Lost My First Patient. God this is hard....

My patient, Steve, passed away this morning. Sorry for the sad message. But this is the first patient that I've lost. Steve was the best patient in the world to visit. My mom made him this get well card (pictures of it below) yesterday that we were going to give him tomorrow after our Pediatrics visit. We never got to give it to him. I only saw him two days ago and he seemed to be doing fine. Sickness can do that, though. It never really reveals its ugly head. And we never really know what is wrong with someone when we visit them. And we don't ask. I know it's a hard lesson to learn. My mom is really upset. But I know the times we shared together with Steve and his wife Joyce were special. We lifted their spirits and took their minds off the sad moments about to come. He obviously was much sicker than he looked, but we didn't know that. I just hung with him and put my head on his chest or stomach. And the last visit, which was on Wednesday, he was sitting in a big chair beside the bed, smiling with both legs up, crossed with his feet resting on the bed, so the only way I could touch him was to curl up and put my head on his feet/ankle area, so that's what I did. And he LOVED it. He was singing to me...."Josie! Josie!" as he fed me a whole bag of treats! We had a great visit and I got to meet his daughter Kelly. (she's really pretty!) I waved "Good-Bye" to him and my mom kissed him good-bye and we said we would see him on Saturday. Well, we actually said we'd see him tomorrow, meaning Thursday, but then we got a call from Joyce on Thursday saying he was rushed into ICU for a Biopsy early Thursday morning. So when I spoke with Joyce Thursday afternoon, she said to hold off on our visit and come visit him on Saturday after our Pediatric visit. My mom called today to see how he was doing and that's when we got the sad news. Like I said, my mom is really upset. But I tell her to focus on the good times. And that his family was probably a lot more prepared for his passing than we were. God Speed Steve! I'm glad we got to meet you. Now you get to be with all your Furbabies that went to the Rainbow Bridge. We love you and are going to miss you more than you know. Much Love. We love you!

Finally......THE PUSSYCATS!!!!

Josie's Pussycats

After having many of you request to see the Pussycats (thank you, btw for the interest) here are some pictures for you to enjoy! Okay, so from the top down we have Mizzen, whom I rescued when I worked at a printing plant. She was pregnant and only weighed in at 7 pounds. Two days after I took her in, she gave birth to three healthy kittens. It was my first and only experience with birthing something. It was awesome. We raised the kittens until they were 12 weeks old. Got them all their shots and made sure they were all socialized and healthy and found them all very good indoor homes. Then came the time to find her a home. Well, my husband and I just couldn't do it. We were so attached to her. And now she follows my husband everywhere he goes in the house to the point of cute annoyance. It makes me laugh, but he's constantly saying "Mizzen, cut that out!" or "Mizzen, can you move so I can see my computer screen." LOL. She also does this one thing with her face we call "Puffy Face" where she squints her eyes and puffs her face up. We love her so much. She is still only 7 pounds.

After Mizzen, we have Miss Sophia Loren, Sophie for short. She is a beauty. Pictures just don't do her justice. Sophie just showed up on our doorstep. We tried to find out who she belonged to by putting flyers up, but no one claimed her. Then one day we got a phone call from someone who said they knew who she belonged too. So we contacted them and they said, "Oh yeah, she's been missing for weeks. You have her?" So by law, we had to return her, so I did, crying. It was about 3 blocks from us. It was a Friday night and I was miserable, because I was attached to her by then. So I didn't feel like cooking, so we ordered take-out. When the food arrived, my husband was saying, really strangely "you can come in...it's okay" and I was thinking, "why is my husband talking like that?" So I walked over to the door and in comes Sophie and I pick her up and hug her. It was about 4 hours after I returned her to her owner. Now mind you, we live in a town where you cannot let your cats outside. It's against the law. No outside cats. So I looked at her and my husband and said, "I guess she's ours now!" She sleeps on my pillow every night and that was 4 years ago. Love my Sophie. And as you can see, Josie LOVES Sophie too. They sleep together every chance they get.

Then I put in one picture of my BELOVED Dakota. Dakota went to the Rainbow Bridge in 2005 at the age of 18. I will NEVER get over that loss. That's all I need to say about that. I know all your cat/animal/dog lovers out there understand where I am coming from. Love you Dakota. I had Dakota since he was 8 weeks old.

