Support dog lending a much needed paw at the Stollery Children’s Hospital

Pumbaa, Canada's first child life specialist facility dog, is now on staff at the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton.

A four-legged friend has become a vital member of the team working at the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.

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Pumbaa is a two-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, and as an accredited facility dog, he has been providing comfort and support to the children and families staying at the hospital since June.

“He’s just the most chill lab I’ve ever met,” Angela Mark, Pumbaa’s primary handler and a child life specialist at the hospital, said. “He just has a calming nature about him.”

Mark said multiple dogs were brought to the hospital and tested by Dogs With Wings, for close to six months, before Pumbaa was chosen as the best fit for the busy, clinical environment.

From walking alongside patients, to laying at a child’s bedside, or lending a gentle paw, she said Pumbaa’s ability to “provide that safety and comfort to children in a really unfamiliar, scary environment is amazing.”

“He loves to cuddle and snuggle, and that’s his favourite thing to do with kids, is snuggle on their beds with them,” Mark said.

Mathew Davis said his four-year-old son, Jake, has been staying at the Stollery since mid-August as he recovers from surgery and his battle with liver cancer.

“We’ve went through a lot with our son. He’s had a very traumatic journey and Pumbaa has been through that journey, or the start of that journey, from day one,” Davis told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday while Pumbaa laid next to him.

Davis said Jake was diagnosed as an infant with an “extremely rare genetic condition” called ERCC1 deficiency, which means his body cannot repair its DNA, making a liver transplant needed.

He said the yellow lab has been “invaluable” to their family, recounting one instance where his son awoke from a medically induced coma and said he knew Pumbaa was there beside him when he was unconscious.

“Now that he’s in his recovery stage, he still talks about actually recognizing that Pumbaa was there,” Davis said, adding that it’s a “very long, long journey” for families who are in the hospital 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week.

When Pumbaa is not around for visits with the children and families at the hospital, a letter from Pumbaa is sent to the kids to read. It’s something that lifted Jake’s spirit, too.

“He loves Pumbaa. He lights up,” Davis said. “Having the ability to have an animal like that take some of the trauma away and have some light at the end of the tunnel, or a smile on a day that would typically be full of tears … is invaluable.”

Mark said she is proud that she and Pumbaa have had a hand and paw in helping Jake and his family during their hospital stay.

“(Jake) is an active, vibrant four-year-old who’s gone through a really hard time, but I feel honoured that we were able to be a part of his journey (and) to help him walk out of these doors of the hospital and be able to play and have fun like other kids,” she said.

When Pumbaa isn’t at work at the hospital, he goes home with Mark.

“As soon as that vest comes off, he’s just like any other regular dog,” Mark said, adding Pumbaa even has a bed in her office to sleep and “decompress.”

Piera Angotti with Dogs With Wings, the charitable organization that matched Pumbaa to the Stollery, said facility dogs will typically retire from their support role at eight to 10 years-old.

“They have a hard job, and it can be emotionally challenging for the dogs to do this type of work, too,” Angotti said.

But she said the efforts of their organization – which “takes a village” of volunteers, raisers, trainers, staff and donors – is worth it.

“It gives me goosebumps knowing that he’s doing what he truly was meant to be doing,” Angotti said.

According to a statement from Alberta Health Services on Thursday, Pumbaa is the “first dedicated Child Life Services team facility dog in Canada” and the specialized program is funded by the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and its donors – from dog food, supplies and veterinary bills.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson