Service Tails Page 13

  As the months stretched into years, his focus remained on the woman that he seemed bred to serve. And because of his incredible work, Salty became a local celebrity. People brought him toys and treats and patted his head. None of the attention went to his head or pulled his gaze from Emma

  For seven years, the collie led Emma. Observers noted that a half a dozen times he kept her from stepping in front of traffic and on countless other occasions prevented her from falling down steps or walking into a sign, tree, or fence. During those moments when tragedy loomed so near, the woman was completely unaware the dog had likely saved her from injury or death. All she really understood was that he brought independence and security into her life.

  As Emma aged, her trips out of the house grew less frequent. Other people began to do her shopping and run her errands. The dog that had given her such wonderful independence was now relegated to being more of a companion than a guide. It was a role he accepted with grace and dignity.

  Along with Emma’s diminishing physical skills, another issue was taking root. Her mind was slipping. Yet even though sometimes the woman forgot to feed him or allowed his water dish to run dry, Salty remained intensely loyal. He remained at her side to make sure her steps were still safe; and when she stumbled, he was there to help her up.

  At some point, Emma lost all interest in the dog she had once so treasured. She no longer petted or talked to him. Yet, rather than call the school that had given the collie to her and ask them to find a new home for Salty, the woman gave the dog to a man she barely knew. Her mind and focus were now so far gone that Emma did not even say good-bye to her guide as he was led out the door and to the man’s truck. Tom, Salty’s new master, took the confused collie out to his rural home, put him in a five-by–five-foot pen, and closed the gate. The dog that had given his life to service now found himself in solitary confinement.

  Salty had never spent nights outdoors. He had never been exposed to the elements. He had never been away from human contact. The pen that was now his new home had a dirt floor, a rusty water bowl, and a plastic crate that was too small to offer any shelter. Confused and lonely, Salty began to bark. His new owner screamed from the mobile home’s front door for the dog to be quiet. The former guide dog cried out again, and profanity followed. When Salty refused to give up, Tom came out, opened the gate, grabbed the dog by the neck, and beat him. The collie could have not imagined things would quickly grow much worse.

  Thanks to the Florida environment, Salty was soon covered with fleas and ticks. His pen was also quickly filled by his own waste. The food he was given was the cheapest the owner could find, and there were no special treats. He was never petted, bathed, or talked to. If Salty asked for attention, he was usually beaten. In the first year he was at the new home, he was likely never taken out of the pen.

  He learned to quit barking, but the neighbors reported that the collie cried every time there was a thunderstorm. Unable to get his entire body in the crate, Salty whimpered with each new crack of lightning and roar of thunder. Yet the storms that were scaring him so would ultimately bring some hope.

  After watching the dog suffer in a cold rain, a neighbor called the county humane society and reported that a dog was being severely neglected and abused. A few days later, local authorities made a visit to check on Salty. What they found was disturbing. He was standing ankle deep in waste and mud. Not only was the animal filthy, covered with parasites, and dramatically underfed, he was also scared to death. As they approached, the collie kept its head low as if in fear of being beaten. When they opened the pen, they noted a chain collar around Salty’s neck that was so rusted it would barely move. It was a wonder the dog had not choked to death.

  As horrible as the conditions were, under the law, the authorities could only cite the owner and demand he take better care of the dog. Yet, rather than just walking away, the concerned visitors contacted a local collie rescue group to see if they could get involved. The leader of that organization called Debbie Abbenante who trained both horses and dogs. Fearing the dog would not last much longer, Debbie and a team arranged a visit with Salty’s current owner. As expected, the dog’s physical condition was appalling, but it was the collie’s complete lack of spirit that broke everyone’s hearts. They didn’t have to guess why Salty tried to hide in the corner of the tiny enclosure. As the team looked through the chain-link, Tom hit the fencing and taunted the dog. He seemed to enjoy making fun of the neglected animal.

  After several minutes of discussion, some of it heated, the team convinced Tom to let Debbie take Salty. As she opened the door and tried to coax the shy, frightened, and sick dog from the pen, he shook and moved backward. Debbie sensed Salty was fully expecting to be hit. When she began stroking his dirty, flea-covered head, he leaned a bit closer. Over the next few minutes, as she sat beside him, he began to calm down. Soon, as Tom mocked her from his porch, she was able to lead the collie outside into the yard. After several more calming strokes on his bony back, she put a leash around his neck, and together they walked to the car. The nightmare was over.

