My name is Linda and I am 46 years old.  I have been married for 21 years and have never been able to conceive.  I have come to accept this aspect of my life, although I have always been "maternal".  God chose to bless me with "furbabies"!!!  I have been the happy Mom to some very special 4-legged babies.  About 3 years ago, we had to bid farewell to our boy, a lab-mix by the name of Little-Un.  He was very, very special and his absence left a huge hole in our life.  We discussed adopting another pet and decided to wait awhile before we really made up our mind. We also have a Chihuahua, but we seem to be a 2-pet family, so we knew someday we would be adopting another furbaby. About a year passed and one day I was listening to a local radio program where people call in to buy or sell items. I heard a lady say she had some Maltipoo puppies that would be ready in about a month and she left her number. Well, my ears had perked up and I KNEW I had to call her!!  I did and she described the crossbreed and with each description she named, I began to get more and more excited.  After discussing everything with hubby, we BOTH knew this was the dog for us!  I had always wanted a little dog suitable for pet therapy and this one sounded perfect.  We finalized the adoption and began anticipating bringing our little girl home!  I knew I wanted to do pet therapy work with her and began to call around and see if she would be welcome in our local nursing homes. We live in a small county and there are no big hospitals close enough to us to take her to one, but there are several nursing homes.  They all were totally thrilled with the idea of me bringing her to visit the patients and there was no formal training required.  All they needed was a copy of her vaccination records and registration papers and my guarantee of her cleanliness. I began to get excited about that aspect of her life before I even brought her home!!!

It has been over a year since Zoe Mae came into our life and she has brought nothing but joy to our home.  I began training her very soon after I brought her home and she learned all of the basic commands at 2 months of age.  I soon realized she would be perfect as a pet therapy dog.

At age 5 months, Zoe Mae went on her first trip to a local adult day care as a pet therapy dog.  She did great!!  There were about 14 patients there that day and she let each of them hold her if they wanted.  I will never forget one lady who, at first sight of Zoe Mae, declared, "I don't like dogs!! Get it away from me!!"  I just smiled at her and told her that was fine and I tried to keep Zoe Mae away from her.  She was still on her leash at the time, but soon a young man who was a patient there, wanted her to fetch the ball for him, so I unclipped her and let her run after the little ball he was tossing around for her. The very first person she took the ball to after I let her run loose was. . .you guessed it!!! The lady who DON'T like dogs!!  It was like she was determined to be friendly to the UN-friendliest one there!!!

The next day we visited the nursing homes and I was rendered speechless at how my little Zoe Mae seemed to know exactly what was expected of her.  If a patient needed her to sit quietly and let them softly rub her fur, that is exactly what she did. If they wanted a little more affection, she would kiss their hand or cheek. If they weren't capable of doing much at all, she would lie beside them in their bed and let them do what they could, weather it was gently pet her or just feel the warmth of her little body beside them. She seemed to just know!  I will never be able to explain the way she works. . .It's as if a higher power uses that little body to work little miracles.  I will now describe one such miracle. .

We were at one of the nursing homes, actually about to finish up our visitation and head home.  The last place we go at this particular home is the physical therapy room because there are usually several patients in there who I don't want to miss, not to mention the nurses who adore Zoe Mae!  Well, we had went in and I had let Zoe Mae visit around with a couple of patients. There was a really, really old lady in a little wheelchair. . it actually looked like a child's wheelchair, it was so small!  She was so little and so, well "ancient" looking. . . Her eyes were so cloudy and she was just sitting there quietly eatting ice cream out of a little cup.  I decided not to take Zoe Mae to her because she just didn't seem to be aware of anything much and I didn't think she would benefit from it.  As I was turning to leave the room, the nurse said, "Hey, you didn't let Ms.______  (the little old lady in the wheelchair!)  see Zoe Mae!  Bring her over here."  So she told the lady about Zoe Mae and, after they set her ice cream down, I placed Zoe Mae in her lap.Two or three of the nurses gathered around to see what the lady would do.  She still hadn't really acted as if she knew Zoe Mae was there, so I picked up her little vein-laced, wrinkled up hand and placed it on Zoe Mae where she could feel her fur.  Well, she began to move her fingers and as she did, she slowly lifted her head up and she began to focus on what was in her lap that felt so soft!!  From that moment on, everything got soooo quiet. . . Zoe Mae began to get really still and quiet and she, too, began to focus on the lady. When their eyes met, well, that's when all of us around them began to realize something "not quite so ordinary" was going on!!  The little old lady began to make some kind of noise . . sort-of like singing, but not really. . more like "crooning".  She was not forming words, but whatever it was, Zoe Mae seemed to understand it!  They had not broken eye-contact up to that point and as long as the lady made the sound, Zoe Mae was focused on her without moving a muscle. All of us standing around had our mouths hanging open, not knowing WHAT was going on, but knowing it was something special!  When the lady finished her "song", well, the moment was over.  Zoe Mae kissed her wrinkled old cheek as if to say "Thank you" or something and then she jumped down.  It was like she knew she was finished and it was time to go home!!  The nurses found their voices and one of them said, "Linda, this lady has never made a sound since she has been in this nursing home till now!"  And that is only ONE of the many small miracles I have witnessed. . . I could go on and on writing about so many more!  Not bragging on anything I'VE done, but giving all credit to how God works through willing souls. . .little, innocent, furry souls that don't know anything else but to love without question; to give everyone a chance to be a friend;  to try to show kindness to all, unconditionally, non-judgementally, every day of their precious lives. 

Zoe Mae is a blessing weather she is at work as a pet therapy dog or is just being a normal, happy little playful puppy here at home!  She is my little "angel girl doggy"!!  I feel it would be so selfish of me not to share her, she is THAT special!

by Linda M. Smith

 

This last March my husband was shot and stayed in intensive care of almost the whole month .

My nephew that was on drugs did it and so our family was hit 2 fold .

This is a hard thing to take and deal with for any family and mine was no different .

I became very depressed . I didn't want to do much of anything and almost forgot to do the things I needed to do .

But every night my Sam the Maltipoo and my Caesar ,Koko ,Gaylord ,Sally Jo and all my dogs and cats would climb into bed with me . Sam was espically watchfull .

He knew I was in pain . I could tell because he would sleep right next to me with his paw on my arm .

Every morning I would wake up to one or as many as could with their faces looking into mine .Watching my eyes open and making me smile at the way they watched me .

I din't think at the time that this was anything special , my life was in turmoil and my thoughts were not exactly coherrent .

However , after Robert got better and the stress eased up ,I noticed that they still were watching me closely ..Then it hit me .THEY were taking care OF ME !

The only way they knew how to was to love me in every way they could and watch over me as I slept  and as I got my life back together .

I can only asay this ...

If it were nto for them and the attention I had to give them ,I would not have made it myself  through all the trials that we have endured the apst few years ..

I have come to realize that Dog is GOd spelled backward for a reason ..He sends these angels to keep us safe...

Thank you Sam and all for keeping me safe .