Alfie The Pug

Pets bring so much joy to our lives – coming home and seeing their little furry faces light up is one of the best things, speaking as a true animal lover; and I’m not alone in my beliefs as it’s estimated 44% of households have pets. Though we all think our pets are special, and rightly so, some animals just have that extra special something – and one of those is Alfie the Pug. For those not in the know, Alfie is an adorable six-year-old pug who spends his days (pre-Covid) cuddling, soothing, bringing joy and generally cheering up the poorly children at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. The adorable pup belongs to Suzy Emsden, who introduced herself to me as Alfie’s human, chef, and chauffeur and who tells me the story of how she came to get Alfie. ‘My daughter was very ill at the time and we were always at home. She was obsessed with getting a pug. She’d grown up with black Labradors and I was adamant we weren’t getting one. We see how that turned out!’ Suzy laughs. ‘We found a lovely family who had a litter of pups and we went to see them. When Alfie saw us, he ran up to my daughter, curled up in a ball on her lap and promptly fell asleep – and that was that.’ It wasn’t long before Suzy began to notice that Alfie had a very calm demeanour and an intuitive sense of empathy that was perfect for a therapy pet. ‘We saw quite early on that Alfie had a sense on whether people wanted to be bothered or whether they needed somebody lying next to them. We saw the difference he could make with one person, so we thought it would be a shame not to share it.’

After meeting Doug the pug, another famous therapy dog, Suzy learned about the charity, Pets As Therapy. Pets As Therapy is a national charity that focuses on enhancing health and wellbeing in the community through the visits of trusted volunteers and their well-behaved animals to hospitals, hospices, nursing and care homes. They have also launched a literacy scheme, Read2Dogs, helping improve reading skills in children by developing their confidence, interest and enjoyment in reading. To be a part of this organisation, pets have to be put through a series of tests. ‘They have to be friendly but not too friendly, so they can’t jump up,’ Suzy explains. ‘We had to untrain him to high five because they aren’t allowed to lift their paws in case they catch something or scratch an elderly person. They can’t be startled by any loud noises. We met our assessor, he brought out a frying pan, which I had no idea what for, and half way through his visit he dropped it on the floor to see Alfie’s reaction. He just looked at me and blinked like nothing had happened.’

Since passing his test, Alfie has gone on to support children at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where owner Suzy is a consultant with the North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service, so the pair are a match made in heaven when it comes to dealing with the sometimes harrowing cases they see. ‘I’m used to seeing young kiddies wired up and it doesn’t faze me, which is why it doesn’t faze Alfie. I think to be in this sort of career, you have to be wired differently.

‘I have the experience of being the person that goes to retrieve a critically ill child and bring them into intensive care and normally that’s my job done. But sometimes, with visits from Alfie, we get to see the journey from admission to discharge and it’s lovely. It’s nice to see the bigger picture. I think we all join Pets As Therapy for different reasons, but we all stay for the same.’ Seeing the difference in children when Alfie visits is often beyond description, the calm and comfort he brings is something quite magical. ‘I remember a little girl who we saw in the trauma unit in orthopaedics, and they were saying how she wouldn’t speak, but she can still understand and she was painting and wanted Alfie there. I got him into his apron and the next thing you know, this little girl is chatting away to Alfie telling him how to mix paints. It was very bizarre and those are the moments you can’t define. If that dog hadn’t been there at that time, then it wouldn’t have happened. It’s a little tiny bit of magic.’

With Covid restrictions back in full force, Alfie hasn’t been able to visit children recently, but is doing his best to bring a little bit of joy through his Instagram feed. The loveable pug has a huge 128,000 followers and viewers are treated to a feed of the pup dressed in adorable outfits and videos explaining various things, such as going back to school and why people are wearing protective gear – perfect for the little ones.

Stories of Alfie’s incredible work reached the animal lovers of Tache, the eco-friendly card company, who have designed Alfie his very own greeting cards. ‘I like to pretend I was calm and collected when I was approached and saw the final design, but in reality I was screaming and dancing around the kitchen,’ Suzy laughs. ‘The team were lovely to work with and the cards look amazing.’ All of the profits from Alfie’s card sales will be split 50/50 between Pets as Therapy and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.

