| Top 10 Dog Stories (in alphabetical order) |
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Certification Abbreviations: SD is Service Dog, ThD is Therapy Dog, and CGC is an AKC Canine Good Citizen
| Dog Name | Breed | Certifications |
| Bailey | Goldendoodle | ThD |
| Bizzi B | Chihuahua / Jack Russell mix | ThD, CGC |
| Butch* | Beagle | SD, ThD, CGC |
| Cha Cha* | Springer Spaniel | SD |
| Hailey* | Labrador Retriever | SD |
| Hobo* | Border Collie | SD, ThD, CGC |
| Jerri Rufus* (fire survivor) | Dachshund | ThD |
| Mist* | Beagle | SD |
| Woogie (RIP) | Pit Bull Terrier | ThD, CGC |
| Zandra* | Australian Shepherd | ThD, CGC |
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An asterik(*) denotes PUPT rescue/adoption program dogs |
Bailey, ThD
Excerpt from News-Graphic News
Title: Therapy work a dog's life
By: JEFF KERR 8/15/07
Bailey started her training early. "We started taking her to Liz Norris in Frankfort when she was 4 1/2 months old," Mike said. "We took her there for obedience training, and Liz, who screens all the dogs she trains, said she had the right temperament to be a therapy dog."
Norris steered Mike to Possibilities Unleashed Pet Therapy, which operates a program called "Sit-Stay-Read."
That program, which allows children to read their favorite books to therapy dogs to let them gain self-confidence in reading, just happens to be a feature of the Scott County Public Library, where Patti is the adult services librarian.
Want to read the full article? Here's the link to the newspaper website. Let's hope the article stays posted online for a while.
8/15/2007 (Georgetown News, KY)
Bizzi B, ThD, CGC
Hello, my name is Bizzi B.
I am a young Jack Russell/ Chihuahua mix.
I was rescued by my Aunt Liz for a dumpster behind Wal-Mart when I was just a wee little one. I was so dirty and eat up with fleas. My Aunt Liz made me look oh so pretty. I even got to stay with dogs my size in a special yard called Itty Bitty Land.
All I wanted was a forever home, Aunt Liz kept telling me that one day the right person would come and love me. Boy, she was right.
This lady use to come by and give shots to some of the dogs at Aunt Liz’s. Whew, how I hated those shots. This lady’s name was Cindy. She would pick me up and hold me, boy that felt good. Cindy became my forever Mom. I knew if I would show her that I could be a good girl, she would fall for me. IT WORKED!
I was scared at first cause all the dogs were bigger than I was. I am only 10 lbs. There were so nice and loved to play with me. I knew that I had found my forever home.
Mom told me that I needed a job, well I have one. I do therapy work as do all of us on the farm. I have only been doing this job since January, 2007, but am good at it. I even earned my CGC in January, 2007.
I love this working thing.
Life on the Barker farm is GREAT!!!!!!
Butch*, SD, ThD, CGC
Seizure Alert for Child
Make a Wish Foundation
Dear Liz,
Here's our one year update. Butch enjoys going everywhere we take him. He goes out to eat, has seen lots of movies (he likes a blanket on the cold sticky floor though), and even visits the zoo. He especially likes the Louisville Zoo Party because he gets to wear his dinosaur costume.
One of your prospective service dog clients emailed me with questions. I let her know how well things have worked out and how I believed that being involved in the training is a great way to make sure you can work the dog - not just the trainer working the dog. I made sure to tell her how you made the perfect choice for us, (in temperament, skills and size). Butch is not big, since I have 2 other dogs, not too small, since Virginia can be rough, and he can tolerate ANYTHING. He is the best little man ever.
Feel free to refer anyone to me for PUPT service dog recommendations. I would sing your praises to anyone and everyone.
Thanks! - Christi N.
