Devoted Read online

  (illustration credit col1.1)

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  ISBN: 978-1-4262-1263-5

  eBook ISBN 978-1-4262-1263-5

  v3.1

  CONTENTS

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Introduction love, honor, & devotion

  Cheyenne the power of a puppy

  Ricochet putting the “surf” in service

  DeeDee an unusual path to service

  Schoep understanding what it means to heel

  Doogie a reptilian wrestling match

  Hooch a leap for love

  Hank women’s best friend

  Shana redefining “rescue dog”

  Rosie taking the stand

  Jasmine the friendliest dog in town

  Wendy good for the heart and soul

  Sonntag call of the wild

  Brock flying to the rescue

  Chancer a lesson in loyalty

  Willow for the love of learning

  Henry the art of the save

  Luca deaf to disability

  Faith walking the walk

  Effie sniffing away disease

  Pearl a worldwide helper

  Chaser mastering the English language

  Dutchess keeping her eyes on the prize

  Izzy the gift of courage

  Jarod protecting a family

  Picasso keeping the pace

  Louise giving the gift of solace

  Bear the war dog who came home

  Cooper the blind hunter

  Alfie in good company

  Casey finding the way home

  Wang Cai patience is a virtue

  Hattie the power of hearing

  Lilly protector from peril

  Rocky leading the way

  K’os staving off disaster

  Dingo a true survivor

  Wilma holistic heroine

  Santina a new kind of muse

  Resources

  Illustrations Credits

  Author Rebecca Ascher-Walsh and her two rescue pit bulls, Desiree (left) and Buddy (right) (illustration credit col2.1)

  Love, Honor, & Devotion

  REBECCA ASCHER-WALSH

  My first wedding was a low-key affair. My grandmother made my dress out of white curtains. My mother was the sole witness as I vowed until death do us part. Sadly, my groom and I would have only ten years together, but such are the risks a six-year-old takes marrying her beloved golden retriever.

  I eventually married a member of my own species. But throughout my life a dog or two has been beside me, offering love at every turn regardless of how sharp those turns might be. Among my past beloveds are a bullmastiff and a standard poodle. Now, I volunteer at a crowded city shelter where the majority of dogs are pit bulls and the euthanasia rate is high. I founded a not-for-profit that provides financial assistance for those pits lucky enough to be rescued, because my heart beats fastest for this misunderstood breed whose loyalty, intelligence, and kindness are unparalleled. My own two pit bulls are my children’s steadfast companions, ridden like horses by day before settling in to keep watch by their beds at night. Such is their devotion.

  And such is the devotion of the dogs in this book. Whether they have proved themselves through single acts of heroism or lifetimes of loyalty, they are exceptional. But perhaps their greatest legacy is the ability to restore our faith in the existence of unconditional love. Through their unique stories, the dog owners in this book reminded me to express my gratitude to the ever present examples of devotion sitting by my side. I rescued them, but they have rescued me in return. Dogs make our hearts grow larger. Such is their magic. And such is the magic of these stories.

  Cheyenne and her owner, David Sharpe, share a hug. (illustration credit 1.1)

  Cheyenne

  THE POWER OF A PUPPY AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER GEORGIA

  David E. Sharpe, a senior airman in the United States Air Force, returned from his deployment to Saudi Arabia in 2002. It was a joyless homecoming: Suffering residual trauma from his deployment, he drank too much, picked fights, and punched holes in the refrigerator door. A friend suggested that he get a dog, so he adopted a brown-and-white pit bull puppy named Cheyenne.

  Three months later, “Things got really bad,” Sharpe remembers. “I had two military buddies who committed suicide, and I couldn’t deal with what was in my head. I went to my room and took out a .45 my father had given me that he had in Ranger school. I was crying and calling myself a loser, and then I pulled the hammer back, put the barrel in my mouth and my thumb on the trigger. And as soon as I did that, one of the weirdest things happened. This little pup, who was maybe six months old at the time, came up and licked my ear, which distracted me so I took the gun out of my mouth to ask, ‘What did you do that for?’ And then she came over and sat down in my lap and put her head on my right thigh. The pistol was on my left. I understood it was an ultimatum to choose her or to take my life. I chose her, and I never looked back.”

  AMERICAN STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER

  ORIGIN: England

  COLOR(S): Any color

  HEIGHT: 17 to 19 inches

  TEMPERAMENT: The American Staffordshire terrier (aka Pit Bull) is a people-pleasing, family dog that flourishes when given a job or activity.

