Happy Feet Inspired Dog Names

Sven, a facility dog that works at the Children’s Hospital and Medical center in Omaha, Nebraska, was one of a litter of seven pups that were raised by Canine Assistants, a Georgia-based non-profit group which both trains canines for the purpose of becoming therapy, facility, or service dogs. He and his brothers and sisters, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Christoph, Arindale, and Hans, began their training and preparations at the tender age of four days old. Staffers handle the puppies frequently, talking to them and touching them, particularly sensitive areas like the paws. As soon as they were ready, the pups ventured forth into public places, becoming socialized to a number of different situations. Those pups that enjoyed the hustle and bustle and remained friendly were deemed suitable for the type of work Sven does, a facility dog that spends several hours a day catering to the needs of the patients specifically at the Omaha hospital. He spent the first twenty months of his life preparing for his job by visiting four different children’s hospitals, getting used to the sounds of the equipment and learning how to conduct himself in a hospital, learning details like where to be out of the way in a crowded elevator and when to offer extra love and affection, and started his job as an official facility job in November of 2016. 

While a facility dog like Sven provides many of the same services as a therapy dog, comfort and unconditional love for people who are confined to the hospital during treatment, they also provide additional services such as encouraging recovering patients to walk and lying across the legs of children to steady and calm them during certain procedures like getting feeding tubes put in. Sven is even trained to demonstrate how the CT machine works by climbing on the bed of the machine and lying still with his handler, Britta Carr, standing close by. His work is so helpful that the hospital retained a second dog to help him out, a prospect that has everyone excited, including Sven himself. On November 7^th he helped to reveal the gender of his new co-worker by devouring a specially made canine cake. He was recorded for the Children’s Hospital’s Facebook page, eagerly performing his duty and revealing the pink interior with his first bite. A few days later it was revealed that his new canine co-worker Sansa, a cream-colored Goldendoodle that was also trained by Canine Assistants, would be joining him on November 12^th of 2018, accompanied by her handler Debbie, a certified Child Life Specialist.