[Cagdu] FW: [nagdu] Missing guide dog found struck by car

[tina thomas]

Subject: [nagdu] Missing guide dog found struck by car

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=10412802
<http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=10412802&nav=menu188_2>
&nav=menu188_2
Missing guide dog found struck by car
Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News
 
Indianapolis - A man who lost his very independence this week is now in need
of a new companion.
 
Todd Wills is missing his best friend, but his 85-pound black lab was more
than a pet.
 
"I just can't imagine not being with him. I'm already feeling lost," Wills
said. "It's like I've lost my sight all over again."

 
Bruin was Todd's link to life. The highly-trained, highly expensive guide
dog had served as Todd's eyes for three years.
 
"Hopefully other people will understand the difference between a pet and a
guide dog. I mean, he's still kind of a pet, but he's a part of me and I'm
missing a chunk of me," Wills said.
 
Bruin disappeared early Thursday morning after getting spooked by a cat at
his home on Broadway Street.
 
"We were coming in the door and I stopped at the screen door to let him off
his harness and leash so he could run in and a cat charged him. I stepped
out immediately started calling him and...nothing," Wills said.
 
Late Thursday, Wills got the news he'd feared. A police officer came to his
door and said they found Bruin near the corner of 40th and College. The
guide dog had been hit by a car.
 
"They matched the collar up and he wasn't in good shape.
Apparently, whoever hit him didn't feel it was important enough to stop,"
Wills said.
 
Todd's companion, his source of independence, was gone, and their important
bond was broken.
 
"It just doesn't feel right to walk around without him. I find myself, you
know, crying over Bruin all day and then I'm thinking that I need to get
another guide dog so I can continue my independence," Wills said.
 
But guide dogs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and require extensive
training. While most of the cost is underwritten by donations, Todd says he
will still have to pay several thousand dollars out-of-pocket, which is
difficult since he's on disability and in school.
"That makes it a challenge to put all this together,"  Wills said.
 
For now, Todd is coping with loss and in need of another guide through life.
 
 
 
 
 


Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ


 
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