Marty and Jax

I met Jax at the AKC dog show in June 2015, where his foster mom, Vickey Willard, had brought him as a socialization experience. It was love at first sight for me! I thought he was a puppy, and was surprised to learn he was nearly three years old.

My beloved husband, Gene, was a lifelong animal lover from the time he was young. He was a boy who brought home baby possums, skunks, and raccoons and who rescued stray dogs off the side of the road in East Texas where he grew up. People called him an animal whisperer long before that was a popular phrase. But in July of 2015, he was in the battle of his life, fighting to stay present in the face of dementia. I had retired from my position as founder and executive director of a special education school and institute to take care of Gene. Frankly, I had my hands full. We had four cats, but our last dog had died several years earlier. But then I fell in love with Jax, and I really hoped that bringing him into our lives would bring Gene so much joy.

As it turned out, it was a little too late in the unrelenting dementia process for Gene to form new relationships. He enjoyed Jax, but he rarely sought him out. However, a tight bond quickly formed between Jax and me; he became my lifesaver in the next few difficult years. Jax was easy going, loved to learn, and got along beautifully with our cats. He was gentle, intuitive, and playful. A year later, Gene began attending Amazing Place, a day center for persons with mild to moderate memory loss. With this newly-acquired free time, I got serious about training Jax. He passed the CGC with flying colors and was certified as a therapy dog through Houston’s very well-respected Faithful Paws Pet Therapy. We visited children’s developmental centers, Shriner’s Hospital, and then joined a team which visited weekly at Houston Methodist Hospital. Most of the members of that team are still my dear friends.

Meantime, Gene’s dementia progressed, too. He lived the last two years of his life at a memory care community where Jax and I visited him almost daily. Jax especially enjoyed napping with him. He was snuggling with him the night before Gene died on April 23, 2018. We both missed him terribly, and there was a huge void in our lives and our schedule. It helped to join the pet therapy teams at Amazing Place and also at Sheltering Arms, where Gene attended for six months before entering residential care. These were communities which had offered peace and love to both Gene and me, and it was a joy to stay connected with staff members and participants. Today I lead the team that visits Amazing Place.

Jax has earned all five of the AKC trick dog titles and loves performing wherever we visit. I have become the training coordinator and assistant administrator for Faithful Paws. It’s 100% volunteer work and close to 40 hours a week! I love helping other people and their pets learn to do this inspiring work.

One powerful story: I love to share what happened during Covid when pet therapy, like everything else in the world, shut down. When we returned to our regular visit to the locked psychiatric unit at Methodist Hospital, a nurse pulled me aside. She told me that while we were gone there had a been a severely depressed woman who had stood in front of the bulletin board near the patient community room day after day, staring at Jax’s “business card” posted there. It contains two side-by-side pictures of Jax: his “before” when he was so beaten down and abused and his “after” picture sporting a dapper pink plaid tie, sitting in a bed of bluebonnet flowers. Finally, one day the patient called her psychiatrist over, pointed to Jax’s picture and pronounced, “If Jax can do it, I can do it”. What a testament to the power of pet therapy. Jax didn’t even have to BE there to make a profound difference in her life!