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DIXIE, the Therapy Dog

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Rossville, IL
DIXIE, the Therapy Dog

RETIRED FROM THERAPY DOG VISITS 12/31/2025
Dixie was certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs in 2020. I adopted her in 2016 when she was appr

03/21/2026

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01/01/2026

Dixie’s Therapy Dog days have ended! She started January 2022. Her Minnie Mouse sweater pic was the start & telling Alyssa, her rescuer at the Humane Society of Danville, that she was official!
She ended her visits with a few hours being a greeter & waiting room rounder (& kiosk napper) at Carle at the Riverfront in Danville with some of her very best friends for a Christmas week visit!
She is much greyer (as am I, LOL) & slower to move. Her estimated 10 1/2 yrs in rescue dog years is starting to show. Still excited to meet people & very excited about treats! But, not as quick to participate in those tricks that we used to entertain people over the years.
In all our visits, Dixe never barked once. I never had to remove her from anywhere. The only reason we may have left a site before I was ready was her showing fatigue or she would move behind me & not want to come forward! “Mom, I’m done! Stop talking to those humans & take me to the car!”

Dixie is a “mutt”; a multi-breed dog from a humane society. Estimated age when Jill & I adopted her was 1 year old. We don’t know what her 1st year included. Her DNA shows 50% American Staffordshire Terrier, some American Foxhound, Siberian Husky & “other breeds”. I am not a dog expert by any means, but I don’t think a breed, mixed or fullbred, will tell you all you wish you could know before bringing one home. We have had some failures 😞 & I can not say what made Dixie different for our family. Call her a mutt, a staffy, a pit, a pitbull, whatever you want, but we call her perfect.

Many people to thank for this incredible journey:

- Alyssa & the Humane Society of Danville
- Jodie Varner at Jodie Vee’s Training in Champaign. She had known Dixie for awhile & a the end of one session suggested I consider her for the Therapy Dog classes she held there. 🙂
- Natali Piper, thedogtrainer.com, truly an expert
- Carle Volunteer Services for approving Dixie as a visitor.
- Susan Julian & Jen R at Villas of Hollybrook for approving & welcoming us as a visiting Therapy team on a regular basis
- Chris E & CU Canine Connection for inviting us to participate in a wide variety of visits (& your personal support, Chris 🙂 )
- Kasey Snyder, director of Vermilion County Animal Shelter, friend, supporter.

I’m not sure another activity during retirement will top this one!

A few select pictures over the years follow:

12/24/2025

Christmas visit to Carle Danville (Carle at the Riverfront)
I brought Dixie with me during my usual volunteer shift. She sat between the check/in kiosks until we travelled up to make waitingroom rounds or to visit department staff.
She was greeted warmly!
Thanks to everyone who took time to say Hello🐾❤️
Merry Christmas 🎄

12/16/2025

Around 4 years ago, Alyssa from the Humane Society of Danville (Dixie’s savior) recommended I reach out to Susan at the Villas of Hollybrook in Danville about Dixie visiting as a therapy dog. That turned out to be a delightful relationship for us! Susan’s role transitioned to Jen who is the adorable person in this photo. We have been visiting there twice a month since then (a few misses long the way).
Every visit ended in the Memory Care Unit where most of our time was spent. I’ve shared many photos of that. My favorites were when residents would gather or when Dixie attracted them to come sit by her & I’d have her do her few simple tricks that thrilled the residents! And so many great stories of their dogs in their past 😞. It seems that all the staff are animal lovers & Dixie lit up with each smile or pet.
Today, Dixie got a gift bag, card & dog toys/treats as a farewell thank you for her being such a good girl!
Thank you to Jen & all the Activities team & every other employee, resident or relative we met along our way.

I hope y’all are available when I need you in the future! Thank you for taking care of our vulnerable elderly. You are all blessings to our community.

