Foster Fail Puppy Becomes Amazing Life Alert Dog Entirely By Accident
Amanda McCloskey was fostering a little puppy from the Charming Pet Rescue out of Bexar County, Texas. Like so many other wonderful foster stories, the dog Amanda was caring for, named Ryder, turned into a foster fail when Amanda decided to give him a forever home.
A few days after this decision, Ryder proved that he was the perfect companion for Amanda, who suffers from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
People magazine reports, "We're just watching TV, and he just starts barking at me," McCloskey recalls. At first, the pet parent thought Ryder wanted to go outside, so she stood up to get the dog ready. I stood up to let him out, and that's when my watch started going off, letting me know that my heart rate was over 130. I got super dizzy and sort of blacked out. That was a POTS episode, and that's when I realized. I was like, 'Oh, you were trying to tell me something was wrong with me,'" she says of Ryder's unusual barking. "I was like, 'I think you're going to be great for a medical alert dog.'"
Related: Service Dog's Dedication to Mom After Saving Her Life Warms Our Hearts
Now Ryder is enrolled in medical alert dog training, and the little guy started on his service animal journey. He still has a long way to go because he's just a puppy, but he's obviously got a knack for taking good care of his owner all ready! For now he's focused on learning basic puppy obedience skills so then he can go on to learning more important service dog training. What a good pup you are Ryder!
It's so wonderful that by giving a dog-in-need a home Amanda also ended up getting the perfect service dog companion to help keep her safe, assist her with tasks, and provide life saving assistance if needed. It's such a win-win for both these two!
What's the Difference Between a Service Dog and a Therapy Dog?
Service dogs and therapy dogs both provide valuable services to the people who need them, but they both have very different criteria.
Service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to assist individuals with disabilities.
Therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort, affection, and support to people in times of emotional need, like in disaster settings, hospitals, schools, and for people in other stressful situations. Therapy dogs provide emotional support, rather than help with a specific disability.
Related: Therapy Dog Is Best Makeover Assistant for Women with Cancer
Service dogs have specific training to help people who are blind, assist people who are in wheelchairs and altering people with other medical conditions like seizures. Due to McCloskey's condition of Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), Ryder can help by providing stability and balance when blood pressure drops too low, retrieve dropped items, and alert people nearby for help when needed. .
Therapy dogs are trained to be calm and able to interact with a variety of people, and they have friendly temperaments so they can provide support to the people who need them.
If you would like more information about Charming Pet Rescue or to make a donation, you can visit their website here.
Due to the fact training a service dog is so expensive, McCloskey has set up a GoFundMe and if you would like to make a donation to Ryder's training you can do so here.
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