Henry plays the part of Jessica Paulsen’s pet and her protector.
Paulsen got Henry in 2017 and had him trained to be her service dog to help with a condition she has called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
Henry helps his mom practice deep pressure therapy and uses his body weight to increase his mom’s blood pressure.
This will help shorten the length of her fainting and nausea episodes. Henry also knows how to call Paulsen’s husband during an emergency.
He can pick things up and helps to pull his mom forward so she can exert less energy.
Henry helps to make his mom feel a lot more safe and secure. And they also have a lot of fun together. One of their favorite places to visit together is Disney World.
They have been to Disney World six times together. Four of those times was to help with Henry’s service dog training.
But their most recent trip was strictly for fun. And you have to take some good photos when you’re at Disney World.
And the photoshoot that they had was pretty Epic. Henry and Paulsen got to meet the most famous mice on Earth, Mickey and Minnie.
They also go to pose for a photo with Kevin from “Up.”
They also got the classic Disney photos with the castle in the background.
They even got to pose with one of those cool lights from the movie “Tangled” and looked like they were in a scene from the movie. They even got to dress up in different outfits.
But Henry got to dress up in costume.
He got to pretend that he was one of his favorite Disney characters, Dumbo.
And he looked super happy about it.
While Paulsen and Henry were at the park for a good time, they did stop to teach some people about service dogs and why it’s important to let service dogs do their jobs.
“I try to correct people when they say ‘You can bring dogs here?’ Because for a regular dog, Disney World would be a stressful environment,” Paulsen told The Dodo.
“It’s tough for me to have to tell kids that Henry cannot be pet while he is working. Every once in a while we do allow pets, and it’s a good chance for us to educate kids and their parents about how to interact with working dogs and to never pet without asking.”
And because of his proper training, Henry has come a long way since his first trip to Disney World.
“When we first came to Disney over a year ago, Henry was way too excited to meet characters. It was cute but it didn’t bode well for his training,” Paulsen said. “He is still not perfect, but seeing how far he has come when he meets characters makes me so proud.”
At the end of the day, Paulsen and her pup got to enjoy the fireworks show and Henry was treated to a Puppucino from Starbucks.
“The show at Magic Kingdom is probably what I look forward to the most because I get to sit there with my best friend laying on my lap and really appreciate what he has given me,” Paulsen said. “It probably sounds silly but that show is all about following your dreams and having Henry gave me back the dreams I thought were lost forever. I always cry!”
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