Hospice Therapy Dog Comforts Dying Patient in Heartwarming Video
JJ the golden retriever cares for patients who have limited visitors.
— -- Emotional video of a golden retriever comforting a patient just 24 hours before her dying day is warming hearts everywhere.
"I'm still not quite sure how it spread like wildfire, but I understand that it's so touching to people," said Tracy Calhoun, a registered nurse with Samaritan Evergreen Hospice in Albany, Oregon. "From across the world, the {social media] comments are amazing. Your stories make your life meaningful, so at the end of life, people want to share their stories -- what their animals did when their loved ones were dying.
"That's why I want to read all of them."
Calhoun told ABC News that JJ, a four-year-old golden pup, began caring for patients following the Oso landslide and the Seattle Pacific University shooting in 2014.
Three days a week, she added, JJ works with patients, including the woman who was captured in the video posted on the dog's Facebook page.
"She [the patient] didn't respond to us, but you can see her fingers move a bit on JJ," Calhoun said. "That was the only purposeful movement that we'd seen that day and she died the next day.
"After the video, that lady's hand just laid on her [JJ's] head and they slept."
The video of JJ and the woman in hospice care received upwards of 230,000 shares.
Calhoun said of all the dogs she's worked with, she believes JJ has a talent for seeking out the patients who are most in need of her love.
"I've had many therapy dogs, but she's the most intuitive," she added. "She's called 'the hugging dog.' It's very sweet."
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