News

March 2005

Dog Saves Woman from Fire

The 12-year-old Rottweiller woke up her owner after a fire started in the
bedroom of their Institute home.

Charlotte Hampton is lucky to have a dog like Sheba.

The 12-year-old Rottweiler woke up Hampton about 6:30 a.m. Monday
after a fire started in the bedroom of their home in Institute.

"I was asleep and she jumped on me," Hampton told 13 News. "The whole
bedroom was full of flames and we ran out the door."

Smoke from the fire at 400 Wilson Ave. could be seen in Charleston,
and flames shot several feet in the air.

Firefighters from Institute and Dunbar put out the blaze, but the home
was totaled.

Institute Assistant Fire Chief Gary Scott II had high praise for Sheba.

"Sometimes their senses are better than humans," Scott said. "It
probably is ... a good thing that the dog did alert her in order for her to get out of
the house in enough time."

Hampton said a kerosene heater she was using in the bedroom probably
caused the fire.

December 2004

Barks of approval for literacy

Friendly dogs make great listeners for young readers in free library program

Lucia Handby, 7, reads a book to Rosie, an 8-year-old Rottweiler, inside the Philip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock on Friday as part of the Bark for Books program, which started last summer.

Castle Rock - To prevent literacy from going to the dogs, Douglas County canines are helping retrieve it through the Bark for Books program.

This week, dozens of Douglas County children will work on their reading skills by reading to a canine friend, thanks to a union of Douglas County Libraries and Denver Pet Partners.

Dogs help kids of all ages build confidence in their reading and speaking abilities, organizers said. And, it seems, dogs make excellent listeners.

"We're finding that even kids who have trouble reading love to read to a dog," said Aspen Butterfield, a library system spokeswoman. "The kids have a lot of fun, and a dog, unlike a parent or teacher, isn't likely to say, 'You're doing it all wrong; read faster."'

Kids also learn that words and stories are expressions of love, said Katie Miller, mother of 7-year-old Molly, who will be attending one of two sessions this week in Douglas County.

"She's an only child, but she loves her dolls and kitty cat," Miller said of her daughter. "If this makes her love books more, then I can't do enough to make it happen."

Parents are banned from the room while kids learn to entertain a friendly pooch. Children are often ecstatic to explain to their parents how they tell stories to dogs, said Randi Bolton, who worked with the library system to set up Bark for Books.

She loans out her two docile Rottweilers for kids to train with. Rosie, her 8-year-old, is a favorite.

"The kids always pick 'My Dog Rosie,"' she said.

"It's amazing how all the kids want to read that because of my dog Rosie."

After participating in the program, organizers hope children will want to read to their own pets.

The program started last summer, and dozens have taken the course. Other metro-area libraries are launching similar programs to bring in Reading Education Assistance Dogs.

The literacy effort is nothing to sniff at, supporters said.

"There is a very special, totally uncritical and calming connection between the dogs and the readers," said Priscilla Queen, outreach coordinator for Douglas County Libraries.

"The positive experience with books improves literacy and promotes the library in a unique and personal way."

The sessions are free, but participants must sign up in advance. The events this week are:

Wednesday at the Philip S. Miller Library, 100 South Wilcox St., Castle Rock, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the Highlands Ranch Library, 9292 Ridgeline Blvd.

Dec. 13, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Parker Library, 10851 South Crossroads Drive.

Denver Post

October 2004

RICHLAND, Washington (AP) -- Leana Beasley has faith that a dog is man's best friend.

Faith the service dog phoned 911 when her owner fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the 4-year-old Rottweiler unlocked the front door so the responding police officer could come in.

"I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call," said dispatcher Jenny Buchanan, who answered the call from Faith.

"The dog was too persistent in barking directly into the phone receiver," Buchanan said at Benton County's Southeast Communications Center. "I knew she was trying to tell me something."

Faith is trained to summon help by pushing a speed-dial button on the phone with her nose after taking the receiver off the hook, said her owner Leana Beasley, 45, who suffers grand mal seizures.

Guided by experts at the Assistance Dog Club of Puget Sound, Beasley helped train Faith herself.

"She's a real trooper," Beasley said Thursday.

The day of the fall, Faith "had been acting very clingy, wanting to be touching me all day long," Beasley said.

The dog, whose sensitive nose can detect changes in Beasley's body chemistry, is trained to alert her owner to impending seizures before they happen.

