Please consider voting for one of the most amazing peopple I know! -Puppy pic inc

[Julie O]

:) Please consider voting for one of the most amazing people I've ever met for the Volvo for Life awards. Jennifer Arnold founded the Canine Assistants program after she was diagnosed with M.S. then was denied a service dog by another organization. As her family was about to start up the program, her father was tragically killed in an accident. She and her mom spent all of the family's life savings to try to recover insurance money from the accident. Unsuccessful and broke, they did not give up their dream to start a service dog program in the South. In 1999, they placed their first dog into service. My husband received one of their dogs in 2002, and I cannot begin to tell you the impact Blitzen's had in our lives. To date, Canine Assistants has placed 366 dogs in 38 states. Recipients pay nothing for the dog, and if they have financial needs, they get free vet care and food for the life of the dog. Click here to read a People magazine story about Jennifer.http://www.canineassistants.org/news.html

To vote for Jennifer simply click on the link http://www.volvoforlifeawards.com/cgi-bin/iowa/english/vote/index.html and choose the state of Georgia. A ballot will appear and Jennifer Arnold is the first candidate listed. Put a check next to her name by clicking in the box and press submit, that's it! As far as I can tell, there seems to be no restriction on the number of times you may vote so please vote as many times as you can. Thank you so much!

http://www.canineassistants.org/images/color_pup.gif

PS: The grand prize is $50,000 to the winner's charity of choice and a Volvo for Life.

[SusanL]

I just voted, does she care which Volvo she wouldlike? I voted for the $60,000 one :)
Will vote again for her!

[lindrusso]

Great story and I'll keep voting. :)

The dog curled up on the porch at the man's feet looks a lot like Bailey! Only Bailey would certainly fail service school - the part where they test them to see if they are startled by things - yeah, he'd fail big time. Big chicken. ;)

Why in the world would an insurance policy not cover death by a two-wheel vehicle? I can understand not wanting to cover someone who owns and rides a motorcycle, but to not cover someone who is hit by one??? Is this a standard clause? Sheesh.

[Julie O]

I think she'd be happy with any Volvo. They live simply, in a small house on the farm with the dogs. Some of the dogs live in the house with them during their early training. (Her husband is the vet at Canine Assistants.) I think they're little boy is the luckiest kid in the world to get to play with all of the Goldens and Labs at the farm.

I remembered that we did have a couple of pics of Blitzen on a web page.

http://www.chem.iupui.edu/faculty/images/TedOBrien.jpg

http://www.chem.iupui.edu/Faculty/images/Blitzen.jpg

The dogs that get placed are furry angels. Our life is so different with him. People treat my husband so much better now that he has a dog. It breaks the ice in conversations. When we go out without Blitzen (which is rare), it's really shocking to me how mean people can be about my husband's disability.

I've always wondered why her father's accident wasn't covered. Seems really strange to me. I guess that's why they fought so hard. :(

Thanks for your votes!

[LakeMartinGal]

I voted, and will do so again. Our life (niece) has been touched by service dogs, and I think this is a wonderful addition to anyone's life. Toby would make a good service dog, but Riley is not smart enough... Love to see the Goldens working to make people's lives fuller! :D

[615bride]

I voted! ;)

[Robyn1007]

I voted, I hope she wins!

[Laura]

I voted too. :)

[Kristal]

I voted, too. I hope she wins! :)

[greysangel]

I voted...what a great program!

[acb11]

Count my vote for her!

[Dfen911]

She has my vote and will vote daily till it's closed :)

Keep us posted if she wins :)