COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL DECEMBER 20, 2017 7A
Dog days of Summer: Looking beyond the end to a new start
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
S
ummer is as close to perfect as a dog can
get.
She has spent her 12 years in the offi ce
of her owner, Eve Peirce, a counselor at South
Lane Mental Health in Cottage Grove.
She’s welcomed children of all stripes into the
room with a wag of her tail and an offering of a
toy. She engages with children who are nervous,
lonely and frustrated, knowing when to play and
when to lay in her bed, close by, a silent, steady
support for instances that weigh a little more.
Summer loves the kids, Peirce says. That’s why,
even though it may be hard to watch Peirce with
another dog, Summer doesn’t bat an eye.
She’ll want the kids to have someone when
she’s gone.
During a routine check-up in April of this year,
the vet discovered a tumor.
There wasn’t much to be done.
“It wasn’t in a good place to operate,” Peirce
said. “Dogs with this type of tumor, the vet said,
will usually last a few months. Summer’s gone
eight.”
It’s a little harder for Summer to get up now, her
hind legs no longer young and sprite and while
the tumor doesn’t seem to cause her pain, Peirce
knows her time is coming.
In August, Summer had a bad fall. The vet had
warned that the dog would have a “catastrophic
failure” one day and when Summer’s legs gave
out after a bath, Peirce feared the worst.
“I thought, this is the end,” she said.
So, she searched the local animal shelters and
began to research other facilities. She needed a
patient, loving, smart, playful dog who could take
direction, learn and be able to work with her every
day. Also, one that didn’t shed.
“There was a place in Bend and their dogs were
$950. So, I called and told them what I needed
and what kind of work I did,” she said.
By the time Doodles and Poodles, owned by
Marcia and David Shannon, called her back,
Summer had perked up.
But the Shannons had been so touched by the
work Peirce and Summer did, that they offered to
donate a puppy.
“I thought by the time I got another dog, it
would be after Summer was gone,” Peirce said.
However, unable to pass the opportunity up, she
traveled to Bend and met with the breeders.
“I sat in the cage and this puppy toddled up to
me,” she said. “This fat puppy toddled up and sat
down and just looked at me. I looked in her eyes
and asked her if she could be a therapy dog for me
and she looked back me with this look that said,
“'I’d sure try.'”
It was Sally.
She’s a Labrador/Poodle mix who will grow to
be about 50 pounds. For now, she hangs out with
Summer for a bit, licking at her ears and annoying
her in the way a puppy does and training to fi ll in
for her when the time comes.
“With their parents’ permission, I’ve taken
pictures of the kids with their friend Summer so
they’ll have those and we’ve been talking for a
few months how she’s getting old and has some
health problems,” Peirce said of explaining Sum-
mer’s inevitable absence.
The children Peirce treats will also have the
books she published about Summer to remember
their friend by.
“Summer fi nds a job” details Summer’s jour-
ney to Peirce’s offi ce. Initially, she was intended
to be a show dog but her back was too long. Next,
she was trained to be a service dog but was a bit
“too goofy.”
“It shows kids that she tried to do these other
things,” Peirce said. “It’s a ‘keep going’ story.”
One day soon, Summer won’t be in the offi ce.
She won’t trail out to the lobby, returning children
to their parents and wandering to those still wait-
ing—having a knack for fi nding the people who
needed to talk to her that day. And while Peirce
says it won’t be the same without Summer, she’s
grateful for the time they’ve had.
“If you take good care of your pets, they get
old,” she said. “She’s been amazing. She knows
she’s my girl.”
PHOTO BY CAITLYN MAY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Eve Peirce with Summer (L) and Sally (R). Above,
Summer is pictured at home.
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