Help Argos Answer His Calling

#ArgosAnswersHisCalling

Argos needs help helping his People Mom.

Argos is a big dog with a big heart who created this GoFundMe campaign to get the service dog training he needs to help me, Linda Hren, his People Mom.

Argos needs $6,000 to to finish his training and buy a custom harness so he can carry my portable oxygen on his back.

I adopted Argos at nine weeks in October of 2022 with plans to train him as a therapy dog to help me in my volunteer work with children who struggle to read. He had grown up with kids and even as a young pup had the emotional intelligence that was going to make him a great therapy dog. Little did I know Argos would find another calling.

In December of 2022, I was hospitalized for the flu and pneumonia complicated by congestive heart failure. (I developed congestive heart failure from my battle with cancer 28 years ago.) I spent a week in a coma and did not leave the hospital for two months. I spent another month in rehab trying to regain the strength to live on my own when I finally got home. During that time Argos lived in foster care with a neighbor. Argos was 4 months old and weighed 20 pounds when I went into the hospital on December 9th. When we were finally reunited on May 7th of 2023, Argos weighed over 80 pounds.

Friends and family were concerned that the huge puppy would knock me down, or chew through the 40 feet of plastic oxygen tubing I depended on for air. They suggested I re-home Argos. But I sensed something in Argos that I could not give up on.

Argos surprised everyone but me by being far gentler and more sensitive than anyone thought possible.

Argos seemed worried when I wasn’t feeling well. He would bring me his stuffed toys and gently lay them in my lap and lean against me, or just stand with his head in my lap. Argos was never far from me; and the worse I felt, the more attentive Argos became. He seemed to be alerting to drops in my blood pressure as well as my fast heart rate.

My failing health forced me to retire from my job as director of a small library in Ohio. I also had to give up on my dream of training Argos to be a therapy dog, but I was beginning to wonder if Argos could be my service dog instead.

In August, I took Argos to be evaluated by Tom Falkenstein at Stein’s K-9, a local dog trainer with experience training service dogs. Tom confirmed my belief that Argos was in deed spontaneously alerting to changes in how I felt. Tom also believed Argos had the temperament and intelligence to be a good service dog. And, Argos had the size and strength to provide physical support and carry my portable oxygen. Most importantly, Argos and I had the close bond all service dog teams need to be successful.

I spent all the savings I had to get Argos’s training started, but it didn’t go far. Argos is a good student and goes with me everywhere a well-behaved-service-dog-in- training can go. But he has much more to learn that I do not have the strength or stamina to teach my loyal dog. My disability income is low enough that I qualify for both Medicaid and food assistance. I have nothing left to invest in Argos’s training.

I asked numerous service dog organizations for help paying for Argos’s training, but no one believed my “pet” dog could possibly have what it takes to be my service dog. Argos is half German Shepherd and half Australian Shepherd, a combination of 2 breeds often trained for service dog work. But all potential funders saw was a big lovable mutt, and the frail woman smitten with him. Some offered to sell me a trained service dog for $20,000 to $50,000, or put me on a waiting list for one of their “real” service dogs.

I also applied for assistance from local and national charity organizations that provide financial aid to people like me with chronic medical conditions and financial need. Paying to train a dog fell outside their grant parameters, much the same way it falls outside the parameters of health insurance.

Many organizations that provide service dogs also won’t place a dog in a household with existing pets. I currently have 2 dogs that I cannot/will not abandon.

In addition to Argos, I also have a 14-year-old retired therapy dog named Bonita. Bonita is a formerly abused dog I rescued and turned into a therapy dog who spent years faithfully listening to children stumble their way to literacy. Bonita deserves to spend her final days in the only loving home she has ever known. Then, of course, there is Argos, named after a dog in Greek mythology who waited 20 years for his master to come home. Argos remains more steadfast and truer to me than any mythical dog. I owe him the same loyalty.

I will never have the strength or stamina to train Argos without help. Tom Falkenstein is willing to help me. He will help me for a fraction of what service dog organizations charge, but Tom has bills, his own dogs to feed, and employees to pay. He recognizes Argos’s potential. He sees the powerful bond I have with Argos like no one else.

Funds we raise here will go to pay Tom Falkenstein, and purchase a custom harness designed so Argos can carry my oxygen and provide support to me when we are out. Any funds we raise over and above our goal will be set aside for Argos’s veterinary care.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. May you be blessed by the love of a good dog.