  In 2009, Sharpe founded Companions for Heroes (formerly Pets2Vets), which pairs veterans, active duty military personnel, emergency first responders, and their families with rescue dogs; the organization pays the adoption fee and offers free veterinary care for a year as well as unlimited access to a trainer. Sharpe, who now works in counterintelligence, says the pairing of a dog and a veteran is the beginning of returning that person to active society. “They choose the dog themselves from the shelter, and if it works out well—and we have a 98 percent success rate—they have made a good choice. Then they learn how to train their dog, and they are empowered by that. And then they start making other choices—to go back to school, to take advantage of the GI Bill, to get a job.”

  One veteran who has benefited is Lance Cpl. Jason Allen, a U.S. Marine Corps sniper who did tours in Africa, South America, and the Middle East. His last tour was in Afghanistan, where he ran over a roadside bomb. Allen survived, but back home in Texas he was immobilized by pain. He dropped from 150 pounds to 115. He lived his da
ys in despair and suffered flashbacks at night. Desperate, he sat down with a loaded gun, planning to commit suicide.

  His wife talked him out of his suicide attempt and Allen spent three days under observation at the veterans hospital, but when he returned home he was no better. Then, channel surfing one evening, he saw a television segment on Companions for Heroes. “We were talking about … getting radical shock therapy at that point, and I said to my wife, ‘Let’s give this a try instead.’ ” With the organization’s approval, the couple went to the shelter and adopted Sarge, a Boston terrier mix. Within days, the dog had changed Allen’s life.

  “I had been told by the doctor that I should give up physical activity because they couldn’t manage my pain,” he says, “but when we got Sarge, it’s not like you can’t play with this dog. And he needs to be walked, so we walk. Sarge has given me a new purpose. He’s not a good dog, he’s a great dog.” When Allen is awakened by a flashback, Sarge pads outside after him; Allen says he now returns to bed in ten minutes, rather than the 90 it took to quiet himself before Sarge.

  Sharpe, a war veteran, found salvation in saving a pit bull named Cheyenne. (illustration credit 1.2)

  Sarge’s abilities to read his master’s moods doesn’t surprise Julie Hecht, a canine behavioral researcher in Professor Alexandra Horowitz’s Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College. “Someone having a flashback will have a physiological change that a dog will definitely pick up on,” she says, “and what’s interesting is that for many dogs, it’s a natural response to be calm and close, so it sets a scene in which the dog can slide into its natural state.” Hecht points out that comforting a human during such an episode is mutually beneficial; the person is quieted, and the dog is generally rewarded by affectionate petting.

  Sharpe’s dream is that every veteran would arrive stateside and head to the nearest shelter. “Eighteen vets kills themselves a day [in the United States]. That’s over 6,000 a year. I want that number to be zero,” he says, “And every eight seconds a [shelter] animal is euthanized. I want that number reduced. I remember being in bed with Cheyenne and crying to her about my nightmares,” he continues. “I would say to her, ‘I’m going crazy. How am I going to live? How am I ever going to have a wife?’ And here Cheyenne and I are, 12 years later, and my wife and I just had a son. The thing about having a dog is you’re not a disabled dog owner. You’re just a dog owner. And they are there with complete and unconditional love.”

  Cheyenne inspired Sharpe to start the organization Companions for Heroes, pairing veterans with pets. (illustration credit 1.3)

  WHAT MAKES DOGS SUCH GOOD THERAPY? Though scientific evidence is limited, vast anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that pets have incredibly positive effects on those suffering from PTSD and/or depression. Interactions between dogs and their owners have shown to increase levels of the “feel-good” hormone, oxytocin.

  Ricochet

  PUTTING THE “SURF” IN SERVICE GOLDEN RETRIEVER CALIFORNIA

  Petulance is underrated. For Ricochet, it was the very quality necessary to find her calling. Ricochet was bred and raised to be a service dog, and for the first four months of her life, the golden retriever did as asked. She opened the fridge; she turned on the lights; she was “brilliant and enthusiastic,” remembers her owner, Judy Fridono. And then, she staged a sit-in. “She would just walk away from training sessions and lie down. I tried to remotivate her because I knew she was smart, but she just wasn’t interested in anything, except chasing birds. She seemed to have no work ethic. Her littermates were excelling and I couldn’t figure her out. I took her to doctors, I took her to chiropractors, I took her to animal communicators to try to figure out what was wrong with this dog. It wasn’t a happy time.”

  There was only one thing that Ricochet seemed to enjoy, and that was balancing on a surfboard in a kiddie pool, an activity used to help hone service dogs’ coordination. So when Fridono heard about a dog surfing competition near their home in California, she entered it is as a Hail Mary. “It was definitely a love-hate relationship with Ricochet at that point for me,” says Fridono, “but I thought this might be fun for her. I figured she’d surf a couple of waves and she’d be done.” Instead, Ricochet won third place. “I was brought to tears,” her owner remembers. “It was the first time after all those months she was really good at something.”