12/06/2025

A new program Carle is offering is called NODA, No One Dies Alone. When one of my free days concided with the opportunity to be present for someone, I received permission for Dixie to be with me.
The person we sat with was not aware of Dixie, but there was a brief response to my presence at first. I knew that Dixie’s gift would be to the staff & people we met on the way in & out. She laid on her blanket in the room and rested or slept for 2 hours.

At first, I talked quietly with our person telling her about me & Dixie. Then, I spent some time reading to her. After receiving some medicine, her sleep was heavy & peaceful, so I switched to quiet music.
I haven’t taken Dixie to Carle in quite awhile, because she is showing signs of aging; her gait is slower & occasionally a slight limp is evident. I do not want to cause her discomfort & I think the long walks do. But, this visit was so special. Lots of people asked to meet her or pet her on the way up to the room & on the way out. And she had a long nap in between!
These last 4 years or so of sharing Dixie with so many people of all ages has been a gift to me; one that I would not have dreamed of if I were not guided by two people who have dedicated their careers to the love of animals. Alyssa Julian with the Humane Society of Danville who introduced Jill & I to Dixie in 2016 & Jodi Vees with Jodie Vee’s Training who casually said to me after a session “you should look into Dixie doing Therapy Dog classes here.” And I said, “but, she’s a pitbull” & Jodie said “yes, and she’ll be a great example for the breed”! Wise women 🙂

I encourage anyone who has the desire & the time to look into Pet Therapy. The rewards cannot be put into words.

10/07/2025

Yesterday was a great day for ear rubs, head scritches & loving pets for Dixie! I hope she realized her oatmeal bath the night before was in prep for all this love💗 Our visits to the Villas of Hollybrook are always uplifting!

07/08/2025

We visited The Villas of Hollybrook in Danville for our 2x/month connection. Met several residents sitting out front in the rockers on one of our few days with temps less than 90 degrees!

In Memory Care there was a group session in progress, so we greeted our friends at the table to say quick hellos & get some pets/pats! Had to use some tricks n treats to maneuver Dixie to put her sweet head in between the chairs 😉

Then, we went to a friend’s house (not a certified visit, but she still had her vest on) where we enjoyed our Custard Cup reward!

05/10/2025

Dixie & I had to step up for Nurse’s Week! We haven’t visited Carle Hospital in awhile because the amount of walking seems to wear her out sooner than usual. I hope that is temporary! We focused on some of the branch clinics instead.

We started on Monday with our usual 2x/mo visit to the Villas of Hollybrook in Danville. Had a great visit in the memory care unit. Tried to say Thank you to as many clinical staff as we could find!

Wednesday, we visited the Rossville & Hoopeston branches of Carle. Lots of nurses & clinical staff to visit & we LOVE meeting dog lovers on our visits!

Thursday, we visited Milford & Watseka branches of Carle; we hadn’t been to either of those before. Lovely welcomes & we will need to visit again!

Friday, we had a nice long visit in the Danville Carle-on-the-Riverfront clinic! I think Dixie would be happy wandering around that clinic all day long!

Finale was a well-deserved pup cup from Custard Cup!

A huge Thank You to all nurses & clinical staff for all that you do!

03/18/2025

Dixie does not like sweaters,so we went with a shamrock scarf again this year. We were matching, but you don’t see me.LOL
Shared St Patrick’s Day with the residents at the Villas. They were set up for having a St Patty’s Day Bar Crawl an hour after our visit!
I said next year we’re going for The Crawl!

01/21/2025

Illnesses & snow kept us from our twice a month visits to the Villas in the last few weeks, but we made it there today. And we made a private visit, too!
Today was definitely Sweater Weather!

01/14/2025

Dixie and I visited a new location this week. We were asked to visit the staff at CRIS Healthy Aging in Danville. We met quite a few employees & several patrons who stopped to ask about & pet Dixie.
As is common, I forgot to take photos during our visit. Here’s Dixie in the common room, the front of the building & enjoying her reward:

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Rossville, IL
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