Dolly Parton is Amy Sherwood’s exceptional cardiac alert dog. Amy’s bond with Dolly is more vital than most bonds between service dogs and their owners. Amy trained Dolly, unlike many service dogs, which is why their relationship is so special. Amy and Dolly love spending time with each other.
How Dolly helps Amy
Dolly’s job is to keep Amy safe and support her in her daily routines. Dolly signals Amy when her heart rate is too high or when her blood pressure drops too low. Dolly also helps Amy by placing dirty laundry in the washing machine and assisting her in other chores.
Trainers teach service dogs a particular set of skills to help support their human owners, so Amy taught Dolly everything she could about her conditions and needs. Amy has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, adrenal insufficiency, congestive heart failure, and uses a wheelchair, so Dolly needed a lot of training.
Dolly is also a bit unusual among service dogs because she acts as a loving companion, just like an ordinary pet. Dolly acts like a regular dog a lot of the time, and this means lots of playtime and cuddles.
How Amy trained Dolly
Service dogs often start their training as puppies. After this initial training, handlers help them develop specific skills to support the needs of individuals with certain diseases or conditions. Amy trained Dolly Pawton by herself ever since Dolly was a puppy. Since she’s a cardiac alert dog, Amy also taught Dolly to detect the different scents a human emits when their heart rate is too low or too high.
Amy also trained Dolly to stay calm and focused even when there was a large and noisy crowd so that Dolly could accompany her wherever she went.
Amy’s training has paid off, and Dolly is now one of the best service dogs ever. She won the Service Dog of the Year Award last year because of her incredible skills and loving attitude.