Heart of the Beast has us spotlighting all the incredible working dogs of SA! We’ve introduced you to the search and rescue heroes. And the specialist detection pups. Now, meet the incredible volunteer therapy dogs who bring joy, patience and comfort into hospitals.
South Africa (25 September 2026) – Some working dogs search for missing people. Others work alongside law enforcement or step into dangerous situations with their handlers. Then, there are the gentlest heroes of all, whose job it is to sit right beside you when life feels lonely, difficult or overwhelming.
They visit hospital beds and listen patiently while children read. They encourage little legs to take another step. Locking eyes with them and simply being in their presence can ease feelings of loneliness and sadness. Therapy dogs stand in a life-saving category of their own.
The incredible partnership between people and working dogs is at the heart of Heart of the Beast, the new action film starring Brad Pitt, which arrives in cinemas on Heritage Day.
The film follows special forces officer James Belmont and his military dog, Odin, after the pair find themselves stranded deep in the Alaskan wilderness following a plane crash. Forced to rely on one another to survive, their bond forms the heart of an incredible story that reminds us just how extraordinary the relationship between a person and their dog can be.
Here in South Africa, that relationship takes many different forms.
Not every working dog is searching through rubble, tracking a missing person or facing danger alongside their handler. Some are doing their best work in hospital gardens, classrooms and care facilities.
Therapy TOP Dogs is a South African non-profit that has been ‘spreading smiles for miles’ since 2008.
The organisation recruits handlers and their own dogs that have been evaluated and approved to work as therapy dogs to visit places where their presence sparks much-needed joy. Volunteer teams spend their free time visiting hospitals, special needs schools, frail care centres, old age homes, children’s homes and hospices.
One of Therapy TOP Dogs’ longest-standing partnerships is with the Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital, which its teams have been visiting for around 11 years. Here, spending time with a four-legged friend becomes a very special part of a child’s rehabilitation.
Related Stories
Heading to the Coast This Weekend? The NSRI Has an Important Safety Reminder
The Cape Town Campaign Reframing Homelessness as Stories of Hope
The organisation shares:
“The purpose of our visit to this facility is to assist the children with their rehabilitation. Whether it be to encourage them to walk with the dogs, brush the dogs to improve motor skills, or bring them some joy during their hospital stay. We usually work in the gardens where the children can come get fresh air and interact with the dogs with the supervision of the OTs and therapists from the facility.”
Through these visits, therapy dogs have helped spark many meaningful moments of progress, bravery and joy over the years.
“We have had success stories of children trying to say the dog’s names after not speaking for many weeks and of children finally deciding to try walk again when they were offered to walk the dogs after refusing before.”
TOP Dogs’ volunteers give their time freely, bring their own dogs along and work together in teams at each visit. True to its mission to ‘Spread Smiles for Miles,’ the organisation has expanded into the Western Cape, Gqeberha, Jeffreys Bay and Gauteng regions, and welcomes volunteers from all areas.
Among the regular volunteers who make the Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital visits possible are Corrie and Heidi, Cheryl and Luke, Jan with Nova and Bailey, Bronwyn and Wallace, and Liz and Essex.
The organisation and its incredible volunteers do amazing work across South Africa. They run animal educational programmes at schools, including reading programmes where children can practise reading aloud to a dog in a calm, non-judgemental space.
Some handler-and-dog teams also work alongside professionals such as physiotherapists and social workers as part of structured animal-assisted therapy programmes designed to help patients work towards specific rehabilitation, counselling or learning goals.
Regular visits are also made to special needs schools, old age homes, frail care centres, hospitals and more. None of it would be possible without the people at the other end of the lead.
The organisation adds:
“Our organisation would not function without our volunteers. For all our visits we work in teams. There is a regular group of very dedicated volunteers who take the time out of their day to do the Netcare Children’s Rehab visit. A special thanks to all our other volunteers that help us spread smiles for miles.”
Heart of the Beast places one extraordinary working partnership between a man and his dog on the big screen. Away from the action and adventure, South Africa has many remarkable dogs doing important work of their own.
Sometimes, a hero sits beside you, lets you reach out a hand and gives you a reason to take one more step!
Heart of the Beast is in cinema now!
by 
