Delaware Pets: Four dogs named Animal Heroes
Tuesday at Dover Downs, four of the many companion animals that enrich our lives with their companionship and service will be named winners in the Second Annual Animal Hero Awards.
The honors are presented by the Delaware Veterinary Medical Association and PAWS for People Pet-Assisted Visitation Volunteer Services after a statewide contest seeks nominations.
Meet the winners.
Hero: Dude the police dog
The definition of the Hero Award – given to an animal that has saved or preserved lives – seems tailored for Dude, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois who works with Delaware State Police Trooper Joe Joannides.
They've only been paired for two years. Dogs selected for canine police service are usually matched with a handler when they are about 2 years old, but Dude and Joannides started with different partners.
When Joannides went to work for the Canine Division nine years ago, he was paired with his first partner, Panna, but lost her to stomach cancer two years ago. It was a hard loss.
"You get close to them," Joannides said. "We say we spend more time with them than we do with our families."
About the same time, Dude – who is cross-trained in bomb detection, apprehension, tracking and protection – lost his first handler, a Maryland state trooper, to a promotion.
When Joannides heard about Dude, he decided to give the seasoned dog a try. The pair quickly bonded – partners at work and family at home. They have made several arrests, have worked with Homeland Security and have tracked down several bad guys.
"When he gets in the truck, he knows it's work time, and he's ready," Joannides said. "Recently, he went into a building and located three suspects all dressed in black. He's a great tracker."
Since they partnered late and police dogs retire around age 10, they only have about two more years to work together, but that won't be the end of their lives together.
"He works with me, and he lives with me," Joannides said. "When he does retire, he'll continue to live with me, rest in front of the fire and eat table scraps."
Service/Working: Onyx, leading the blind
Onyx, a black lab, was Daniel Lynam's eyes for more than nine years until the dog's death from kidney disease last June.
Over the years, Lynam, who just turned 52, suffered worsening balance due to Usher syndrome and steadily failing sight from retinitis pigmentosa. At age 40, he became legally blind.
Enter Onyx, a seeing-eye dog from the Leader Dog for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan, a charity supported by the Lions. She gave Lynam back his independence, allowing him to shop, go to the Jersey Shore, travel and feel secure.
"Over the years, she'd adjust to my speed," he said. "I noticed that if I was far from home and got disoriented, especially if it was about 5 o'clock, which was feeding time, she would just lead me home. It was almost like having another person with me. She could sense where we were; she always knew the way home.
"You get very attached, more than just a regular pet. You are together all the time."
Thanks to the Lions, Lynam has a new seeing-eye dog from Leader Dog, Chevy, a 17-month-old black lab who came to Wilmington with him less than two weeks ago when the pair returned from several weeks of training in Michigan.
"We joke at school that our dogs know us better than our wives or husbands," he said. "They know your smell, when you're afraid, when you're disoriented, and they are always there for you."
Chevy is getting to know Lynam's wife, Caitlin; his daughter, Clare; and Squirt, a 4-year-old poodle-schnauzer mix. He's finding his place, but he won't replace Onyx.
"It was tough to let her go, but it was the right way to go," he said. "But, sometimes I forget and call her name."
Companion: Willing the Wonder Dog
Willing, aka Willie or Willing the Wonder Dog, got off to a rough start in life. Stephanie McPeak, a vet tech at Lums Pond Animal Hospital in Bear, was there eight years ago when the newborn pit bull puppy was brought in by his breeder.
The pup's left leg was twisted behind him and his right leg was stiff, "like a peg leg," said McPeak, who offered to take the pup if a home could not be found for him.
When the breeder came back and wanted to have the puppy euthanized, she took him. After surgery to amputate his left leg, he went home to live with her family, which includes husband Richard, two Rottweiler-pit mixes and two other pit bulls.
He also has a fused spine, a fused tail that prevents it from wagging and rectal incontinence. He uses his "peg leg" for balance, and despite the problems with his front knees, greets the world with a happy disposition, McPeak said.
Willing, now 8, spent the first several years of his life being a pet and "sleeping on the couch." Then, about three years ago, McPeak went to a Million Pit Bull March in Washington, D.C., organized by Los Angeles-based comedian and pit bull advocate Rebecca Corry.
