Friday, January 09, 2009

Ace


Another awesome update about one of my former fosters. Some of you guys might remember Ace I.P. Frehley. He was one of our absolute faves of all time. Anyway, he's a full-fledged working therapy dog now. His adoptive mom sent me this description of his day earlier this week and I'm not ashamed to tell you I teared up a little...just a little. rabble scrabble hormones.

Just this morning he did physical therapy with a girl who had recently undergone brain surgery and had to re-learn motor control and coordination, so he sat unmoving while she worked to reach out and pet his "lucky mohawk." (Ace has got a pretty sweet 'hawk now. The kids go crazy for it.) He went from perching frozen on a chair to leaping wildly through his hula hoop and doing targeting exercises for a little boy. From there he greeted a boy in a wheel chair by gingerly placing his paws on the side of the chair and licking his hand. We rounded out the morning by working with a severely developmentally disabled little girl, who amazingly responded to Ace's kisses and his taking treats from her hand. He even climbed on top of her highchair-type table so she could get a closer look, and he balanced there shifting his weight until she was done. He kissed her nose and jumped down. I have no idea how Ace is able to understand as much as he does when he's working, but somehow he's able to tune in and predict exactly what is needed of him.
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Aww, Ace. You go on with your bad self.

2 comments:

Robyn said...

That is incredible! Do you think Wilson could do that? JKJK!!

Anonymous said...

That is so freakin' awesome. I'm a little teary...