Rescued Dandi Dinmont becomes a therapy dog

DRAPER — "Where’s Charlie," is what you hear when parishioners, priests, and visitors come to St. John the Baptist Parish, Draper, if Charlie is not there to greet them.

"Charlie sits with me when we are counseling a family who has experienced the death of a loved one, or counseling a family experiencing a tragedy," said Nancy Stein, pastoral assistant at St. John the Baptist Parish, Draper. "He is a very compassionate listener, and is sensitive toward people’s feelings and emotions. He calms them as they pet him. They feel his unconditional love. We will talk about Charlie a little bit and it makes them feel better. They often say how wonderful it is that we have Charlie at the parish."

Charlie, 9, is a Dandi Dinmont Terrier. He was rescued from a Dandi Dinmont shelter in Atlanta, Ga., in 1997, by John and Nancy Stein. Charlie was born in Bon, Germany, but when his original owner came to the United States to be a nanny in New York, she was not able to keep Charlie. So she placed him in the rescue shelter in Atlanta, Ga.

"Charlie became John’s companion when he retired from Alliant Tech System (ATK) in Magna," said Stein. "Then when John developed lung cancer, Charlie never left his side. Dandies are very loyal dogs, and if they perceive that a child or an adult is not functioning as they should, they will protect and guard them. So when John passed away last November, I could not leave Charlie at home by himself because he was heartbroken. I asked Father Terence Moore, pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish, if I could bring Charlie to work.

"Charlie started coming to work with me and now he is the parish dog at St. John the Baptist," said Stein. "He goes to Mass every morning, and even sits with Fr. Moore while he is vesting. When the children have their school Mass, he greets them in the gathering space outside the chapel. He knows all the children and most of the parishioners who come in and out, and he greets everybody who comes into the office. He now feels that is his duty. He is very protective of the church, and he feels the children are his to guard. Charlie also helps keep the chapel floor clean by eating all the Cheerios® he finds left by the children during the weekend Masses."

Charlie likes to lie in the gathering space and look out the windows. If he sees somebody unusual outside, he will bark. Stein said he can distinguish between the people who are normally there and those who are unfamiliar.

"The priests who come in for penance services have all met Charlie, and they expect him to greet them," said Stein.

Dandies are bred all throughout Europe, and there are breeders in the United States but only on the East and West Coasts. Stein said they have a great rescue program here in the states, because Dandies are quite expensive and can cost as much as $2,000. They have discovered Dandies in puppy mills in Pennsylvania and Missouri, so they try to rescue them out of those situations, acclimate them into society and adopt them out to people. If they spot a Dandi in a pet store, they will rescue it and put it in a Dandi shelter.

Stein became acquainted with Dandi Dinmont Terriers merely by accident in 1971, when she went to purchase a bed for her daughter.

"I went up to this house, and when the woman opened the door, the dog came out," said Stein. "I said that is the most unusual dog I have ever seen. She said it was a Dandi Dinmont. The woman’s mother had just moved into assisted living and the dog could not go with her, and they were trying to find the dog a good home. She asked if I would like to have the dog?"

Stein discussed it with her husband, who was in the U.S. Air Force at the time, and they agreed to adopt the dog. Their children were 2 and 4 years old.

"We named our first Dandi Shandy," said Stein. "Shandy was about 7 years old when we got her. She immediately became a nanny and a constant companion to my 2 year old. Shandy would sit with her and would not let anyone near her unless I approved. We had a neighbor boy who was kind of mischievous, and Shandy sensed that and would not let him on the sidewalk near our house. She would run along the curbing barking. Then Shandy passed away, and we moved to Washington, D.C."

A few years later the Steins were transferred to Wiesbaden, Germany, where John served as a base commander. He wanted to get another Dandi, and found a breeder in Bon, Germany. The Steins picked up their new puppy and named him Shandy No. 2.

"We raised him in Germany, and then we came back to the United States and moved to Los Angeles," said Stein. "I was working in a therapy office, and one of the patients happened to be a women who rescued Dandies in the United States. So we got together because she had just rescued three Dandies from a puppy mill in Pennsylvania. She asked if we would be interested in adopting one of them. I said sure, we already have one, why not one more?"

Nhea was a female who had been kept in a cage for six years without any human contact. So when she was adopted, she did not know how to be a dog. Nhea did not even know how to bark. She modeled herself after Shandy No. 2 by following him around and doing everything he did.

"We moved to Salt Lake City in 1991, and brought both Nhea and Shandy with us," said Stein. "In 1993, my father came to live with us after he became brain damaged from falling off a roof. The minute we brought my father to our house, Shandy sensed something was wrong with him, and never left my father’s side. Shandy knew he needed a caretaker and sat with him day in and day out."

Stein said toward the end of her father’s life, he had a hard time getting up, so she put a bell on his night table to use if he needed help. One night he got up without ringing the bell and fell on the bathroom floor. Shandy ran to get Stein to come and help her father. Shandy knew there was something wrong.

"My father soon passed away, and then Shandy and Nhea passed away a year apart from old age," said Stein. "My husband was desperate to get another Dandi, so that is how we adopted Charlie.