Pets As Therapy dog Annie inspires 2025 Christmas Appeal

Annie, along with her owner PAT Volunteer Charles Rae from Kilmarnock, is one of the many PAT teams making a difference every day in Scottish hospices, classrooms, universities and community settings. Their story reflects the growing need for therapy dog visits across Scotland and the importance of public support this Christmas.

Annie began volunteering at the Ayrshire Hospice in 2023, shortly after passing her PAT assessment. A dog behaviourist spotted Annie’s naturally steady temperament during scent-work classes and suggested Annie would make the perfect PAT Dog.

For Charles, volunteering at the Hospice fulfilled a decades-long ambition. He had first visited the Hospice more than 40 years ago as a young BT engineer and always hoped to return to support their vital work.

Now visiting every two weeks, Annie instinctively adapts to each patient she meets. Some gently rest a hand on her in silence while others share stories of pets they once loved.

Her impact has been so significant that Annie now appears on a mural inside the Hospice’s beautifully refurbished building, a gesture that Charles says left him “deeply honoured”.

Annie also volunteers at a small Scottish primary school of around seventy pupils, where she takes part in Read2Dogs sessions. In a cosy converted caretaker’s house turned library, she curls up beside children as they practise reading, helping them build confidence through her quiet, reassuring presence, sometimes even nodding off as they read to her!

Beyond education and hospice care, Annie is now a familiar face at Scottish universities, student wellbeing weeks, fresher’s fairs, exam-stress events, emergency-services conferences and charity days. She has even been backstage at the OVO Hydro to meet performers, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and has appeared in a Channel 5 news feature showcasing PAT’s work in Scotland.

For Charles, volunteering with PAT has become “a purpose” after years spent caring for his mother, who Annie instinctively comforted toward the end of her life. Now, he says, he feels “privileged to be welcomed into people’s lives at such meaningful moments,” whether supporting children at school or patients in their final days.

Demand for PAT visits continues to rise across Scotland especially in hospices, hospitals and schools but the charity urgently needs more volunteers and donations to meet the need.

This Christmas, the charity is inviting people across Scotland to donate to help expand services and support more PAT teams, to fundraise and to consider volunteering with their dog.

To support the Christmas 2025 Appeal and to help ensure more people can experience the comfort, calm and connection that therapy dogs like Annie bring visit https://petsastherapy.givingpage.org/pat-christmas-2025