Butch's Story: My story is short, but important. I was found by this nice lady vet tech, Melissa, in New Castle, KY. She told their groomer, Lee Anne West about me and that got me into the PUPT rescue program when I passed the temperament test that they required. I was starved, in need of attention and vetting (thanks Henry County Animal Clinic for all you did). The nice vet tech did the shots and vetting, Aunt Lee Anne gave me a great grooming and nail trim and Aunt Liz proceeded to feed me some of the best food I ever had..... Mackerel and peanut butter. I am now a service dog for the little girl, Virginia. That is us in the photo. My job is to be her companion and seizure alert dog. I am doing it very well.
I had a buddy beagle with me, but he did not make it into service or therapy dog work. However, he did get placed on a farm with a nice lady who has several dogs and had lost her past Beagle to the passage of time and age...the Circle of Life always catches up with us.
I hope you enjoyed reading my story. I am one of the lucky dogs that made it.
Cha Cha*, SD
Mobility Assistance, Autism Support, Seizure Alert & Response for Child
Cha Cha is the Springer Spaniel we placed that was brought to PUPT by Vicki Burnett in Somerset. This is a story of Cha Cha, a Pawsibilities Unleashed Seizure Alert Service Dog
January 2008: (FROM WVLT the CBS Affiliate TV station in Knoxville, TN) You've heard about guide dogs for the deaf and the blind, but what about a seizure-alert dog?
The springer-spaniel is a life-saver for a six year old Kingston girl.
Volunteer TV's Kim Bedford shows us how.
Six year old Gracey Estes was born with Cerebral Palsey and epilepsy.
Lori Estes says, "her seizures are not a pleasant thing and each time she has one, she has a risk of having another one that's worse than the one before."
Gracey's mother Lori had to be by her side 24-7.
Estes continues, "for five years, this child was in my bedroom with me and my husband cause we has to keep a watch on her."
But not anymore, Lori found Cha Cha from a rescue group in Kentucky a year ago.
Not only is he Gracey's best friend, he's a trained seizure-alert dog.
"Cha Cha lays at the foot of her bed and he'll alert us by barking or coming and getting us if she's having a seizure, so we can go and take care of her."
Cha Cha can also detect Gracey's seizures before they start.
Estes says, "we can't tell like a dog. They sense it in their smell. They think that it's their smell or their body change in the child."
Cha Cha never leaves Gracey's side, and because of him, she's able to attend Kindergarten here at Kingston Elementary every day.
"For her to be with regular children in a regular classroom and just experience it all just like any other kid, it's just a wonderful thing."
Gracey's attendant, Charlotte Wilson, says having Cha Cha has cut down on her seizures tremendously, she's only had one in school this year, and Cha Cha brought it to her attention.
Wilson says, "we were sitting and he got up and he came to me and went to her and I was able to take her out of the gym, pick her up, comfort her."
Besides catching her seizures, Cha Cha has helped Gracey come out of her shell.
Estes says, "she's more comfortable. She's more social. I think it's a sense of, it calms her down."
Gracey's teacher, Miss Beth, tells us Cha Cha is never a distraction in class.
She says the students know he's there to work when he has his back-pack on.
Read the story and see the video clip at: http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/15018306.html
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From National Geographic News:"How dogs detect an oncoming seizure in a human is a mystery. Some trainers and researchers think they detect subtle changes in human behavior or scent before an episode occurs. There are no scientific studies, however, to prove these theories. Trainers also believe the behavior is not breed, age or gender specific in dogs. Seizure alert dogs are born with this remarkable ability. This sets them apart from other types of service animals."
Kudos to Liz for her remarkable dog selection, matching and training abilities.
Hailey*, SD
Downs Syndrome Assistance Dog for Child
Hailey's Story, by Liz Norris: Hailey was thrown from a moving car in front of my farm. She was bleeding profusely from the face when I got to her and I feared a broken rib and punctured lung. She was blowing little blood bubbles from her nose...usually not a good sign. After a thorough exam by Dr. King, it was revealed she had a broken jaw, deep laceration of the face from asphalt burn, whiplash from the force of her head twisting her neck on the road and bruising of the face, neck, chest and shoulder area.
