BALTIMORE — Some therapy and service dogs who go above and beyond now have "dogrees" from the University of Maryland-Baltimore.
Meet five-year-old Rottweiler Loki, who is now officially a dogtor.
The service trained therapy dog received her honorary Dogtorate of Medicine from the University of Maryland-Baltimore on Tuesday with her handler Dr. Caroline Benzel at her side.
"The week that I had gotten her was the same week that I was accepted to medical school, so I started putting her through service dog level training, but I knew that I was going to be trying to make her a therapy dog for the hospital," said Dr. Benzel.
While Benzel attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Loki learned to comfort patients in the hospital.
"She was able to work in the trauma centers because she could handle all the machines," said Dr. Benzel. "She could come into basically any part of the hospital that needed a therapy dog to come in."
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Benzel and Loki delivered hero healing kits to frontline health care workers.
They also provided virtual therapy sessions to University of Maryland Medical Center health care workers.
Along with her dogree, Loki was awarded for her extraordinary service during the COVID pandemic.
"After seeing the impact of Dogtor Loki and Dr. Benzel, the University of Maryland Medical Center expanded the therapy dog program," said Dr. Bruce Jarrell, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore.
UMB also awarded dog agrees to service dogs Kylo Red and Kiera for helping their handlers as they pursued degrees at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and Maryland Cary Law.
"The idea of having a therapy dog come in, especially when you're in a really trying time in your life, truly makes such a difference for people," said Dr. Benzel. "And that clearly has been shown by the way that the program itself has been expanding."
Benzel is starting her residency at West Virginia University, where Loki will continue her work as a therapy dog.
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