Local Therapy Dog Returns As Ambassador To National Dog Show
By John McDevitt
OAKS, Pa., (CBS) -- An area therapy dog returns as one of the ambassadors to the Kennel Club of Philadelphia's National Dog Show going on this weekend in Oaks, Montgomery County.
Every year, five therapy dogs who make regular visits to hospitals and healthcare facilities are named ambassadors to the show.
Among them Vivian, a five-year-old pit bull, who was once a bait dog in a organized dog fighting operation. She was rehabilitated in the New Leash On Life prison program.
Her owner is Michelle Pich, a grief counselor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
"She was beat up pretty bad and emaciated and almost didn't survive," said Pich, "but her prisoner companions nursed her back to health both emotionally and physically and by the time I got to adopt her she was coming out of prison, had already passed her canine good citizens certification and was really a perfect therapy dog."
Vivian even has her own trading card that is given out to the children she visits.
You can meet Vivian this weekend at the National Dog Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks.
