Jefferson's Story

At the shelter, they called him Survivor. It was December of 1998, and he was a 10-year old yellow lab mix who had been brought in as a stray. His ribs and backbone showed through his thin body, his hindquarters were atrophied from arthritis, his kidneys were in terrible shape, and he was totally blind. He was a wonderful, lovable dog, but the kind of dog who is generally considered “unadoptable” – the kind of dog who is usually at the top of the list for euthanasia. For this dog, however, that was not going to happen. I met him at the shelter where I was volunteering, and I knew that I had to take him home. I didn’t know why and I didn’t know how I was going to manage, but home he came to be integrated into my household of teenagers, two other dogs and numerous cats. He became known as Jefferson. It took some time, but with the proper diet and various treatments, Jefferson’s kidneys improved and he put on weight. He got to know every inch of the house and yard and could navigate around beautifully. At the time I was studying to become a Tellington Touch practitioner and Jefferson came with me to all my classes. Linda Tellington-Jones used him as a demo dog in presentations she made to the public and he appeared with her in a segment of the PBS series “Pets: Part of the Family.” Jefferson has since worked with me in many TTouch workshops and has helped at Pet Adoption Fairs. 

In the fall of 2001, after the World Trade Center attack, I volunteered with the ASPCA at Pier 94, which was set up as the Family Assistance Center. This was where families of the victims came for help and information. The atmosphere was overwhelmingly emotional and stress levels were high. From the beginning, volunteers arrived with their therapy dogs to try to give comfort to the families and the rescue workers. 

From the moment we approached the Security area to get in, people wanted to pet Jefferson. He has a funny little head tilt that is a residual effect of an inner ear disease he had two years ago. That was a show stopper right there. Everyone though Jefferson was cocking his head to look at them. Then I would tell them that Jefferson was blind and couldn’t see them. They were in awe.  

I remember a young National Guardsman who pet Jefferson for a long time and talked about how much he missed his own dog and how happy he was to spend time with Jefferson.  

A rescue worker from Texas talked about how much Jefferson reminded him of his own dog and how much he missed him. Then he grinned and said, "I guess I should miss my wife more than my dog."  

A Red Cross worker saw Jefferson and me walking across the room and approached us slowly. I could see her coming towards us from an angle, sort of unsure of herself. When she finally got to us, she visibly took a big sigh and put her hand down to pet Jefferson. She said that she was very afraid of dogs, but when she saw Jefferson, she knew it would be all right to pet him. She seemed to genuinely draw strength from him and from the fact that she was able to overcome her fear. You could see her stress level coming down as she was able to let so many emotions go. 

One day a little girl came over, followed by a social worker, to where I was sitting with Jefferson. She sat down and started to pet him. We talked. She asked about Jefferson. She wanted very badly to have us go look for her brother. She seemed to sense that he needed to be with Jefferson. We walked around, followed by the social worker, but did not see her brother. A little while later she came back with him. He was very quiet. He sat down, but at first didn’t seem too interested in Jefferson. His sister kept petting Jefferson, telling her brother about him, that he was blind and old. Finally her brother reached over to pet him a little on the nose, then the top of the head. Still he was quiet for a while. Then he asked is if Jefferson was really blind, if he could see at all. He wanted to know why Jefferson was there. I said that sometimes animals helped people to feel better, to make them smile. He thought about that for a few minutes. He asked me if I knew about the tall buildings that had collapsed. I said yes. Then he just began to talk about it - the airplanes, the buildings, and the bad man who was responsible. He needed so much to talk and the whole time he kept petting Jefferson and looking at him, not me. It was as if he needed to get it out, but he couldn’t face a person. It might have made it too real. He could talk about it while he was petting the blind dog. The social worked looked amazed. I never did find out why that brother and sister were there, but it was obvious that Jefferson helped them. 

Many family members spent time with him and seem to be able to relate to him, possibly because they could appreciate his weaknesses and the fact that he could still be there for them. 

Jefferson made many people at Pier 94 smile, even if just for a minute. Each time we left and walked through the gates, the police would say “Thank you for coming” and you could tell that they meant it. Little did they know that Jefferson had once been called “unadoptable.”