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SADIE
SOAR has honor graduates and it has HONOR graduates. And then it has Sadie. Sadie is Summa Cum Laude. One day in late summer 1997 Jeannine got a call from a lady in Boiling Springs Lakes who told her that her neighbor had a dog tied to the house next door and the dog was without food and water. She said the neighbor had not been home in awhile and the dog had no one to take care of her. Furthermore the dog had just had puppies and was trying to take care of them but was unable to do so because she was was tied up and couldn't reach them. And, to make matters worse she seemed to have a broken hind leg. The situation for these animals was desperate and she asked Jeannine to please come and do something for these poor dogs. Jeannine went there and although she was very reluctant to go on someone else’s property she could see that it was a total necessity. As she neared the dogs she realized that the area was infested with fire ants. She had to be very careful about not only how she approached the dog but also how to do so without getting herself covered with fire ants. She got to the dog, untied her, and carefully, because of her bad back leg, and the ants, walked the dog to her car. She also counted five puppies. She returned to retrieve the puppies but found that three of them were already dead, killed by the ants. Jeannine took the remaining two and one of these was to die shortly thereafter. Jeannine later made contact with the owner and learned that he was a policeman and he had been in a training course far from home. He had arranged for someone to come and take care of the dogs but whoever this someone was; they didn’t do it. So, the dogs were just alone. He told Jeannine that the dog’s name was Sadie and that she was a police drug dog. Somehow she had broken her leg in the course of her work and was retired because of it. The leg had been operated on and pinned but somehow this pin must have broken leaving Sadie to get by on a leg that did nothing but flop. It is believed that she got the leg entangled in the restraining chain while she was trying to rescue her puppies from the ants. The man said that it was okay for Jeannine to keep Sadie and to look after her and her remaining puppy. (Note: her puppy was adopted out rather quickly.) Jeannine took Sadie to the vet whose first task was to get rid of the fire ants who covered her underside. This took a week or so. Then he turned his attention to her leg. He determined that a bone infection existed that was beyond treatment; her leg could not be saved. So, Sadie’s left rear leg, including the hip, was amputated. Jeannine brought Sadie home to recuperate. Because of the circumstances that brought Sadie to SOAR, her wonderful temperament, and because she was now ‘disabled’, Sadie took over a spot in Jeannine’s heart that she will never vacate. Jeannine kept Sadie in her home and made no attempt to adopt her. Disabled in an above sentence was put in quotes because her missing leg, to Sadie and to anyone who observed her, didn’t seem to be a disability. She recovered from her operation and responded so well that you would not know that a leg was missing. The leg had been of no use for such a long time that its removal was actually a boon to Sadie. During this time period there was a person who was coming to SOAR to help Jeannine. His name was, or more correctly, is, Rick Hairston. She would call him whenever she had a ‘mini-emergency’, maybe she was sick, or her back was bad, or she had a special project that needed being done. Jeannine could always depend on Rick. Rick had already founded, and was operating, an organization called Carolina Canines for Service. Carolina Canines is a wonderful organization that trains dogs to assist people with disabilities. They have done so much good for the disabled of southeastern North Carolina. Rick was at SOAR and met Sadie the day she was brought in. His memory is of the fire ants and of the leg. He says that the leg not only was totally useless, it seemed not to bother Sadie. There was no pain. This indicated to him it had been in this condition for quite some time. Carolina Canines for Service One day in late 1999 Carolina Canines got a phone call from the director of the Commons at
Sadie’s training program would not be as stringent as Carolina Canines was accustomed to. She would not be asked to open doors, retrieve objects that their owner’s needed, alert people to ringing phones, get the mail, or the million other things that Carolina Canines can, and has, trained dogs to do. One skill that Sadie did need to know was how to get out of the way. No one wanted a resident tripping over her. She also had to learn to be comfortable with a lot of people; both individually and in groups. To accomplish this Rick took Sadie everywhere with him; grocery stores, restaurants, errands, everywhere. After a while Rick would take Sadie to CB just for short visits. This was both a trial period for Sadie and also to get her familiar with these new surroundings and environment. Then Rick began to leave her there for short periods. And the periods became longer and longer. And then it was a month. And a successful one at that. It was now obvious to everyone; Sadie belonged at CB. On April 5, 2000 a placement ceremony was held. It was a big deal. Decorations were put up, Sadie was dressed up, speakers spoke, and residents and employees
The Commons at Brightmore Sadie quickly fit in. She was taken to meet and visit with each of the residents. Sadie ‘adopted’ an employee person, first Kristin Warlick, a therapeutic specialist, and later Meri Hines, a
The giving of treats was a problem that was never cured. The residents were told many times over that this was not in Sadie’s best interest. It was put on the bulletin board, it was mentioned in meetings and gatherings, it was put in the newsletter; everything. And all to no avail. It was decided to put her regular food into little bags and to give these goodie bags to residents to use for treats. At least she would be getting her own food. Even this did not solve the problem. The residents would bootleg Sadie their breakfast sausage and whatever else they thought she might enjoy. And it wasn’t only the residents. Visitors, especially children, got to know and love Sadie and they would bring her treats. Sadie, never one to disappoint, gladly accepted all handouts. Sadie even had her own room at CB. It had her bed and food and water bowls and even had pictures of other dogs on the wall. Sadie loved these ‘pinups’; just ask the person who put them there. Sadie didn’t spend a great deal of time in her room though; she wanted to be with people more. Sadie went everywhere with the residents. She would go to their activities, their outings
The residents benefited because they got lots of exercise from walking Sadie and also by throwing her ball to her. She loved to play fetch. She was therapeutic in lots of ways. She helped them psychologically. If her missing leg didn’t hinder her then maybe their own infirmities shouldn’t hinder them. In a SOAR newsletter Kristi Rudolph, another Recreation Director at CB, tells why Sadie was so good for the residents: “I can bring Sadie to people who don’t necessarily get out of their rooms very much. She’s a good motivator. In nice weather she gets people to walk outside and exercise. They’re able to reminisce about dogs they had growing up and she goes with us on outings to get ice cream or to the beach. Sadie loves everybody. She brings a lot of joy to a lot of people.”
Sadie, already a TV news star, also made the print media. A wonderful article detailing her background and current contributions to CB appeared in a 2001 issue of the Wilmington Star News. The
End On August 14th, 2003, our beloved Sadie died. Sadie had been a police drug dog, had survived a broken leg, abuse, neglect, fire ants, the death of her puppies, an amputated leg, trained for and gained a second career as a helper dog, and lived her final three years bringing a better life to the residents, employees, and visitors of CB. Rick, and the two CB employees most familiar with Sadie, Meri Hines and Kristi Rudolph, unanimously offered the following observation. They said that what they heard most often was that no matter what Sadie’s life had been like prior to CB it could not have been better than while at CB. She lived in total comfort and happiness surrounded by many people who loved her. It would be very difficult to imagine a better life for any dog. All of us at SOAR believe that no one deserved it more.
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