Making Good Dogs Great
Cooper is quite a catch – he’s smart, cute, funny
and polite. Even better, he’s trained to potty on
command. For now, though, he’s taken.
A 70-pound Labrador-Golden Retriever mix,
this pup has captured the hearts of Baylor
Scott & White Medical Center – Carrollton
clinical pharmacist Stacy Romero, her husband
and three children. Since August 2015, Cooper
has been raised by the Romero family, who
are preparing him to be an assistance dog for
someone in need.
“I think it was divine intervention that
brought him to us,” Stacy says. “Our dog was
getting old when I found out about the Baylor
Scott & White and Canine Companions for
Independence® collaboration. The more I read,
the more I wanted to open our home to a puppy.”
22
At the time, the unique collaboration was
working toward building the first service dog
training center in the nation to be connected
to a health care system. Now open, the
Kinkeade campus in Irving trains and places
highly skilled assistance dogs with people with
disabilities free of charge. Volunteers are needed
to help raise, train and socialize puppies like
Cooper, who has already been in hotels, and at
restaurants, ball games and more.
Stacy takes him to classes at the training
center twice a month. In between, she works
with him daily, laying the foundation for
professional training that will teach him to
help someone with a disability turn on lights,
open a refrigerator and much more.
The fostering isn’t one-sided, though.