Danville dog honored as service dog of the year
A service dog from Danville was awarded the Omega Tau Delta "Service Dog of the Year" award during recent ceremonies held during the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's annual Open House on Virginia Tech's campus.
"Merlin," a 4-year-old yellow Labrador retriever trained and placed by the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation in Roanoke was honored for 2004.
Merlin works with Ken and Gayle Hall of Danville, a married couple that have each been diagnosed with a form of multiple sclerosis.
During the presentation ceremony, Hall detailed how having Merlin has made their lives easier. Merlin can assist with routine household tasks such as turning on the lights, bringing a telephone, opening the refrigerator and providing escort in public places.
"He's very intelligent," Hall said. "We're very proud of him. We're just lucky to have such a great companion. He's brought our life back to being a 'life' again."
The Omega Tau Delta service organization at the VMRCVM and the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Organization annually recognize the dog of the year from a field that includes police dogs, search and rescue dogs, and assistance dogs.
The award honors Booker, a service dog that was named the American Animal Hospital Association's Service dog of the Year in 1988. Booker was owned by and worked with Carol Willoughby of Roanoke. Willoughby is the founder of the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation.
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) is a two-state, three-campus professional school operated by the land-grant universities of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and the University of Maryland at College Park. Its flagship facilities, based at Virginia Tech, include the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which treats more than 40,000 animals annually. Other campuses include the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., and the Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Center at College Park, home of the Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine. The VMRCVM annually enrolls approximately 500 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and graduate students, is a leading biomedical and clinical research center, and provides professional continuing education services for veterinarians practicing throughout the two states.
