Mike and Kenny Quinn pose for a portrait inside Medicine Hat Regional Hospital during one of their visits as a therapy dog and handler.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
Medicine Hat’s own Kenzy the Collie is in the running for the title of 2024 Pet Partners Pet of the Year.
Kenzy, a rough collie and a therapy dog, is part of the Pet Partners program, which helps assess and train both handlers and their animal partners to bring joy to their fellow Medicine Hat residents who may need it. She, alongside her owner and handler Mike Quinn, are a common sight at hospitals and seniors’ centres.
Quinn is very involved with the local Pet Partners members, which started to come together when the Gas City Dog Club began looking for an organization to train and assess therapy animals roughly six years ago.
“Today, for example, we were up on this in the pediatric ward. And we dropped into another ward just for the staff, because the staff love her and can need the joy, too,” said Quinn.
Often when visiting, Kenzy will visit and spend time with only a few patients, but can end up seeing many at the same time, such as during her visits with psychiatric patients.
“She always knows where she’s needed most,” said Quinn. “A short while ago, a friend lost his dog very traumatically, and he’s been suffering over it. He came in to do an activity at the dog club, and I wasn’t really reading her; I kept asking if she needed outside, or if she needed water. But all she wanted to do was lay at his feet.”
Monetarily, Quinn doesn’t get anything from the visitations he does, but does it solely for the smiles Kenzy brings to the patients in the hospital, or the seniors at the Veiner Centre when they visit there.
“I have been communicating with the Medicine Hat College,” said Quinn. “After all, I graduated from university in 1974. But I remember this guess, exams and stress, I would have loved to have a dog come in and visit.”
Quinn said he didn’t initially intend to run for Pet of the Year, but was rather nominated by someone else in the community to take part in the competition. He says with everything going on, he’s been busy, but hopes to be able to raise funds for Pet Partners and take home the title this year.
All of the funds from the competition go toward the continued operation of Pet Partners, which funds trainers and assessors throughout Canada and the U.S. Pet Partners is mostly run by volunteers, but does have a small staff, and producing materials such as the training guides and manuals does incur operating costs, said Quinn.
The title of Pet of the Year goes to whichever pet can fundraise the most over a six-week period, said Quinn.
Those interested in supporting Kenzy’s race for the win can donate at p2p.onecause.com/pppetoftheyear/team/kenzy-quinn.
