A Dog Named Minnie

Once upon a time, there was a puppy named Minnie. 

Minnie was born in Great Falls, Montana.  Minnie was four months old and had watched all the other puppies in her litter one by one go to their “forever” homes, but not Minnie.  Minnie was starting to wonder if she would ever find her “person.”  Then on May 1, 2013, Minnie met Carter and instantly Minnie knew that Carter was her “person.”  When Carter first saw Minnie he smiled a smile bigger than any smile Minnie had ever seen.  Carter walked a little slow because of the bright green cast on his leg, but Minnie didn’t mind, she wasn’t in a hurry.

Carter and his new best friend Minnie

I am so happy to let you all know that a perfect puppy match for Carter has been found and that puppy is Minnie!  Minnie the standard poodle is four months old and today Carter got to meet Minnie to see if the fit was right, and boy was it ever.  Minnie’s gentle demeanor and patience is just the kind of service dog Carter needs.

Just LOOK at that smile!

So….let the fundraising begin!  Our fundraising will go in two stages:

STAGE ONE:

The first stage is going to cover the costs of the dog and we are going to get that off the ground today and I hope we can raise the entire $1500 needed within the next two weeks.  Now some of you might think $1500 sounds like a lot for a dog, but a very particular type of dog is required for a service dog and even some breeds that tend to be good “working dogs” have some dogs of that breed that do not have the demeanor for being a good candidate for a service dog.  And obviously, with a kiddo as small as Carter the dog has got to be gentle and okay with being climbed all over by a two year old.

STAGE TWO:

The second stage of the fundraising will be to raise money for the costs of training the dog, total amount unknown at this time-we will have an estimate after Rita, the dog’s trainer, has a chance to evaluate the dog.  Now generally service dogs are trained out of home, which delays the dog getting to the person in need.  Fortunately, Carter’s mom Amy found a wonderful resource in Helena, MT-a dog trainer willing to train the dog on-site in Carter’s home.  The trainer will be in the home several times a week for at least a year.

So please, click on the “donate now” button to the left of this post and lets try and have the $1500 needed to pay for Minnie raised by May 15^th!