RICO IV

AS TOLD BY HIS FAMILY

Rico IV was born on March 7th, 2011 in Santa Rosa, CA. to be a future Service Dog for Canine Companions. Breeder Dad Kendall Jackson, a black Labrador Retriever known as K. J., and Breeder Mom, Zoelle, a Golden Retriever were breeders for Canine Companions, founded in 1975 and is a nonprofit organization that breed, trains, and places Service Dogs to adults, children and veterans with disabilities and facility dogs to professionals in healthcare, criminal justice and educational settings at no cost to their recipients.
We applied for a Canine Companions released dog which is a dog that had a different destiny other than a Service Dog. They said Rico was a sensitive boy that knew his commands well. One meeting with Rico and he became part of our family. A perfect match! Canine Companions said “Rico would make a great Therapy dog” and we replied “No, he will just be our pet.” The moral of the story is never say never!

We believe that Rico was born to be a Therapy Dog as his calling was not to help one person in Service but many wherever and whenever he was needed. Our lives changed the day that I was requested to bring Rico to see my friend’s mother in a Nursing Facility who suffered from a stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. She had not spoken in a month to anyone and the family was told by doctors that she would not speak again. One look at Rico and she said, “Hi boy, it’s been a long time”! We were astounded, as was her husband who was sitting right next to her! “Why don’t you talk to anyone except Rico?”. Her reply “Because he doesn’t tell me what to do”. The Facility Director asked us to see other patients. We replied that we could not because Rico was not a Therapy Dog. She told us to go get him tested as he’s the best Therapy Dog she had ever seen!

Rico at the young age of 2 years old was tested by Pet Partners and received the top certification as a Complex Therapy Dog Team which means we can visit the ICU and CCU patients where Therapy Dogs are not permitted. The Pet Partners evaluator at that time had a career of over 35 years and never bestowed this title rating on any team before and still has not to this date. We are tested every two years as a team and have always maintained our certified Complex rating.

Rico started his pet therapy career at Mercy Hospital on the Oncology and Medical floors. He knew how to negotiate all medical equipment since he lived also with my elderly parents that had medical issues. Staff, visitors and patients all loved Rico IV and before long a doctor wanted to meet us personally. The doctor informed us that when Rico IV visited his patients they used fifty percent less pain medications on the Oncology floor for two days after visiting with Rico. We were therefore the only team granted access 24/7 days a week to do pet therapy. Rico to the rescue as needed!

Rico loves children so we worked at Ronald McDonald House Of Long Island in New Hyde Park, N.Y in addition to the hospital. If Rico was “In The House” children who did not want to leave their bedrooms would come down to the Great Room and wanted to do pet therapy to interact and play games with Rico. The children would love to play Hide and Seek, learn to do pet tricks or just lay down and cuddle with him. Rico was also a great stress relief for the entire family of children in medical crisis and their extended families. We met families from all over the world that would then grow up with Rico IV. All pet therapy encounters are wonderful and important. Rico met a child in a wheel chair that was about to go home but wanted to “walk Rico”. Her mom held her under her arms and she actually moved her legs and held the leash to walk Rico. There wasn’t a dry eye in the House! The doctors said this child would never walk. This is one of the reasons the volunteers and staff would nickname Rico IV “Rico Magic”.

I met a gentleman crying at a cash register line because doctors told him that his 7 year old son would never say sentence due to his autism. He already had visits from a few Therapy Dogs to no avail. We brought Rico IV to his house and after an hour of not much interaction, we decided to leave. On the way out we heard, “Doggie don’t go” and the boy kept repeating those three words that formed a sentence – a miracle! His dad filmed it for the doctors. Though children had numerous pet therapy dogs in physical therapy and occupational therapy Rico was the only one who could help them.

Rico has inspired people to become a pet therapy team and we have 13 working teams because they loved seeing his work. Rico IV has also worked with children and adults who were bitten or afraid of dogs. He has alleviated their fear and changed their life as well. Rico’s helping and healing nature also helped my friends rescue dog that was fearful and abused before she adopted her. The dog would not go on a walk, come out from under furniture and corners or leave the house. That dog now has a great life because of Rico working with her for a year to make her a more balanced dog like Rico!

Rico IV is a top fundraiser for the last seven years for Canine Companions Dogfest, Long Island. He is an AKC Therapy Dog Excellent with well over 300 Therapy Dog visits and an AKC Canine Good Citizen. He has received from Dog Connection TV’s the Humane Award 2019 in 2019 for a Canine. He has done many news, radio, magazine and social media shows for Ronald McDonald House of Long Island and Canine Companions. He received the “We Can Count On You” Award from Ronald Mc Donald House of Long Island in 2019. He received the “You Are A Star” Award for his work on L.I. News Channel 12 from Ronald McDonald House L.I. His best job is being our dog to love and enjoy his kisses. We love this special dog that touched, helped and changed so many lives. It was our honor and pleasure to share his talents and gifts for all in need. Rico’s work has changed so many lives and especially our lives, sisters and Rico’s pet therapy handlers Ellen Lockwood and Barbara Lockwood.