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What defines a dog hero? Saving someone's life? Giving people a reason to live? What is it that makes man's best friend a hero? I have given a lot of thought to this and I keep falling back on my dog whose name is Yoshi.

Yoshi was adopted from a local animal shelter in Las Vegas by my wife and I. We were looking for a relatively small dog to live with us in our condo. We already had a cockatiel, a dynamite little parrot that is our first "baby". But we really wanted a dog to share our lives with. We stumbled upon Yoshi as we were checking out the shelter. He struck us as an unusual dog, about twenty pounds and red in color with a bushy tail. Looking like a cross between a Pomeranian and a Finnish Spitz, we just knew he was the one. But what makes him a hero?

Having about two days to live before being put down due to overcrowding, we snapped him up immediately. He was very shy and scared as he was found on a road in a dangerous part of town. We got to work on him pronto. He beefed up and became more and more used to our home. Even our parrot loved him and they were both eating out of the same dish the first day. Picasso, our cockatiel, would swoop down being ultra curious to see what Yoshi was eating and indulge himself. Yoshi didn't seem to mind at all. That was the first tip we got to seeing how good natured he is.

One of the first things we did was enter him into a dog training class at a local Petsmart. The instructor was so impressed with Yoshi that she suggested he become a therapy dog. We had no idea what that was, but it sounded good. A therapy dog gives love to people in nursing homes and hospitals and basically cheers people up. Yoshi took the national k=9 test and passed with flying colors. He was now a therapy dog visiting nursing homes, the local library and hospitals. The patients took to him immediately and fell in love with him. This really warmed our hearts and it was nice to see the give and take relationships that Yoshi generates with people. I think this makes him a hero.

I also think that since Yoshi knows what it is like to be close to death and confined, he can relate to sick patients and the elderly. He has a special empathy that people can relate to, and this gift of his is being put to good use. What a joy to see the patients light up like a Christmass tree every time Yoshi goes for a visit. My wife is amazed every time she takes him on his visits and knows this is what this dog does best. This is a hero.

Yoshi has come so far and is happy and loved not just by us but by our neighbors and his patients. Maybe I am partial to him because he is our dog, but I like to think of the good work he does by making other people so happy.

Yoshi is a true dog hero in every sense of the word.

Learn more about this author, Anthony Megna.
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