The Love Of Animals

Madison Whitby heads from her Jarratt home to the Emporia Animal Shelter every weekday to assist with the cats and dogs housed at the site. The 2018 Greensville County High School graduate is also a Psychology major at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Finding the right balance between a job and the classroom is difficult for many people. Whitby found the balance to excel in both.

“I stay pretty active and keep a busy schedule.” she said. “I usually do school at night, or on my lunch break here I will work on school. I try and multi-task the best I can. I’m actually doing better in school than I did while I was at home. I have more structure.”

Whitby began working at the Emporia Animal Shelter on Oct. 13. On a typical day, she gets to work in the morning and cleans the kennels from the night before. Whitby follows by playing with the dogs and cats. After feeding the animals, she does paperwork for the Emporia Police Department. Whitby continually checks to make sure the animals have plenty of food and water. If the weather cooperates, she’ll take the dogs out for a walk.

It’s a perfect gig for the self-described animal lover that has five of her own at home. The job has many moments that bring joy to Whitby.

“The most rewarding part of the job is seeing dogs and cats that have come in from bad homes and seeing their attitudes change,” she said. “They come in scared and nervous, and eventually they become happy and loving. It’s especially rewarding to see them get adopted and I know they are going to a good place knowing where they came from.”

Whitby and the Emporia Animal Shelter staff’s goal is finding a home for the animals that come to the shelter. If they are not adopted, the next step is to find rescues to send them. Whitby said it reached a broader audience and gives the animals a better shot at getting adopted.

Whitby is a Psychology major. She’s looking at a career in occupational therapy and specialized therapy. Whitby said she hopes to use therapy dogs in her line of practice.

“I’ve seen it first-hand and it is proven to be beneficial,” she said.

For now, it’s Whitby that is proving to be beneficial at the Emporia Animal Shelter.

New Pet Parents

Benson Bringing Love To Others

The Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City has a new friend to try and give love and support to those who need it.

“It’s been a long road,” said Marquisha Reed, who has a child at Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Her 6-month-old son, Ezra, just had his second heart surgery. With her other two children at home in Wichita, Reed has spent more than a month at the Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City alone. That’s where pup Benson comes in.

“It is a stress relief to be able to just sit relax and play with the puppy,” Reed said.

The Ronald McDonald House recently added the fully trained service dog just to hang out and comfort more than 87 families who are currently staying there.

“Provide some comfort, some playfulness, some love when you need it most,” said Tami Greenberg, CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Kansas City.

“We can’t give a mom a hug after having a horrible day at the hospital, so Benson gets to do that for us,” said dog handler Kelley Van Towle.

Benson is a 2-year-old burner-doodle who has a job that is all about love.

“They’re here because their child is seriously ill and they need extra love, extra support sometimes the kind that no human can give,” Greenberg said.

“There’s like very limited physical contact with anybody so when you need a hug and you don’t have anyone there, it’s great to have something,” Reed said.

Ronald McDonald House says the families can walk or play with the dog.

Benson is replacing a longtime house pet but he’s the first fully trained service dog at the home.

Lucy Helping Students

Lucy the golden retriever couldn’t care less about masks and social-distancing protocols.

Like the kids at Regal Elementary School, she just wants a hug, and they’re happy to oblige.

COVID-19 has stolen so much from kids this year, including precious hugs from their favorite teacher.

Thank goodness for Lucy, who’s taken up residence in the office of Principal Tricia Kannberg.

A few weeks ago, as kindergartners were returning to Regal for in-person learning, one of them had become inconsolable at the absence of her mom.

As a last resort, the teacher brought the little girl to Kannberg – that is, to Lucy.

“She was hesitant at first,” Kannberg said. “But we let her hold the loop of Lucy’s leash, and she felt better.”

“She thought it was amazing,” Kannberg said.

Lucy spreads joy without trying. One day she was off her leash and wandered into the Regal day camp, where a handful of older students can engage in distance learning while their parents are working.

“One of the students was so excited to see her, he trips and falls and basically tackled her,” Kannberg recalled. “Then she just gets up and lets him pet her.”

On another occasion, Lucy wandered into a room, walked up to a student and made an instant connection.

“It’s making an impact,” Kannberg said.

The timing couldn’t be better. The youngest learners in Spokane Public Schools, kindergartners and first-graders, are finally returning to classes as part of the district’s phasing plan.