Then we have Ripken, who too, went to the Rainbow Bridge in 2008. He was the sweetest, biggest, lovable cat. And yes, he was named after Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles. Rippy will be missed forever too. I had Ripken since he was 5 weeks old. His best bud was Mr. Big who is the next kitty in the photo list.

Mr. Big (yes, named after Sex and the City) because he looks like he's wearing a tux. He greets everyone at the door. We rescued Mr. Big after Dakota passed after visiting a shelter and seeing him. He was 10 years old and in the shelter for 10 months. I thought to myself, "this poor kitty is going to get put down because everyone is going to keep passing him up for kittens or younger cats." So I told my husband about him and we went back and adopted him. I also heard that the original owners just left him in the house they sold and moved out of and the Humane Society found them and fined them $1000 dollars. I hope it's true.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Pussycat pictures and their stories. I could have told longer versions, but I tried to keep it short. I have a lifetime to tell you more.

One quick note, one of my patients that I visit, Steve, is having a biopsy today, so can you all say a prayer for him. There's strength in numbers and the more prayers the better. Thanks and Much Love to you all.

Also, Thank You to everyone who has been following me and has visited my blog. I am trying hard to keep you interested and coming back for more. And I am trying to visit all of your blogs too. Again Much Love, because you can never have enough....

Dog-Mas and a Hospital Visit on Tuesday

First day back since turning three. Thank you everyone for all the Birthday wishes. I took the day off to play with my owner and relax. Chew some bones and eat some peanut butter. Boy, do I love peanut butter. So does my Uncle Dave. LOL!

I wanted to share a Dog-Ma from a book a received from a friend of mine named Sharon for Christmas. It's called "Dog-Mas: Simple Truths from a Wise Pet" as reveled to Bill Zimmerman.

"Greet each day with hope and expectation.
Wipe from your memory an hurt or slight from the day before.
By doing so, you set a good example for your humans."

Isn't that a great quote? I just love that. ;-)

(mean people suck and they can hurt you pretty deep. But it is good to remember that each day is a new day, don't you think so!)

Okay now, well, back to my Tuesday Hospital visit on January 26th. We visited the Telemetry Floor. We like to start on the highest floor of the hospital beginning of the week and work our way down, so by the end of the week, we have usually covered the whole hospital. We really are only supposed to do one hour of Volunteer hour a month. But I can't help but do more. Once you get in there and you see people straining to see the dog walking the hallway, you just gotta stop in each room and ask if they want a visit. Also I told you I would post some pictures of me in my vest. Sorry about the quality, but it's hard to do hospitals visits carrying around a nice huge camera, so we had to settle using our little Olympus that we slipped in my mommy's pocket.

So when we go to the Telemetry Floor, first we visited the Nurses and there was one Surgeon there too. He was quite smitten with Josie. That was fun. After asking permission from the Charge Nurse to visit the rooms, we were on our way down the hall way. Our first room was eager for us to enter. We were met with two sets of smiles. One from the patient, Fran and one from her daughter, Caroline who was visiting her mom. I laid Josie's blanket down on the bed and Josie jumped right up and laid down next to Frances. We visited and talked and you could tell Frances completely forgot where she was. Her face lit up and she just pet Josie the whole time smiling as she did so. Again, Josie did her customary "good-bye" wave and we went on to visit more patients.

The whole night was like that. We met one patient after another who was so happy for a visit from Josie. They always say "Thank you for doing this." And I always answer "It's our pleasure."

One man, Ron and his daughter Nancy, were pretty funny. Ron was eating some vanilla ice cream. He as actually sitting on the side of the bed. So I brought Josie into the room and after asking the usually questions and placing her blanket, she was up on the bed next to Ron, just staring at him eating his ice cream. Not moving a muscle. Just staring. His daughter Nancy thought that was so funny. She commented that their dog would never survive such a trial. Josie just laid there and watched him eat his ice cream, never making a move for the ice cream, and SHE LOVES vanilla ice cream. I was very proud of her. I just told her to "leave it!"

One of the things you train for in Pet Therapy Classes is leaving food or pills alone on command. And Josie was one of the worst in her class, in the beginning, that is. But as I worked with her, she got much better. And as time has gone by, she gotten MUCH better. There have been many times we have visited patients, and they deliver lunch for dinner, and she will just lie there and sleep and snuggle with the patient.

When we were done in Telemetry, I was going to leave, so we got in the elevator and I pushed "G" for the Ground Floor, and as fate had it, it opened on the First Floor, so I figured let me go to Oncology (which is on the First Floor). Well, I'm so happy we did. First, I went to go visit the Nurses and say hello.

