The real Kid and Trotter with their world-traveling replicas.
Replicas of Ohio campus golden retrievers will tour the health system’s facilities in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and U.A.E., while taking followers behind-the-scenes in a social media campaign
December 1, 2023 – The healing spirit of two loyal Cleveland Clinic Children’s caregivers will be unleashed across the globe this December, as replicas of golden retrievers Kid and Trotter tour the health system’s facilities, highlighting medical breakthroughs, services that support patients and families, and expansion projects, while bringing attention to the clinical benefits of employing facility dogs.
Kid and Trotter are highly trained facility dogs that work in healthcare settings and perform specialized tasks. As full-time employees, they work at Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic Children’s facility, on main campus, supervised by Child Life specialist handlers. The dogs have a wide range of duties that help medical teams achieve their clinical goals, for example, by keeping children calm during medical interventions or providing an incentive for a child to get out of bed and take a walk.
Kid and Trotter play an invaluable role in supporting and comforting pediatric patients on a daily basis. The #PawsforJoy campaign celebrates the important work of these dogs while also highlighting new developments at Cleveland Clinic’s many locations around the world. The hope is the campaign will enable animal lovers of all ages to take a moment to pause for joy this festive season as they follow the daily adventures of these furry ambassadors on the @clevelandclinic Instagram account.
The lookalike stuffed toys will explore Cleveland Clinic locations in northeast Ohio; southeast Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. They will provide a behind-the-scenes view of these facilities, including discovering how Cleveland Clinic Children’s physicians use 3D-printing to plan surgeries on infant hearts and riding on a construction crane to get a bird’s eye view of Cleveland Clinic’s main campus transformation, which includes advancing care for patients with neurological conditions.
The dogs will soak up the sun at one of the aquatic therapy centers in Cleveland Clinic Florida, before hitting the ice with professional hockey players while visiting Cleveland Clinic Canada to meet sports medicine specialists. They will admire Buckingham Palace from the windows of Cleveland Clinic London and take a tour of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Kid and Trotter were brought to Cleveland Clinic Children’s in 2019 through the support of the Dunkin’ Joy in Childhood Foundation, which provided the grant enabling Cleveland Clinic to launch its permanent ‘Dogs for Joy’ program.
