Community Pet Partners Program

What is the essence of this program? Sharing Pet Partners with the community rather than only one facility. It is about a community group of dogs and their owners available to bring smiles, hope and fun to patient and residents. Lastly, this program is about having dogs and their owners licensed to ensure the dogs enjoy interacting with people, to make certain the dog owners are educated and will enjoy working with health care patients, and to maximize safety for all involved.

Research Program

Why do dogs help people get well? The Upper Michigan Dog Therapy Partnership is helping find the answer. In cooperation with Northern Michigan University, the Partnership is providing Pet Partners to graduate students in the Department of Speech and Hearing who are studying the effectiveness and efficiency of animal assisted therapy.

A highlight of our cooperative efforts took place in March 2000. Research conducted by a student demonstrated Pet Partners were able to facilitate increased communication from a young patient suffering from expressive language delay.

“And the winner of the Outstanding Student Research Poster Session Award is Ms. Simmi Mosier,” was the last thing Simmi had on her mind as she was rewarded for her research efforts at the Michigan Speech and Hearing Conference, held in March. Simmi, who has now officially graduated from NMU said, “ I can’t thank the Upper Michigan Dog Therapy Partnership’s Margo and Mocha, and Judy and Steele enough. I could have never done this research with out their help.”

If you would like more information about our research endeavors, would like to participate with your Pet Partner, or would be interested in performing research using resources from the Upper Michigan Dog Therapy Partnership, please contact us by .

Sharon Morcom and Murphy


Janice Flemming and Jace


Rhonda Hoover and Zac