Dr. Dog is an animal-assisted therapy program founded by Jill Robinson, MBE of Animals Asia Foundation, based in Hong Kong.

In 1991, Jill Robinson came up with the idea of bringing dogs to hospitals, orphanages, schools for special children, as a way to show, concretely, how animals can benefit humans. In turns, this interaction would also foster respect for dogs and other animals, and encourage people to be kind to them.

In the Philippines, PAWS is the coordinator and implementing arm of the Dr. Dog program. With Pakko, an extremely gentle German shepherd, and a Dalmatian named Freckles, PAWS visited facilities like the "Tahanan Walang Hagdanan" (House without Stairs) - a home for disabled children and adults and the HOPE School for Special Children.

Initially, the novelty of the program arouses skepticism from many potential facilities. Dr. Dog Philippines was confined mostly to school visits, as hospital management wasn't completely sold to the idea of having animals in a supposedly sterilized environment. With the help of media and publicity created by Pakko's appearance in a local children's show, which help won for that show, the 1998 Best Pre-School TV Program award, it wasn't long before these charming dogs were finally welcomed to such institutions as White Cross Children's Home, and very recently, a real hospital - the Philippine Children's Medical Center. The kids love them so much that their doctors want the dogs to come on a regular basis.



After nearly half a decade of selling the idea, the Dr. Dogs of the Philippines were finally given the chance to realize their full potentials as therapy animals.