Katie was getting very mobile at age five but she was slow to see the dangers of running in the street or in the parking lot. One day, while at a sporting event for my son, she gave me quite a scare. I took my eyes off her for one second and saw out of the corner of my eye that she was running with abandon down an embankment on the hill and almost reached the street below. Luckily, I got there in the nick of time.

That’s when I realized that she, and I, needed some help and the solution was Maggie, our Golden Retriever. Off to Mike Artim’s, known for training companion dogs and specializing

Mike told us that retrievers are the very best companion dog for anyone who has a disability, no matter what the disability is. Mike had never worked with a person who has Down syndrome so we were his first try at this. Mike trained our family in the art of “sign language” to give commands to Maggie. So this was perfect for Katie . . . no words to spit out, only sign language. This was a perfect fit for Kate.

Ask any parent who has a child with Down syndrome what the major issue is for their child. The answer is “communication” 99% of the time. I know that there are many things that Katie wants to say but can’t. (But let me tell you that she also has Autism which may affect what I am about to say.) She has ideas, sentences, and words all locked up in her brain. But these thoughts never come out of her brain and into her mouth. The neural connectors in her brain just don’t work. But with a dog, there can be all kinds of communication, eye to eye. How do dogs do that? What is it about dogs when they look into your eyes, wag their tail, and then lick your face? Something magical happens. And life becomes worth living.

What makes dogs so special? This question has been put to many scientists and this is the response from Clive Wynne. "Dogs have an exaggerated, ebullient, perhaps even excessive capacity to form affectionate relationships," psychologist Clive Wynne writes in his book, Dog Is Love. Wynne is the founder of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, released a book Dog Is Love that walks readers through the growing body of dog science. In it, he argues that what makes dogs remarkable is not their smarts, but their capacity to form affectionate relationships with other species — in short, to love. If you are an avid dog lover, you can read all about it. One thing that he states is, “Dogs fall in love much more easily than people do, and they also seem to be able to move on much more easily than people can. He is not saying human and dog love are identical. He is just saying there’s enough similarity between how dogs form strong emotional bonds and how people form strong emotional bonds that it’s fair enough to use the love word.

We have the perfect fit: Katie is Love . . . Maggie is Love . . . a match made in heaven. There is nothing more to say.