Update:
Team Alpine has shared a wonderful, heartfelt story about their time together thus far!
“Alpine is my fourth service dog, but first female, and I feel a special bond with her already. She helps me by not only performing skills like opening/closing doors, pushing buttons, and retrieving items. She also gives me a sense of self and purpose. Having a PADS dog brings me out of my shell and gives me the self-confidence to live as independently as I can with a spinal cord injury. I recently started working again, and I don’t think I would have the confidence to do that without having a PADS dog.
It is hard to quantify the impact and describe the effect that having a PADS dog has on not only your life but everyone they come into contact with. I visit the same stores in town, and the people working there always comment how it makes their day better just by getting to see and say hi to my previous dogs and now Alpine when we come in. Their impact is immeasurable. I have had a PADS service dog for the last 22 years and cannot imagine life without one.
I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who was involved in raising, training, caring for, funding, and giving Alpine the chance to be matched with me. I feel blessed to have been paired with Alpine and feel it was meant to be. She has the most loving puppy face, is small in stature but has a wild side. I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked how old she is and heard the comments. “She’s just a pup, eh? She’s so tiny!” And I reply to their disbelief, “Nope, she’s almost four and makes up for her size with personality” I just love her!”
Thank you, Team Alpine, for sharing this touching story!