets, Barney and his team also assist with clinical work. This might be by assisting the rehabilitation team with a patients exercise programme or by visiting a patient before a procedure, to help reduce their anxiety and keep them calm.

Our therapy dogs and handlers have received extensive training and are regularly assessed by the Pets as Therapy charity.

If you are in our hospital and would like Barney or his team to visit your child, please contact the play specialist on your ward.

Picture shows Barney on a visit to a patient's bedside, supervised by volunteer, Emily Lowther.
Barney on a visit to a patient's bedside, supervised by volunteer, Emily Lowther.