For days she lay around and wouldn't eat. Giving her medication was a treat in itself. Neither hotdogs nor cheeseburgers nor peanut butter motivated her. Forcing her to take medication with a fractured jaw was as painful to me as it was for her. Even water intake was an issue. Days upon days marched by as I watched her lay in the little log cabin dog house on my front lawn. She was neither happy nor unhappy. Existing was all I saw. Her eyes were dull, her body language was fearful and she was terrified of my dogs.
Days turned into weeks as I nursed her back to health. We did a lot of massage work and relaxation techniques and finally I started to see some improvement. Stitches came out, her face started to recover and out of this mess emerged a lovely face of a lab. She was very feminine and very sweet. Trust building exercises built this further along.
Finally she was ready for adoption. I wanted her to go to a very special home where she would be valued as the treasure I felt she was. Laurie Moquin in Louisville had a contact that needed a dog for their son. They had recently lost a wonderful dog (black lab) and were in mourning still. The mom felt it might be too soon to bring in another dog.
Once she met the little lady, her whole family seemed to take right to her. The neatest experience was yet to come. A few days passed and the lady contacted Laurie to tell her that they had named the dog Hailey and she was exhibiting behaviors and physical body language of the dog they had lost. They took this as a sign it was meant to be.
Now Hailey lives with her little boy that she cares for. He has Downs Syndrome and is doing well. He loves her dearly and she feels the same. It has been a blessing for all concerned and he talks of, "his" Hailey to anyone that will listen.
Every time I look back on a chain-of-events I am amazed at the way puzzle pieces fall together to make a picture. Being thrown from a car, to a home in Louisville that brought together a very special dog and little boy that needed each other.
I tell my students that there is, "always a pattern"....you just have to look for it to see it. I find myself seeing the same, "pattern" in placing these very special animals. Nothing has happened by coincidence, but happens for a reason and in hindsight with this type of work you can see the pattern and how it came to be.
Hobo*, SD, ThD, CGC
Seizure Alert and Response for a Child
Visit Hobo's website at: www.livingforgrace.com
Update December 2007:
Melorah is doing a great job "working" Hobo. We put her on new
medicine from Europe in August and are seeing improvement in
cognitive and speech. She has started working Hobo by herself in
Sunday School. All the kids want to sit at the table where Melorah
is at because Hobo is underneath. A couple of Sundays ago, I had
left her and Hobo in Kids Worship and Melorah started to have trouble
(no seizures just sensory overload). Hobo came trotting out of the
room and down the hall to find me (I had stepped into another
classroom). Several of the adults that has been in Kids Worship had
followed Hobo to see what he was doing and they were amazed. Once he
found me, he sat down and I said "show me" and he took me right back
to Melorah!
Note about Service Dogs attending theme parks: According to the Department of Justice, service dogs are allowed
access on all rides unless: (1) there requires on alteration of service or nature of the program - in
other words the ride would need to be changed or altered and (2) there is a direct threat or safety issue (ie you wouldn't put a dog on a roller coaster).
Fun (and helpful) update with the "Find" command: October 2007
Hi Liz,
We were in the mall today. Mom took Melorah (the special needs girl that Hobo serves) to the restroom and asked me to take Hobo, so he stayed with me (I was in line to pay). Anyway, I come out of the store and turn to my right, Hobo
turns left. So, I told him to "find Melorah". He went right to her - Mom had taken her to a restroom that was pretty far away and in the opposite direction from where I thought they had gone. It is such a security for us to have Hobo respond to these commands. I love to see how happy he is when he finds her. I can't tell you how many strangers comment on the fact that if Melorah gets out of his range of vision, he hurries to make sure he knows where she is at.
Look for Corabelle, Amelia's Therapy Cat, in the success stories list.
