Henry George Campuzano Booth’s golden hair rustled gently in the morning breeze. It was as soft and inviting to the touch as a newborn baby’s.
Not bad for a guy retiring.
After nine years of service answering 885 crisis calls, including earthquakes, fires, floods and mass shootings, Henry, an 11-year-old, 98-pound golden retriever, is hanging up his leash as a certified therapy dog.
On Tuesday, dozens of well-wishers surprised Henry and owner Steve Booth with a retirement party outside UCI Medical Center in Orange. The gentle dog with the breed’s trademark smile was there to roam the halls and provide positive energy for the last time.
Booth, 68, retired as a sergeant from the OC Sheriff’s Department in 2015. He knows now is Henry’s time to bow out. The dog’s hips are old and in need of resting, Booth said. Over the years he’s provided therapy support at several local hospitals, as well as with crisis response teams after big emergencies.
“He absorbs all the positive and all the negative” Booth said of Henry. “It takes a toll.”
Booth’s wife, Janet, is also dealing with Parkinson’s disease and needs the team home.
Henry’s career includes about 4,000 hours of volunteering – sometimes 10-hour days, five days a week during disasters – providing comfort for people experiencing the darkest hours of life.
Henry has interacted with more than 100,000 people, by Booth’s estimate.
Working traumatic events has also provided Booth perspective on the frailties of life, he said.
In 2018, as part of the HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response team, Booth and Henry were dispatched to the deadliest fire in California history. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and devoured 153,336 acres, including more than 18,000 structures.
There, in Northern California, a man in his early 30s wearing a baseball cap sat down next to Henry and unloaded, not even acknowledging Booth. He told the dog he had managed to save his pregnant wife, but lost his house,…
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