2021…in many ways, was one of the most productive years ever for Shine On! Kids. All of the restrictions of Covid simply highlighted how important building resilience and providing psychological care is for EVERYONE…but yes, in particular, for our kids in hospital.
Two new Hospital Facility Dog Teams are starting work this summer thanks to Shine On! Kids’ Facility Dog Training Project launched in fiscal year 2019. This brings the total number of children’s hospitals in Japan with Facility Dogs to four.
We are so excited to announce that Ty and Masa are now starting work with their handlers in their new hospitals! Thank you to everyone who supported this 2-year journey including our many generous donors and our puppy volunteers. It takes a village to raise a Hospital Facility Dog!
This month, Shine On! Kids is filled with hope and anticipation as Ty and Masa get ready to enter the final phase of their training to become fully qualified Hospital Facility Dogs!!! We are so excited and so very, very grateful to everyone who has helped us get this far on our puppy journey!
Shine On! Kids is excited to see Ty and Masa, the first two Hospital Facility Dogs raised and trained in Japan, start working full-time this year! We hope that in spite of the challenges of Covid, the final stages of their training go smoothly so they can both start bringing peace, strength and joy to everyone they meet in the hospital.
I will leave it to others to remind you of the breadth and depth of the difference one dog made to an entire country. Bailey became a bit of a rock-star in Japan - with documentaries made about him, books written about him, appearances on the national news multiple times... but it was his gentle power of healing that inspired the song featured below.
From a physical fitness perspective, improving flexibility can both increase athletic performance and decrease risk of injury. But when we’re strong and healthy, focusing on flexibility can take a back seat to other performance-enhancing activities.
As the name implies, an interactive feeder requires action. Interactive feeders make the pet actively work for a snack by thinking and planning the pet exercises in his mind and body to obtain a portioned amount of food that he consumes more slowly.
Shine On! Kids, a Japanese government certified NPO, is launching a virtual English communications support program at Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center (KCMC).
