Hospital Facility Dog Training Program:
Meet Mana
Back in April you may recall we introduced Oli, a black Labrador Retriever (female), as one of our Hospital Facility Dogs-in-training. We are excited to share with you that she has since been joined by the adorable Mana – a mixed breed (Golden Retriever and Labrador Retriever) female pup. She was born on March 8, 2024 and is just over 5 months old. Similar to her fellow trainees, Tommy and Miko, she comes from Service Dogs Australia, which specializes in breeding working dogs. We are especially grateful to our generous donor, Daisuke Kitta and his family, for sponsoring Mana and for choosing such a perfect name for this beautiful little girl! With more puppies on the way, please get in touch if you’d like to know more about our puppy sponsorship program.
Oli hails from Assistance Dogs of Hawaii, where Bailey, Yogi, Annie, and Ivy were raised and she is currently undergoing full-scale training at the Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center. She is our most petite adult dog, which makes her particularly “cute”, and everyone who meets her quickly falls in love with her sweet personality. 
In response to the growing demand for Hospital Facility Dogs in Japan, we are importing an additional puppy this summer and aim to bring another to Japan in the fall. This year will mark three years since we started full-scale training, and we plan to train six to seven dogs, including the two candidates Tommy and Miko, who are currently in training.
Tommy and Miko are being exposed to a variety of places, people, and situations, including visiting sponsoring companies and participating in events for children and their families who have been hospitalized and are now out of hospital. To learn more about our plans for expansion, please read our recent press release.
Shine On! Connections: Live From Your Room
As part of our Shine On! Connections program, we created a concert series entitled “Live From Your Room”. The bilingual concerts, led by longtime SOK supporter Eric Jacobsen, are hosted monthly as a way to engage children but especially those who are unable to leave their hospital rooms or be exposed to other activities.
The concerts are not only entertaining but are a great way to interact with the children and get them interested in learning English. Studies show that intellectual curiosity helps to build stress-resistance and these effects can be helpful during the rehabilitation process.
We strive to bring moments of light and joy to hospital wards and we will continue to provide more opportunities for engagement especially with those patients who can have limited external interaction.
KSpace Workshop
Shine On! Kids is very grateful for its long-standing partnership with Kspace International School and the generosity of their families in the Tokyo international community. Last month, two groups of students participated in our Beads of Courage ‘Strings of Strength’ workshop held at the school. The children learned about the meaning and power of beads for very sick children in Japan, and each created 2 bracelets – one to be given to a child in hospital and one to keep for themselves to remind them of their random act of kindness in support of a child who really needs a boost of encouragement when going through a tough time. Thank you Kspace staff, kids and families!
British School in Tokyo Visit
On Wednesday, June 26, Shine On! Kids visited The British School in Tokyo and brought along Oli, our Hospital Facility Dog-in-training, to meet the students and staff. The students had been working hard to gather donations for the Hospital Facility Dog Program and we visited the school to help them learn more about how the program helps kids and families in hospital. Oli showed them a few activities that the dogs do in the hospital ward on a daily basis that are fun but also aid in the child’s rehabilitation and recovery – including placing his chin on the student’s lap, walking together with Oli on a leash, playing ring toss and hiding toys. It was a great opportunity for the students to learn about the work and role of Hospital Facility Dogs in making a difference in the treatment and recovery of sick children.
Thank you British School in Tokyo!
TOMOFUN Co. Collaboration
TOMOFUN Corporation, the developer of the Furbo pet camera, generously donated their products to our Hospital Facility Dog program. The employees recently came together to help seal translation cards for the special beads used in Beads of Courage.
Do you know what “special beads” are?
In the Beads of Courage program, there are two main types of beads. “Process Beads,” which are mostly single-colored beads that represent the record of treatment, and “Special Beads,” which represent milestones in treatment. The “Special Beads” are individually packaged and have a card on the back with the meaning of the beads written in English. We enclose the card with a Japanese translation before sending it to the hospital where it was introduced.
The volunteers also provided heartfelt message cards to be shared with the beads which will provide a great deal of encouragement for the child.
Thank you very much to TOMOFUN Corporation for your valuable time.