  GOLDEN RETRIEVER

  ORIGIN: Scottish Highlands

  COLOR(S): Rich, radiant golden of various shades

  HEIGHT: 21.5 to 24 inches

  TEMPERAMENT: Golden retrievers are friendly, active, and energetic. While they can adapt to many different living situations, they require daily exercise.

  Fridono was determined to find a way for Ricochet to give back with her newfound skill. “I don’t believe in breeding dogs to breed, because there are so many homeless animals, and I felt that I had brought this dog into the world so she had to do something meaningful.” So Fridono decided that the dog could help raise money for charity, and reached out to an acquaintance, Patrick Ivison. Ivison, a high school student and a surfer, had been in an accident that left him quadriplegic at the age of 14 months. The two planned an event where the boy and dog would surf side by side to help pay for Ivison’s physical therapy.

  “I was totally stoked to meet her,” remembers Ivison. “And I loved the idea of catching a party wave.” But Ricochet had a different idea. On one of the first rides, “she jumped off the board and onto my back. You could see everyone had the same thought at the same time: ‘Let’s try this on purpose.’ So we got a bigger board, put her on the back, and pushed me into a wave,” says Ivison. “And it worked perfectly.” Adds Fridono, “Here was a dog who had never wanted to do anything, and she never wanted to stop. She was reborn that day.”

  Ivison’s outing with Ricochet raised $10,000 and also helped him earn a grant to pay for three years of his physical therapy. “I remember saying to Patrick’s mom, ‘How are we ever going to top this?’ says Fridono. “Little did I know this was just the beginning.”

  Patrick Ivison and Ricochet share a board and a wave. (illustration credit 2.1)

  Ivison, Ricochet, and supporters enjoy the waves at Cardiff State Beach in San Diego, California. (illustration credit 2.2)

  In less than two years, Ricochet has helped to raise ten times that amount for various charities through online campaigns, inspiring contributions by surfing both solo and tandem. Among those she has shared a board with are a woman whose leg is amputated at the pelvis and another with no arms. Both women rely on Ricochet to help them balance on the board, as does Ivison. “I generally fall off on purpose at the end of a wave to avoid getting hurt, but she balances the board so I don’t have to,” he says. “We ride all the way to shore.” “No matter what, she adjusts to each person’s disability,” says Fridono, “whether it’s by standing on the front of the board, or the back, or standing sideways. I don’t know how she does it.”

  That’s an innate gift that comes with having four legs, a low center of gravity, and the lack of awareness that a big wave can really mess you up, says canine expert and trainer Philip Levine. “Dogs are quadrupeds and acutely aware of their position on the earth at all times,” he explains. “What could be more imperative to an animal than your footing?” As anyone who has tried leash training a stubborn dog by pulling back can attest, “They will instinctively correct their balance in an opposition reflex,” says Levine, who suggests a tug sideways instead. On a surfboard, when it comes to riding a wave without embellished movement, says Levine, “A dog would be pretty hard to beat.”

  But to those who have become familiar with Ricochet—her video on YouTube has been viewed by more than four million people—her gift is nothing less than magical. “She inspired me to have hope,” says Ivison, who now considers Ricochet a member of the family. “And I get emails from all over the world from people saying they were desperate until they saw us and we gave them the hope to keep going.” What touches people the most, he says,
is “We are both comeback stories. Ricochet was supposed to be a service dog, but instead of serving just one family she has gotten to help millions.”

  Her owner is now one of her biggest fans. Says Fridono, “I really struggled with her, but this is what she chose. She took a different journey than I thought she would, but looking back on it, it all makes perfect sense. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t let her be who she needed to be.”

  WHY IS RICOCHET SUCH A NATURAL SURFER? Originally trained in the late 1800s to retrieve waterfowl during a hunt, golden retrievers have had an instinctive love of water for generations. They’re physically adapted as well—a dense inner coat provides warmth while a water-repellent outer coat helps them dry quickly.

  DeeDee, a retired greyhound, takes a break from her service to rest on her new bed. (illustration credit 3.1)

  DeeDee

  AN UNUSUAL PATH TO SERVICE GREYHOUND IOWA

  When Brooke Lim adopted DeeDee, a two-year-old retired racing greyhound, it was with the intention of training her to comfort people who were ailing. Never could Lim have dreamed that she would be the patient for whom DeeDee would ultimately care.

  “I wanted to have a job with my dog that would make people’s lives better,” she explains of her decision to have DeeDee certified as a therapy dog, which allows the animals into public areas after proper permission is obtained, to provide comfort. “Greyhounds are perfect at it because they have a calm demeanor, they have soulful eyes that melt your heart, and they are the right height for people to be able to reach.” Within a year, DeeDee had completed the testing and she and her owner were regulars at local hospices and nursing homes.