Judith and Randy Swartz had an idea of the dog they wanted to get — black and white, about 30 pounds, and female. “A little dog that we could take with us places,” Judith explained.
They ended up with Gary, a 60-pound male Goldendoodle.
Randy had wanted a dog who would fetch, so they decided to bring a ball with them when they went to meet dogs. “We interviewed all these puppies,” Judith said. “Gary was the puppy who got the ball, seemed to play with it, and that was it, we were done. Then he kept growing.”
He’ll be three in December, and he grew up with his best friend, an English Springer Spaniel named Percy. “Percy is the kind of dog that you look at him and go, ‘Look at his lines, he’s magnificent,’” Judith explained. “Gary is the type of dog that people go, ‘What is that?’ One is very distinguished, and one is a goofball.”
Percy had found Philly Unleashed for training, and Gary was right behind him. “Since Percy was being trained by Nicole, we said, ‘Wow, maybe we would go to Harvard too if we signed up, so we did,” Judith shared.
Percy is on the left, with Gary to the right.
Gary graduated from Puppy Kindergarten and spent time at Farmcamp, before training in private lessons and then moving through Levels 1 and 2 and therapy dog classes. Gary is now in a tricks class, learning how to play piano and say his prayers for the patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he volunteers as a therapy dog. “He needed something to do visiting the children at CHOP,” Judith explained. “He walks into the room and they’re like so, and he’s like so?”
Now he entertains the children, and the next goal is drawing a picture for each of them. “If this happens in my lifetime, it will be a miracle,” Judith shared. “But that’s what we’re doing. It will be awesome.”
Gary has the personality for his work. “He’s the sweetest, sweetest temperament I’ve ever seen in an animal,” Randy shared. “He’s just a role model. He’s a role model for us. He has somewhat of an ambivalent relationship with his cat.”
Both Judith and Randy have had dogs before Gary, and they’ve found Gary has needed a bit more time and effort. But they also know he’s worth it. “He’s just a really great dog,” Randy said. “We lucked out.”
Judith’s advice for other people, particularly those who don’t yet have a dog, is simple. “Get one,” she said. “I’m the person on that mission. I really think, there are–like Nicole, like Alicia–gifted trainers that can get your dog to do almost anything. And I really think exposure to them enriches your experience of a pet. I’ve also had dogs all my life, and my previous training experience is you say no to the dog and he does it again and you do that for 20 years until one of you is dead. And this, you can only learn from a dog trainer how to do it. Your whole experience of the animal is different because you watched people who know how to work with animals. That’s the fabulous thing about Philly Unleashed. They’re really great at what they do.”
