[MUSIC]
Flip you over. Okay. Good stretch.
Come on.
We first saw Chi Chi's story on a Facebook video.
And I remember when Elizabeth's watching this.
And she yelled from across the room,
"You need to come watch this video. This is gonna be our next dog."
The video is of Chi Chi, probably the day after her amputations.
She was in her kennel in South Korea.
But she was wagging her tail, and she was happy.
And her eyes just said, "I'm a happy dog,
And I want to live."
Once that was done, it was over. [LAUGHTER]
So, we reached out to the rescue group.
But they were like, you know, "Not a lot of people are raising their hands."
"She's gonna be challenging." We don't even know if she could walk.
Didn't matter to us. We were gonna figure it out.
When they posted the video of her walking for the first time,
I was just stunned. I knew at that point,
she wasn't giving up.
She arrived in the US in March of 2016.
She didn't have prosthetics, so her walking around was painful.
And her feet weren't protected.
And so she was -- she was vulnerable, and she was stressed.
It took her a while not to be stressed.
It was kind of a hope for her to be a therapy dog.
And we had to see how she was going to, you know, adjust.
I think you slept downstairs with her the first night. -Yeah.
And we rigged up these two baseball socks
and tied them up over her shoulders,
to try to keep the bandages on.
This was the first set of prosthetics made out of foam.
Version two, the bottom was wider, to give some more stability.
Every morning, I have to pick her up and bring her downstairs,
and put her -- put her boots on.
Now we'll do the back one.
You know, she has to have them on before she can move. So.
It's -- you know. It's a small thing that I have to do for her.
But it gives her freedom.
Chi Chi's thing is toys. She likes to play with toys
until she kills the squeaker out of them.
She's a toy hoarder.
Get it. Get it.
Harry and Kipper are adopted from the Beagle Freedom Project.
And they rescue dogs from laboratory testing.
Harry came from a lab in San Diego.
We originally took him in as a foster.
And failed -- failed at that.
I think Harry has a special -- he seems to know
that she needs some special attention.
Kipper is, other than eating,
I don't know what your role is, dude. Here he comes.
Maggie, no, this is not yours.
Maggie was a rescue, too.
You know, they've lived lives that were not good.
I think rescue dogs know when they've been rescued.
Did you get your pill?
Once we got her here, and saw who she was,
we knew she was gonna be good at being a therapy dog.
Like, when she first arrived, she spent a ton of time outside.
She would just lay out there and listen to the birds.
We've been doing the obedience course to be a therapy dog.
Good morning, Chi Chi.
What we're gonna practice on today is to introduce her
to some of the stuff she might see during the test.
So, for our therapy dog test,
there's a couple things that Chi Chi needs to be. Calm around other dogs.
And also, calm around things like wheelchairs and crutches.
We're gonna try everything we can, to set her up to succeed.
Good girl.
So, this is actually a pretty hard part of the test.
Because a lot of dogs are fine with people,
and all of a sudden you put a person with wheels,
and it looks very different.
We treat her just like any other dog.
Chi Chi has moved on. And Chi Chi gets up every morning,
and Chi Chi goes out, and is a dog. And she wants to be a dog,
and she's a very happy dog.
You get up, and you keep going. And that's what Chi Chi does.
I think she's ready to take that test.
Okay, great!
Go out there, and make the world a better place.
Hi, Chi Chi!
I was first introduced to Ability 360 through
friends of ours, who have a daughter with autism.
And then we decided that that would be a great place
for Chi Chi to become a therapy dog.
They have different types of people. People in wheelchairs.
Some with amputation, some without,
that she could potentially help with.
I see a lot of potential for Chi Chi's help with a lot of our members.
I've been an amputee since I was four years old.
Having that companionship is -- is really important.
I thought I would show Chi Chi the ropes of what it's like
to be a therapy dog here. - Great, that's awesome.
I have come up with a red Flyer wagon pull.
So, we put her in the wagon, and have the client pull her around.
It's a lot of weight, to pull around the track.
So it's great for the kids to learn that coordination.
You know, you're surrounded by people
that aren't exactly like you. And when you have a companion,
that, you know, you can see a similarity there,
and you can have a connection,
I think it's something that's really special.
I think she'll be a great therapy dog.
I think she's more confident now.
Will said today that he thinks she's ready to have the test
to see if she'll be a therapy dog. So we'll get that scheduled.
She's a golden retriever, above anything else,
before she's an amputee. So.
She's happy all the time. Happy to see you.
Happy to go on a walk, happy to play.
She just makes the most of her life every day.
Here we go.
She's transformed into this dog that is loving
and caring, and trusts people again.
Here you go.
And now, she's gonna give back.
That's her new life now.
And she's left all the rest of it in the past. End