When Alfie’s not working, he spends his downtime being a proper dog, which involves zoomies (dog owners will understand) and walks with his best friend, Barney the Golden Labrador. ‘He’s such a good boy and I’m proud of everything he’s done and happy people get to see it,’ Suzy says.

I’m happy I get to see it too, and have joyfully joined Alfie’s other 128,000 Insta followers, looking forward to the day when he is once again allowed to spread his magic at RMCH. About Pets As Therapy. Pets As Therapy is a national charity that was founded in 1983 by Lesley Scott-Ordish. Matthew Robinson, National Volunteer & Events Manager at Pets As Therapy, says: ‘The work Alfie and Suzy do is invaluable. Pets As Therapy work hard to improve health and wellbeing in the community through the visits of people and dogs like Suzy and Alfie. We organise a visiting service in hospitals, hospices, nursing and care homes, special needs schools and a variety of other venues all across the UK, and all donations go toward ensuring our service reaches as many people as possible.’ Any breed of cat or dog can become part of a Pets As Therapy team, but they must have been with their owner for at least six months, be over nine months of age and be able to pass the temperament assessment. Pets As Therapy also offer a Read2Dogs scheme which encourages positive social behaviours, enhances self-esteem and motivates speech in children when it comes to reading.

Puppy Love Program

This month, Hopewell-Loudon introduced a new part of their counseling program: a Goldendoodle named Mia.

Mia is a therapy dog owned by H-L’s K-8 school counselor, Jenny Sterling. She’s a year and a half old, and was born all the way in Florida. Sterling’s family adopted her last July.

When Mia was adopted, the thought of her becoming a therapy dog hadn’t crossed Sterling’s mind. At that time, the puppy was a gift for her son. But with her calm, friendly personality, Sterling knew she could do more.

“Therapy dogs provide many benefits to children in a school setting,” Sterling wrote in a letter to H-L families earlier this year. “They help children learn compassion, empathy, responsibility, respect, and self-discipline. Therapy dogs offer comfort and non-judgmental love.”

The letter also acted as a permission slip; parents could choose if they wanted their children to be in contact with Mia for the 2020-2021 school year. The slip also included check boxes for allergies or a fear of dogs. However, as a Goldendoodle, Mia’s fur might not cause an allergic reaction in some people that are typically allergic to dogs.

Mia is used in classroom guidance lessons, counseling sessions and as a reward for students struggling in the classroom. She’s always under Sterling’s supervision.

Mia couldn’t enter the Hopewell-Loudon school building until she passed her Canine Good Citizen test on October 25. She’s currently working on her therapy dog certification with Pawsible Angels.

Her first day in the building was November 5, and she spent two days without the students so she could get used to the environment. She started interacting with students on November 9.

“I felt that a therapy dog would be a great addition to the school,” said Sterling. “Therapy dogs provide a sense of connection in difficult situations and make the school environment feel more welcome.”

Outside of her work life, Mia spends a great deal of time antagonizing Sterling’s two cats. “She lets no object or person get in her way, and has been known to leap over the couch after our cat,” Sterling said.

“Mia loves to lean in for some pets and ear rubs,” she added. “Her absolute favorite thing to do is give wet sloppy kisses. She especially loves children, which makes her perfect as a school therapy dog.”

Man’s Best Friend

Josh White — the co-owner of West Hollywood’s Dogue Spa alongside his life partner, Mehdi Rezig — first found his poodle, Snow, after a breeder approached him two years ago. White and Rezig had just adopted a Doberman named Eden, so they weren’t looking for another dog at the time. But on a whim, the couple took the trek down to San Diego, and things just clicked.

“Snow just jumps out, and she immediately just hugs my boyfriend … and right when I [saw] that, I knew I had to have this dog. She’s just full of love,” Josh told The Advocate. “Ever since then, we spend every day together.”

This bond only strengthened on The Pack, a new reality competition in which 12 pairs of humans and dogs embark on a worldwide travel adventure. Amazon Prime Video had recruited Josh and Snow as competitors after finding them through his Instagram account.

After initial hesitation, Josh agreed. And then began a rigorous training experience for both trekking and reality TV. Snow went from knowing “sit” as a trick to learning social skills with humans and dogs and how to perform for the camera.