Banished from schools since March, they’ve missed out on social interaction for the better part of the year. But in the era of COVID-19, it’s tough to get a friendly pat on the shoulder, much less a hug.

That’s a big void for many kids who live in the low-income neighborhoods of northeast Spokane, and several schools have responded. Emotional support dogs also are being introduced at Holmes and Logan elementary schools.

Emotional support animals are more than just feel-good stories; they have been linked in tests to improved reading and writing levels along with improved motivation and attitude toward learning.

However, there are good reasons why few schools employ emotional-support and therapy dogs: sanitation and the unsuitability of some breeds to work with children.

However, Kannberg saw the need back in the spring, when schools shut down . Years ago, she paid some of her tuition bills at Gonzaga by working for the Spokane Police Department K-9 unit.

Her job? “To put on the large bite suit to help train the dogs,” Kannberg said. “I did that for 3 years.”

Still a dog lover despite that experience, Kannberg, her husband and their twin daughters decided to look into getting a dog.

“We thought, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to have an animal,’” said Kannberg, who connected with a breeder in Rathdrum and met Lucy’s parents.

“They were both so approachable,” said Kannberg, who bought one of the puppies while a daughter took another.

As the school year beckoned, Kannberg tested the waters at Regal.

“We just gradually brought her in, introducing her to people and the building, and that was the most positive thing,” Kannberg said.

Service Dogs Helping Veterans

Six years after Warrior Freedom Service Dogs was established, the organization is expanding their one of a kind program that connects veterans to trained service dogs rescued from local animal shelters.

Executive Director Adam Keith says the organization’s main goal is to help veterans reconnect with society, while providing service dogs with a loving home.

“The main goal is to reconnect these veterans who fought for us, when they come home, it’s our duty to take over and help them, you know, get reconnected back into society and it’s not an easy task for them. So to just shine the light on that, partner with a dog that we work through local shelters so they become service dogs – so it’s like a repurpose for them too,” says Keith.

Training Director Julie Jones-Thorton says that the service dogs are uniquely equipped to handle veterans struggling with PTSD. Aside from offering comfort, they can even sense when their cortisol levels are rising, and can alert them when they need to take action to reduce their stress.

“The dog gives them the confidence to be able to go outside their home, to go to the grocery store, to go to their doctor’s appointments, the chiropractor – we have one that goes and sits while he does his martial arts class. They also provide tasks out for those veterans, they provide space. They actually learn to indicate when cortisol levels are rising,” says Jones-Thorton.

The Warrior Freedom Dogs are hoping to raise awareness about their mission to connect veterans suffering with PTSD with a service dog, free of charge.

Their program already has ten graduates and eleven dogs have been rescued.

Puppy In Training Visits

Students in teacher Michelle Bettler’s fifth-grade class at PVPV Rawlings Elementary School were in for a treat last week as Marie Massie from K9s For Warriors brought in one of her service dogs to meet the children.

Massie has raised many dogs for the K9s For Warriors, and this is not the first time she made an appearance at PVPV Rawlings to teach the children about the important work she does.

The puppies Massie raises stay with her until they are old enough to go to the kennels, where they will then receive the proper training to certify them as service dogs.

Moondog, the puppy Massie brought to visit Bettler’s class this year, is a 6-month-old English lab preparing to receive official training. The puppy got its name after Massie’s friend Bill “Moon” Mullins, a retired veteran and cancer survivor.

“It is a good experience for [the students] to learn about veterans and about PTSD,” said Bettler. “They are in fifth grade so they process it really well, and they understand now that if they see dogs with vests on what that means.”

Bettler and PVPV Rawlings Elementary have been exposing their students to the importance of K9s For Warriors for years now.

Two years ago, they hosted an event named “Ten Small Steps of Kindness, One Giant Leap for K9s,” where students completed acts of kindness in exchange for donations. All donations went toward sponsoring a puppy at K9s For Warriors, whom the class nicknamed Rawly. Rawly is predicted to graduate within the next year on behalf of the students and faculty at PVPV Rawlings Elementary.

Leading up to Veteran’s Day on Nov. 11, Bettler’s class learned about the importance of service animals and the significance of the K9s For Warriors organization.

“The culminating experience of everything is having the dog come to class,” Bettler said. “It is important for [the students] to get a better appreciation for the sacrifice that veterans made while serving the country.”

Each year the students write letters to veterans and to the K9s For Warriors project after the puppy makes its visit. The letters are a perfect example of just how much students retain from the experience.