Hobo and Melora's story
Where do I start this story? I guess the best place to start with our daughter Melorah. As an infant, Melorah developed seizures among other health issues. We were told not to worry; she would grow out of them. By the time she was 4, we realized that not only was she not outgrowing them but she was also experiencing regression. We were desperate to help her. Service dogs, specifically seizure response, were mentioned to us. We started on a 5-month quest to find a service dog. The first organization we called wanted $25,000 with no guarantees. So we started looking at every organization we could find. We always ran into a roadblock: they did not work with children, the wait was 2 plus years or it was out of our price range. It was very discouraging to say the least. We decided our next best option was to get a puppy and find a trainer. We called multiple trainers, again with no success. No one wanted the responsibility of training a service dog. So we thought (foolishly) we would train a dog ourselves. Our first step was to find a dog. It was off to petfinder.org to research breeds. We spent hours pouring over the different breeds trying to find the "perfect" one for our daughter. On July 1st, I came across a Border collie mix named Castor.
Castor’s time was up at the shelter when Lori decided to foster him. He was being trained for therapy work; he was already housebroken and loved people. He sounded interesting. Melorah walked by the computer and announced, “I want he” (now remember this is her grammar not mine). It was time to investigate Castor further. We made a few calls, only to find out that his foster family was out of town for the weekend. On July 4th, we received a call from Lori Woodword, Castor’s foster mom. After talking to her about the possibility of using Castor as a service dog, we decided that our next step would be to meet Castor the following evening. We met Castor on July 5th and he has been with us ever since.
Our first step was to catch up to where Castor was in his training. We signed up for classes with Liz Norris. We also realized that Melorah could not say the name Castor. That is how Castor became Hobo. Hobo immediately started bonding with Melorah. Two weeks after we brought Hobo home, he started to raise a fuss early one morning. I went in to Melorah’s room to check on him only to find that Melorah was gray. She had stopped breathing during a seizure. Hobo is the ONLY reason Melorah is alive today. Within the first month, he started to respond to Melorah’s seizures, spent 3 days with her at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, took a road trip to Iowa and Tennessee.
We have now had Hobo a year. Hobo spends his days following Melorah through all her activities. He has started alerting to Melorah’s seizures up to 30 minutes in advance. What an wonderful answer to prayer! Hobo has not only given Melorah confidence during a very difficult time in her life but he has given us comfort to know that there is another pair of eyes (and an all powerful nose!) watching over our daughter. We are so grateful that we were spared making the mistake of trying to choose a dog and train it ourselves. The result would have been disastrous.
Hobo has gone from a dog that no one wanted to one who saves the life of a little girl. This is all due to the tireless efforts of Lori Woodword and Liz Norris who were willing to give a death row dogs a chance.
Hobo's new skill August 2007:
Just wanted to share another Hobo job (we did NOT teach him). Melorah has discovered how to lock the back door. John and I were on the porch; Melorah closed the door and started to turn the lock. Suddenly, Hobo started body blocking her away from the door (so she couldn't lock it). We were pretty amazed.
Jerri Rufus* (fire survivor), ThD
My story starts backwards....I want you to see my new home. Aunt Liz and Aunt Lee Anne found it for me. I decided that I liked my new home. Then I gave my Aunt's kisses goodbye.
Here is my life story...who knows but me and I ain't barkin about it. But I will make it short and sweet. My old owners dumped me and my brother Brenden at an abandoned house. The kids next door did not like us (who knows why.. maybe I was being a Doxie or maybe Bren was) and they caught us, put us in a wire cage and set us on fire. Their neighbors heard us and came to the rescue. From there we were shipped to Doxie Rescue and had to undergo skin grafting in several areas and rehabilitation. It took me the longest as I was burned worse.
As for the boys...well, if you don't have an eye witness, a photo or video, you can't prosecute the, "poor little juvies". Not fair to blame them if you don't catch them in the act even if you KNOW who it was....they had a poor childhood ya know.
