| FELIX, Prison Visitor by Vicky Glancy
Felix was an abuse case. He was rescued after his previous person tried to beat him to death with a pair of bolt cutters. The poor dog had a broken jaw, lost most of his teeth and suffered shoulder injuries. After a number of surgeries, Felix was adopted by the Prison Paws program at a women’s prison here in Montana. Inmates there rehabilitated and trained him. He was assigned to a particular inmate who did a terrific job with him. When he eventually became available, I adopted him, and when I went to pick him up, I don’t know who was crying more, his beloved inmate trainer or I. He is a great credit to her; he’s doing marvelously.
Just months after I adopted him, Felix passed his Canine Good Citizen test, and then the Delta Society certification tests. Now he’s an active therapy dog. He visits at the women’s prison. When we were there on our Christmas visit, an inmate came over to see him. She asked to pet him and sat with him quietly for a while. Then she told me that she liked animals better than people because animals never hurt you and you can always trust an animal. It’s neat to see people interact with Felix. A dog’s love seems so unconditional.
We went to a few nursing homes, but sometimes Felix could be a little noisy. He didn’t WOOF quite properly because of the missing teeth, but he could MOOF pretty loud. We mainly visited at the prison.
All he ever asked was to be loved, and he sure got that from me. He liked to visit with anyone who came over, and our walks always took a long time because he had to stop to get pets from everyone we met. He loved to swim and play ball.
Being shut up in a small space caused him great anxiety. He was always happy to jump in the Jeep, but the minute I closed the back he got very stressed, so we just drove around with the windows down – even when it was minus-20 degrees! Also I had to be careful not to swing anything near him. One day a bee got in the house and I was madly swatting at it until I realized Felix was cringing in the corner. I dropped the fly swatter immediately and told Felix how sorry I was. I just didn’t think how scary it could be for him. The poor old guy would even shy away if you leaned down to pet him unexpectedly. As long as he could see you coming, he was OK.
Even with all that he had been through, Felix just loved life and brought smiles all around – on our prison visits and everywhere. My wonderful friend passed away just a few weeks ago. I miss him so very much; he has left a huge hole in my life. I didn’t get to enjoy him nearly long enough.
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