Meet Pilot!
Pilot is a six-year-old Border Collie flat coated retriever. When he was six months old, he’d been taken to the San Bernardino County Animal Shelter in Devore. Since he had received little guidance or training, he thought any behavior was acceptable and consequently he was continually getting into considerable trouble!
Then along came Katherine, his present companion, and they formed an instant bond. Even though he dug up her plants, chewed the hose, jumped up on the dining room table to “attack” the ceiling fan, and was temporarily renamed “Sir Barks-A-Lot,” Katherine knew there was something special about Pilot.
As an evaluator for Delta Society therapy animals, Katherine was the perfect person to have serious discussion with Pilot about his behavior! She knew exactly what to do. Pilot needed a job! Education, training, love, and perseverance were the answer. By one year of age, Pilot became a therapy animal and crisis response K9. On his second birthday he was registered as a service dog. He alerts to her hypoglycemia and helps Katherine by being a multi-tasking balance dog.
As a therapy dog, Pilot volunteers at his local library. He always has a big kiss ready for the children as they listen patiently to their favorite books. In our humane education presentations, Pilot demonstrates his tasks as a service dog, by getting the phone, retrieving keys, and putting things into a basket. He loves taking a bow when the students clap for him!
Pilot and Katherine have been serving their community for five and a half years as a crisis response team. In 2006, they flew to Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to provide unconditional love for those that had lost their homes and loved ones. While representing Extra Mile K9 Crisis Response Ministry, they have responded to the evacuated families of the Porter Ranch wildfires. Pilot has also visited family and friends at meetings planned by Parents of Murdered Children, Inc. (POMC®) — which is a support group for all adult family members and friends of those who have died by violence. This August Katherine and Pilot will be flying to Ohio to support and comfort the families and friends of Parents of Murdered Children. In February 2009 they flew to Northern Illinois University in Chicago for the one year anniversary memorial service to remember the five students who were fatally injured at the university shooting.
Pilot has a unique ability to find those whose hearts need mending, one person at a time. Where there were tears, there are now smiles. And to think, this was a dog that no one wanted!
In our Humane Education presentations, we have a saying — “The Power of One.” One person can make a difference… and in Pilot’s case, one dog, too!
Pilot at Northern Illinois University in Chicago
Katherine and Pilot at Northern Illinois University representing Extra Mile K9 Crisis Response Ministry
