Strays to the Rescue
Roxy
"From my wheelchair at the window, I watched a van screech to a stop outside my house. As the door opened, a dog jumped out and took off running down the street. Then the driver climbed out yelling. I guess the dog had vomited in the vehicle, and the man was furious. I went outside and told him I'd like to see the dog. I had already decided there was no way she was going back with that guy. He didn't like her, didn't want her, and he was still disgusted about the mess in the van. Roxy and I were happy to see him drive away ... I had considered getting a service dog to help me, but this dog really wasn't a very good candidate. She was terrified of everything. She had never been around people except for the ones who raised her, and I don't think they were particularly nice to her. She had never been in a house before, so she paced and panted. I guess she felt trapped. She tried to escape several times ... We went through three sets of obedience classes before she calmed down and got some confidence. I had heard about Happy Tails, a program that helps people with disabilities learn the skills they need to train their own service dogs ... After Roxy passed her Canine Good Citizen and Public Access tests, she got her in-service training cape ... She's a big help to me. She picks up things that I drop and goes to the refrigerator and gets me a Coke. She's good at opening containers; if she drops the lid, she picks it up. She can even open doors." — June Clifton, retired nurse