10/19/2026
🐾💙 Sometimes, the smallest moments can make the biggest difference.
Janet Nash and her therapy dogs are bringing comfort, connection and plenty of smiles to patients, families and staff at Covenant HealthCare. What started as a way to bring joy to her own parents has grown into a meaningful volunteer program that continues to touch so many lives.
We’re grateful for Janet, her pups and the unconditional love they share with our Covenant community. 🐶❤️
Read Janet’s story and learn more about the power of therapy dogs and volunteering at Covenant.
“The year after I retired from Saginaw Public Schools, I started volunteering with my dogs at the assisted living facility where my parents were, bringing the dogs to visit with them and the other residents there. It was there I saw the power of what dogs could do for people. My parents weren’t wanting to get out much, but when I’d bring the dogs in, they liked to pet them and go for walks with them around the campus. My mother would say, ‘Jan, you’ve got to go down the hall and go see Arlene! I promised her the dogs would visit today.’ Or, ‘Go see Charlie over there, he wants to see Samson today.’ Sometimes half my time was spent with people other than my parents because they were sending me all over to visit the other residents.
I saw the impact that the dogs had. They really made people smile. People talked about their pets with me and how much they missed them. They had a chance to bond with an animal again, and they looked forward to us coming every day. And it was fun for me, too—I never had a bad day doing it.
With dogs, it’s unconditional love. There’s no judgment. They don’t care how healthy or sick you are. They don’t care what you’re dressed like. They don’t care whether you’re old or young or active or not. They love to cuddle. That’s why I like the breed that I work with, because they’re really pettable dogs. My Biewer Terrier, Moon Pie, is soft and cottony-coated, and my Bernese guys are long and silky. People just love to get their hands on them and hug them. When we go to the libraries, kids will use the dogs as pillows while they read books to them. When we visit the HealthSource Children’s Psychiatric Unit, many of the kids there have dogs at home, and they’ll get right down on the floor and hug them and play. It’s a break from what they’re doing every day while they’re there, and it’s filled with love.
After my parents passed, I contacted Sarah Knochel, the volunteer manager at Covenant, because I missed the work. I missed bringing the dogs in and making people happier, so I asked her if they had a dog therapy program here at the hospital. They didn’t, but she said that she’d love to start one. We worked together to get the program started with my first boy, Samson. Samson was five years old at the time when we started here with him, and I’ve been bringing my dogs to Covenant to visit patients and staff ever since.
I’ve also helped the school district to gain five therapy dogs for their in-school programs by helping to train teachers to bring their dogs to school, and it’s worked well where we have people on staff that are doing it.
We’re certified through Paws for Friendship Incorporated, which is an organization that’s been around for over 30 years. Physiologically, science has proven that a therapy dog, or a dog acting as a companion dog to someone, can lower their anxiety and blood pressure, while increasing their endorphins and dopamine. I’ve talked to students who have been in the program at HealthSource and have not spoken to anyone since they came in, and when my dogs come in, they start talking. Or we visited a young man that had cerebral palsy, and he was nonverbal, but the smile on his face said everything we needed to know. It’s such a dynamic thing to do—and the dogs love it, too. They never have a bad day, either. They get so much love.
I like to make people smile, and I love my dogs, and I like to share them. It’s just a chance to make people happy without any complicated arrangements. All I have to do is come in and say, ‘Would you like to visit with the therapy dogs?’ And if they say yes, I introduce my boys and let the boys do the work. The diversity of how people connect with animals is incredible, and I never find it boring.
I belong to a dog training club here in Saginaw, Tri-Cities Dog Training Club, and there are four or five members of our club that have certified therapy dogs through Paws for Friendship, and a couple through other organization. We’re trying to develop a local chapter here, and to prepare ourselves to be evaluators for people who want to be therapy dog handlers.
I would encourage anyone to become a volunteer at Covenant. The application for Volunteer Services is online, and you can fill that out and let them know what your area of interest is. There are baby cuddlers in the neonatal unit. There are people here who make popcorn. There are people here who help as wayfinders, help people find their way to whatever department they want to go to. Some sit at desks as greeters or work in the gift shop.
It’s a lot of fun with a flexible schedule. I can stay an hour if that’s all I have available that day, or I can stay two and a half or three hours if my dogs are up for it. I’d sign up today. As a former school administrator, I miss people. I miss kids. I miss the opportunity to interact with folks. And I love my town. I meet some of the nicest people doing this, and folks I haven’t seen in a while sometimes. The dogs make friends, and so do I.”
—Janet Nash, Covenant HealthCare Therapy Dog Program