"I decided that with all the negativity about the breed and breed bans and the abuse and torture of the breed that goes on, I need to rearrange things in my life and do therapy work and change people's minds," McPeak said.
She and Willing signed up for PAWS for People, earned his Canine Good Citizenship certification and became a reading therapy team.
Because of his physical condition, walking long distances or on slippery floors in schools is painful, so now he rides in a little red canvas wagon.
His condition and his wagon seem to defuse the fear most people have of pit bulls, and when they come up to ask about Willing, it gives McPeak a chance to educate them on his breed.
"You see a pit bull in a wagon wearing a hat and you want to come and ask why," she said. "It's a different reaction than I get when I'm walking all five of my big dogs. Many people cross the street, and I understand that."
At one recent event, a young girl wearing braces on her legs was drawn to Willing.
"She wanted to know what happened to him, did he hurt," McPeak said. "She said she can't bend her legs normally either. She lit up when she saw him because she could relate to him."
Soon, they will visit another little girl who had one of her feet amputated and is now walking with prosthetics.
"Willie is able to let people be open to the idea that not every pit bull is like the ones they hear about on the news. They are loving, wonderful dogs, but unfortunately, some of them end up in the wrong hands."
Therapy: Lacey the visiting lab
Lacey, a 7-year-old yellow lab, was supposed to be a show dog competing in agility and obedience trials, and she was good, but she just didn't seem to really enjoy it.
Then, her owner, Julie Miller, of Elkton, noticed how gentle and quiet Lacey was with her mother, who suffers from neuropathy.
"She didn't jump up on Mom like the other dogs," she said. "It was like she knew Mom had trouble walking."
And so began Lacey's new career as a therapy dog with PAWS for People. In the more than five years Lacey has been certified with PAWS, she's worked in many arenas, including as part of the reading program. Recently, the pair earned certification to be an Emergency Response Therapy Team.
They also worked with PAWS and the University of Delaware as part of a study to determine how working with pets could provide therapeutic benefits to children who are cognitively challenged.
In the study, Lacey was paired with a little boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder who could have sudden outbursts of excitement or be very quiet and show little emotion. She learned his exercises, like pushups, and did them with him, and she was the only dog to master stepping up and down on an aerobic step.
In her letter nominating Lacey for her award, Dr. Janice Bibik, a UD associate professor, noted that the boy showed "dramatic progress" working with Lacey, who was patient and quiet even when he occasionally pulled her tail or ears.
"He would not participate if Lacey wasn't there," Miller said.
The therapy team also worked community events and visited hospitals and nursing homes, as well as a home for retired priests.
"There was one priest who was 96, had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and was just so frail," she said. "She would put her front legs gently on his lap. She would lick him, and he would just laugh. He loved her. He had no family. He went into the hospital and then to hospice, and we followed him. We visited every Monday night."
Talking about watching people respond to Lacey brings tears to Miller's voice.
"It's so emotional," she said. "I never thought I'd get like this over doing this. I just thought it would be fun for her, but it has moved me more than anything I can even describe. It is just amazing."
Delaware Pets is written by animal-lover Deb Lucas. Send your events, news and column ideas to dlucas@delawareonline.com or call her at (302) 324-2852. Find her on Facebook at facebook.com/deblucas and on Twitter at #DelPets.
Pet-related events
• The Delaware Humane Association in Wilmington needs volunteers to foster one or more DHA cats and/or dogs through Dec. 1 as they prepare to move into the new Tatiana and Gerrett Copeland Animal Care Center. Contact David Owens at dowens@dehumane.org or (302) 571-0111, ext. 313.
• For the third year, the Down Syndrome Association of Delaware will continue its holiday fundraiser with Waggies by Maggie & Friends in Wilmington. Special packages of the healthy dog treats will be available for purchase throughDec. 2. Products can be picked up at either of the DSA's coming holiday parties, Dec. 6 in Milton or Dec. 13 in Wilmington. Email info@dsadelaware.org to schedule an alternate pickup time. Waggies.org.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, Chico's at Rehoboth Beach Midway Outlet will give 10 percent of each sale to First State Animal Center and SPCA in Camden. fsac-spac, (302) 943-6032.