AdventHealth expands Tampa Bay therapy dog team with three new puppies

The newest members of an AdventHealth care team have four legs, floppy ears and a family connection to one of the hospital system’s best-known employees.

Six-month-old Pilot and Skye are joining their father, Wilbur — AdventHealth Wesley Chapel’s tongue-in-cheek “chief barking officer” — in providing emotional support to hospital patients, families and employees across the Tampa Bay area, the hospital announced this week.

Their littermate Boots is taking on a similar role with Pasco County Fire Rescue, an emergency medical services partner of AdventHealth, which is one of the largest nonprofit Protestant healthcare systems in the U.S.

The three puppies recently received a community welcome at a “Puppy Pawty” at AdventHealth Dade City, where patients, visitors and hospital employees met the dogs and learned about their new assignments.

Skye will work alongside crews from AirStar 1, AdventHealth’s medical helicopter program. She lives with Brendon Sanders, the program’s chief flight nurse, and accompanies him to work.

“She brings a lot of comfort to people, especially in times of stress,” Sanders says in the release. “She kind of lightens the mood and is there to bring peace to otherwise stressful situations.”

Wilbur has spent more than five years supporting AdventHealth employees and Pasco County first responders. Pilot, Skye and Boots will expand that work by offering companionship during stressful calls, hospital stays and other difficult moments, according to the release. 

Therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort and affection in settings such as hospitals, schools and disaster areas, AdventHealth says. Unlike service dogs, which are trained to perform specific tasks for an individual with a disability, therapy dogs typically work with handlers and interact with many people.

AdventHealth is the 10th largest hospital group in the nation, according to industry trade publication Becker’s Hospital Review, with $23 billion in operating revenue in 2025. The healthcare system operates hospitals in nine states, from Colorado to Texas to Wisconsin.