Pet parade is here to stay – staaaay (good dog)

December 20, 2021
A dog wearing a reindeer onesie
This reindeer was nice enough to join in on the festivities on Friday. Photos by Carter Coyle

Lacie Dalpee is just like anybody you’d meet at a Christmas party. 

Enjoys mingling with other partygoers. Dresses for the occasion, in her reindeer onesie and antler headband. Seems to really be enjoying the holiday treats she just found on the floor. And now she’s … wait, is she cleaning herself with her tongue?

Hang on a second. 

Ah, that’s right. Lacie is a therapy dog – a beautiful cinnamon-colored Hungarian vizsla, to be exact. And in fairness to Lacie, her plus-one, Ruth Dalpee, is doing all the same things she is. Except cleaning herself. And eating off the floor. OK, so they’re just dressed the same, but the point is they make for a smile-inducing duo as they walk the floors of MUSC Health’s Institute of Psychiatry. 

This is a sneak peek inside the annual Therapy Dog Howliday Parade, where dozens of furry pooches visit patients, families and staff in all the different areas of MUSC’s downtown campus. On Friday, canines in festive costumes – there’s one in jingle bells, one wrapped as a present, even one sporting an ugly Christmas sweater that says, “Bah Humpbug” – visited patients throughout the teaching hospital’s downtown campus, from University Hospital to Hollings Cancer Center.

Two nurses posing with a reddish-colored Labrador 
MUSC Health nurses Palmer Huff and Annelise Kauffman take a moment to love on one of the furry parade members.

On this unseasonably warm December afternoon, Lacie is joined by nearly 25 other pups and owners for the event that brings just a little extra holiday cheer to anybody who intersects with it. Patients. Patients’ families. And of course, the nurses absolutely lose it for the dogs. 

Ten seconds after getting off the elevator on the second floor of the Institute of Psychiatry, you can hear a nurse shriek, “Oh my gosh! Best. Day. Ever.”

“This is such a nice distraction,” a nearby patient adds. 

Dogs of all sizes, hair styles and colors visit with patients who fittingly seem to mirror their same diversity. Marcel, a 100-pound Bernese mountain dog, calmly interacts with a kid about the size of one of her chew toys. Nugget, a snorting, panting pug chills as a grown man lies down on the floor and puts his face right up to his snout. 

It’s the kind of scene that warms your heart. The kind of moment that can turn an otherwise mundane or even bad day into a good one. 

“This is the absolutely easiest way we could possibly give back,” Ruth Dalpee says. “It just makes everybody feel good.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says pets “provide invaluable health benefits to their human companions.” Studies have shown that they can lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, pain levels and most importantly, the feeling of loneliness. So, it’s no wonder that this event is a huge hit with patients, families and staff alike.

George Madlinger, who’s head is covered in electrodes, gets teary eyed when he sees Rose, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel approaching his hospital bed. Madlinger and his wife, who sadly lost their pup a few weeks ago, smiles broadly.

“He absolutely loves dogs,” his daughter Elizabeth says. 

Madlinger’s reaction is the exact reason why Cathy Bennett, Therapy Animal Program coordinator for MUSC Health, started this event a few years back.

“I adore these people and their animals,” she says. “What they do – what they bring to the table – is provide the opportunity for people to forget where they are for just a moment and have a moment of pure happiness.”

A dog wearing a bandana and antlers 
One of Santa's lesser-known reindeer, Lickem, prepares for the parade.