dogjournal:

PIT BULL COMFORTS SICK DOGS AT THE VET – “Dominic lays with dogs as they come out of surgery, which calms them, making it much easier on the vet techs to handle the dogs as they wake up.”

A Pit Bull named Dominic has earned the title of “Denkai Recovery Specialist” at the Denkai Veterinary Care Clinic in Colorado. Staff members noticed that Dominic would go to dogs who are recovering from surgery and cuddle with them. In addition to dogs, he also comforts cats also. Read more from the greeleytribune.com:

Haswell, though, remained a little skeptical. Dominic was cuddling with the new dog because he was cold, she thought.

She changed her mind later that day, when Dominic lay in the middle of a pile of dogs out of surgery and rested his head on their bodies when they cried.

The dog who cried the most got the most cuddle time from Dominic.

And she remembered the way Dominic rested his head on her neck when she had a headache.

Dominic would even cuddle with cats out of surgery, though they weren’t as receptive as the dogs.

What’s more, it made things easier on them. Dogs coming out of surgery could be wild, even aggressive, and bites were a little too common.

But when Dominic lay with them, they woke up calm, rested and happy.

Dominic now seems to understand his job. When a dog is under, Dominic waits at the foot of the door until clinic workers bring the dog out of surgery and set it on Dominic’s pillow, and he immediately goes over to rest with them.

Dominic cries and paces if another dog is crying in the clinic. He even acts irritated when Haswell rubs a dog’s body in an attempt to wake it up, as if Dominic’s saying, “Hey, I got this.”

“I’ve never, ever seen anything like this,” said Floss Blackburn, who has seen a lot as the founder of Denkai. “He’s got such a sweet heart.”

Dominic is a compassionate dog with an important job. Click here for the full story and here for more about the Denkai Veterinary Clinic. (Photos by Dan England)