While some dogs understand orders such as "sit" and "speak," OHSU's new therapy dog responds to a different command: snuggle.

"Our children can't often get out of the bed to pet her or get close enough to pet her so she's been trained to jump on to the bed," said Sandra Westfall, Hope's handler and manager of the Child Life Program at Oregon Health Science University's Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

"We give the command to 'snuggle' and she'll kinda get real close to the patient and her head is up by their arms and they can pet her," Westfall said. "She kind of snuggles in there and sleeps while they are petting her and they get relaxed as well."

Not just any dog can provide therapy at a hospital, because of the stress of being in "a hospital environment for 40 hours a week or more," said Mo Mauer, Hope's trainer and the co-founder of Assistance Dogs of Hawaii, where Hope came from.

But Hope, a 2-year-old English Cream Golden Retriever, can handle it. That's why she was matched with Westfall to be the first full-time permanent therapy dog at OHSU Doernbecher.

The pup's calm demeanor was evident immediately Tuesday, even when surrounded by a room full of photographers and journalists waiting to meet her.

After the group entered Hope, who was lying down next to a patient, and walked around the room to sniff the visitors out. Everyone seemed OK, so Hope went back to the side of 7-year-old Jackson, who suffers from severe epilepsy and was all smiles as he gently pet her.

Watch the video above to see Hope in action and hear more about how she is already improving patient care at her new OHSU home.

-- Jessica Greif

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