Pinky's Story
(as told in a letter from her pet parents)

Intro by Jo Forman:
We waited until the rescue community (and public) pulled all the cute healthy small dogs from a big "illegal breeder" raid. I believe there were about 180 dogs, mostly very small purebred dogs. On the Monday after weekend shelter adoptions, there were two tiny dogs left over. One had "thalidomide" type flipper short front legs, the other was a blind, deaf, albino Chihuahua. One of our shelter volunteers, Marilu, went to East Valley, and looked with her heart at the two "left over" dogs. Another rescue group took the dog with the deformed front legs, and BF took the Chihuahua, who we named Geordie, from the blind character on Star Trek who wore the eye visor that enabled him to see.

It turns out that we were the lucky ones. Below is Geordie's, now known as Pinky, story.

Hi Everyone!

I just thought you should know a little something special about a sweet dog that came from the Bill Foundation. Last year we adopted a little Chihuahua mix that was deaf and blind. The name you guys gave her was Geordi but we renamed her Pinky. Anyway, over the last several months, I have been working with her to train her to be a Therapy Dog. Our other dog Chloe is a Therapy Dog and has been working at Children's Hospital, Shriner's Children's Hospital, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Little Company of Mary Hospital and several care facilities for elderly people with Alzheimer's. The volunteer organization that we work with has been asking me to bring Pinky because one of the facilities we work with is Blend School for the Visually Handicapped. They thought that Pinky would be great there but there are several things that Pinky must be able to do first. Anyway, I have been working with her and we went before a panel of about 15 coaches this Saturday and they tested Pinky. SHE PASSED!!!! They loved her so much!!!

So...since Saturday, Pinky has been to Shriner's Children's Hospital twice and today she went to Blend School for the Visually Handicapped. SHE WAS A HIT!!! When the children found out that she was blind and deaf they all wanted to hold and love her. One of the reasons that we are there is to introduce the children to dogs and to teach them how to interact with them because most of them will have service dogs of their own in the future. Pinky did incredible!!! It was amazing!!! Absolutely amazing!!!

So, that is another success story of the Bill Foundation. You guys are awesome!!! We will keep in touch and try to help out as we can in the future.

Thanks again!!! WE LOVE OUR PINKY!!!

Best regards!

George & John