Josh also learned a lot about his pooch. “We bonded so crazy over this whole thing,” he said. As a dog groomer, his job is normally to beautify canines. But this experience made him aware of how she needed to go wild sometimes.

He now better knows how to “let her be a dog,” he said, and “jump into the water and get down and be dirty.” And after all this time traveling, he now knows immediately when she needs to use the bathroom.

Snow gave gifts in return. “She helped me a lot emotionally,” he said. “I cry a lot. I’m very sensitive. It was some hard moments for me, and the only dog I could turn to was her. … She’s a real therapy dog for me.”

“You’d think it was hard on these dogs, but it wasn’t. It was harder for us. And the dogs just helped us out,” he said of the experience with The Pack.

“When you accomplish so many things also with your dog … it just becomes this really, really strong bond that no one would understand unless they do this same experience,” he added. Josh hopes this experience inspires others to get out there and increase this bond as well.

As a gay man and a professional groomer in the West Hollywood gayboyhood, Josh knows the special bond canines have with members of the LGBTQ+ community, who can struggle with familial and societal rejection. “Dogs have no judgment. They don’t care what color you are or what your preferences [are],” he asserted.

“We can learn so much from dogs because they live a life of love and happiness and carefree. And if we just … take something from their book, it would be a happier life.”

Snow, with her rainbow colors and unicorn sculpting, is herself is a symbol of Pride. “I will turn anybody’s dog into a rainbow unicorn,” he promised with a laugh. Josh was inspired to create the iconic look one year for L.A. Pride. Snow was an immediate hit. Now “everybody in West Hollywood knows my dog,” he said with pride.

“She genuinely loves meeting people. She loves getting pets. If I can just bring that little bit of joy to people and my city of West Hollywood, I’m the happiest person,” he said.

Josh looks forward to bringing that gay representation to Amazon’s international audience. “It’s a huge deal,” he reflected. “It’s a part of me, and I just want people, especially younger kids, younger generations to see a person like me, being African-American, gay, owning my own business, having a rainbow poodle … you can just be whoever you want to be.”

“I could cry now, it just makes me so happy,” he said of his experience traveling the world and spreading rainbow joy with Snow.

Happily, even in quarantine times, Dogue has flourished. At the onset, Josh and his partner fought to have their business considered an essential business — and won. “It’s a health thing for these dogs, not just for looks and for color,” he asserted. “We’re busier than ever.”

Josh recommends to other dog owners that, in addition to taking them for a groomer, it’s important to brush them and socialize them. “Be as active and social as your dog. They’re going through this quarantine with us as well,” he said.

“Give them extra love during this time and they’re gonna give you extra love back. We all need it right now,” he concluded. “And watch The Pack with them … I swear it’s gonna make you want to go out there with your dog and do some cool things.”

Watch the interview with Josh and Snow (and see Snow perform some fun tricks!) below.

PAWS Support Programs

Giving Tuesday

We have a chance to make something fantastic happen on GivingTuesday in 2020.

This has been a very unique year for everyone. We all have been challenged in unimaginable ways this year. We are asking you to help change VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in a very unique way.

If we can hit our goal of $10,000, we will bring Dogs On Call therapy dogs into CMH in 2021. That $10,000 is the cost of starting a program that will have a lasting impact, not just on our patients and their families, but on staff at CMH as well.

Health care is stressful for everyone – patients, their families and friends and also on staff. Receiving unconditional love from a therapy dog – even if it’s just for a minute or two – can have a lasting, incredibly positive impact.

GivingTuesday is 1,440 minutes long. A gift on Tuesday, Dec. 1 can last forever. Please consider making a gift that can transform health care in our region forever. Please donate to our Dogs On Call Therapy Program on GivingTuesday.

We have a unique opportunity thanks to a caring husband and wife in our area.

They have committed to matching dollar for dollar our first $5,000 raised. So whatever you give – it gets doubled. And we would like to ask you for one more thing – please share with your friends about this opportunity and ask them to consider a gift to VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital on GivingTuesday.

Pandemic Pet Therapy

Karen McCullough never wanted a dog. “It would have tied me down, and I had a great, very busy life,” she says.

Her career as a keynote speaker at conferences has taken her across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. “My job is to get everybody engaged, excited and ready to network,” she says.

