Surfside’s crisis response dog can’t walk, needs help
By WFOR Staff
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MIAMI (WFOR) — A crisis response dog named Teddy, brought in to comfort families and first responders during the Surfside condo collapse, is now in need of help himself.
Not all heroes wear capes and there’s no better example of this than Teddy.
The cuddly 6-year-old basset hound-lab mix spent the last three weeks in Surfside as a proud member of the non-profit Crisis Response Canines.
As part of that team, Teddy provided “psychological first aid,” primarily to first responders.
Now, Teddy is in need of some help himself after his Surfside stint, suddenly unable to move. He is stuck in his grandmother’s house in Hollywood. Far from his home and his cat siblings in Philadelphia.
Teddy’s handler, Sophia Barrett, whose email is sbarrett@crisiscanines.org, is understandably crushed and incredibly concerned about Teddy’s tenuous condition.
“I’m scared of him not being able to walk again. Those are all the things he loves,” said Barrett.
Not one, but two, veterinarians are tending to Teddy, trying to help with what they believe is a herniated disc in his back and two partially torn ligaments in the knees.
Teddy is now on a steady regimen of acupuncture, laser treatment and chiropractic treatments.
“He’s just not able to walk,” said Dr. Tonya Carswell of Progressive Choice Animal Care.
Teddy, clearly not the only hero in town. Doctor Carswell would like to believe Teddy will walk again but says she can’t be absolutely sure, highlighting the difficult conditions crisis response dogs deal with on the job.
“The Surfside dogs had a lot of stress, heat, additional weight on back.”
The doctors have tried acupuncture to alleviate all that stress with an uncomfortable steady sticking of needles and laser therapy and Teddy has endured it all, like one cool cat.
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