Heartland is proud to announce that two Heartland Rescues—Calli Stooksbury of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Tansy McCord of Ancram, New York—received Honorable Mention awards from Rescue a Golden of Arizona’s annual Grace Awards for Rescue Goldens who have excelled in one of the following areas: Animal Assisted Therapy or Service, Education, Heroism, or Law Enforcement.

Tansy (whose full name is now Topaz Tansy Honey CD TDI CGC) is constantly on the go with Louise, doing good work for several communities. She is an Education dog, visiting local schools for events like “Reading with Rover” (based on the premise that some children who are nervous about reading will consent to read to a dog), 4-H Bite Prevention programs, library fairs, and Humane Society Kids’ Camps. At this camp’s grand finale held every Friday in the summer, Louise and Tansy take part in an activity that Louise calls “Barbie Dogs,” in which kids get to dress the dogs up and put different (very colorful and festive!) hats on them. This is only one of the “hats” that Tansy wears, however.

Tansy is also an official Therapy Dog, and will soon be awarded TDIA status (Therapy Dogs International, Active), an honor for Therapy Dogs who have done at least fifty visits. Louise and Tansy regularly visit an Adult Day Care and a Developmental Home for people with serious handicaps. Tansy is most beloved at these facilities, going affectionately from person to person. She has been lovingly accepted even by residents who were initially reserved or even frightened by dogs. Louise notes that one reason Tansy is such an amazing therapy dog is that she has a sort of instinct for the residents’ specific handicaps and needs (all of which are different). If one side of a resident’s body is stronger than the other, Tansy will always go for the good side; if a resident has one injured or affected hand, Tansy goes to the stronger hand.

Tansy came into the Oak Ridge, TN, Animal Shelter in May 2006; she was about six years old at the time. The shelter personnel knew that Tansy had been adopted three years before by a person in a wheelchair. This gave Heartland President Pauline Stevens a few ideas. She immediately suspected that Tansy, who had a calm demeanor and was accustomed to wheelchairs, might be a good dog for Louise McCord, a previous Heartland adopter from Ancram, NY, who had worked with and trained other therapy goldens. Louise trusted Pauline’s judgment and adopted Tansy in June of 2006. The rest is a fabulous rescue success story, and a testimony to the fine people skills possessed by some goldens.

Calli Stooksbury was an owner turn-in to HGRR on 14 February 2006. Her owner—who had had Calli since she was a pup—was moving and could no longer keep a dog. She did tell Pauline that she had used Calli as a therapy dog. Knowing that Susie Stooksbury of Oak Ridge was involved in the HABIT (Human-Animal Bond in Tennessee) program and visited nursing homes and library programs with her goldens, Pauline suggested to Susie that she might like to foster Calli. “Turning her into a HABIT dog was a no-brainer,” says Susie. “She was always calm and polite, and never jumped up.” Calli proved herself quite capable as a therapy dog and quickly qualified for HABIT—and she also quickly went from Stooksbury foster dog to Stooksbury forever dog. She now visits two facilities with Susie: a local nursing home and the Children’s Room of the Oak Ridge Public Library; her special talents lie with the library visits. At the library, her job is mainly to be sweet and calm around the kids so they learn that dogs, especially big ones, are fun to be with, and she does it very well: “She is not bumptious at all,” reports Susie. 　She is extremely kind and patient with all children. Calli also participates in Oak Ridge Library’s “Ruff Reading” program, where children visit and read to the dogs, or are read to by adults.

According to Susie, The University of Tennessee Department of Veterinary Science put on a dog bite prevention program last year at Woodland Elementary:　 “This is a program UT does for third or fourth graders to teach them how to behave around dogs they don't know.　 Calli was supposed to be the demo dog.　 One little boy had been chosen to　stand very still like a tree when the dog approaches, and to drop to the ground and　lay still like　a log if the dog gets aggressive.　 When he dropped to the ground, Calli flopped down right next to him and tried to lick his face.　 Needless to say, the kids loved it.”

Calli and Tansy both received plaques from Rescue a Golden of Arizona; the plaques were presented to Pauline at the Golden Retriever National Specialty held in Snohomish, WA, along with a donation to Heartland on behalf of each dog. HGRR is proud of both these special dogs. Congratulations, Calli and Tansy!

If you know of a Heartland Golden who deserves recognition for a GRACE award, please notify Pauline Stevens. —Sara Melton-Sumner