If you read my earlier Posts (Re: Back to Our Hospital Visits), I mentioned about a whole family who was visiting a young man that we stopped in to visit a couple of times, well he was still there. Unfortunately, his white blood cell counts were low and I couldn't visit with Josie, but I did pop my head into his room to say we were thinking of him and wish him "Love and Good Wishes" and to "Get Well Soon!" Josie needs to make a Get Well Card for him. We do that for "special patients" from time to time. His fiance was in the room with him. They all smiled when they saw Josie at the door. But with low white blood cell counts, I cannot let her in the room.

So I went back to the Nurses station to see if any other patients would benefit from a Josie visit. So one of the Nurses went to check on a patient Taylor and she actually came back to the station with him. He had his I.V. and everything. I told him I could come to his room and have Josie visit with him there. And he explained that if I did that, that Josie would be going home with him. That's how much he loves dogs. I laughed. I understand. I gave him some doggie treats and he fed them to Josie. He smiled huge smile and I had Josie do some tricks for him. I told him I would stop by tomorrow and have him come out again to visit with Josie and he said that would be fantastic.

And the night ended on a very good note. Then one of the Nurses said, "I have one more patient for you to visit" and she led Josie and myself down the hall and she opened the door to a room and there was a patient who I knew, Steve. Steve was the patient (also mentioned in the earlier Post: Back To Our Hospital Visits) whose wife intercepted me and asked me to visit him when he was Respiratory. Josie had visited him back in late Nov/early Dec, I believe. Anyway, I was SOOO happy to see Steve. I said, "I've been looking for you! But I was hoping you were released and went home." And he said, "No, not me" Turns out he's fighting a few things, but I believe he's going to get better soon. He looks good and boy, did he perk up when he saw Josie. Just like our last visit, he started patting the bed and said " Come 'on Josie! Up! Up!" and up on the bed she went, after I laid her blanket down, of course. Took her a few minutes to get used to the breathing bag he had on his face for oxygen. Josie's funny that way. Anything new, she has to check out. Then once she does, she settles in. By a few minutes into the visit, she had her head resting on Steve's lap all comfy and cute, sleeping. Steve was petting her, all cute too. Then his wife, Joyce arrived, and as she walked through the door she says, "Ahhh!!! We have Josie and the Pussycats visiting us! You found us!!!" She was so happy to see Josie there. It was so apparent. I ended up staying for about 45 minutes talking with them. What a nice couple they are. I promised them I would definitely visit them again tomorrow.

It's really hard not to get attached to certain people. Especially the ones you see night after night. If you see someone one night and you come back and they've gone home. Well, at least you know you did your job and cheered them up and they are feeling better and got to go home. But, for a patient like Steve, who is there for more than a week or two. Well, you just want to help them. You want to fix them somehow. And the only way I know how to do that is to visit them with Josie and lift their spirits, cheer them up, take their mind off their sickness or the disease they are fighting. Give them hope. Make them laugh and smile. Share a story or two. Be their friend. And I don't take it lightly. I give all of that whole heartedly and so does Josie. She gives 200% of her doggie heart. And it's all volunteer work.

Now for all of you who are are asking for photos of the Pussycats...come back tomorrow as I will have pictures and a story posted of all the Pussycats for you to see and read about. Meow..


But for now....Much Love and Woof Woof!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSIE!!!

HAPPY 3RD 
BIRTHDAY JOSIE!
I guess that means in dog years she's legal to drink! LOL. I got out of work an hour early and am going to take her for a walk since it rained "like cats and dogs" all day today. I also wanted to put some cute baby pictures up for those of you who wanted to see her growth over the past 3 years. That's ALWAYS fun, eh? As my British Columbia Vancouver friends would say, eh? LOL! The first photo is the day we adopted her, April Fool's day 2007. And then there are a few more pictures of her first year. I will post more in upcoming blogs, but I can't post them all at once. Just look at that puppy belly. It's just calling to be kissed. God, I miss that puppy belly. I used to give her raspberries all the time, well, I have to admit, I still give her raspberries on her belly!! In the one picture, she's sleeping with her best buddy Sophie. Pictures of the Pussycats coming soon. And as you can see, the famous ears are doing their own thing. What until I post a few where they are both going out to the sides. Talk about the awkward months. Just like a teenager.








