Stephany Haswell, a vet tech at Denkai Community Veterinary Clinc in Eaton, Colo., checks on a dog as it comes out of surgery. Her pit bull Dominic rests with dogs as they wake up. (AP Photo/Greeley Tribune, Dan England)
EATON, Colo. – During the first month of his life, Dominic was underfoot and in the way. Stephany Haswell, vet tech at Denkai Community Veterinary Clinic, wondered if she was going to have to find him a home.
Dominic was just a puppy, so the staff gave him a little leeway. But they needed to give him something to do.
They found their answer when they watched Dominic cuddle with a dog coming out of surgery. He now has one of the most important jobs in the Eaton clinic.
Dominic is adorable, with a gray coat the color of storm clouds and rainy blue eyes, so Haswell put him in a temporary foster home. Haswell brought Dominic to work because he could be a handful. He was haranguing the other three dogs to play and she knew they needed a break during the day. “And you can’t put him in a kennel,” Haswell said, “because he screams like a girl.” So Dominic bugged the workers at the clinic.
Then, one morning, they set a dog just out of surgery on Dominic’s huge red pillow just outside the operating room. Dominic immediately came over to cuddle. That was just his nature. He cuddled with everyone, from Haswell’s kids to dogs.
Haswell, though, remained a little skeptical. Dominic was cuddling with the new dog because he was cold, she thought. She changed her mind later that day, when Dominic lay in the middle of a pile of dogs out of surgery and rested his head on their bodies when they cried. The dog who cried the most got the most cuddle time from Dominic.
Dominic would even cuddle with cats out of surgery, though they weren’t as receptive as the dogs.
What’s more, it made things easier on them. Dogs coming out of surgery could be wild, even aggressive, and bites were a little too common.
But when Dominic lay with them, they woke up calm, rested and happy.
Dominic now seems to understand his job. When a dog is under anesthesia, Dominic waits at the foot of the door until clinic workers bring the dog out of surgery and set it on Dominic’s pillow, and he immediately goes over to rest with them.
Dominic cries and paces if another dog is crying in the clinic. He even acts irritated when Haswell rubs a dog’s body in an attempt to wake it up, as if Dominic’s saying, “Hey, I got this.”
“I’ve never, ever seen anything like this,” said Floss Blackburn, who has seen a lot as the founder of Denkai. “He’s got such a sweet heart.”
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