McCullough loved the travel — “cool hotels and not worrying about having anything at home,” she says. “I don’t even have any live plants in the house.” As she sailed into 2020, she expected her best year yet.

Then “BOOM” — everything stopped, including conventions and conferences. The pandemic “took my life away,” she says.

Living alone in Houston, she started feeling the stress — anxious and worried about money. On top of that, she couldn’t see her three grandkids who live nearby. “I’m such an extrovert and it’s just been crazy and hard.”

The surprising solution, for McCullough and many other Americans in 2020, was often furry, with four feet: a pet dog or cat.

First, her son and his wife adopted a puppy. McCullough decided to do the same, quietly hoping that if she got a puppy, the grandkids “would want to come and visit me in the front yard.” On Labor Day, 8-week-old Rosie, a Wheaten terrier, arrived.

Rosie opened a new world to McCullough — within just a few blocks. Strangers became new friends. “I know all my neighbors now,” she says. “We have a routine and she gets me out there; we walk three times a day!”

The loneliness that had started to sink McCullough as the pandemic wore on is gone. “Rosie has been like this magnet; she’s attracting me to people and it’s good.”

And there’s some science to back up McCullough’s feelings. Research from Australia finds the “pet factor” does bring people together in helpful ways: Pet owners are more likely to get to know people, form friendships and get the social support humans need.

Psychologist Lori Kogan, a professor of veterinary medicine at Colorado State University and chair of the Human-Animal Interaction Section of the American Psychological Association, has been cataloging stories like McCullough’s during the pandemic.

Kogan and colleagues from Washington State University, University of San Francisco and Palo Alto University did two anonymous online surveys via social media to current pet owners — one regarding cats and another asking about dogs. The surveys asked participants to share their thoughts, experiences and concerns amid the pandemic.

They found a significant number of people reported feeling they have less social support from friends and family now than before COVID-19 spread across the U.S. For many, their pets have played a critical role in helping reduce feelings of depression, anxiety, isolation and loneliness in these tough months.

Pets, Kogan says, are “a respite from the difficulties of life” and provide their human companions “an outlet to give.” And while relationships with friends and family can be fraught, she says, “relationships with animals are simple.”

Here are more stories of pet owners discovering animal companions can be the unsung therapists of these difficult times:

Get up and get moving: Dr. Gregory Brown and Kai

Dr. Gregory Brown is a psychiatrist in Austin, Texas, and a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association. Brown says he has been seeing an increase in anxiety, insomnia and depression among patients he has counseled in the past six months. “People are definitely dealing with economic stressors, a hard time with money, and with just being idle” — not getting out of the house much.

A dog “nudging at your foot or barking because they want to go for a walk” can be a real motivation every day to get out and get moving, he says. And that’s good emotionally as well as physically. “We know physical activity can help reduce depression.”

Though Brown says he’s a fairly active guy, he found the reduced structure of these pandemic days meant he was getting to bed a bit later, getting up a bit later and sometimes letting his exercise schedule slide.

Then, about a month ago, he and his wife decided to adopt a 10-month old golden retriever/lab mix named Kai. Now, every day starts with her wake-up bark around 6:30 a.m., returning some sense of structure to their lives.

And Brown says that he spends at least some time outside daily, jogging and walking and that helps make the days seem “a bit more normal.”

“She’s just been a joy to be around when she’s not busy eating up my wife’s favorite pair of shoes,” he says.

As a psychiatric social worker in Rockville, Md., Karol Kullberg has spent most of her work life in a small room, listening to patients face to face — work she finds rewarding and fulfilling, she says. When the pandemic hit, she was able to work from home — a blessing in some ways, but not others. Offering therapy online, via telehealth appointments, has been convenient, Kulberg says, but she also finds it isolating and somewhat alienating.

“It’s intensely stressful — I think for everyone,” she says. “Certainly for patients as well as therapists, who weren’t particularly technologically adept or even comfortable using Zoom or other platforms.”

Reading patients’ facial expressions and body language can be more difficult she says, and without colleagues to talk to in between therapeutic sessions, “you’re very aware that you are suddenly working in a vacuum.” Kullberg doesn’t say she’s lonely. She says it’s more like being “profoundly alone.”

