Spirit
An Unusual Experience
By: Barbara Tanner
Spirit is my 2 year old rescued German Shepherd. I consider her my gift from heaven. I already had 3 other Shepherds who are registered therapy dogs so I certainly didn’t need another one! But there was something about this little girl that was tugging at my heart…..so she became a part of our family and I named her Spirit.
We were on a visit to a high security mentally handicapped facility where we share our time between 2 separate buildings: the young women and the young men.
We had just finished our visit with the girls and a staff member allowed a few of the girls to walk with Spirit and me up to the gate of the young men building. It was while we were walking that one of the girls began running into the woods that surrounded the parking lot. One of the security staff began chasing her to bring her back to safety.
While this was happening another one of the girls suddenly threw off her jacket and started screaming and yelling and also headed into the woods.
Another staff member was able to reach her and bring her back still kicking, screaming and yelling; but as soon as she saw Spirit she became completely calm and asked to please pet Spirit. They were hesitant to let her do that but since Spirit obviously had such a calming effect on her they allowed her to pet Spirit for a brief time.
Not all dogs or people would be comfortable in this situation or around environments that can suddenly become chaotic and unexpected at times.
But Spirit seems to love everyone despite their personal handicaps or problems.