Our Story
Azzy & Roo
Roo made her entrance into Azzy’s life in 2020 during the height of the pandemic while she was volunteering at the local shelter.
Covered in feces, severely nutritionally deficient, and terrified of people, Roo was handed over to the workers and told she was a ‘cat killer.’ She still has permanent muzzle marks as a reminder of just how bad it was.
Although she had a sweet demeanor, she would constantly cower away from people and growl at both kids and adults whenever she felt threatened, but because of her very sweet and loving disposition we thought maybe the cat killer label was overrated.
One night, on a casual summer’s eve walk, we were proven wrong. Roo went completely red zone, choking herself out with the collar in an attempt to shred a nearby cat.
That was a scary night for all of us, but Azzy believed in Roo and felt she could rehabilitate her in time and…maybe, just maybe….she’d be able to become a therapy dog. Little did we expect the astonishing transformation that awaited us as Roo would become so much more.
Never anticipating the rapidity and extent of Roo’s incredible transformation, we failed to take a single video of those first few weeks we were with her. After all, why would you film a very badly behaved dog?!
Now we realize that such videos would have been priceless.
Nevertheless, Azzy worked with Roo day in and day out. Not only did she learn, but she learned fast! Within an astonishing four months, Roo was not only completely rehabilitated, but fully trained as a service dog; the very dog that Azzy had known she needed for a very long time.
To fully train any dog to be a service dog in four months is a phenomenal feat, but for a dog such as Roo, with so many serious issues, it is truly a miracle. There is no doubt that Roo was destined for this work and she absolutely LOVES her job!
Now she loves everyone she meets and has lost all traces of any bad, aggressive and reactive behaviors. It’s hard to believe the dog she was before compared to the dog she is today. Even cats are no longer an issue for her. She can be off leash around any of them with no problems whatsoever.
But the duo didn’t stop there. The two started competing in dog sports in May, 2024. Just as quickly as Roo learned service work, she learned to be a fierce competitor in dog sports as well. Mere months after their very first competition together, Azzy & Roo earned over 30 AKC titles as well as numerous first, second and third placements in several categories. Yet, they have only just begun. In 2025 Roo became the the only dog in Utah to earn the coveted Fetch Retriever title and #1 in the country for her breed in Barn Hunt!
Two lives were transformed the day that Roo came into Azzy’s life and, together, they plan to transform many more.