Please leave comments to wish Josie a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
That is, if you can. ;-)  Much love to you all!

Pediatrics and Germany! What a Great Day!!

We had a Pediatric visit today, Saturday, January 23. But first just a quick note about the photo. This morning, Josie was lying on our guest bed looking out the window and the sun was shining in on her. And the contrast of the orange and pink against her black fur was just gorgeous. I tried to capture it with my camera, but I'm not sure I did it justice.

So back to our visit to Pediatrics. We had a visit at 1:30. It went very well. One little girl, Jennifer, really thought Josie's ears were the best. She just kept playing with her one "up" ear and giggling. Her mother is scared of dogs ( because she was bitten by a dog as a child), but Jennifer kept looking at her mother and saying "touch the dog, touch the dog" really slowly. It was funny. But her mother just kept looking at Josie and kept her distance. She warmed up to Josie at the end of the visit, but I kept Josie a safe distance from her to respect the fact that she had a fear of dogs. I had a really nice talk with Jennifer. She was a really nice, cute kid.

All-in-all, I believe we visited about 11 children. They were all very special in their own way.

The really neat thing about visiting the kids in Peds is that the child can be hooked up to all kinds of machines, but as soon as they see Josie walk in the room, they just smile a huge smile. A lot of times the child gets quiet and just bonds with her, but sometimes the child starts to talk a lot and gets really excited and we just talk about all different kinds of things. What they like to do, do they have pets at home, anything really. Like talking to your kid sister or brother or niece or nephew. And all the time, they are petting Josie. Then when we leave, Josie does her signature "good-bye wave". Everyone loves that. I can always tell when Josie is getting tired by how enthusiastic she is with her wave. It's my meter.

The visits to Pediatrics only happen once a week. The hospital has to have the parents sign a release form or permission form that the Therapy Dog can visit the child, since the child is under 18 years of age. Also, on any of my visits to the hospital, I am not allowed to take any photographs of the patients with Josie. I have taken pictures of Josie with Nurses and Doctors. But this Blog is more about how we cheer people up and about Josie than the people themselves.

I would like to post a picture of Josie in her little Therapy Vest though. I will do that soon.

Now about the Germany comment. And I've been meaning to talk about this. But I've just started this Blog and there is just so much to say, but just so little time to type.

We first started visiting the hospital back in October 2009. In November, We were in Oncology and visited a patient named John and his wife Gertrude, whom Josie and I got very attached too. We visited John and Gert almost every day until he left the hospital right before Christmas and went into a Rehab Center. John would ask for Josie almost every day. They are the most amazing couple. I will write more on them later. All I wanted to write today was that John got out of Rehab in January and I was able to go visit them at their house after the visit to Pediatrics yesterday which was really nice. I did so, because Gert's brother and sister-in-law and her cousin were in from Germany and I wanted to meet them. And they were leaving today. Like I said, more about them in another entry.

Spread the love! It's catchy! Oh tomorrow is Josie's birthday......

Hospital Visit on Thursday Night

Well, after stopping by Petco and getting some Josie supplies, I decided to go to the hospital and check on a patient, Donna. That was the mother who was on the the surgical floor whose family was with her. Not sure what exactly was wrong with her. I never ask. It's not my business. We're only there to cheer them up, take their minds off why they are there. But we did visit her and her family two nights in a row and they were very receptive to Josie and she really perked up when Josie was lying next to her on her bed. So I decided to check on her to see how she was doing. Well, her husband Fred and one of their daughters Carol were there and they were very excited to see Josie walk into the room. Once I laid down Josie's blanket and got her up on the bed with Donna, Fred and Carol couldn't wait to present some doggie bones and treats they had picked up for Josie hoping we would visit again. How sweet of them!! I was so touched. I mean, here we are visiting them to cheer them up. It's their mom who is sick and they go out of their way to go to the pet store to pick up some treats for Josie. If that doesn't show how Josie effects people. She just lights up the room with her doggie smile and her funny ears. One ear up and one ear down. I was so, so appreciative. I hugged them both and thanked them so much. Then proceeded to sit with them and Donna for about an hour and we laughed the whole time we were there. Josie just laid with Donna while she pet Josie the whole time. It's total magic. I explained that I had a Pediatrics visit on Saturday, so I would check in with them later in the day on Saturday. They thanked Josie again for the visit and I thanked them for the gifts and we got home about 8:30. What a great night. Get well Donna! She should be going home by Sunday. That's great news. She said Josie definitely helped with her recovery. Awesome!! Keep spreading the love. It's very catchy.

