Some days just stick in your mind for ever.  I had one of those a few months ago when I was invited to film at the Southeastern Guide dog campus, near Tampa. After getting lost and taking an unexpected tour of the crack houses of Bradenton, I was quite relieved to see the large sign indicating I had finally arrived at the right place.  And what a place!  Twenty-five acres of beautifully landscaped grounds immediately welcome you to this outstanding residential facility that has fine tuned guide dogs' incredible skills for 28 years.

First stop was the puppy hugging room, where litters of beautiful six-week old Labrador puppies were just waiting to be oohed and aahed over. Everything is done with great precision, discouraging pups from biting and jumping up too much.  The name of the game here is to really develop their socialization skills.  Obviously, you will appreciate what a hard assignment this was for me, but somebody has to do it.  Tearing myself away, I was told I would have the opportunity to work with a dog that was halfway through its training: doing a practical exercise along a winding, wooded pathway called Freedom walk. It is here that the blind learn to walk with the dog, cross a road, find a bench to sit on, etc. Sounds easy right? Fortunately, I had been warned by the training staff that this is sometimes very emotionally overwhelming and downright scary. They were right.

I was given a pair of wraparound black glasses that eliminated any light or shadows, completely.  First freaky moment.  All your anchor points disappear and you simply feel isolated and disoriented. I had had the chance to say a quick (sighted) hello to Tango, a young female Labrador, who was going to be my eyes for the next few minutes. My hand was guided to the harness handle and with the command "Forward" off we set, me taking tiny, soldier stiff steps and finding it hard to keep my balance.  How ridiculous that I felt so scared, sweat pouring off my body, accompanied by a rapid increase in heart rate. Was this a panic attack?

READ MORE TOMORROW AS I CONTINUE MY STORY OF HOW I LEARNED TO HAND CONTROL OF MY LIFE COMPLETELY OVER TO A DOG NAMED, TANGO.

Many times we'll get an animal into one of our veterinary clinics that Kent, despite his prodigious skill as a veterinarian, simply cannot save.  Unfortunately, these are frequently the animals that touch us all most deeply.  One such example was Celeste.  Celeste means "a gift from heaven."  A search and rescue team found this tiny deer after she had been prematurely born and left by the side of the road, severely dehydrated in the 90 degree weather.  We did all we could to nurse her back to health, and she was such a sweet, beautiful little thing that everyone came to love her.  Unfortunately, her little body was too far gone, and our gift went back to Heaven having touched all our hearts.

But as often happens around here, something truly amazing came of even this tiny, sad story.  Ham, the dachshund, appointed himself as protector of Celeste and would not leave her side.  He even remained in her box for hours after she had died, watching over her.  It was such a touching example of how animals really do love and protect one another if given the chance. 

Pitbulls are surely the most misunderstood members of the canine family.  Yes, they can be aggressive.  Yes, there have been plenty of attacks, and yes they can be dangerous, but you can say that of any animal under the wrong circumstances, including "cute" beasts like chimps.  But the great majority of the time, the dangerous pitbull is the idiot owner's fault.  Trailer trash meth heads adopt them and then either abuse them, train them to be vicious or use them in illegal dog fighting.  Treated like that, you or I would probably turn mean.  I've been known to bite over the cork breaking and falling into the wine bottle, for heaven's sake...especially after a long day.

Anyway, it's usually the owners who want euthanizing, not the dogs.  Case in point: Dolly, who came to us not long ago after being horribly abusedby some bastard who used her as a bait dog in a dog fighting racket.  We gave the poor baby free medical care at River Oaks, because as you can see in the video she sustained terrible trauma to her muzzle.  Her mouth was so swollen that she couldn't eat, and so of course had been losing weight.  Despite this, Dolly was sweet and gentle when she had every reason to be defensive and a biter.  As you can see in the video, she recovered from her injuries to become an absolutely beautiful girl.  Erica Daniel, a worker at the shelter where Dolly first came as a stray, adopted her and has given her a lovely home.

I'm telling you, spay and neuter the dogs, but put down the owners.  You can see why this sort of thing makes my blood boil.  Dolly, we all wish you health and long life. 

Dolly the Pitbull

Dolly the Pitbull

Dolly's story

This is the story of Dolly from her first appearance as a stray to her terrible abuse by her first adoptive parent, to her return to health at our veterinary clinic, to her adoption by Erica Daniel.