Last year when the firefighters were battling the West Coast fires, a golden girl offered some support and love. Long hours on duty and raging wildfires can take their toll on firefighters.
However, the Marine County, California, got lucky Kerith, a golden retriever, visited them to show her support.
The golden girl wiggled her butt, let the firefighter pet her, and played with some, relieving their stress.
Kerith was only eight weeks old when her hooman and handler, Heidi Carman began training her to be a guide dog for the blind.
She trained her, raised her, socialized her with other dogs to grow up to be a full-time guide dog.
Carman says, “Since I had raised so many dogs, I had a feeling from an early age that guide dog work may not be in the cards for Kerith.”
“She was afraid of the vacuum cleaner. But the biggest issue in my mind was that she was so solicitous to every person she met. However, raising her to be a guide dog meant she needed to focus on me and not other people.”
“As soon as Kerith saw the firefighters, it was love at first sight,” she adds. “It was so clear that those were her people.”
At the hospital, an ER nurse and a local educator for the fire department set up visiting hours for the golden girl and her hooman Carman to visit the nearby fire stations.
Soon, firefighter departments across the city started to request visits from the therapy dog.
Carman shares, “Before the COVID-19, we’d go into the fire station, and the firefighters would just play with her. She would get so excited to see them.”
“She’d run up to them like they were her best friends, even though she never met them. Clearly, this is her passion and mission in life. She would walk around wiggling from firefighter to firefighter.”
Thank you The Dog People for the story. Thank you KSDK News for the awesome video!
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