Anywho, I lived with my foster mom for many long months. My brother Bren made it out into the adoption world sooner...he was a snot and had aggression issues.....he would flat bite you. Aunt Liz got ahold of him because he was giving our foster mom a lot of grief.. ungrateful little bugger. He was starting fights and the whole pack would jump in on him among other things. But after 2 weeks with Aunt Liz, he was much better and she had always wanted one of our breed, so he got to live with her. I won't tell his story..... that is up to him, but it is thru her that I found this wonderful mom and home I have now.
My new mom is a professional artist and can paint anything and taught art class forever. She has some beautiful work hanging all over the house. I love my home. Really tall ceilings, very 1800's and I really love the balconies! Mom had a Shih Tzu before me and it lived a nice, long life with her. Now mom is getting older and having medical issues and she needed someone the same speed as her. She went out and got a Yorkie pup, but it was very aggressive, hard to train and work with, and after spending a fortune on it, Aunt Liz talked her into giving it to PUPT for rehoming (Aunt Liz fixed it first) and then I was recommended to take it's place. She loved me on site and the rest as they say is history.
Many thanks for the wonderful people who helped make this all possible for mom and me!
PUPT members, Sandra Stokley (my foster mom in Somerset), Liz Norris, Lori Woodward and Lee Anne West (my very own groomer)
About the breed: Want a fun, clever, playful, lively companion .... then adopt a, "Doxie". Easily bored with repetition training (Sit, Sit, Sit, Down, Down, Down...Hey, how many times do you really want me to do this...cause I am done and outa here!) Wonderful city or apartment pets, but can live in any surroundings. Watch out for poorly bred Dachshunds, which can cause many medical issues or make them aggressive (biters) so get him temperament tested first.
Mist*, SD
Seizure Alert and Response for a Child
Abby, an 18 month old girl with seizure disorders, had been with her Service Dog Mist for less than a week when Mist started working for her.
The family picked Mist up on a Monday. By Tuesday Mist had "alerted" to something with Abby, but it was thankfully not a seizure, more amazingly was what she alerted to.....she was licking the child all over from head to toes...sniffing all over her, and kept going to her face and licking/sniffing her on one side.
Mom became frantic thinking it was a seizure alert, pulled the baby up and looked at her....the child had swelling under her eye and tear duct drainage...Mist had alerted to a health issue. Sinus infection starting. (Butch the beagle in Louisville is doing the same thing. Though both are slated as seizure alert dogs, they are also alerting to medical issues in both children and are telling the parents the child is sick way before the parent knows it.)
Liz asked the mom if she had any doubt that Mist had truly alerted to a medical condition in her daughter Abby...she said, "absolutely not." If you had seen it you would have known it too. Mist had a whole different body language and approach to her than when Abby is fine and she was very insistent.
Mist was placed with Abby in late winter 2007. In just a couple of months, Mist has alerted to the medical conditions that usually lead to Abby's seizures - so Mist has actually prevented several seizures from occurring because they were able to get preventative medical treatment in time. Most recently, Mist signaled to the mom when Abby was not breathing normally. Good dog, Mist!
You can read the news article about this family's hope for a Service Dog. Yes, their prayers have been answered.
http://www.bannergraphic.com/story/1287764.html
Woogie (RIP), ThD, CGC
November 2007: RIP Woogie
This dog earned his, "Angel Wings & Halo Award" while on this earth......I wonder what he is wearing now? Woogie was an amazing life force and he was all, "heart" as those of us who had met him knew. Hew was a very special boy. Laura was blessed to share the time she had with him and he was blessed to have the life he deserved...finally when she adopted him. - Liz
Love cannot be seen or heard: The Story of Woogie, ThD and CGC
Woogie's Story:
Just wanted to tell you that I am happy to be adopted from the Lexington Humane Society and doing just great in my new home! I've been here for almost five months now!! The rest of the canine gang that lives here is tolerating me pretty well...given that I can't pick up on the "doggie" body language and signals. I don't have accidents in the house and I learned the floorplan within just a few days, even out in the big backyard, too!!! I know just how far I can go there and run like crazy without hitting a tree, the porch or the fence!! I also know exactly where the biscuit can is! My "parents" tell me I am soooooo smart!!!