By the end of March when it became clear that staying at home would be the norm for quite a while, she decided to adopt a dog.

Enter Molly, a 5-year-old terrier mix who “came right into my home, was perfectly well-behaved, perfectly housebroken, and even welcomed my cat — who didn’t return the favor.”

For Kulberg, Molly was “like getting something you didn’t know you missed; you forgot how wonderful it was to have something you didn’t notice until all of a sudden it’s there again.”

She finds Molly an extremely comforting presence, “like having somebody’s arm around your shoulder without having to say anything. Sort of like a dance partner you don’t have to teach; they just figure it out.”

Today, Kulberg says she no longer feels alone. “I get up in the morning and Molly curls up in her bed and we go to work.”

“My glorious chow chow mix died at the end of January and I was heartbroken” says Peggy Pacy, who initially planned to let some time pass before getting another dog. But, “a heart needs to love,” she says, “and I started looking.”

At the end of February she adopted a large and fluffy Great Pyrenees mix — she named him Emmet. It was just before lockdown in Washington, D.C., where Pacy lives and works as an independent producer of commercials. Emmet arrived “just in time” says Pacy, who lives alone. “No question, it’s very easy to go down the dark path in the world we’re in today.”

Early on in the pandemic, the first three minutes of every morning would start with a “mild panic” she says. But then a “giant white paw lands on my shoulder and I wonder if it is possible to literally feel serotonin,” she says, referring to one of the neurotransmitters thought to help stabilize mood.

Emmet spends much of his time chasing flies, unearthing clothing Pacy had forgotten she owned, and making friends with neighborhood kids — just watching him is diverting, she says. “All day long the kids drop by and yell for Emmet.”

Even in times of despair, Emmet makes a difference. “I’m standing in my front hall, lost in thought … wondering if I will ever work again, if my small business loan will be approved, if I will have to sell my house. And then, gazing in the direction of my couch, Emmet decides that a long slow back flip to the floor is in order.” His antics pierce the grief and remind her to stay in the moment, she says — ” be grateful for what I have.”

Pacy has a Post-it on her door that says: “I have health insurance; my cabinets are full of food; I have a home; I have Emmet. This makes me happy.”

Devin Green, a small business consultant and life coach, who lives in Portland, Maine, started looking for a dog to adopt in May. After many false starts, a close friend helped her find the dog of her dreams, a miniature goldendoodle (a cross between a golden retriever and a small poodle).

Taco has “changed my life in ways I never expected,” says Green. As he grows, his puppy fur is getting replaced by adult dog fur which can get matted. So Green brushes him nightly, giving — and recieving — needed physical touch. “If I’m having a bad day, he’s very warm and snuggly.”

She sometimes struggles with anxiety, she says, and soothing the pup’s needs helped her get beyond that. “I’m consumed with him more than the worries in my mind,” she says. “My brain space is now taken up by something far more productive than it used to be.”

Green says she used to panic a little if she didn’t have plans for the day, but Taco has introduced her to the neighborhood and helped her feel more a part of the community. Every morning, they walk to the nearby fire station — a big loop, Green says. “The fire station is his favorite place.”

Taco runs inside and “loves on all the firefighters and they love him back. I had never even spoken to any of them before but now we’re all buddies.”

Couple Reunites With Their Stolen Dog

A couple have been reunited with a pet dog who was stolen six years ago.

Simon and Caroline Hall were distraught when their cocker spaniel Bonnie, then three years old, was taken in May 2014.

The Durham pair had given up hope of ever seeing Bonnie again until Thursday, when Simon, 50, received a call from a dog warden telling him she had been found in a Norfolk park – 200 miles from home.

Now the couple have been reunited with their missing pet, one day before her 10th birthday.

Heartwarming footage shows the couple tentatively walking towards Bonnie outside the veterinary centre where she was kept.

As she recognises them, Bonnie starts frantically wagging her tail as her loving owners throw their arms around her.

Caroline said: “We just can’t believe it. It was only a couple of years ago that I gave up up hope but I was still checking all the lost dog sites.

“I’d prepared myself for the fact she might look in a bad way but actually she’s looking quite well. I know the vets have taken wonderful care of her.”

