This is the story of Duncan, a 3 year old Weimaraner that I adopted in February 2003. Duncan had been abandoned by his owners and was living off the kindness of neighbors who alerted Pam Parrish and Tennessee Valley Weim Rescue in Huntsville, AL. Even though he was obviously sick and suffering, Pam was not able to pick up Duncan right away as his owners were uncooperative when asked to sign a release form. The kind hearted neighbors who had been helping to care for Duncan were instrumental in getting his uncaring owners to sign his release form in late 2002. By that time, he weighed only 49 pounds, was full of internal parasites and heartworm positive. The vet who treated him gave him only a 50/50 chance of surviving the heartworm treatment.

Pam chose to move forward with his treatment and found a loving foster home for Duncan with Cat Gibson. Cat lovingly cared for Duncan over the next several months….staying by his side while he went through the agonizing heartworm treatment and then bringing him back to life with good food, a warm bed, and a loving home. Those things along with his incredible spirit brought him back.

I was looking to adopt a Weimaraner for the purpose of training and registering him/her as a Delta Society Therapy Dog to replace my aging Great Dane therapy dog. I found Duncan on Pam’s website and she had listed him as a very calm, loving soul whom she thought might make agood therapy dog. During the adoption process, I had Duncan evaluated by a Delta Society Animal Evaluator. She gave him an assessment that convinced her that he would make a wonderful therapy dog. She along with everyone else who came in contact with him all came away with the same sentiment…”This dog is SPECIAL”. That was more than enough for me. I pushed ahead with his adoption and called Brian Lamb with Weimaraner Rescue Railroad and asked for his help in arranging transport for Duncan from Huntsville AL to Tucson, AZ.

Weimaraner Rescue Railroad is a group of people all over the country who volunteer their time and their vehicle to transport rescue weims in stages to their forever home…each one furnishing a certain mileage “leg” of the trip or an overnight stay passing the dog off to the next person on the route. Duncan had four legs of transport that took him from Huntsville to Ft. Stockton, TX where we drove from Tucson to meet him. He also had a session with Animal Communicator, Kathleen Berard before he left Huntsville to help him say goodbye to Cat and to prepare him for the long trip. That preparation and the loving care he received by all of the WRR volunteers who took him into their homes and drove him so many miles, kept him from stressing while on the long road trip. I feel it is only right that I acknowledge and once again say “Thank You” to the wonderful group of people responsible for bringing this dog into my life.

Cindy Smith – who took Duncan from Hunstville AL all the way to Hattiesburg, MS with a stop over in Birmingham for the night

Bobbie Sanborn – who met Cindy in Hattiesburg and took him to Houston, TX with a stopover in Metairie, LA for the night.

Mary Kay Wolfshohl – who met Bobbie in Houston and then drove to San Antonio.

Jim Overton - who met Mary Kay and then drove from San Antonio, to Ft. Stockton, TX

And Of course, Pam Parrish, Cat Gibson, and Brian Lamb.

Duncan’s story from humble beginnings to his first training as a therapy dog was chronicled on the Animal Planet Network in an episode of Pet Story. Network film crews were on hand as Duncan left Huntsville and for almost all of his transport changeovers. They filmed the happy first meeting between Duncan and me in Ft. Stockton. They then came to my home in Tucson a few months later to film his happy new home and his introduction to therapy dog training. It first aired in July 2003 and was repeated many times. The series isn’t on anymore, but if you ask anyone involved in this adoption, they’ve all got a copy (or two or three).

But that was a long time ago and a lot has happened since then!

Since coming to live with us and his weim brother and sister and his BIG Great Dane sister, he has blossomed! I obtained an AKC ILP number on him and trained him for his Canine Good Citizen certificate which he received in May 2003. After training for his Delta Society therapy dog certification, he passed his test in October 2003 with a perfect score! He is such a natural, the whole test was a no brainer for him. I waited a while before beginning his actual field work just to give him a little more time to build his confidence. He remained very wary and unsure of things for about a year. He would hang back and watch what went on around him rather than participate. If anyone new came to our house, he would come and bury his head in my lap as if to say, “Please don’t let them take me” and he didn’t like going for rides in the car without the other dogs. I think he was afraid he was going somewhere and not coming back.

Two things from his former life became crystal clear to me: 1) It was obvious that no one had ever “played “ with this dog. He did not have a concept of human/canine play. To try and engage him in it would just get you a blank stare and then walked off….and 2) Someone had abused him on his underside. The first time I tried to touch his underbelly, he dropped to the ground and screamed. Thankfully, all of that is gone now. Now he plays freely, greets visitors excitedly, will go in the car, anytime, anywhere and lets me hug him all the way around his belly.

Duncan started his therapy dog field work in January 2004. We started out visiting two hospitals working with occupational/physical rehab therapists and patients and we continue with that work regularly now. He also accompanies me to elementary schools to teach Responsible Pet Ownership and Dog Bite Prevention to children. He also is a PAWS for Reading dog which means we go to the schools and the kids who struggle with reading skills spend time reading to Duncan to help them improve. Duncan love kids…and they love him too!

All that keeps us pretty busy, but we also worked and trained very hard so that he could compete in AKC Obedience trials. He earned his Companion Dog title at the Weim National Specialty in April 2004. He has since gone on to compete in AKC Rally and has earned his Rally Novice title and is one leg away from his Rally Advanced title. Obedience and training are not his strongest suit and he has a stubborn streak that shows up once in awhile that stalls things.

But the biggest accomplishment, I believe, is that he has gone from a shy, cautious, deeply wounded soul to a happy healthy dog who loves life, and is not afraid to enjoy it to the fullest. His eyes sparkle now…especially when he’s just finished digging a huge hole looking for a lizard, or when he’s vanquished the dining room rug, by grabbing it, shaking it violently and then stomping on it triumphantly …. or when he presents me with some critter that he’s caught. He is our four legged alarm clock that will always let us know when it’s time to get up, go to bed, or most importantly, time to eat. He brings such joy to so many people with his calm confident manner and peaceful way…. and he brings such joy to me by just letting me see him being the Duncan that he was always meant to be!