The first few days, I was pretty anxious and nervous ... but they slept beside me for the first few nights just so they could reach out and touch me when I awoke and started to cry. When I felt their touch, I knew I was safe and could lie down again ...... and after a week, I was sleeping just fine through the night, right beside the bed. Such a brave boy am I!
Mom & Dad (Bill & Laura Nordan) tell me every day just how much they love me and how I've blessed their lives! That's the way I feel about all of you at LHS..... you gave me a chance at a new life when most others would have considered placing me as too hopeless a task. But you didn't and your efforts helped me find my new life.
You know, even though I'm blind and deaf, I can sense the love they have for me in the way they stroke my head and hold me close ... kindness and caring can be "felt" in many ways. I don't have to hear their voices to know it, or see the way they smile at me when I smack my head into a door frame! My tail is wagging all the time. I get to go on long walks, camping trips with their Civil War reenactments (everyone is amazed that gunshots and cannons bother me not, and I'll never tell my secret:) and now I have a job.
Mom took me to get my CGC (Canine Good Citizenship testing) and my therapy title tonight. I am officially Woogie Nordan, CGC, ThD. Now I can visit nursing homes, children's centers, schools and all the other cool places therapy dogs can go!!!!!!!!
It's no secret, though, that my new family is happy that I will be with them for the rest of my life. It will be a long and happy one and I thank you for that gift. Keep up the good work you guys do there! You truly do save lives. May God bless and keep all of you.
Love always,
"Woogie" Nordan
P.S. If you're wondering how I passed my obedience test ..... Sit means a hand on top of my butt, Down means a hand on my shoulder area, Heel is easy due to my unusual disabilities (tend to naturally do that to know exactly where mom is so she can help me walk thru an area) and yes, I do this on flat collar and loose leash, meeting and greeting other dogs is a non-issue for me as I am very friendly and my sense of smell works perfectly (as my perfect Recall attest to...mom can come outside and I smell her scent and come to her....from a distance, I can recall on a leash to her scent by the vibration from the leash that tells me she is wanting me to move towards her). Mom going out-of-site for 3 minutes is a non issue. I love strangers and will stay right with them until mom is back and I don't cry for her at all. Grooming is awesome and I'll let anyone run comb over me and yes, I can tell a friendly stranger is ready to pet me by the scent of their approach and mom asking for a Sit and then they pet me all over as I wiggle and wag. Best of all....no one knew I was a "physically challenged K-9" until the test was way over and I had met everyone and then Liz (my evaluator) told them. The whole group was floored. Not one of them had picked up on it even while I was being petted and loved on and tested:)
There are no limitations in life....there is what you choose to do and what you choose not to do....and I choose to live life to the fullest.
About Woogie's Past: His owner during his first two years used him to breed - sad, since his deafness and blindness are genetic defects - deafness from the white coloring (per the vet) and hypoopthalmia (small, underdeveloped eyes). He decided he didn't want him anymore and surrendered him to LHS. The adult children of this man found out and called LHS and said they would come and get him. LHS went ahead and neutered him (praise God!!) and the family never came for him (again!! thank God!!). LHS decided to place him for adoption as a special needs canine since he'd already been neutered. His picture and story were forwarded to his current owner by Mark Kindred at Wolf Run - and the rest is history.
Update from Woogie's Owner:
Lori and Venus and Woogie and I went to the mental health center in Paris and visited the adults and kids sections two weeks ago.
There was one young man, about 15 or 16, that was there. He was sitting on the floor and Woogie nosed over to him and then swung his butt around to try to sit in his lap. I told the boy that Woogie wanted to sit in his lap, and he allowed him to do so.
