b"Counselors With Fur continued from previous page.S UMMER L OVE : S PREADING J .OYWhen the subject of a therapy dog comes up,the image that comes to mind is that of thefaithful,trustworthy,universally-lovedandlovableGoldenorLabradorRetriever. Thatwould, of course, be profiling and consequentlyshortchanging the 338 or so breeds, plus muttsand the Bully breed, including Pit Bulls. Thereissuchathingasbreedbias,evenamongdog lovers.GermanShepherddogs,DobermanPinschers, Rottweilers and now Pit Bulls havebeen misused by humans for terrible things.When Karen Rizzo took her dog, Summer,outtosocialfunctions,thebeautifulDoberman Pincher would turn heads. Peoplealwayscommentedonhowwell-manneredand sweet she was. A colleague of Karens sug-gested she should look into training Summerto be a therapy dog. Believe it or not, Karen 18-month-old Roam with Melissa, Summer Raniah amd her mom Branika enjoy playingencountered several incidences of breed bias, and Karen at All Childrens Hospital. with Summer.especially when the subject of children cameup. Oh, no way that dog will ever be allowedaroundchildren.Shestoobig.Sheslooksmuch too scary. Karen is not a confrontational person, butshehasastrong,quiet,determinationabouther. Those few comments convinced her thatSummer would indeed become a therapy dog,and,ultimately,walkthehallsofapediatrichospitaltobringcomforttochildrenandtheir families. Indeed, Summer passed the Canine GoodCitizentestandthepettherapyevaluationwith flying colors for her certification to be atherapy dog. The next step was to be acceptedinto the Pet Therapy program at All ChildrensHospital, which involved several interviews andbackground checks on Karen to be accepted asa hospital volunteer.Several months later, we followed Karen Andy and his sister Citlaly have fun with Summer and talking to Karen.and Summer as they made their way around AllChildren's, greeting children and their families.Summer just seems to have this great sense ofempathyandshesespeciallydrawntochil-dren, said Karen. I feel so blessed to be able toshare her. She brings comfort, peace and joy.The two are also a familiar sight at BayPinesMedicalCenteraswellasUSFsSt.Petersburg campus. Summer is a great stressreliever for the students, said Karen.Karen, who now works at One Lucky DogBoutique & Grooming in St. Petersburg, hasworked with children all of her life. But, neverinahospitalsetting. Thisisallnewtome.ItisthemostrewardingthingIhaveeverdone, she said.Summer was ready for Brandon Gomes four-seam fastball.56THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com"