But that wasn't what was happening on Sept. 7, and Faith apparently wasn't sure how to communicate the problem. During Beasley's subsequent three-week hospital stay, doctors determined her liver was not properly processing her medication for the seizures.

"So my whole system was not working right," she said.

Faith "was just very concerned," Beasley recalled. "She wouldn't let me out of her sight. She wanted to be touchy-feely."

After her adult son left for the graveyard shift, Beasley tried to go to sleep. But Faith kept jumping up on the bed, which is off limits.

"It's kind of hard to sleep when you've got an 80-pound dog running around in circles on your bed," she said.

So Beasley got up and checked to make sure all the doors were locked and that there was no one outside. She made another attempt at sleep, but Faith would have none of it. "Within five minutes she was doing the same thing all over again."

So Beasley got up again and decided to make some hot chocolate.

The last thing she remembers is reaching for the tea kettle.

"I didn't feel anything," she said. "I just went unconscious."

After the call from Faith, Buchanan dispatched Richland police Cpl. Scott Morrell. He arrived to see Faith and her predecessor, now-retired service dog Bronson, peering at him from Beasley's front window.

Morrell knocked, and then realized the door was unlocked.

"Faith had already opened the door for him," Beasley said. The dog has been trained to recognize police officers, firefighters and medical personnel as "special friends with cookies."

Inside, Morrell found Beasley on the kitchen floor — unconscious after striking her head in the fall and suffering a seizure — and called for medical assistance.

Faith watched intently while a paramedic tended Beasley and at one point tried to tell him that another seizure was imminent. He didn't recognize the signal, but minutes later, "Boom, I went into another seizure," Beasley said.

She woke up in the hospital several days later. Faith joined her after her transfer to the Veterans Administration hospital in Walla Walla.

Authorities learned about Faith's intervention when Beasley stopped by to thank Buchanan and Morrell after her release from the hospital.

A Benton County Emergency Services news conference Thursday put Faith and her owner in the limelight.

Important News about Lymphoma

"Ed Sullivan at the Bellingham Veterinary Critical Care Center has been extraordinary at "pushing the envelope" on getting treatment for desperately sick animals.

Ed has been working with the researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, a world renowned facility for cancer treatment of people. For those of you who haven't heard of "Fred Hutch", Google it and see. People come from all over the world to be treated at FHCRC.

About a year ago, Ed and the team at Fred Hutch did a bone marrow transplant on a young golden retriever from San Juan Island named Comet who was suffering from T-Cell lymphoma. This was not experimental in the sense that most of the bone marrow transplant knowledge has been gained through work with dogs. But this is the first time, at least in the US...to the best of anyone's knowledge, that a pet has had a bone marrow transplant for lymphoma. Comet is alive and well today and accompanies his people on a 5 mile run every day. His "one year anniversary" is coming up in a couple of weeks.

The point of this recitation is that Ed and his wife Teresa (a veterinary surgeon) are setting up a Veterinary Cancer Treatment Center through their practice in Bellingham. I got this email from Ed a little while ago.....

"As for the envisioned Veterinary Cancer Treatment Center--we are currently looking for cases of high grade lymphoma (any subtype is fair game, T Cell, B Cell, lymphoblastic, etc.), other myelodysplastic conditions (such as immune mediate hemolytic anemia--these conditions are good candidates for bone marrow transplants since they are a dysfunction of the marrow), and humanism's--a very common cancer condition of dogs. The first two groups are known to respond well to bone marrow transplants--there are literally thousands of people who have been treated. The third condition, humanism, is very rare in humans, very common in dogs, and there is no good model for the treatment of them right now. I want to transplant a group of dogs with humanism and see if we can cure this condition. Nancy, Comet is proof that current knowledge is already out there for potentially curing a large percentage of the most common form of cancer in dogs, lymphoma. This breakthrough will change the textbooks, and we all have the privilege of being part of it. Ed"

So, for those of you who have or know of a dog with lymphoma, there may be treatment available. Current chemotherapies typically buy you about 6 months at the most.... This will be a tremendous breakthrough. I also understand that Ed is trying to set up funding so that those of us without Bill-Gates-sized bank accounts can afford treatment. You or your vet can call BVCC at 360-734-0720.

Just so you know.....I don't work for BVCC and I'm not getting paid or reimbursed in any way for this post. It's just so incredibly exciting, we need to spread the word. Please feel free to cross post..."  

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