[News] Yorkie Works as a Service Dog

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Cleveland, OH - Mention a service dog, and most of us think of a Labrador retriever or a golden retriever, helping vision-impaired owners, alerting hearing-impaired owners to visitors or pushing light switches or opening doors for owners incapable of doing those jobs.

Lacey, a 5.6-pound Yorkshire terrier, is far too small to reach a light switch or a door handle, but she is a service dog.

Her job is to retrieve items for her owner, Sue Dunay of Concord Township. Dunay has multiple autoimmune disorders and uses a motorized wheelchair or an electric scooter. She cannot bend to retrieve dropped objects or lift Lacey into her lap.

When Dunay wants Lacey to get in her lap, she extends her arm toward the floor. The little dog wraps her paws tightly around Dunay's arm so she can lift her.

The little dog can bring items such as a pen, paintbrush, checkbook and, though it is difficult, a 2-pound bag of cookie mix to Dunay. She does demonstrations of Lacey's abilities with these items at schools.

Visitors to Lake Metroparks' Lake Farmpark will get to see Lacey and Dunay in action at Working Dogs Weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

Lacey, 4, who understands 75 words, became a service dog by a stroke of luck. After Dunay's disabilities forced her to quit her job, she started taking art lessons and decided to get a dog to keep her company - not a service dog, just a companion.

A dog as small as a Yorkshire could easily be trained to use a doggy litter box, Dunay said to her husband, Terry Dunay.

The Dunays purchased Lacey from a breeder when the dog was 8 weeks old. She was too young and too fragile to leave her siblings at such an early age. But for the care of a veterinarian, Lacey would have died.

When Lacey came home from the animal hospital after three days, Dunay had to feed her every two hours around the clock. A strong bond was formed.

When the tiny terrier was healthy at 4 months, Dunay had a trainer, Tina Guyron, come to the house to work with her.

On one occasion, La cey grabbed a piece of paper in her mouth and started running around the room with it.

"Tell her to heel," Guyron said to Dunay.

Lacey did, but she kept the paper in her mouth.

"She has retriever instincts," Guyron said. Within eight weeks Guyron and Dunay had Lacey retrieving all sorts of things.

Dunay worked with her a half-hour each day.

When Lacey is working, she wears a coat that says she is a service dog. "She seems to know the difference," Dunay said. "If she doesn't have her coat on, she knows she is allowed to do anything."

As a service dog, Lacey may accompany Dunay everywhere, including grocery shopping, art classes and art exhibitions, hotels, restaurants and airplanes.

Lacey's vest has a pocket in which she carries a letter from Dunay's physician, stating that the dog performs a service that the owner cannot.

"She seems to know when I don't feel well and stays right beside me when I am in bed," Dunay said.

Other demonstrations at Working Dogs Weekend include agility, herding, carting/draft dogs, terrier races, sled dogs and tracking as well as search and rescue dogs.

Visitors are asked to leave their own pets at home.

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