Back to our Hospital Visits

Well, after being sick with Strep Throat and Sinusitis the last two weeks in December (talk about timing for the holidaze) we finally are up to going back to the hospital. Our first trip back was Saturday, January 16th to visit Pediatrics. WHAT A GREAT VISIT!! Susi and PJ (that's a picture of PJ up above) joined us too. We were there for 2 hours and boy, did it feel good to be back. Josie was beaming and doing her best to cheer up the kids. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing her lying on the bed with a little one and watching them pet her and seeing the child's eye's light up with excitement. They really seem to forget they are in a hospital. One little girl we visited, was so funny. We let both dogs, PJ and Josie, up on the bed and we made a sandwich out of the little girl. Meaning one dog on one side and one dog on the other. You could tell the little girl was in heaven. Her mom took a video of the scene on her phone. What's weird is it's not exhausting at all. Josie and I could do it for hours. As soon as Josie sees me get my blue volunteer jacket, she perks up and starts heading for the door. It's so cool.

Then on Sunday, after loads of laundry, we headed out to the hospital again. This time, Josie and I hit the Telemetry Floor, one of the Surgical Floors (there are 2 of them), and the Oncology Floor. We met a young man in Oncology who missed his dog so much. So we stayed with him for about 1/2 an hour. It was pretty funny though. I went to Oncology and asked the Charge Nurse if she knew of any patients that I could visit. They had been very busy that day. The young man's sister heard me ask and asked if I could visit with him. So I asked the Charge Nurse if that would be okay. She said "Yes". So I walked with her to see her brother. When she opened the door there were about 15 people in the room. Talk about love. I could feel the love for this young man. Boy did he smile when he saw Josie. She got up on the bed and laid next to him and they both fell asleep. I said I would come back tomorrow. Which I did.

So on Monday, which was a holiday, I wasn't off work, but I took a mental health day. Then work called and woke me up. Typical, you know. I helped them over the phone. By then, it was 1:00, so I decided to take a shower and get to the hospital for a visit. Josie had been sleeping right next to me all morning like the lovebug she always is. So we got to the Hospital about 3:00. Which was great because we could visit with some of the day staff. See, I usually get there after 4:00. Most of the day staff, leave by 4:30 and I don't usually see them, but since I got there early, I got to see them. I stopped in to see the Volunteer Office staff. Woof! Woof! Which I love to do. And I got to stop in to see the Daytime Mother/Baby Nurses which I also love to do. Hey, Nurses need Pet Therapy too. Whenever I visit a floor, I always visit the nurses or residents/doctors. Never neglect your Nurses! Or Doctors...or staff for that matter. Then we proceeded to a different Surgical Unit than the other day. Well, we had an absolutely fabulous visit. We did not get out of there until 7:30. I met a Vietnam War Vet Charlie, who was so happy to see us. He was loving Josie. I met a whole family hanging around their mom, who was so excited to see Josie. I met these two guys in one room Nick and George who were so much fun, I almost forgot I was in a hospital. Nick was so enamored with Josie, he was kissing her and hugging her, and she just sat there and grinned and gave love back to Nick. I got to hear stories about their dogs at home and they called their wives so they could tell them they had a Therapy Dog in their room with them. They were so happy that I came by with Josie. The Charge Nurse came in and said, "We were just talking about you and hoping you'd be visiting soon." How's that for timing?

We also visited on Tuesday night too. That night we visited the Diabetic/Metabolic Unit. Again, a very successful rewarding visit. Josie spreading the love wherever she goes. I would say 99.9% of the time people want her to visit. I just knock on the door and say "Hi, would you like a visit from a Pet Therapy Dog?". Sometimes the people light up instantly and say "OH YES". Those are the best. But sometimes, people are like "Dog? What?" and I have to repeat myself and make myself clear and I point to Josie and then they light up. But there is always the .1% that says "Oh No Thank You." or "I'm not a dog person." and I completely respect and understand that decision and I move on. But I always give everyone a chance.

Two really neat things happened this week. Well more than two, but two standout moments happened. One was when I was walking out of Oncology one day. I ran into a woman, who I had visited her husband in early December, who was now in Respiratory. She asked me if I had a second to please come visit him with Josie. I said "of course!" So we did. As soon as we turned the corner and he saw Josie he started making room for Josie on the bed motioning for her to jump on the bed, which she did and snuggled right up next to him. Her husband was sooooo happy to see her. He actually took off his breathing apparatus. His wife looked at him and then me and said, "He NEVER takes that off for ANYONE!!" Then she just smiled. I gave him a business card with Josie's picture on it and he said he owned a barber shop and was going to put it on the wall in the barber shop for all to see. How nice is that???

