Teton followed the directions perfectly.<\/p>\n
When told to \u201cplace,\u201d he sidled up to a woman sitting on a chair and plopped down between her feet. When told to \u201cgo lap,\u201d he placed his front paws on her legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of his favorites,\u201d said Allison Stolz, his handler. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t need much motivation for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next was \u201cvisit.\u201d Teton responded to the command by placing his head on the woman\u2019s lap. He helped her practice balance when she was standing; he picked up a dropped towel.<\/p>\n
![\"Teton,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/REG-L-TherapyDog1056.jpg\")
Teton, a new therapy dog, places his head in the lap of handler and physical therapy assistant Heather Soto at the Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing, 2802 Papermill Road, Spring Township, on Thursday, July 7, 2026. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
After each task, Teton looked lovingly and expectantly at Stolz. And she responded by reaching into a black bag hanging from her waist and pulling out a piece or two of kibble.<\/p>\n
The tricks weren\u2019t too complicated but were performed with precision by Teton. He took them seriously, clearly wanting to perform his job well.<\/p>\n
Teton, a 2 1\/2-year-old golden retriever and Labrador mix, is Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing\u2019s new facility dog. The position provides him with a chance to help patients perform speech, occupational and physical therapy.<\/p>\n
He is trained to assist with balance exercises, pressure point activities and retrieving, and integrates into individual sessions for physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology.<\/p>\n
He also provides quite a morale boost.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brings a lot of magic into the sessions,\u201d said Nikki Hartman, the hospital\u2019s program director.<\/p>\n
Hartman said Teton has generated lots of positive feedback from patients and staff in the month and a half that he\u2019s been on the job. When he\u2019s included in a therapy session, she said, he tends to bring the best out in everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can have someone who isn\u2019t motivated, who isn\u2019t really participating, and when he comes in they\u2019re a new person,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re smiling, they\u2019re laughing. It\u2019s a whole new ballgame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing what an animal can bring. It kind of unlocks a whole different part of people\u2019s brains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stolz, a language pathologist at the hospital and Teton\u2019s lead handler, said Teton has the perfect temperament for his job.<\/p>\n
He was bred and raised by Susquehanna Service Dogs in Grantville, trained from birth to respond to basic commands. When an opportunity to work in a hospital setting arose, he was picked for special training to fill the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves people, he loves helping,\u201d Stolz said. \u201cHe was suited for this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stolz said Teton has been a huge hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an amazing uptick in smiles from patients, we\u2019ve seen happy tears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
One of those smiling patients is Felicia Hall.<\/p>\n
The Mount Penn woman is a patient being treated for multiple sclerosis. An animal lover, she said she loved being able to interact with Teton as well as a therapy horse the hospital recently introduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun, it kind of keeps your mind off things,\u201d she said. \u201cI love Teton. I just want to hold him and hang out. I want to squeeze him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you pet a dog you relax. It meditative.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teton was acquired by the hospital thanks to financial support from the Reading Hospital Foundation, Shillington Lions Club and the Piasecki family. He can be found wagging his tail there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with his work week likely expanding in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teton followed the directions perfectly. When told to \u201cplace,\u201d he sidled up to a woman sitting on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-256437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}