LEE & SANTINI

My partner Shar and I started volunteering for PADS 8 years ago this June. A few days after the volunteer orientation we got a call that they had a puppy for us to raise. We were so excited and hoped to get a sweet, little 8-week-old yellow lab only to arrive and be presented with a large gangly 6 month old pup named Santini. I must admit, we were both slightly disappointed as we had been dreaming about puppy breath. Within a week, we realized we had hit the jackpot as Santini knew almost every command in the manual PADS had provided to us. In puppy class, Santini was a rock star and always made us look amazing.

When Santini was 16 months old, she passed her assessment to become a breeding dog and we started on our journey as breeder caretakers. You know the old adage, โ€œbe careful what you wish forโ€; that couldnโ€™t be more true in our case! Our wish to have a puppy led us to Santini having 5 litters of pups within 4 years, giving us the gift of 32 babies with sweet puppy breath. Of Santiniโ€™s 32 puppies, 18 puppies are now Service Dogs. Four of her pups became breeding dogs and many of her grandpups are now breeding dogs all over the world!

Santini isnโ€™t done leaving her mark! Last September, after unofficially working as a therapy dog with me for the past 7 years when she wasnโ€™t having pups, Santini passed her Assistance Dogs International assessment and officially became an Accredited Facility Dog. Santini works with me at school with children who are having a difficult time and is incredible with kids who are experiencing extreme trauma like the loss of a parent or physical/sexual abuse. Santini has intuitively developed her own โ€œbumpโ€ command where she will approach a child or adult who is demonstrating an extreme emotional outburst, such as screaming, wailing, or crying and โ€œbumpโ€ them 2-3 times and is able to calm them almost instantly. As a Vice-Principal, she is worth her weight in gold, all 60 lbs!

We have subsequently raised many special puppies over the years, however as a student wrote on the wall at school, โ€œSantini is simply magicalโ€. What a difference that gangly 6-month-old pup has made to our lives and to this world!

Help Support Teams Like Lee & Santini

All PADS assistance dogs are provided to clients at no cost. Behind each and every success story is a donor who makes this possible.

Tell us your PADS story

We are still accepting stories for our 30 Stories for 30 Years series.ย Whether you have volunteered, received a dog as a client or adopter, given of your time, money or heart… you are part of the PADS story! ย Tell us how being involved with PADS has impacted you.