Fay walked out of the restaurant with the leftovers in a bag. Only a few more days left in a small town on the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta Mexico, she pondered as to what to do with the few days she had left before going back home. As she continued walking to her hacienda, she came across a dog huddled by the wall of a building. It was scared, skinny, and uncertain of how Fay would react to her.
Fay took out her left overs from the restaurant and began giving it to the dog while stroking her head to show love and kindness.
She started on her way home and noticed that the dog was following her. She didn’t quite know what to think of it and thought the dog would eventually walk away. But it didn’t. It followed her right into where Fay was staying and right into her heart.
Fay took the dog to the vet in Puerto Vallarta, got the necessary paperwork, shots and whatever else the dog needed and decided to bring her home to Calgary. She named the dog Luna because of finding her at night while the beautiful moon was out.
Coming home to Calgary, Fay quickly realized that she thought with her heart and not her head and needed to find Luna a proper home where Luna wouldn’t be attacked by a cat named Sam that was living there as well. She felt it wasn’t fair for either of them to have a life where nobody got along.
That is where I come in. Fay and I are friends and she told me about her story with Luna. My first meeting with Luna and I was in love. I had a 17 year old toy poodle named Maggie at the time, and when Luna was introduced to her, she was kind and tender and knew that Maggie‘s time was short.
Just recently I had to put my beautiful little girl down. My Maggie was my life for 17 years and the pain was excruciating to my heart. Luna was there for me, licking my face and sitting near to me. I know that she was rescued from Mexico, but the person that was rescued, was me.
I hear stories about human and dog connections such as this on a daily basis in our therapy dog world. It may have been the Emergency doctor who nearly lost a patient and needed a hug with Squid the gentle black lab or the senior in the Strathmore residence who missed his own dog and longed for the weekly visits with Rain, the multi-talented border collie or the child in elementary school who gained confidence through spending time with Bruno.
Good therapy dogs can be an amazing ice-breakers. They are unjudgmental and love human contact. They may not replace humans altogether but they sure do help. Last week I wrote about Tom and his dachshunds. In his words he tells how his dogs helped him.
“Growing up I idolized my great grandfather. In my adult years I often found myself pulling into his driveway to visit. I spent over a month living with him, and when I left it turned into weekly, and sometimes bi-weekly visits with him. We would go to the grocery store and out for lunch, and run his weekly errands together. We spent a lot of time together in his late years. I adored him. We adored each other.
Since moving to Calgary I had not been able to see him so often and missed him. At this time, I decided to take my two dachshunds and enroll them into a therapy dog program. With a pair of social and well-trained hounds it was perfect for a single guy in his 30’s right? While my friends were still out partying, they often wondered why I was doing these activities more often enjoyed by older women. There weren’t a lot of single men doing dog rescue and therapy dog visits at the time but it became sorta therapeutic for me and a good way to wind down in a hectic world.”
Thank you to both Petra and Tom for sending me their heartfelt stories. Maybe you can relate to them and if you have a story to tell, please get in touch with me.
This week’s Trivia Question in two parts: In 2013, the therapy dog program was launched in what Chestermere facility?
And what do the initials CTDS stand for?
You can find the answers at www.ctds.ca
The answer to last week’s question: The dachshund’s country of origin is Germany.
