Any health professional’s final set of rounds comes with some amount of ceremony. As he prepared for his, Link's colleagues agreed he'd made a difference.
“I’ve just seen it first hand," said Corinne Joplin, an MU Health child life specialist who’s worked alongside Link. "Heart rates slow down, blood pressures come down, kids relax, families relax."
But she knows her colleague of eight years is ready to step away. After all, he’s been working there since he was two.
"He gets to be a normal dog," Joplin said.
Link is a golden retriever who was trained to be a therapy dog at St. Louis’ Duo program. When dogs like him turn ten, they’re transitioned into civilian life, and in his retirement Link will live with Joplin full-time.
“I think it will be an interesting transition for him because he’s used to coming every day," she said. "But I think he will really enjoy it, I think he deserves it, he’s ready.”
On this day, his impact on his patients – especially families with kids needing treatment – is clear.
Kynzi Wilson, 17, laying in bed after being diagnosed with appendicitis. She has been in and out of the hospital for the past year for other medical issues, and has come to know Link. Her mother Blair, said his visits help both of them.
“Seeing her day be brighter because of him definitely helps, because it’s hard as a parent to see your child go through these things, and so anything that brings a smile to her face, especially Link, helps,” she said.
"It’s not like people, you don’t have to talk with them, they can just be with you even if you want to be quiet, or if you want to cry," said Sandra Foltin, a dog handler and researcher in Germany who has done work on how therapy dogs can impact humans. "It doesn’t matter.”
Foltin also studies the impact of being a therapy dog on the dog itself. She said sometimes dogs can bring more comfort to a patient than a human.
![Blair Wilson holds Link’s paw during his final shift on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, at MU Children’s Hospital in Columbia. Blair’s daughter, Kynzi Wilson, 17, says she has seen Link “so many times [she] can’t even count.”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9779432/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1750x1161+0+0/resize/840x558!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F67%2F63%2F40b7777240a295f01a16a35f3a0c%2F20261019-link-ah-104.jpg)
Just as research has shown retirement can be hard for humans, Foltin said losing social connections and routine can take a similar toll on dogs.
“If I have a dog, that all of a sudden finds himself alone, without the clients, without the handler, it may experience emotions like sadness, maybe even leading up to something like depression," she said.
Foltin said it's important for a therapy dog to stop working as they get older because it can be harder on them as they lose some of their senses, and get more tired during the day.
And just before his final rounds, Link laid down to get some rest, while Joplin tried to compose herself for her patients.
“It’s hard to really put into words when I really think about it, just how many people have looked forward to seeing him, how much joy he has brought into an environment that is just sometimes not very joyful," she said, fighting back tears.
She’ll get to see Link every day, but the patients and staff will soon meet a new canine caretaker.
