Last month, a young girl with autism was waiting for the delivery of her trained service dog Jude, but the delivery never came after the dog was tragically shot and killed in its trainer’s yard.
Jude’s training was cut short when the wife of trainer Dave Wood found the dog lying dead on the ground in December.
Wood found footsteps leading up to and away from the dog’s body. He believes the dog was shot.
“When he died…the little girl was pretty much devastated,” says Wood.
Thanks to the generosity of some New Brunswickers, another dog is now being trained for the girl from Nova Scotia.
A standard poodle named Penny is learning how to be a therapeutic medical alert service dog - the same sort of training undertaken by her littermate Jude.
The training is simple at first - teaching the dog basic commands and getting the animal used to being around people.
“We take her around restaurants, bars, I guess anywhere I would go, stores, grocery shopping,” says dog trainer Dave Wood.
When Penny’s owners heard what happened to Jude and learned about the little girl’s situation, they wanted to help.
“The people who had Penny got thinking about the tragedy of the whole thing and they decided they wanted to donate her for the same purpose,” says Wood.
Wood and his wife were reluctant to take Penny on at first, as the offer came shortly after Jude’s death. However, they decided to take on the project, for the little girl.
“We teach her how to push buttons so she can open the door, turn the light on, go to other people if she needs help, pick something up and carry it,” says Wood.
The person who shot Jude was never found. Wood doesn’t believe it was intentional, and says perhaps the dog was mistaken for a coyote.
As for Penny, her training will take about six months and Wood and his wife expect to hand her leash over to her new owner sometime this summer.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis
