Painting honors loyal dog, raises awareness

Date: Friday, February 16th, 2001 

by Nathan Andes Staff Writer

An oil portrait of a golden retriever who inspired the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation was unveiled last Wednesday in the lobby of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Booker, who passed away in 1997 from cancer, posthumously received the Delta Society's National Service Dog of the Year in 1998 and dutifully served his owner, Carol Willoughby of Roanoke, said Jeffrey Douglas, the public relations director for VMRCVM.

Willoughby and her husband donated the portrait by Virginia artist Mark Young to the college, Douglas said.

The exhibit also features a plaque with a personal testament of Booker's legacy by Willoughby, Douglas said.

Booker's 1988 national award is a very prestigious honor, Douglas said.

"The Delta Society is the preeminent organization for promoting and studying people and animals in the United States," he said.

Booker also received the Service Dog of the Year award in 1997 from Omega Tau Sigma, a veterinary fraternity at Virginia Tech, Douglas said.

Booker inspired Willoughby, a rheumatoid arthritis patient, to establish the St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money through individuals, corporations and grants, Willoughby said.

"The foundation provides professionally trained service dogs, hearing dogs and social dogs for people with disabilities for reasonable rates," she said.

Service dogs are for people with mobility impairment, she said, while hearing dogs are used to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Social dogs are used for therapeutic reasons, she said.

Service dogs like Booker can perform more than 100 tasks for their owners, Willoughby said.

Willoughby also said Booker's impact was a personal and

profound one.

"He gave me a renewed sense of self-confidence and self-esteem," Willoughby said. "We traveled around the country together, and he helped me raise my two sons. He also accompanied me to many ability-awareness programs, and he is the dog behind the foundation."

Before Booker, Willoughby said her daily life was much harder and her confidence and outlook on life suffered from the frustration that accompanied her disability. She also said her personal experience with disabilities gave her a unique understanding of the need for dogs like Booker in southwestern Virginia.

"In my travels, I met lots of people who needed them," she said. "There were waiting lists, and people had to travel great distances to get service dogs. It became apparent that there was an obvious need in the

community."

Willoughby said this need, coupled with her positive experience with Booker, inspired her to establish the foundation.

"I wanted to see that more people can experience that," she said.

Overall, Willoughby said Booker's portrait should be a representation of the importance of dogs in the lives of humans.

"He should represent all working dogs, whether they be service dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, hearing dogs, police dogs or social dogs," she said. "This portrait should promote the human-animal bond and the peace of mind that a service dog provides to their owner."

Willoughby praised the portrait's likeness to the real golden retriever. "You feel like he's in the room," she said.

Kathy Lu can be reached at 981-3255 or kathylu@roanoke.com

Caption: photo - JOSIE BICANIC THE ROANOKE TIMES Booker's memory lives at Tech.