"Paws & Hearts"Animal Assisted Therapy

Some of our Canine Ambassadors who are at the Rainbow Bridge

2023 Corona Virus Update January 2023 For those of you who are contemplating becoming volunteers and might still be hesitant because of the virus, let me assure you that as the numbers continue to decrease, the level of care in each of the facilities has not. All visitors and volunteers must wear face masks.  All of our volunteers must show proof of vaccination upon applying to volunteer so that we have it on file.  In the last year as our number of volunteer teams have increased we've never had anyone come down with Covid from visiting a facility. If you are full-time desert resident, and have a great dog and want to give back to your community, give us a call!

Many of our long-time volunteers will recognize the name Valerie Zugates as well as her picture. Valerie had been around "Paws & Hearts" for fifteen years if not longer. Valerie did our books, she maintained our website and our mailing list. She was the one who saw your volunteer reports first before I ever got them. I can’t tell you how many times she’d send me a little note along with the weekly reports saying, “The report from Buddy brought tears to my eyes. Be sure to read it!”
	Valerie passed away the first week of January of this year after a long, second battle with cancer. Out of respect for her husband Tim, I won’t share more than that. Valerie played such an important role in helping to establish us all those years ago. When a big grant or a major donation was received she’d always give me advice how to best invest it. She attended all of our board meetings even before she was on the board. Many of you who have attended our Dog Walks over the years will know her from interacting with her at registration. Valerie was incredibly good to me for so many years. She just dropped out of the sky one day and called when she heard through someone else that I needed a bookkeeper. Most of her work for us was as a donation of her time. Talk about someone who believed in our mission statement and wanted to help!
“Valerie it isn’t the same in the office at month-end without you coming in, doing the books and having our tuna fish/egg salads salads and blueberry muffins and coffee.” Rest in peace dear girl, you are out of pain and you will never be forgotten.

"Paws & Hearts" Animal Assisted Therapy is a Pet Therapy Visitation Organization, which was founded in December, 2000 by Richard and "Lucky" Waxman. We are a registered Not-For-Profit (501 C3) community based volunteer group.

We are located in Palm Desert, CA and serve the entire Coachella Valley with our trained Canine Ambassadors and their human handlers. Seven days of the week, our 45 plus teams make weekly visits to area hospitals, long-term care facilities, Cancer Centers, Alzheimer's Facilities and senior centers. Our 2-legged and 4-legged teams visit with the residents and patients in these facilities, lifting spirits by providing some much needed canine therapy. Our mission statement is quite simple:

(Click Above Button to Read the Current Newsletter)

Just imagine being laid up in a hospital or convalescent center and into your room strolls a four-legged Canine Ambassador from "Paws & Hearts" Animal Assisted Therapy. The greater presence of animals in health-care settings comes amid increasing evidence that pets are good for us and can play a significant role in patients' recovery. Referred to as "Pet Therapy" or "Animal Assisted Therapy", pet visitations have become an important tool for doctors and rehabilitation specialists.

Animals motivate people to participate in their therapies, brighten patients' days, give them a chance to talk about the animals in their lives, and give them the opportunity to forget they're in a hospital. Clinical studies have already shown that petting a dog or a cat lowers blood pressure, and has an overall calming effect on patients. But just as important as the clinical benefits, visiting pets give the patients a real breather from their current situation.

Many of the patients visited are withdrawn and in pain, but bring a friendly dog or purring cat into the room and 99% of the time the patient will respond favorably. The visiting pet brings a change of pace to the day that has long lasting effects. Consider this story;

Much has been written lately about the difference between dogs used for Pet Therapy and Service Dogs. Both titles have distinct differences both in the training and what the dog ultimately is used for. At "Paws & Hearts" Animal Assisted Therapy we only train dogs for use in health-care settings and they have the classification of Therapy Dog, or as we term them, Canine Ambassador.

Every Pet Therapy organization has its own standard of temperament testing, training and ultimate certification. At "Paws & Hearts" we require dogs to be:

a minimum of a one year old
spayed or neutered
current on all vaccinations

And that's it! We do not require basic obedience class or the Canine Good Citizenship award. Our evaluator is looking for dogs that are incredibly friendly, outgoing, curious about new surroundings, who interacts exceedingly well with strangers on a first time meet and greet. If a dog is good at this, and takes simple commands from its human parent it will pretty much pass the test and be ready for training.

"Paws & Hearts" Animal Assisted Therapy is a 501c3 Non Profit Animal Assisted Therapy Organization located in Palm Desert, California. Volunteer handlers and their Canine Ambassadors visit their assigned facility once per week. Please consider becoming a Volunteer Team with our organization. Please enjoy our site and email us at with your questions.

Now that you have read through the Home page and understand what it is we are looking for in a potential Canine Ambassador, please give our office a call at (760) 836-1406 to have your first informal interview. If the phone interview goes well, you will be invited to complete the formal Volunteer Application. Please keep in mind, that we are located in a seasonal area. The desert is home to many 'winter snow-birds'. We only accept full-time desert dwellers who are able to make an initial commitment of one-year, visiting their assigned facility each and every week.

Richard and his mascot dog, Terry, look forward to hearing from you!

Click on the above box to watch the documentary

"Paws & Hearts" Animal Assisted Therapy
The Berger Foundation Building
42-600 Cook Street, Suite 138, Palm Desert, CA 92211
Phone (760) 836-1406