--- title: "Animal-Assisted Therapy at Sutter Health" description: "Sutter’s animal-assisted therapy uses trained therapy animals to provide comfort, reduce stress, and support emotional and physical healing." url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy" --- 1. [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Services](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services) / 3. Animal-Assisted Therapy # Animal-Assisted Therapy Friendly facility dogs help bring joy and healing to patients across our hospitals. Why Choose Sutter? More than 20 years ago, Sutter pioneered the use of facility dogs for inpatient healthcare settings. Our program is now the longest running facility dog program in the U.S. The popular facility dogs take patients for walks, help with exercise, play fetch and generally improve the health and well-being of individuals in our rehabilitation departments, [Child Life program](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/child-life-program), oncology clinics and more.  We partner with Canine Companions facility dogs to assist you in both hospital and outpatient settings. These specially trained dogs perform service tasks like picking up items, opening doors and providing calming pressure by laying on your lap or body. These dogs can help enhance your therapy, reduce anxiety and aid in developing independent living skills. ## By the Numbers ### 10+ Facility Dogs are partnered with clinical employees across our hospitals. ### 10 Sutter Hospitals honored as America's best for 2024 by Healthgrades. ### 40 Cues and Commands are mastered by each Canine Companion. ### 2 Years of Training and socialization are required before Canine Companions graduate. ## Need a Referral? Chat live with our team Monday through Friday, 8:00 am — 5:00 pm, or call us at [888-834-1788](tel:+18888341788). [Request a Referral](https://www.sutterhealth.org/referrals) ## Conditions - Brain injury - Cerebrovascular accident - Spinal cord injury ## Dog-tors Celebrate 20 Years of Patient Care A dozen Canine Companions-trained facility dogs gather to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Child Life Facility Dog Program at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. 1 / 5 1 / 5 A dozen Canine Companions-trained facility dogs gather to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Child Life Facility Dog Program at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento. ![therapy-dog](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/SutterHealth/Images/lifestyle/therapy-dog.jpg?h=461&iar=0&w=758) > I was \[in the hospital\] for six months, so quite a long time, and I was young. I didn’t feel good. She \[my facility dog\] was just a really bright spot for me while I was here. Michelle Koopman - former patient ## Find a Doctor Find your Sutter Health doctor. [Find a Doctor](https://www.sutterhealth.org/find-provider-results?find-provider-results?verticalKey=healthcare_professionals) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalWebPage","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy#medicalwebpage","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy#breadcrumblist"},"name":"Animal-assisted therapy at Sutter Health","description":"Sutter’s animal-assisted therapy uses trained therapy animals to provide comfort, reduce stress, and support emotional and physical healing.","inLanguage":"en-US","medicalAudience":{"@type":"MedicalAudience","audienceType":"Patient"},"mainEntity":{"@type":"MedicalSpecialty","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy#medicalspecialty","name":"Animal-assisted therapy","alternateName":["Pet Therapy","Therapy Dog","Animal Therapy","Canine Therapy"],"url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy"},"about":[{"@type":"MedicalCondition","name":"Brain injury"},{"@type":"MedicalCondition","name":"Spinal cord injury"},{"@type":"MedicalCondition","name":"Cerebrovascular accident"}],"publisher":{"@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org"},"datePublished":"2025-03-13T14:06:16-07:00","dateModified":"2025-03-13T14:06:16-07:00"} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/animal-assisted-therapy#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Services","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/services"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Animal-Assisted Therapy"}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Facility Dogs Mark 20 Years in a Children's Hospital","thumbnailUrl":"https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/817826402001/4b8bc81d-4176-4999-84e4-283adb18ab1b/e2af29b9-ec34-4de9-90bc-30fdf8801a7e/1280x720/match/image.jpg","uploadDate":"2023-08-25T01:54:37.197Z","embedUrl":"https://players.brightcove.net/817826402001/79bcaa57-54d7-453c-9f1f-8ab3ef7b15de/index.html?videoId=6335522817112","description":"A dozen Canine Companions-trained facility dogs gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Child Life Facility Dog Program at Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento’s Children’s Center, the first such program at a pediatric hospital in the nation. ","duration":"PT2M12S"} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet Glimmer, a Sutter Health Facility Dog","thumbnailUrl":"https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/817826402001/bb00fca6-c368-4845-9ac7-b52e71598463/a0512125-12a8-4a73-9572-3df903c5d453/640x360/match/image.jpg","uploadDate":"2017-11-22T20:03:57.484Z","embedUrl":"https://players.brightcove.net/817826402001/79bcaa57-54d7-453c-9f1f-8ab3ef7b15de/index.html?videoId=5654281190001","description":"Glimmer is a Canine Companions for Independence Facility Dog at Sutter Children's Center, Sacramento. Glimmer goes on rounds with the pediatric oncology team, and helps children as they cope with their cancer treatment.","duration":"PT33S"} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet Penny, a Sutter Health Facility Dog","thumbnailUrl":"https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/817826402001/0266551b-ac30-4fd1-8132-fffa79dd4b56/b8accc53-1cd2-4c4c-bb2e-c24c90b61243/640x360/match/image.jpg","uploadDate":"2017-11-22T19:50:27.129Z","embedUrl":"https://players.brightcove.net/817826402001/79bcaa57-54d7-453c-9f1f-8ab3ef7b15de/index.html?videoId=5654286520001","description":"Meet Penny, a Canine Companions for Independence Facility Dog at Sutter Health. 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