Although there is still no indication of how the dog ended up being so far from home, it’s thought Bonnie was stolen to breed, and Terrington St John Veterinary Centre, where she underwent a hysterectomy yesterday, believes the most recent litter was within the last two months.

Caroline said Bonnie had a “beautiful character” and would sit pitch-side until their young son Robbie had finished playing rugby.

She added: “We’ll now take her back home and introduce her to our other dog, Jessie, and just have a quiet night in front of the fire.

“I think her birthday will be a quiet one too.”

Simon said: “Gosh knows what she’s been through. It doesn’t bear thinking about but at least we can get her back for a few more years and give her a bit of love and care and attention.”

Fenland District Council dog warden Caroline Trigg, who also runs Ravenswood Pet Rescue at Walton Highway, was delighted to be able to reunite the Halls with Bonnie.

Trigg said: “With missing dogs, sometimes they go in the morning and are back in the afternoon – or a couple of days at most. I’ve never known a dog to have been gone this long before.

“I think Bonnie’s had a hard time with the breeding side. Someone has made a lot of money out of her, which is very sad. And she has clearly never been to a vet’s over those six-and-a-half years or her chip would have been read.

“But being able to get her back to her loving home is wonderful – just the good news we need this year.”

Also enjoying the reunion today was the Halls’ 21-year-old daughter Katie.

The family said it was lucky that Bonnie had been microchipped, as without that they may never have been reunited.

Dog thefts have been on the rise for many years.

Gangs target “designer” puppies and certain dog breeds in often violent thefts to feed the demand.

Recent data shows the most popular breeds for thieves are Staffordshire terriers, French bulldogs and cocker spaniels.

Over 2,000 dogs are stolen each year across the UK, according to the Kennel Club. Around 22% of stolen dogs are reunited with their owner.

Putting Animals First

Thanks to the pandemic caused by the spread of COVID-19, Oneonta resident Sarah Cummings’ career has gone to the dogs. The 28-year-old launched the Underdog Enterprise, a dog-training and animal services business, earlier this year.

“We had this global pandemic and I’d been working in animal and dog rescue and the world of animals for 10 years,” she said. “Right when I got out of high school, I worked as a vet tech and at different veterinary hospitals since 2010. I was working for a clinic at the beginning of the year, but it was a small family practice and I was laid off. I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to get creative now and figure out what I can do.’ I started doing online consults, because we were in lockdown at that point, so this started formally in March.”

Though many of her clients are canine, Cummings noted, her services are diverse and customer driven.

“I do local nail trims, and that’s been a pretty popular service,” she said. “I’ll do dogs and cats, but also exotic pets and anything like that, and I do dog training as well. I work with all animals, not just dogs, though that’s the primary (client) … and I have a formal certification through the Animal Behavior Institute.

“It’s a discussion of what do you need,” Cummings continued. “I primarily want to help animals, so I’ve done everything in one way or another. There’s an older lady I work with whose cat is in kidney failure, so I go and do fluids once a week for her; I have some day care clients that come here one or two times a week and drop their dogs off; I’ve cut nails on a lizard. It’s whatever people need or are looking for. I try to really work with what people need and what their schedules are. I’ve got seven dogs that live here permanently, a horse, rabbits and a snake, so it really is like a zoo and there’s no limit.”

Pet owners, Cummings noted, also represent a mix.

“I get a lot of Oneonta people, but I also tend to get a lot of Cooperstown people,” she said. “There’s not a certain (client); it could be the little old lady with a cat or people who’ve gotten dogs during this pandemic because they’re home more so they have a new puppy and they want to set them up for success.

“And there’s a group on the Facebook page where we group (according to customers’ needs),” Cummings continued. “We’ll do puppy playdates or pack walks for dogs that are working on certain issues.”

Beyond adapting to animals’ needs, Cummings said, she also considers customers’ pandemic-related preferences.

“I want to be careful and respect people’s safety … so it really depends on what the client is comfortable with,” Cummings said. “For nail trims, I’ve been going to people’s houses and doing everything outside as I’m able and with a mask and that’s the most popular thing that I do. A lot of groomers were shut down, so it was a service a lot of people were into. It’s a lot less stress doing it in their own home than getting in the car and going to the vet and often the owner can help me hold (the animal) and they’re just more comfortable in their own environment, so it’s worked out really well.”