  Salty’s first stop was at the vet. He was checked out, given his shots, and cleaned up. When he arrived at Debbie’s, he was introduced to the other dogs as well as to the family’s horses and cats. He was also given his first good meal in more than a year. After being bathed and brushed, the collie was allowed to explore his new domain. As Debbie watched the thin, insecure collie walk timidly from room to room, she realized his fragile psyche likely couldn’t take another move. So this couldn’t be just another rescue where she fostered Salty until a “forever” owner was located. This had to be the final stop. She needed to adopt the ten-year-old dog. Her small farm was where the dog should spend the rest of his life.

  As Debbie discovered more about Salty’s background, she came to understand how deeply confused the dog had to be. He had been trained never to leave his partner’s side, to constantly look for ways to serve her, and to put loyalty above even his own physical needs. Then without warning, he had been thrown into a pen like a piece of garbage. In one night, the bonding and love that he had known since birth were gone and his world had been destroyed. Worst of all, he had served someone well for seven years and there had been no reward, only a hellish existence of pain, isolation, and neglect.

  During his first few weeks at the farm, Debbie and her husband smothered Salty with love. In return he was Debbie’s constant shadow. Still, for a while, he glanced nervously over his shoulder as if wondering if the man who had treated him so badly would return to take him back to prison. In time those looks stopped; but if someone raised his or her voice, the dog’s worried expression proved he had not forgotten the experience.

  On a regular basis, Debbie took her ponies and horses to children’s birthday parties. The gentle animals would entertain by showing off a wide variety of tricks as well as offering rides. As he settled into life on the farm, Salty accompanied the woman to these parties. The children loved the friendly collie as much as they did the horses. As he attended more and more of the outings, the shyness and fear he had adopted during his year of abuse disappeared. He once more took on the mannerisms of the wise old soul that had made him such a wonderful guide dog.

  Once Salty was completely secure in his new world, Debbie obtained a harness specifically made for guide dogs. As she approached the collie, he became noticeably excited. Standing as if at attention, he quietly held his position while she put the harness in place and adjusted it. His tail wagging, he waited for her to stand, place her hand on the harness, and give the order to move forward. A smile registered on his graying muzzle as he led Debbie out the door and into the yard. For the next half hour the veteran guide dog showed just how much he loved serving. He nailed every command!

  The longer Debbie worked with Salty, the more she considered what it must have been like to go from a service dog to an abused animal. Then another sobering realization left her cold; there were thousands of American military veterans who we
re homeless. Just like the guide dog, they had served but were now largely forgotten. Perhaps Salty sensed this common bond because as he and Debbie traveled, he seemed drawn to people who called the streets home and to children who were unpopular or disabled.

  After being rescued, the collie lived for three happy years. During that time, he charmed hundreds of children at birthday parties, allowed thousands of people who felt displaced to pet his head and feel his acceptance and love, and brought incredible joy into the Abbenante home. And, just because it seemed to bring him so much happiness, Debbie continued to slip on his harness and let Salty guide her around the neighborhood.

  When Salty died, he was surrounded by the love of those who deeply appreciated his service, character, and heart. He was also buried with full honors due those who had given so much in service.

  Salty’s life story is rare in the dog world. Few service dogs go lacking for a home when they are retired. But in a few cases, guide-dog schools need people to adopt senior dogs. Like Salty, these older canines make incredible additions to a family and also bring a special bonus most other animals cannot. Because of their years of service, they are selfless. On a daily basis, their actions and focus prove the joys, benefits, and blessings of living for others. As the noted missionary doctor Albert Schweitzer once told a group of college students, “I don’t know what your destiny will be but I do know the only ones among you who will truly be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Salty, and all the other canines and humans that serve, should be put on a pedestal and honored for their gifts of service. They must never be forgotten or thrown away.

  * The names of both the woman whom Salty guided and the dog’s second owner have been changed to protect their privacy.

  We hope you enjoyed Service Tails by Ace Collins. Here is a sample from his book Man’s Best Hero.

  1

  Opportunity

  The Importance of Second Chances

  O

  ut of all of the world’s creatures, the dog is the one that truly needs to love and serve to be happy and fulfilled. This book focuses on dogs that have earned the title hero. Their stories are as varied as their backgrounds. From a four-pound terrier that initiated a mighty movement during World War II, to a massive canine that fought a frigid winter storm to save the man he loved, to a dog that brought hope to those whose spirits were crushed by the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, the animals in these pages have accomplished things far beyond what people believed they could. So in a sense these tales are both inspirational and comforting, but that is not the purpose for placing them in this book. The real reason for telling these amazing stories is to fully present the potential of all dogs, including those in your home right now. All of these canines, be they purebred or mutt, are looking for a calling, yearning to find their potential, and wanting to live out the challenge once issued by the great missionary doctor Albert Schweitzer: “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but I do know that the only ones among you who will truly be happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” Thanks to a bit of help from humans, the dogs in this book found a life of service. And that is the challenge for each of us as pet owners. We should not just furnish them a home but also provide our companions with a reason to live.

