Dr. Mills’ career has spanned the UK and Canada, where she served as a sports medicine and rehabilitation physician, as well as a certified homeopathic physician. She then turned to another calling, to become a prominent philanthropist and author.
   Using her professional experience, Dr. Mills is promoting a more natural remedy for medical detection for diseases like diabetes and epilepsy, and treatment of emotional trauma, such as depression. Her prescription? A dog’s touch. 
 
In hospital wards, she has watched therapy dogs revive patients what medicine could not, their presence alone sparking life back in the hopeless eyes of the sick. At home, her own dogs became caregivers, comforting her husband in his final days and carrying her through her deepest grief. For Mills, dogs aren’t just pets—they’re protectors and healers. 
    Her love for dogs took root in her childhood. Growing up in Scotland, she was surrounded by animals; her father, a farmer, had working dogs that were fed before the family and kept inside. 
 

“The working dogs certainly didn't sleep in the bed, but they were family,” Dr. Mills said as her dog Bentley, a bichon poodle, snuggled on the cream-colored couch in the living room in her elegant Pennsylvania home. Lola and Bella, English settlers nearby. 
 
It would be Bentley, a trained therapy dog, who would loyally lie in the arms of her late husband Brad until he took his last breath. Dr. Mills said that “there’s no question” about the dog providing the relief and comfort to him as he drifted off to peaceful sleep in the days leading to his passing. Despite feeling his time here was ending, Brad was able to enjoy his favorite drink, Scotch, and watch his favorite movie, The Sound of Music, one last time. 
   “It was the healing of a dog. It was an incredible moment,” Dr. Mills said of him being able to rise out of bed that final time. “At the end of the day, love heals all. Dogs give that love freely. They touch, they comfort, and they bring belonging.” 

Dr. Mills’ love for dogs was shared with her husband. It was he who was a philanthropist and advocate for animal rescue. He purchased a house in Princeton, NJ, and named it Save A Friend, creating a safe place for homeless and abused animals. Once married, it was Dr. Mills who established “Save A Dog, Save A Life,” its addition with the mission of highlighting the importance and healing power of animals. 
 
“I saw a little girl with cancer playing with Bentley in the waiting room. I thought, ‘Oh my God—save a dog, save a life.’ Saving dogs doesn’t just save them. It saves us, too.” 
 

Linking animal rescue with human healing, the non-profit’s mission is to be able to bring therapeutic dogs into hospitals to bring a holistic addition to traditional medicine—something Dr. Mills advocated for to bring to Princeton Hospital before COVID shut downs. “You bring an animal into the hospital, and it really heals,” Dr. Mills said. “Some patients were almost dying, and the moment a dog came in, their eyes would just brighten.” 
 
Western medicine and technology measure vital signs in the hospital setting, but Dr. Mills points to something less quantifiable: the healing power of touch. The simple act of running a hand through a dog’s fur can do what medicine often cannot—it soothes and eases loneliness. 
   Touch, Dr. Mills said, is medicine. When patients stroke a dog’s coat, their breathing slows, their muscles relax, and their faces soften. It’s a therapy no pill can replicate. 
   “When you go to a doctor's office today, they don't even touch you anymore,” said Dr. Mills. “In my day, we were taught three important things: first, it's your ears, so you could listen. Second, your eyes to see. And the most important thing is for your hands to understand the sensitivity of the body. The first thing a patient does if you take a dog into the hospital is touch them. It's that feeling of touch, that feeling of belonging.” 

   Canines have been used in medical settings for years, changing the lives of people who may not be able to live alone or leave their homes prior to having a service animal. This includes guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired, medical alert dogs who are trained to detect low or high blood sugar through smell, seizure and allergy alert dogs, and mobility assistance dogs. There are even dogs that are trained to detect illnesses such as malaria, cancer, and COVID. 
 
“Dogs can sense changes before a diagnosis. They can pick up epilepsy before a seizure, or diabetes, even before it’s detected by tests.” 
 
Their ability to comfort, guide, and even diagnose makes them one of the most underestimated healthcare allies. A study with heart-failure patients found that just a dozen minutes with a therapy dog significantly lowers stress hormones, pulmonary pressure, and anxiety. In emergency departments, quick visits from therapy dogs don’t just calm patients; they reduce pain and even decrease the need for pain medication. 
    Then there are therapy dogs, like her own Bentley, used for those with PTSD and other psychiatric conditions.  Dr. Mills spoke about how her dogs help with her grief after mourning the loss of her husband. 
“I had to get up, I had to feed them,” Dr. Mills said. “Even though I was crying, they never left my side.” 

​

Dr. Mills has plans of continuing her animal advocacy with a goal of passing legislation against puppy mills. She also has ambitions to start a grieving group for those mourning the loss of a pet, as well as continuing her animal wellness journey with hopes of bringing dogs into hospice care. 
   She also recently continued her pursuit of alternative medicine to become certified as a Bach Remedies practitioner. The practice consists of using 38 plants to create remedies that can be used to treat aliments from depression to joint pain, replacing pharmaceuticals with organic materials grown in nature. 
 
“In the United States, you go to orthodox doctors who are going to push the drugs to you because they get a kickback as well,” she said. “But there are just so many natural remedies. They wouldn't be growing if it wasn't meant to be healing.” She added that pharmaceutical drugs are also important and save lives, but believes that homeopathic medicine should be practiced more in tandem as often done in Europe. 
   Dr. Mills spoke passionately about not only her dogs—once having six in total—and all animals. Despite living now with just her dogs in her grandeur house, the home still radiates with warmth. It’s a sophisticated place that is inviting, a mirror of the homeowner herself. Through the photographs, the spirit of her late husband remains ever-present. And for those moments of sadness, her dogs are just a touch away. 
 
For Dr. Pamela Mills, the lesson is simple but profound. After decades in medicine, nothing heals quite like the presence of a dog. 
 
“Dogs are not just companions—they are healers. They save us every single day, and the least we can do is save them too.”