by Melanie Daniel

Melanie Daniel is an FBR foster and volunteer with the Fresno Bully Rescue. FBR shares their animal rescue adventures with us now every other month.

When Fresno Bully Rescue first rescued Roscoe from the streets, the eight-week-old puppy had a severe case of Demodectic Mange. After months of daily baths and doses of medication, his Rescue family watched this fearful, hairless, scabby puppy transform to a silly puppy with white and grey fur. When he was six months old, Roscoe was transferred to a temporary foster home, and after two days, his foster mom realized she couldn’t let him go. So on October 3, 2012 Roscoe finally found the forever family he’d been searching for.

Roscoe

A few months after the adoption, Roscoe’s owner, who suffers from severe panic disorder, realized that on several occasions Roscoe was able to detect when she was about to have an attack before she felt any signs, and would bark or whine unsure of what do to. At Instinct Professional Dog Training, Roscoe started learning to become a service dog. After passing several obedience classes, including Canine Good Citizen, and learning how to help mitigate his mom’s disability, Roscoe became a service dog. He helps his mom cope with her panic attacks by performing various tasks such as alerting her to an oncoming attack, retrieving her medicine bag, getting family members for help, and providing deep pressure therapy (a calming method to help her stabilize more quickly). With Roscoe’s help, she has become more independent, and the duration of her panic attacks have greatly decreased.

When Roscoe isn’t working he hangs out with his doggy siblings and friends, runs on the treadmill, lounges in the backyard on his favorite chair, and goes on trips to Starbucks for cake pops. All adoptions from Fresno Bully Rescue are special, but this adoption has a unique happy ending. Not only is Roscoe now able to help his mom with her disability, but he also shows the public that with proper training Pitbulls (or any breed) can become great service dogs. All this was possible with the help of an amazing rescue who decided to take in a scared little puppy with mange.

Check out more animal rescue stories in our Pet Perspective section. Advertise in KRL and 10% of your advertising fees can go to Fresno Bully Rescue.