MEET "TEDDY"

Lisa Smith Curreri & Barbara Ellis Cascio at From Away Farm 2008
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Good afternoon, Mrs. Murdoch - My name is Teddy (Bear). I am an apricot, standard poodle with a PHD, of sorts. I am a therapy dog, licensed internationally, and as such have the right to go into shops, restaurants as well as hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice.
Now this took some doing! You see, I was abused. The tale of my woe started at a breeder's kennel where I was born and raised and eventually sold for a hefty sum to an Asian family. To make a long story very short, I never made it to Asia, but was embargoed (sounds awful, doesn't it) and returned from whence I came. The hitch is that I really spent all that time in a cage with cement floor. My exercise consisted of levitating up and down with a small amount of circular pacing for variety. I want to tell you, I nearly lost my mind! But, as the fates would have it, I finally found a home.....and thereby hangs a tale which the author of this blogette will tell you.
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Isn't Teddy about the most wonderful face you ever saw? And I am not a fan of poodles, until now - too poofie - but not Teddy! He exudes a quiet masculinity. His confirmation is perfection, and his curly, cropped coat velvet ripples. To lay one's head on his top-knot is to go cheek to cheek with a cloud.

His owner is an elementary school classmate of mine. We first met in Kindergarten when our coat hooks were next to each other and our houses separated by a bike ride across a rose garden. Life was glorious at that age. The worst thing that happened was loosing a mitten in the snow or having the ice cream fall out of one's cone. Anyway, we had not seen each other in sixty-one years, reconnected and have enjoyed three reunions. Sadly, my friend's son passed away two years ago, and she was, quite naturally, devastated. Consolation was not in her lexicon. She is, however, one of those people who, actually, sails through life - while short in height, she is round of middle and as such, dresses in voluminous skirts with beads and sequins. Her apricot hair is piled, askew, on top of her head. Her skin is that of a peach and her eyes sparkle with intelligence. She is no shrinking violet! Anyhoo, when she had shed an ocean of tears, she decided to drop anchor and come ashore with a purpose. Having spent her corporate years in medical administration, she decided that getting close to patients might be a valuable means of assuaging her own grief as well as helping others. How? Enter Teddy. Someone to love, to hug, to cuddle, to help. Ah, help. A four-legged conduit of caring. A means of sharing, giving and receiving. She bought Teddy for a song, and he is now her symphony! He had never touched grass. Imagine the wonderment of it all! He had never run free. He had never RUN! He now self-exercises, as Barbara cannot run and can barely walk 100 yards. She travels with a wheel chair because of a bad back problem. He had never lounged on a rug, jumped up on a bed, let alone been stroked and told he was magnificent. It did not take long to see the fruits of her labor. Teddy blossomed and then went to school. He passed with flying colors! He has a special vest and collar that he wears when he "works". He has accomplished "miracles", getting people to speak to him when they have not uttered a word for months. He has put his head on the chest of a patient in pain, and she has smiled and relaxed. He is, to my friend and those she attends, a gift from God. It is a fairly simple tale, is it not? God is love, and then there's Teddy.