“We made it our mission to support this particular organization,” Bettler said. “The kids absolutely love it.”

Oceanside Corgi Living Life

A new picture book written by a retired Lincoln Middle School teacher has eternalized a friendly corgi as Oceanside’s unofficial mascot.

Deborah Burggraaf, formerly known as Miss Waller at Lincoln Middle School, is the author of “BHANTE: The Corgi of O’side,” a new picture book that tells the story of a beloved Pembroke Welsh corgi as he sightsees around Oceanside.

Bhante was a real dog who lived in Oceanside and went virtually everywhere, according to his owners, Chuck Fasilis and his wife Sharon Gibson.

“He attended so many activities in Oceanside,” Fasilis said. “He was at every Iron Man, Super Woman and any of the walks … we would take him to the live theater and no one would even know he was there because he would be so quiet.”

When people did notice Bhante, they were instantly attracted to him.

“We would take him to restaurants and the way little kids would immediately attract to him — ‘Oh it’s a corgi, it’s a corgi’ — and they always wanted to pet him,” Fasilis said.

Bhante would even go to church and the doctor’s office with his family.

“Doctor’s offices don’t usually let dogs in, but they would let Bhante in, and they would want to babysit him while we were there,” Fasilis said. “That’s what kind of dog he was from the beginning.”

Bhante was a trained service dog who could always sense when someone was sick, according to his owner.

“He would sense when my sugar was off and would come lay by my side,” said Fasilis, who has Type 1 Diabetes.

Before she moved to Florida, Burggraaf would babysit Bhante while his parents were traveling. She would take him to his favorite spots — the pier, the harbor, and all of the other highlights of downtown Oceanside.

“He was so friendly with everybody, and everybody would want to pet him,” Burggraaf said. “He and I became very close.”

One time when Bhante’s parents were away, Burggraaf sat down and began writing his story.

“They came back home and I had this really rough draft that I showed to them,” she said.

She teamed up with Fasilis, who is also a photographer, to put together a collection of photos of Bhante for the book.

Besides showcasing a happy little corgi, the book also promotes Oceanside and has a message that emphasizes love and kindness.

“We all need love and kindness right now, and Bhante always gave love and kindness to everyone he met,” Burggraaf said.

Bhante lived to be 16 years old. He died in March.

“He was feisty ‘til the end,” Fasilis said.

Though he may be gone, Bhante’s story and his friendliness live on in Burggraaf’s book.

“BHANTE: The Corgi of O’side” is Burggraaf’s 16^th book. Burggraaf has won several awards from the Florida Authors and Publishers President’s Book Awards.

Burggraaf taught in Oceanside for 10 years. She now lives in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Heidi Is Changing Lives

Teachers have been transformative, in the lessons they taught and words of wisdom they shared.

In this year of COVID it’s also about working with students’ emotions for those who may feel anxious.

“The best thing about having Heidi here is when you see her in the hallways it’s just like you just breathe, shoulders down and the stress begins to just fall right off,” said Elizabeth Rose, Cherokee Middle School principal.

Heidi was the newest member of the Cherokee Middle yellowjackets.

The fluffy Newfoundland was training to be a therapy dog.

“They have a very sweet personality, she’s learned so much,” said Janet Carraway, the school counselor and Heidi’s owner.

“She knows the difference when she’s working versus being at home. Her demeanor changes,” explained Carraway, “She knows that she’s here to work.”

For 13 years she’s had stuffed animals in her office, but wanted to try something new.

“It kind of started me thinking, this is a need here at our school,” said Carraway.

“When Ms. Carraway came to me last year and said I really want to have a therapy dog, I’m like yeah let’s do it,” exclaimed Rose.

Heidi’s more than 100 pounds of comfort, support and most importantly, love.

“They have the weight that they can use pressure therapy and you know they’re kind of like a big pillow,” said Carraway, “If a child wants to lay on the floor and lay on them, they’re not going to hurt the dog. If someone steps on her tail, it’s not going to hurt her too much. So there’s benefits of having the large dog too.”

Heidi spent class time with students and said hi to all her friends in the hallways.

“I’m proud. I think that’s one of the biggest emotions that I feel,” said Carraway.

Heidi turns one year old on November 23. At that point she’s eligible to become a certified therapy dog, but Carraway wanted to wait till January for her to be tested.

Carraways’s family fully funds Heidi.

Therapy Dog In The Building

Homeless Veteran And His Dog