"I'm the OldDog, she's Younger."

   This blog is my own tribute to a special member of my family.  She's crossed the bridge as dogs do all too soon.  I guess this is a Biography of a Golden Retriever named Younger.

    Yesterday was the third anniversary of the day she collapsed and wasn't able to walk again because of her back legs.  She also started having difficulty breathing.  We got her on her bed in the living room and she stayed there until the next day (1/2/2011) when a couple neighbors came and lifter her bed into my truck so we could take her to the Emergency Vet Clinic in Missoula.  She spent the night there and passed away the next morning a little before a specialist was to examine her for a tumor that canines get which affects neurology and respiratory.  I spent the night of 1/1/2011 with her on her bed to comfort her and hopefully ease some of her (and my own) fears.  I visited her early the morning of 1/3 and Sheila a little later on her way to work.  Sheila hadn't gotten far down the road when they called her to say that Younger had died.

    Younger was born on 8/3/2004 a couple days before my own birthday in a very low spot of MY life.  Sheila says things happen for a reason, and Younger's birth certainly had reason in my life.  

     I brought her home at about six weeks and took her to the Vet to "have her checked" and start her medical records.  She was a normal puppy and I had her tested for hip dysplasia (sp).  The results came back with very high probability of future problems so I scheduled her to be spayed. I'd had the intention of raising her to be a Therapy Dog when I purchased her.  I'd read about children reading to dogs and as an Educator with a BS in Psychology that really struck me as a beneficial foundation for young children.  I'd enjoyed prior volunteer work and knew that I needed a positive focus at that period of my own life. 

     We spent considerable time on her training and preparation for the Therapy Dog's International  (TDI) test.  The test and AKC Good Canine Citizen evaluations were given at the same time and she received much praise from the Evaluater.

      We began logging visits at local schools and then the Tomah Wisconsin VA hospital.  She was a wonderful success in those visits as well as the rest of her 260 logged visits in Minnesota & Montana in addition to Wisconsin.  She also attracted many, many people to just pet her including what seems like a large number of parents that asked if their child who was "afraid of dogs".  I'm sure there must have been some that the child ended up NOT petting her, but I recall an extraordinary number of parents raving about how the child just seemed to know it was okay to be near this dog.

      Younger helped raise WayVer when we volunteered as puppy raisers for Guide Dogs of America (GDA).  He came back to us after only nine days in his formal GD training because he was over stressed.  I believe the "reason" he failed was because he was meant to be a TD.  I also believe that her temperament helped shape his gentle nature and "need" to be touched by humans.  We did some, but I think most of his TD training is from his "sister".  Younger later became the first Therapy Dog in the Montana Mental Health settings and WayVer became the second.  Younger's influence IMO continued while WayVer helped raise Willie (who also became a TD and the three have logged more than 485 visits plus an uncountable number of other "contacts").

     Two stories about Younger and Veterans and one in a local nursing home illustrate her effect during TD visits.  You may want to get some Kleenix.

1. In Tomah Hospital there was a Vet on the ward that had obviously had an explosive accident.  He had part of one thumb and no other fingers or thumbs.  He was (justifiably IMO) a very, very angry man and pretty much always hard to be near.  Sometimes he'd "allow" us to visit and sometimes he'd say, "NO leave me alone".  I'm sure they did, but I never saw staff interact with him.  The last day of her visits, the staff had put up a notice to that effect and the Vets expressed how much Younger's visits had meant.  Visiting the one Vet brought that to home for the OldDog.  I knocked on his door and asked if he wanted to say good bye to her.  He said yes in a very pleasant way, got down on his hands and knees and was hugging her neck as tears ran down his face.  In all the visits I was on the other end of the leash and did NOT know they'd made that deep of a connection.
2. In Missoula I was asked if I wanted to bring Younger into some groups being started for Vets with PTSD.  We got the okay from the heads of MT VA, got her (and me) ID cards as volunteers and set up the required training for me to be there as the handler.  The groups we were to work with were Depression and Anger Management.  After the first group meeting of Anger Management (extremely emotional and I was wondering what I'd gotten us into), I got a call from the Group Leader.  She said she had to call me to tell me.  I thought, "well someone complained and it's going to end here".  She said "Roger, one of the Vets came in to tell me that he would have lost it three times if Younger hadn't kept coming over to him".  She just seemed to know her "job" and would get up and walk to group members and I had to find a way to follow (TDI requires the dogs to be on a leash during all visits).
3. As we were getting out of the truck one day at a nursing home.  A relatively young woman came up and asked "Is that Younger?".  After I said yes, she shared that when she visited, her Mother talked only about Younger and when the next visit would be.  She teased that she was jealous of "that dog".  There were also very rewarding indications indicating residents on the Alzheimer Ward were positively effected by Younger's presence.

    At home, she was simply a wonderful pet (Therapy Dogs are NOT Service Dogs and do NOT share the special legal status of SD's) and "big sister".  As I said, she helped raise WayVer and Sheila and I often commented on how she changed her tolerance and behavior as the puppy grew (absolutely as human's do with their own young).  She also interacted with the other GDA puppies at meetings we had.  She was a family member in every sense of the word.

    I've written/bragged about Younger because she replaced a previous dog as "the standard" against which I measure other dogs.  She wasn't perfect (we arrived at a Nephews home with a load from WI.  Sheila went to the house to tell them we'd arrived.  As I started removing the tarp from the trailer to unload into the barn, I heard excited chicken sounds.  As I ran in, she came out carrying one of the pet chickens in her mouth), but she sure set a high bar for other dogs to attempt to meet.  Younger's ashes are by my chair in the living room, but she's really in my heart.