September 30, 2009
Alta family finds a new friend through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, providing companionship for a lucky seven-year-old boy.
LEFT: After an assembly at the Alta Elementary School Monday, Max Goodell sits with Cali, his new service dog and companion received through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Dog Wish Foundation. Cali was introduced to the student body that afternoon. “This is a momentous event,” said Cali’s trainer Bob Taylor of efforts to bring Cali and Max together. CITIZEN PHOTO / JEANNETTE BONERIt was several years in the making, one plane ride from California and a skip over Teton Pass to Alta, Wyoming that found last Thursday night a blending of both excitement and anticipation sprinkled with those tender and shy moments that come with new introductions.
Max met Cali and it was a wish come true for those gathered in the back yard of Ann and Gordon Goodell’s home off of Stateline Road.
And as the adults shuffled back inside the house under the dying light of the day, Max, Gordon and Ann’s oldest son of 7, stood on the family’s back porch, giggling, smiling and shyly eyeing the new puppy that happily and freely leaped and sniffed her way around her new home.
“I’m excited,” said Gordon on Thursday evening, the statement pregnant with possibility and hope that some of his dreams for his son may be realized through this service dog.
Working through the Make-A-Wish Foundation who, in turn, contacted the California-based Dog Wish Foundation and its founder and trainer, Bob Taylor, Cali may be a service dog for Max, but the understanding is that this puppy will grow to provide an intimate relationship for Max, a dog who will serve as the boy’s guardian, teacher and companion.
Max has Sanfilippo Syndrome, a mucopolysaccharide disease that will mostly over time, challenge his mental and physical abilities. Max is nonverbal, but uses body language and facial expression to communicate. He is quick to hold your hand and flash a smile and on Thursday, his eyes were steady on Cali.
Cali was hand picked by Taylor who has worked with the Make-a- Wish Foundation in the past. Prior to Cali’s arrival last week, Taylor had made a special trip to this corner of the state to meet Max in person. He went home and chose Cali, an Italian mastiff, and began training her specifically for Max.
Taylor explained that Cali would so personally know Max that the dog will sense very slight differences in the little boy, able to detect and anticipate emotional and physical changes.
“When I saw Max 12 weeks ago, I went home and started training Cali for Max,” Taylor said.
She has been trained to be Max’s dog Taylor said of finding a breed and narrowing the search for Max’s dog to Cali.
Dana Wirtz of the Make-a-Wish Foundation said the request for a service dog has been granted to some Wyoming families, but is not a common wish from families. Gordon said he too was a little surprised that the Foundation honored what he thought was an unusual request.
Cali is a 9 month old, born to a litter from a breed where five of the nine puppies are being trained as service dogs. Her mother is a working service dog as well. Known historically as the “Roman war dog,” this puppy is already learning the daily ins and outs at the Goodell home sharing space with Max’s little brother Milo and the Goodell’s four-year-old Australian Shepherd, “Sally.”
Sally is a familiar dog around the Alta Elementary School learning through Gordon to be Max’s companion. But it was several years ago, before Gordon began to train Sally for Max’s growing independent needs, that he hoped to pursue a service dog for Max, a dog that would be Max’s dog and not simply the family pet.
“He adores dogs,” said Gordon of Max. And Sally is proof of that. Gordon has trained Sally to tend to Max, watchful of his wanderings and a recent cohort in Melissa Blackburn’s class at the Alta Elementary School.
But it was Ann and Gordon’s hope that they could find a service dog that would go above and beyond what Sally could offer, a dog who could anticipate Max’s movements, know safe boundaries and learn how to keep him safe while not needing to be tethered to the boy like Sally was.
“Sally has done so much for Max,” said Blackburn before a school assembly to introduce Cali to the students on Monday. Blackburn said when Sally started attending school with Max, she saw Max grow in ways that surprised some educators. With Sally, Max was willing to try new things on the playground and students were more willing to approach him. With these significant discoveries, Blackburn is excited about the possibilities that Cali will bring to Max.
“Max is no more different than other kids,” Blackburn said of his desire to play, make new friends and try new things. “Cali and Sally have helped and will help him achieve those things.”
During Monday’s school assembly students were given packets with a letter from Cali introducing herself to the student body. Cookies were served and introductions made. And as teachers began to shuffle children back to classrooms and lessons, Max walked over to Cali who patiently sat through the assembly in the front with her harness on and ears tuning into the many different voices in front of her. Max sat down next to Cali and quietly began petting the dog on the head.
“This is a momentous event,” Taylor added.
