Margaret & Truck

Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog

Hi my name is Margaret and my pet partner is a 2-year-old Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Dog whose name is Truck. I am a physical therapist with over 15 years experience, mostly with geriatric patients. As a PT, I have worked in Home Health for over 10 years. You learn fast how important pets are to those who can still care for them in their home. But many of the frail elderly in our community can't stay at home and are in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Most often, there are no "residential pets" in these places, so the only contact residents have is when a group such as Dreamworkers sends teams to their facility.

I got Truck when he was 8 weeks old. A friend asked me at the time why I wanted another dog to add to my collection that included a 10-month-old male Jack Russell, and a geriatric Golden Retriever. My answer was that I wanted a "truck dog" to ride along with me in my Explorer to look at potential real estate flipping or rental projects. The real estate business never made it off the ground, but the "truck dog", now affectionately named Truck, was here to stay.

Truck passed the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test in the spring of 2008. With the CGC done, we are now beginning supervised visits along with a Dreamworkers evaluator. Once the evaluator determines Truck and I are ready, we will begin some independent visits. Once Truck and I begin independent work our goal is to get into the library system for some children's reading hours, and also to make visits to some local schools. We will of course also be making some nursing facility visits.

I'm very proud of my dog Truck and all that he has learned with the guidance of Rhonda Hunt, Cat Klass and with help from my new friends.