  With that in mind I felt a good place to begin this book was not by focusing on a dog but on a person who loves both dogs and humans. Through faith, determination, vision, and persistence, she has found a way to give the animals no one wanted and the people deemed unforgiveable a second chance at life. And that is a theme found throughout this book—second chances.

  Beautiful, tall, and elegant, on first glance Renie Rule defines sophistication and grace. She could be the model for the modern businesswoman. But so much more than her career defines her. Rule possesses charismatic warmth that draws you right into her soul and a spirit that inspires those around her to dig deeper and climb higher. Robert F. Kennedy once said, “There are those who look at things and ask why, I dream of things that never were and ask why not.” Rule is one of those rare people who constantly finds answers to problems others usually fail to see.

  The Fort Worth native and Little Rock resident is the executive director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. And though her activities in helping to guide one of the nation’s top teaching hospitals are remarkable, it is her job of transforming lives through volunteer work that has seen her create a new breed of heroes. These all but unnoticed champions were once unwanted canines that were on their way to doggy death row but now serve as assistance animals, therapy dogs, and pets. Her revolutionary work has touched thousands, and it was remarkably born out of one sad man’s final request.

  Rule’s upbringing as a missionary’s kid gave her a slightly different point of view than most folks. After watching her parents work in some of the poorest areas on the globe and live out their passion for service each day of their lives, Rule doesn’t look for what she can take but rather searches for what she can give. Even as a child in Brazil she was saving starving dogs while her parents were feeding hungry people. Perhaps it was those actions that gave her the conviction that every animal and person, no matter what they have done in the past, has the potential to be something remarkable now and in the future.

  In the summer of 1994, Rule was forty-four when she read a newspaper story about Hoyt Franklin Clines. Clines was on death row awaiting execution for robbery and murder. In his final interview he told a reporter he had hoped his last meal would be a hamburger, French fries, and banana bread. The first two were easy requests for the prison to fill, but the prisoner was deeply disappointed when he was informed the unit’s kitchen could not make banana bread.

  Most people would have read the story and felt little compassion for a man society had deemed unfit to live, but not Renie Rule. She went to the store, bought the necessary ingredients, raced back to her kitchen, mixed and baked the bread, and then drove more than an hour to deliver it to the prison gate. At that moment she had no way of knowing this simple act would lead to starting a program that would radically change the lives of dogs and humans on both sides of prison walls. All she was doing was trying to show compassion for one single soul.

  On August 2, the night before he was to be executed, Clines was allowed to make a phone call. For almost an hour the lonely man spoke with Rule. As the conversation was ending she asked him if there was anything else she could do during his last day on earth. The man quickly replied, “Will you build a chapel down here?”

  There would be no appeal; Clines met his maker in the death chamber the next night, but his wishes did not die with him. Over the next few years Rule raised the funds and cut the red tape to build a simple chapel in the state’s Varner Unit prison. When the small, cinderblock building was completed, she placed a sign over the door that says, “Bless all who enter.” To the prisoners Rule’s act of kindness seemed almost unbelievable, but to the missionary’s daughter it was nothing more than living out the biblical passage that had defined her parents’ life and work—Matthew 25:35-40.

  “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

  “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ”

  Rule could have walked away after constructing the chapel, but she didn’t. Instead she began to look deeply into the prison system. As she went behind the walls and observed what life was like in this sterile, loveless, and often brutal environment, she saw things other
s on the inside and outside missed—potential and hope. And she had seen those same qualities in another very sad place she had visited—the local animal shelter. Rule wondered what would happen if she could find a way to take people no one believed in and connect them to dogs no one wanted. After putting the concept into a detailed plan, she set a goal of making it happen.

  Rule took the idea to Governor Mike Beebe, and the dog owner immediately approved it. She then went to Arkansas Department of Corrections Director Ray Hobbs with her plan, and he embraced it. Then it was time to really get the ball rolling. After a team studied the Missouri Department of Correction’s Puppies for Parole program and Rule raised the money through private donations to fund the program, Paws in Prison was born. It had taken years of work and planning, but Rule had found a way to give unwanted dogs a second chance at life and provide unwanted people an opportunity to find purpose.

  As per Rule’s original vision, Paws in Prison partners with shelters and rescue groups to bring unwanted dogs into prison to live with the inmates. The inmates and dogs work with professional dog trainers once a week and then practice the skills they have learned between sessions. The training goes well beyond house breaking, socialization, and basic obedience work. Dogs are also taught to read commands and respond to flash cards, help with taking off jackets and untying shoes, turn light switches on and off, and retrieve a wide variety of household items. Their training is so extensive some of the dogs graduate knowing more than a hundred different commands.