As the Underdog Enterprise establishes itself, Cummings said, she plans to expand services.

“Our house is at (1460 state Highway, Oneonta) and it’s an old farmhouse,” she said, “so I’m hoping to convert one of the smaller outbuildings into a kennel and do boarding and daycare and stuff like that. And I’m hoping to have a little dog cabin kind of thing, so we’re doing the renovations on that now.

“My focus right now (is on) doing this full time and doing the kennel renovations so we actually have an area on site dedicated specifically to this,” Cummings continued. “And there’s a brand-new dog park opening in Milford, so I’m hoping to work closely with them and do classes and work with children and (teach) dog park etiquette.”

For more information or to book an appointment any day of the week, find “The Underdog Enterprise” on Facebook.

License Fees For Veterans

Veterans with service dogs in Chino Hills will no longer pay license fees for their animals after the city develops a program with the Inland Valley Humane Society.

Assistant city manager Rod Hill told the council Nov. 10 that he has received numerous requests over the years to waive license fees for service dogs owned by veterans.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals must be trained to specifically assist an individual with disabilities, he said.

Emotional support, comfort and companion animals are not considered service animals under the ADA, he said.

Mr. Hill said the city currently waives license fees only for service dogs trained to assist individuals with visual disabilities.

Chino Hills resident Ed Denzin, founder of Service Animal Training, wrote a letter to the council last December requesting a fee waiver.

“There are a lot of people in Chino Hills who are requesting service dogs,” he said. “Other cities waive license fees for service dogs, and I figured it would be nice for Chino Hills to do the same.”

The Marine veteran said his organization meets every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at Ayala Park in Chino with the goal of providing obedient, properly trained and certified service dogs to help people with disabilities and improve their quality of life.

Mr. Denzin said service dogs help veterans and others with disabilities such as seizures, diabetes, and PTSD.

There are two fees for service dogs: one is the California service dog registration fee that the Inland Valley Humane Society provides at no cost, Mr. Hill said. The second is the dog licensing fee which is collected by the Humane Society with a portion going back to Chino Hills.

License fees are $20 for altered dogs and $50 for unaltered dogs. License fees for dogs owned by seniors are $5 for altered dogs and $50 for unaltered dogs.

Ola Madsen of Chino Hills said he is grateful for the fee waiver. The Navy veteran who served from 1968 to 1970 said he has PTSD, tinnitus, vertigo, and two recent knee surgeries.

His Belgian Malinois named “Sunshine” has been trained to sense when he gets vertigo and stands by his side. When he stands on weak knees, Sunshine stands in front of him. When going upstairs to his apartment, he grasps her tail that she holds out for him.

After Sunshine was trained at Service Animal Training, Mr. Madsen became a trainer.

Now, he works alongside Mr. Denzin and Gary Matlack to help others.

Shelter Dog Gets Adopted

Tonka the dog finally has a home after spending 200 days with Orange County Animals Services.

Tonka was surrendered to the shelter back in April and since then has been adopted and returned twice, through no fault of his own.

The shelter said Tonka was found abandoned in the backyard of a home in the Conway area in April. The owner was reportedly tracked down and told Animal Services officers that they had moved and had trouble finding housing for the dog.

After six months at the shelter, Tonka was adopted but was returned a week later. He was adopted again in November but was returned just hours later because the landlord said he was not welcome to stay.

“We’ve struggled to find that lasting match for him because he has shown that he needs to be the only dog in the home, a factor that drastically limits the pool of interested adopters, and he has heartworm disease, a treatable condition, but one that can come with a stigma due to lack of understanding.”

Tonka’s heartworm disease treatment costs are sponsored by a local civil engineering group – John B. Webb & Associates.

“Earlier this year we made a desperate plea to the community looking for a home for Rocket who, like Tonka, had been with us in excess of 200 days,” said Summers. “The response from local media and on social media was overwhelming, and it helped land Rocket is forever home within a day. We are hoping Tonka can be just as fortunate, he is definitely just as deserving.” Thankfully, the adorable pooch found a home after 215 days at Orange County Animals Service. On Saturday, he was adopted and will hopefully never have to leave the comfort of a home again.