Dogs On Call Program

The Dogs On Call Therapy Dog Program provides a complementary therapy to enhance the well being of patients, staff, and students through canine-assisted interventions. Dogs on Call teams visit in most areas of the VCU Medical Center and some offsite locations including Children's Hospital of Richmond at Brook Road and Stony Point Clinics. Dogs On Call teams also participate in special university events, such as Paws for Stress for students during mid-term and final exams. 

To request a Dogs On Call visit at VCU Medical Center, please call CHAI at 804-827-7297, email chai@vcuhealth.org, or page us at #6134. While we cannot guarantee a visit due to high demand, our teams make every effort to meet requests. 

View A Day in the Life of a Dogs On Call team

AAT (animal assisted therapy) and AAA (animal assisted activity) visits are scheduled with the cooperation of physicians, staff, patients and families through the Center for Human-Animal Interaction by calling 804-827-7297 or emailing chai@vcuhealth.org.

Become a Dogs On Call team

There is always a need for new teams to volunteer with Dogs On Call. If you have a friendly, well-behaved dog and would like to learn more about volunteering as a Dogs On Call team, we would love to speak with you! Email us at chai@vcuhealth.org.