AIKEN --- Serena Briggs can sense when someone's feeling down and out.
The black Labrador-German shepherd mix always seems to lift others up, said her owner, Steve Briggs.
"She has an exceptional temperament, and it has a calming effect on a lot of people," he said.
Serena is one of 52 dogs from across the nation featured in Elise Lufkin's book, To The Rescue . The book, which was released Sunday, highlights the benefit of rescuing abandoned dogs and their ability to serve humans as therapy, seeing-eye and search-and-rescue dogs. All proceeds from the book are donated to shelters and animal welfare organizations.
Serena, accompanied by Mr. Briggs, has visited nursing homes, schools and hospital oncology and psychiatric wards for a year to help those suffering physical, emotional and mental ailments, Mr. Briggs said.
"I've watched a man's blood pressure drop 40 points when she visited him," he said. "For a lot of the patients, it's the highlight of their day. People who haven't smiled in a long time smile when Serena comes around."
Before Mr. Briggs and his wife, Doris, adopted her, Serena had been left abandoned in Augusta for several months in 2007, Mr. Briggs said. Molly's Militia, an Augusta rescue shelter, took Serena in less than 24 hours before she would have been euthanized at a local animal shelter.
Mr. Briggs and his wife, who lived in Florida at the time, were traveling through the Aiken area and saw an advertisement in the local paper about a dog at Molly's Militia. While browsing the rescue shelter's Web site, they found Serena.
"We took her back to the hotel with us," he said. "She was perfectly well-behaved. We even let her loose, and she came back to us."
Mr. Briggs said he was later told about the Delta Society, a human services organization that promotes animals as a way to improve the health of humans. The organization trains animals to serve as therapy to sick humans. Serena had to be tested to ensure she could handle high-stress situations.
"It's very intense," he said. "She passed with flying colors."
Ms. Lufkin, who also wrote the books Found Dogs and Second Chances , said she received hundreds of stories from pet owners when she solicited personal accounts of service dogs for the book on the Delta Society's Web site.
"I was drawn to Serena's story, because although she had a tough start, she managed to overcome her fears and worries she may have had as she adjusted to life with Steve Briggs and his wife, Doris," she said in an e-mail. "He and Serena put in a great deal of time on their therapy work, visiting a number of places and giving of themselves to bring comfort."
Reach Stephanie Toone at (803) 648-1395 ext. 110, or stephanie.toone@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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All good things to Serena and her owners! Perhaps if humans start paying more attention to the animals of the world and taking care of them, and quit fighting with each other about every little thing, the world would be a much better place.
I love great stories like this!! My dog is a lot like Serena...good in high pressure situations also, and very protective of her people. My mom is in the nursing home. I take her with me often when I visit the nursing home, of course with the permission of the administration. She changes the looks on the faces of nearly EVERY patient there!!! The patients will reach for my Heidi from their wheelchairs to pet her, talk to her, give her love.....and Heidi returns it to them all. It takes us what seems like forever to reach Mom's room.....but that's OK too, because we are leaving happiness up and down the halls!!!!
I've adopted many pound hounds- I have 2 right now- and they are great dogs. And they have been healthier than the purebred, kennel-bred corgi. I have had my beagle mix for 5 years now. Aside from shots, she has had one visit- for an ear infection.
Dogs tend to have amazing effects on the elderly and the sick. I have witnessed therapy dogs as they have lit up the faces of people who are in homes or are disabled. What a wonderful story!
My brother brings his dog (mixed breed) to see our dad at the nursing home about once every two weeks, sometimes more. My dad is not the only one that benefits, the other people there do, too. It does make a visible difference.