Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. Fair enough. But the same thing can be said about the traits that make a dog adoptable. When Sherry Woodard, Best Friends animal behavior specialist, walked into a local shelter and met Groovy the black lab mix, she got the welcome of a lifetime. Groovy was so excited to play that she leaped up at Sherry, grabbed a mouthful of hair, and started to tug hard! Goldmine!
Actually, in all honesty, Groovy had already spent six weeks in that shelter without finding a home. A dog with her level of energy and enthusiasm for life tends to scare people off. But Sherry was looking for a different set of qualifications than most, and she wasn’t looking for a pet either. She was looking for the next dog to go into the Best Friends Search and Service program. Groovy fit the bill: young, athletic, playful, friendly, and sociable around other dogs. And all that spastic energy was just icing on the cake.
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When the Search and Service program began at the sanctuary, there were all sorts of plans for advanced training games. Things like having volunteers come and hide in the bushes for the dogs to find. After all, finding strangers is what the training is all about. The thing is, these dogs barely scratch the surface of the program before they are snatched up by qualified handlers who will continue their training. There’s that big a need! Groovy proved early on that she has the stuff. Sure enough, she didn’t last long before catching the eye of a very talented search and rescue worker, Steve Howard of Basalt, Colo.
Steve works as the search team manager for Colorado Task Force, a FEMA-certified team. The same team, in fact, that Best Friend’s first search and service graduate Ollie went to work with. Steve’s previous rescue dog passed away last December and he hadn’t felt ready since then to bring a new dog into his life. That all changed when he met Groovy.
Sherry Woodard and Dr. Karen Dashfield were visiting the area doing some follow-up training with Ollie and Dana (now Scout), who’d been placed previously through the program. They brought Groovy along for the trip. Once Steve had a chance to spend some time with Groovy, he knew he’d found his next dog.
"She has the energy and the drive," Steve explains. He snatched her up before anybody else could. She’s going to have quite the exciting road ahead. Steve stocks his backyard with barrels, teeter totters, obstacle courses, and other games. They play all the time while learning this work.
In addition, Steve’s day job is to work as a safety and training instructor for a ski resort. Some of that work involves avalanche training, of which Groovy (now named Abbie) will certainly be a part, among other training. It’s amazing how many different jobs the graduates from this program can end up doing. That same basic personality — the kind that a lot of would-be adopters pass by in a shelter setting — can translate to so many incredible talents if given enough love and the right direction.
One of these days, a dog might just hang out at Best Friends in the program long enough to let a few volunteers join in the fun. Nobody’s holding their breath, however! Congrats, Steve and Abbie. Great times are ahead.
Story by David Dickson
Photos by Molly Wald and Sarah Ause
Groovy is just one of many fantastic dogs from Best Friends. Interested in more? See the canine Adorable Adoptables.
