pet connection

With the song “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” bouncing through my head, I think of my recent visitors and laugh. Ed and Toni Eames of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP) hit the road regularly to talk to veterinary students across the country about the needs of assistance dogs and disabled clients. Last week I watched them speak at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Even within crowds of students at a veterinary school, goldens Keebler and Latrell draw attention; you can hear the oohs and aahs as the two guide dogs strut their stuff.

For those folks who wonder if or when assistance dogs ever get to “just be dogs,” be assured that they do. Once those harnesses come off, Keebler and Latrell stop flaunting their work ethic and get down to enjoying life like any red-blooded dog. It’s like seeing actors right after they’ve walked back stage after a performance: everything changes in a second, and they are themselves again instead of the character they play. Unlike actors, the dogs are always happy.

They stayed at my house. The Eames live in a townhouse, so we thought the dogs would love romping around my fenced yard. Not quite: Both Keebler and Latrell decided inside next to mom and dad was better, although Latrell enjoyed the yard more than Keebler did. Latrell knew he could chase a ball farther out there.

These dogs play with other dogs, roll on their backs in the grass, enjoy toys, run after a ball, find a few sticks, and soak in the sun. Keebler and Latrell could each wear a “Life is Good” t-shirt.

Like Dodger, Keebler also likes to disembowel toys and shred them into little pieces. Between the two of them, there was a lot of shredded stuffing. Little bits of white stuffing and bitten-off pieces of fleece were in every room of the house. Dodger needs a new stash of toys now because what’s left in the toy box is a bunch of empty, headless fleece skins. Dodger was almost ready for a new stash anyway; Keebler just sped up the process. Ginger supervised activity, pretending she has a work ethic I know she doesn’t have. Dodger doesn’t know what a work ethic is, and doesn’t care either.

Latrell preferred running around the yard to any disembowelment activities. Latrell is such a goofball; half the time you can find him on his back, inviting belly rubs and laughs, and just rolling around scratching his back if he doesn’t get a belly rub.

No matter how much fun they have, though, the moment the harness goes back on, so does the work ethic. They are off and on, like an actor on stage and back stage. Like actors, they work for love, but instead of applause they get to take off their harnesses and play. To paraphrase Cyndi Lauper, “That’s all they really want/Some fun/When the workin’ day is done/Oh dogs just wanna have fun/oh dogs just wanna have fun.”

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