The other neat thing that happened was when Susi and I were leaving on Saturday, we ran into some people waiting by the inpatient section on the first floor. And I met a woman whose husband I had visited in early December on one of the Surgical Floors. He was doing quite well. He had taken a turn for the worse now and was in ICU. She remembered me and Josie and told me this and I told her I could go visit him in ICU if she liked. I have done that before, gone into ICU to visit certain patients. But she told me he was too sedated. So I gave her one of my business cards and told her to call me when she wanted me to visit him either in ICU or when he got into a regular room. What was so great was I could see that when she saw Josie, it was good for her, at that moment. And it gave her some hope too. I actually have been running into her every day since and even though her husband is still very sedated, he has been getting better. I'm hoping I get a call from her soon. Or that one of the times I run into her, I can go visit her husband.

Well, I think I've blogged enough. I have to get the hang of this. Maybe I should blog more often, but at least I've got something to say.

Spread some love. It's catchy!

Finally some snow!!!!

On Friday, December 18, 2009 we were blessed with a beautiful snowstorm. Although, it prevented us from attending Snyder's Christmas party), it was also the same night as Glen Burtnik's Xmas Xtravaganza in Red Bank, but it sure provided some great snow. We built a beautiful fire and watched the snowfall all night long. Josie had a blast playing in the snow all weekend and I thought I'd share some photos I took of her. I also threw in a couple of artsy shots too. Just for fun. The rosebud was so cool to find on my rose bush. That was the rose bush I planted for my kitty Dakota who passed away 4 years ago when he was 18 years old. Guess it's his way of saying he's still with me. Love you Dakota. The birdhouse is one of many that I painted. I hadn't taken them in yet and just thought it was so cute with the snow top. The rest are of Josie enjoying the snow. Hope you enjoy them!!!

The arrival of my puppy into my life...she has changed my life forever. How great is that?

As I child I was always lucky enough to grow up around all kinds of animals. I always had a cat (there were many, but only one at a time) and a beautiful German Shepherd named Hans. All of them, to this day, still hold a special place in my heart. But, nothing could prepare me for the love that I was about to encounter when my husband and I rescued a little puppy named Cassandra, who we quickly renamed Josie. We decided on Josie, because when we got her, we already had a family of 3 rescued cats, so in our home we have “Josie and the Pussycats”.

Josie and her brother and sisters were the products of two farm dogs in the Myrtle Beach area and she was the last of a litter of 5 puppies up for adoption on Mustardsandwich.net to find a home. Her picture was blurry and I wasn’t sure if she really had Border Collie in her (like they claimed), but I had quite a few good phone conversations with the woman who ran the rescue and had rescued the litter and felt she was caring for them exceptionally well.

My donation to adopt Josie went not only to have her delivered to my door, but also to have the parent dogs neutered and spayed, so I had no problems with the monetary donation to adopt her. And, remember, I still had not even met Josie.

On April 1st, 2007, she was hand delivered to our home at 1:00 in the afternoon. I will never forget that moment. She was 8 weeks old. She was sleeping as she was placed in my arms. She was calm. And she was so beautiful. She opened her eyes and met mine and my husband’s, sighed and went back to sleep. We never once had any potty accidents with her. She doesn’t bark or growl. She is the most loving, sweet, gentle, smart, sensitive dog and she rescued me and my husband. And she has the cutest ears ever. One ear up, one ear down.

Because of her, my life has opened up into a whole new world where I give my time voluntarily and I belong to a group of wonderful people called the Furry Angels. I have met some people I know I can call them BFF’s already. And they have dogs I love dearly who are just as kind and loving as their owners. When I bring her on her Therapy visits, she always makes people smile. She loves going on visits and is the consummate Therapy Dog, but she is always learning and can always improve. And so can I and we will do this together, we are a team. I love sharing her with people. And she loves being with people.

It has only been almost 3 years since she came into my life, but I cannot imagine my life without her. I plan on spending every moment I can with her because unfortunately these Furry Angels don’t live as long as us humans. Besides my husband, she is my soul mate....only wrapped in fur.