I was not a dog person.

But Debbie was interested in finding a therapy dog and training it to comfort hospital patients and other people in difficulty, so we began a vigorous search. We visited a number of rescue placement sites and events, and we interviewed rescued dogs who came with their caretakers to visit us at home. Not as a last resort, but at the end of a long day of searching all over the L. A. basin, we visited a placement event on busy, noisy Ventura Boulevard, just a mile from our home.

It was there that I was introduced to Lola, who approached me with hopeful self-assurance and asked, "Are you my papa?"

What could I say?

The therapy had begun.