Hayley Sparkl is a patient at The Children's Hospital at Westmead and is a major success story for the hospital's new pet therapy program.

Hayley has osteogenesis imperfecta, a bone disease that prevented her from walking or crawling.

Hayley had been having physiotherapy for most of her life but had started to lose interest by the time she was three.

Sharon Sparkl, her mother, said it was hard for Hayley to understand why she should be undergoing physiotherapy and how it would help her.

The hospital started the Animal Assisted Therapy program mid-last year in which trained dogs from the Delta Society were introduced into physiotherapy sessions. Soon after, Hayley took her first steps in her walker. She likes to hold onto Sophie's fur and walk behind her.

``I was amazed at how quickly the results came after the dogs joined the sessions,'' Mrs Sparkl said. ``Her level of improvement far exceeded our expectations.''

The program is the first of its kind in a NSW children's hospital and 15 long-term patients are at present benefiting from it.

Jenny Wu, a senior physiotherapist at the hospital, said the dogs helped many children ``achieve their physio goals''.

``Physiotherapy starts to be a drag for the children who are here regularly,'' Ms Wu said.

``The dogs have made it exciting and now they look forward to coming.''

NSW Health Minister Reba Meagher launched the program last week and said the hospital was a ``world-class facility second to none''.

Delta Society have visited the wards and bedsides of patients since 2001. The hospital hopes to expand the pet therapy program to include more patients in the near future.