Sunday, May 16, 2010

Ahnung meets with 8th graders at Avalon School

Ahnung, a Pet Haven alum, had the opportunity to represent Pet Haven on 4/26 at Avalon School in St. Paul. Ahnung ... originally rescued by Red Lake Rosie's Rescue up north came into Pet Haven's foster program in November of 2008 and in January, 2009 was officially adopted by Marilou (who is currently serving as president of Pet Haven). In a nut shell, her story goes like this ...  dumped with a litter of 8 puppies, testing positive for heartworm, coccidia and lymes ... a pellet in one of her nipples (the vet indicating she had been shot) and no front teeth (grounding her teeth down to the gums in search of food) ... despite her rough beginnings she has demonstrated  how forgiving, resilient and incredibly healing animals are. Ahnung has been through a lot of training, and in December 2009 passed the Delta Society therapy dog test and is now a registered therapy dog. She volunteers with at-risk youth at The Lab (a program of St. Paul Public Schools) and is now officially a volunteer (along with her human mom) with Allina hospice and in her spare time gives presentations to schools. Her most recent presentation was to a class of 8th grades at Avalon School in St. Paul. Ahnung shares her story and teaches lessons on compassion, kindness and how to trust again. At her presentation at Avalon she also had the opportunity to share more about Pet Haven and the work Pet Haven is doing to rescue and re-home dogs and cats, and to help reduce overpopulation through our spay/neuter initiatives, outreach/education and advocacy.

She got a thank you note from the kids at Avalon and wants them to know how much she appreciates the invitation to come hang out with them at school and to get all the belly rubs.

Ahnung loves her job as an ambassador for homeless dogs. If you would like to follow along with her adventures as a therapy dog check out her blog.

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