The boy then stretched out on the floor on his back and Woogie laid right on top of him with all four draped over the sides and proceeded to give him a facial. The boy put his arms around him and just let him go to town. The boy seemed pleased that Woogie liked him and felt comfortable enough to lie on top of him and be friendly. [It turns out that the boy was special too. No one said anything to us while we were there and there must have been about 10 adult counselors present during the visit.] Strange isn't it, that Woogie would pick that one out of a bunch of about a dozen or more kids that were sitting on the floor.
More Therapy Visits:
Dear Liz,
Woogie went on a nursing home visit at Halloween and he dressed up in costume. Also, the visit we had last Friday to the public middle school in Elizabethtown (Hardin Co) went great.
We visited 3 classes for an hour each: the first was for a class of deaf and hearing impaired kids, the second was a group of moderate to severe mentally handicapped kids (autism, cerebral palsy, etc) and the third was a larger group of kids with mild mental/physical conditions (ie. Down's syndrome, learning disabilities, etc). They all loved having a dog visit.
I was surprised at how well Woogie handled the PAINFUL grabbing of his tail, face, ears, paws and whatever else she could reach by one autistic child of about 12 yrs. I had to keep pulling her off him and telling her to "be nice" - but the Woogster just laid there and didn't make a peep or try to jerk away. He usually will try to move quickly away when he's hurt by someone he doesn't know.
-Laura
Zandra*, ThD, CGC
This beautiful Australian Shepherd was a breeder placement. Originally purchased for showing by a family, she was returned to the breeder at the age of 15 months. Instead of training her, they put her in the backyard for destructive behavior in the house. She then proceeded to excavate their backyard and formed Zandra's Excavation Company.
I was teaching obedience classes in Lexington, Kentucky at the time Zandra became available. Her breeder was in my class and we had talked about her dogs several times. I was interested in adding to my furbies and I wanted this breed.
Though my primary breed of choice is the Alaskan Malamute, I have never been a, "one breed" person. When Zandra came home with me, my little man, Shawnee (Alaskan Malamute) was very sick. He had just turned 4 years old and recently diagnosed with bone cancer. I was in the final stage of hospice care for him. I had lost his father the summer before and my prize female a month earlier. Needless to say it had not been a good time frame for me.
When Zandra arrived she was a shy little thing and would peek out at the other dogs from behind me. She was very insecure with men and tended to gear more to women. Kids she was not sure about at all. She watched them like one would observe foreign creatures from another planet. Her exposure to different environments and things had been very limited. I began taking her out and about immediately and socializing her to everything I could convince her to get near. A male student of mine told me (years later) that when I introduced Zandra to the class as my next, "therapy and class demo dog" he told his wife on the way home that I had, "lost my mind" and, "that aussie" was a, "nut case".
Shawnee had been staying in his little doghouse a lot that week and I was pretty sure we were nearing the end of the trail. When she bounced out of the car, he came out to greet her. I was thrilled because it was the most interest he had shown in anything all week. He woowoooed at her and tried to kiss her ears and play. The next day he was still responding to her. That was on a Thursday and by Monday I had to let my little man go. He went quietly at home surrounded by family and love. It was a great loss to me both in heart and soul.
I thought about Zandra and how much comfort she had given Shawnee in those few days together and how sweet she was. I decided that if she meant that much to Shawnee she needed to stay with me for her lifetime. She became a beloved member of my family and went on to earn her therapy title, CGC and UKC-CD in quick fashion.
Today she works in K-9 & Kid Safety Programs in the local schools, goes to nursing homes and works with the K-9 & Kid READ program. She is full of life, always happy and loves showing of her tricks. It is hard to believe anyone would give this dog up for any reason. She was the perfect combination of beauty and brains with a neat sense of humor.......at least from my perspective.
Zandra has brought much joy and happiness to a lot of people, but most of all she has brought more than that to me. Over the past years some of her best therapy work has been for mom. She is one awesome little lady and a jewel among furbies.
-Liz Norris
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