Horsing Around
Have you ever seen a woman ride a horse into a grocery store? You might if you lived in Fort Worth, Texas, where Tabitha Darling, a legally blind woman with a deteriorating bone condition, relies on her horse Trixie to help her get around. Donning bright pink, slip-proof boots, Trixie regularly escorts Darling to the local store.
WFAA.com
Good Grief
Zoey, a three and a half year old golden retriever has an extra-special empathetic streak. Once a week, she works at the Michigan Memorial Funeral Home as a grief therapy dog, providing canine comfort to those in need. “It’s almost as if Zoey knows that her calm presence just seems to make people who are sad a little less sad,” says her owner, Kelly Dwyer.
Kelly Dwyer
My Little Pony Helps Me See
For Mona Ramouni, a blind woman living in Michigan, a seeing eye dog wasn’t really an option. According to her Sunni Muslim religion, dogs are considered unclean. Lucky for Ramouni, she found Mexicali Rose, a miniature horse who’s been trained as a seeing-eye guide. The two and half foot tall beauty, who weighs 125 pounds, goes everywhere with Ramouni.
Carlos Osorio, AP
Read Me a Story
In Flagstaff, Arizona, an inventive program called Paws to Read pairs therapy dogs with kids who have trouble reading. By reading aloud to the dog — a receptive and nonjudgmental listener — children gain confidence in their reading abilities.
Mark Sauer, Mesabi Daily News / AP
Peanut-Sniffing Dog
Rock’O the Portuguese water dog can smell a peanut from a mile away. He’s a graduate of the peanut-sniffing program at the Florida Canine Academy, which also offers training courses for canines to detect bombs and narcotics. Rock’O uses his specialized training to protect eight year-old Riley Mers of Monument, Colorado, who is deathly allergic to peanuts and even the tiniest amount of peanut dust.
Christian Murdock, Colorado Springs Gazette / MCT
Serving America’s Veterans
Frankie, an affectionate female Labrador Retriever, helps Sergeant Allen Hill, a veteran of the Iraq war, deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and manage the panic attacks that plague him since suffering a traumatic head injury in Iraq in 2007. Raised behind prison walls, Frankie is a graduate of the Puppies Behind Bars program, in which prisoners train dogs to be service animals for the disabled.
Daniel Hulshizer, AP
Appaloosa on the Loose
Hardly bigger than a Labrador Retriever, Confetti is an adorable miniature Appaloosa horse who helps Cheryl Spencer see. In June 2004, Confetti took her first plane ride, standing in the bulkhead seating area. Cheryl and her husband Chris devised a “poo bag system” in case Confetti had an accident on board the plane, but the diminutive horse was too smart for that! Unlike dogs, horses can live up to 30 years of age.
Bob Self, The Florida Times-Union / AP
When Pigs Fly!
Pigs do fly, and in first class, no less! Charlotte, a 300-pound pot-bellied pig, was allowed to accompany her owner, Maria Tirotta Andrews, on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Seattle. Under federal law, airlines are required to allow a person with a disability to be accompanied by their service animal. Andrews suffers from a heart condition and relies on Charlotte to help relieve stress.
Getty Images
Show Me the Money
In Britain, a yellow Labrador Retriever named Endal made life a whole lot easier for Allen Parton, a soldier injured in the Gulf War, who became paralyzed and in need of a wheelchair. Endal could retrieve a razor, load the washing machine, and work the ATM for Parton, who couldn’t reach the cash machine. Sadly, Endal died in March 2009, but another dog named Endal Junior (or “EJ”) hopes to fill the big paw prints left by his predecessor
Telegraph UK / ZUMA Press
Monkey Business
Richard the monkey helps keep Debby Rose, a Missouri woman, from suffering extreme anxiety and panic attacks. He soothes her when she starts to unravel, petting her arm and maintaining eye contact with her until she calms down. Rose unwittingly courted controversy by taking Richard everywhere with her, including to restaurants and shopping. Some claimed that Richard posed a public health risk, but that hasn’t kept him at home.
Corbis