Posted on 02/21/2011 5:40:47 PM PST by Immerito
Sam will tell on Joy in a heartbeat. It’s his job — and often it’s potentially life-saving.
Sam, a 3-year-old Labrador/spaniel, likes to romp with the kids, but when his vest and balance harness go on, he becomes 11-year-old Joy Cahill’s service dog and official lookout. No one is then allowed to touch him because Sam is busy, keeping alert and ready to warn someone should this Wilmington girl have a health emergency.
“He’s gotten to know her norm,” said Denise Cahill, Joy’s mother. “So when something is not normal, he reacts. He also doesn’t let Joy do anything she’s not supposed to be doing. We call him ‘our built-in little tattler.’ ”
Mischievous girl
Joy, born with Down syndrome, also suffers from respiratory distress and epilepsy. She has supplemental oxygen and a feeding tube. A seizure affected Joy’s ability to walk and she required physical therapy.
Currently, Joy only uses the oxygen at night and as needed during the day. She also sleeps with a machine that measures her heart rate and oxygen levels. However, Joy can be as mischievous as any child. A few months ago, to Denise’s chagrin, Joy learned how to switch off her machines when everyone was sleeping.
Joy, who’s not highly verbal and tends not to respond when someone calls her name, also discovered the fun of leaving the house when other family members are occupied, so special locks were installed. Concerned about Joy’s many health and safety issues, Denise began researching service dogs.
(Excerpt) Read more at beaconnews.suntimes.com ...
I’m tattling on the tattling doggie ping! :-)
I can just imagine if for some reason EMT’s have to show up with cops. Guess what’ll happen?
Heartwarming story, and the improvement in the child’s development is really nice.
If you went over to DU, it would be a big improvement in both sites.
Cops habitually shoot dogs the first thing they do when they show up at peoples homes. There are story after story of that happening. I was just being factious. Thanks for asking before hand.
Welcome, and please do stick around. Some Freepers tend to be a bit, um, opinionated. (Like me, sometimes).
He was referencing an unpleasant fact in a facetious manner.
Let us hope that this little girl never witnesses the execution of her service dog.
53d ACW - 19th TASS 1969-1971
Long Tieng
I know exactly what you said and what you meant by it.
This is a heartwarming story about the partial recovery of this Down’s syndrome child as a result of her having a service dog.
No one needs to be reminded about the fact that police shoot dogs because you and others mention it on the dog threads all the time, and that comment is annoying, repetitive, not funny, not appropriate to the thread, and by the way, not civil.
People are enjoying the story, and you pop in and facetiously imply: “yuk, yuk, the cops are gonna shoot that dog, yuk, yuk.” That’s not what anyone wants to hear.
Do you have a comment that is pertinent to the story? I would be delighted to hear it.
Thanks. I’m not a runner. BTW, I don’t know you but. SuzyQ is the name of my airplane.
Yes, great story. It wasn’t a yuk yuk as you infer. As I said, I was being fatuous about it. I was hoping that wouldn’t happen. But in this day and age it does. The cop would shoot first then ask questions. It happens. Deal with it.
Service dogs continue to amaze me as in this story where he goes beyond what he was trained for.....these parents will always about their little one but I would think their burden would be a little lighter because of this dog....
thanks for posting such a sweet story
Did you fly with the 19th?
Dogs and kids are good for each other.
Viper, Cobra and Copperhead - Snake FAC. Worked with Aussies at Nui Dat a fire control base, Phuoc Tuy province.
OMG, that’s a frightening thought but you’re right. The dog would NOT be safe.
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