Dog Medicine: How Dogs Help Us Heal
Read pet tales submitted by Substack writers Susan Hartzler and Angela Schneider, plus, a new way to fund pet care, a few days to celebrate dogs, a dog book that helps save lives.
Welcome to a new issue of PetStack, a monthly post of pet tales submitted by readers of Like People, Like Pets. PetStack illuminates our connection to the intelligence, compassion, inspiration, and love wrapped in furry packages.
Perhaps the greatest gift an animal has to offer is a permanent reminder of who we really are.” - Nick Trout
If you’ve ever had a dog rest a paw atop your leg when you were sad or a snuggle their chin under yours when the world felt too overwhelming, you already know what this month’s PetStack is about.
Pets can’t fix our lives, cure our ills, or ease our grief. But their need for routine can pull us back into ours. Their need to connect helps us feel connected. They remind us to get outside, to keep going.
In my own home, foster dogs didn’t magically heal sibling conflict, ease anxiety, or solve ADHD. But every dog offered some kind of remedy. Rascal’s ability to jump like a circus dog into waiting arms softened slammed doors. Odie’s desire to play fetch engaged even the most reticent. Crosby’s ringmaster antics brought our struggling family together to share laughter. Rescue dogs weren’t just passing through our house. They were helping shape the emotional landscape of our family.
This month I invited two writers who have witnessed the healing power of dogs to share their stories. Their experiences are different, but their understanding that animals heal us by staying, showing up, and offering steady companionship when we need it most comes from the same place.
Sometimes it’s not the medicine providing the cure but the warm body beside us that helps us heal.
Susan Hartzler’s stories capture the quiet, almost invisible moments when her dog’s presence can change the emotional temperature of a room. Her Paws on the Go: Soul Stories by Blissdog site is filled with expressive eyes and eager body language able to ignite the joy of a reader. Her depth of storytelling is the reason I asked her to contribute to this month’s PetStack. While her pets have enhanced her life, she’s been witness to the magic they cast on others.
Dogs as Medicine
“I was so nervous the first time Baldwin and I walked into County USC Hospital in Los Angeles. My sweet rescue boy was a high-energy, 30-pound mop of black curls who could play Frisbee for hours and still want more. I wondered how this exuberant, Muppet-looking dog would possibly calm himself enough to be a therapy dog. As we were escorted into the playroom, the sterile hospital smell lingered in the air, my stomach tightened. What if he got too excited? What if he bumped an IV? What if I’d misjudged everything?
Then we met Maria. She was seven years old, fresh from chemotherapy, sitting alone and impossibly fragile—more porcelain doll than child. My heart ached just looking at her. But the moment her eyes landed on Baldwin, she laughed, bright and unexpected, and the room shifted. Color returned to her cheeks as Baldwin hopped onto the couch and stretched across her lap. Maria’s small hand reached out to stroke his chin. Baldwin sighed deeply, lowered his head, and closed his eyes. As his body softened, so did hers. Her breathing slowed. Her shoulders dropped. Healing didn’t announce itself—it arrived quietly, curled up in a rescue dog. That was the moment Baldwin became more than my dog. He became my partner and my teacher. He showed me that presence can be medicine, and that love doesn’t need words.
Today, my pack, Seven and Paige Turner, do their best to fill Baldwin’s paws as therapy dogs, and in their own ways, they do. Seven carries Baldwin’s steady calm, while Paige brings a joyful, intuitive warmth that instantly puts people at ease. Every visit reminds me of that first day—that dogs don’t fix us, but they help us feel safe enough to heal. And sometimes, that’s the most powerful medicine of all.
Angela Schneider and I “met” through the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) after she required a pick up truck to haul her winnings from the DWAA 2024 writing competition. One of her submissions linked me to her Substack Cameras and Canines newsletter. I was hooked. She writes from the tender space of grief—both her own and that of the people and pets she photographs. Through her gorgeous photography, she helps turn heartbreak into healing memories.
“When Bella came into my life, my grief over Shep was still raw. Acute. The kind of grief that makes mornings feel pointless and the future feel theoretical. Some people might say it was too soon to bring another dog home. But grief doesn’t ask permission, and neither does survival.
Bella didn’t replace Shep. She gave my days a shape again. She needed walks, meals, fresh air. She needed me upright and moving through the world instead of disappearing into it. Loving her didn’t erase the loss I was carrying. Rather, it gave that loss somewhere to live while I kept going.
Dogs aren’t medicine only for grief. They steady us through anxiety, loneliness, burnout and the low-grade overwhelm of being human. They’re a sounding board without advice, a shoulder to cry on that doesn’t need to leave for work. They regulate us through presence alone, pulling us back into our bodies, into routine, touch and the living world. Dogs don’t cure what hurts; they make living with it possible. And sometimes, that’s the medicine that matters most.”
A NEW WAY TO PAY VET BILLS
Every pet parent and animal welfare advocate needs to hear about this new way of funding pet care when funds to pay for care dry up. This podcast edition of Soul Touched by Dogs with Anke Hermann features Adam Spencer and his new non-profit, Furlanthropy. It is a crowd-funding platform specifically for pet care (dogs, cats, horses, reptiles…). Becasue Furlanthropy is a non-profit, people with a need can post on their site for free. Donors can support their cause with cash AND stock, bonds, mutual funds, gifts from an IRA… Funds collected go directly to the need, ex. the veterinarian. This is game-changing for people who love their pets but have run out of funds, AND for donors who seek a safer place to share their love.
3 WAYS TO CELEBRATE DOGS
Winter may be winding down, but the options to celebrate dogs are ramping up.
February 20: National Love Your Pet Day
February 22: Walking the Dog Day
February 26: National Small Dog Day
There are more stories about dogs as medicine in Mom Loves the Dogs More: A Memoir of Family Rescue. Every purchase through this link will help save lives: a $5.00 donation will be made to Second Chance Rescue for every book sold. All the dogs in the book were rescued by Second Chance.
I bet you know a person or two who enjoys reading about people and their pets. Please share to help me grow my audience. More people means more pet stories.
I’m deeply grateful to be included in this month’s PetStack alongside Angela Schneider of Cameras & Canines. It means so much to have my BlissDog stories received with such kindness. When writing about dogs and the human-animal bond, you always hope it will resonate. Thank you for seeing the heart behind the work.
I look forward to reading your book