Rusty the Therapy Dog

Submission 2,378

About

Rusty the Therapy Dog was a mixed breed glasses-wearing dog from Manitoba, Canada who spent over ten years volunteering at Winnipeg's St. Boniface hospital before he died in February 2020.

Origin

On March 15th, 2014, the Rusty Facebook^[1] page was created and his owner posted several pictures of him the next day (shown below).

Spread

On December 19th, 2018, Rusty was featured in a CBC Manitoba news story. That day the @CBCManitoba Twitter account posted a video featuring Rusty and his owner at the hospital after learning that "A portrait of Rusty the therapy dog will hang in St. Boniface Hospital to honour his years of service" (shown below).

On January 9th, 2019, Redditor starlightprotag posted a photo of Rusty to r/dogswithjobs^[2] with the caption, "hospital service dog raising awareness for the program." The post garnered over 15,900 points (96% upvoted) in a year (shown below, left). On November 22nd, The Rusty Facebook^[3] page posted a picture of Rusty's portrait and announced his retirement (show below, right). The post garnered over 490 reacts in three months.

On February 19th, 2020, The Rusty Facebook^[4] page an announcement that garnered over 3,600 reacts and 3,800 shares in two days (shown below).

“Hi friends, it’s me Rusty. I’m up here in Doggie Heaven. I crossed over that famous Rainbow Bridge today (google that term just for fun).

Right after my birthday yesterday, my inoperable mouth cancer suddenly spread to my front leg and lungs and hit me harder than I expected. I couldn’t eat or stand.
My poor parents were in disbelief. They tried to help me as best they could but the nice vet here in Arizona said there was no hope for me. But the pain killers worked great until it was time for me to go.

So, I’m up here, looking down on all the friends that I made in my long career as a therapy dog.
I do expect you all to be happy that I lived such a long and enjoyable life.

I did come from humble beginnings, but after 100’s of Hospital Pet Therapy shifts, I actually became a bit of a celebrity. Of course, social media, shared cell phone pictures, and my trademark glasses, sure helped my cause to become well known. My Mom told I was somewhat handsome, so I always had to stay well groomed to keep up that image.

My wish and hope is that all of you will do me a favour. I would like you to follow my example and work diligently in your careers, keep a positive attitude, and always smile at other people. It worked for me. They will smile back at you, trust me, I know what I’m talking about ! 🐕👍

Whenever you see a photo of me, or even think about me, please remember our friendship. Plus, know that I am pulling for you to live a happy and honourable life.

The legacy that I would like to leave, is to inspire more people and their dogs to get involved with pet therapy volunteering. The demand is there, and the rewards are too.

P.S. Check the photos below. I’ll bet you didn’t know that some years back, I was hired to be the guard dog for the Grey Cup, keeping it safe until my Blue Bombers would win it last year.

Anyways, make me proud, my friends. Do good deeds for others.

Your forever Friend, Love ❤️ RUSTY

Twitter user @dog_rates^[5] tweeted several pictures of Rusty with the caption, "This was Rusty. For 10 years he comforted patients and staff at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. Yesterday, one day after his eighteenth birthday, Rusty passed away. Flowers and a pair of his trademark glasses were left on his favorite chair. He is our fifteenth 15/10 ❤️" (shown below). The tweet gained over 213,400 likes and 32,500 retweets. The hashtag #RIPRusty began trending on Twitter that day.