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CNN Live Sunday

Wheelchair-Bound Dog Inspires Nursing Home Residents

Aired July 28, 2002 - 17:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: There's a show of a different sort playing out at a California nursing home. The show of love and affection for a dog in a wheelchair. He's inspiring residents. George Franco from our Sacramento affiliate KOVR says it's all about gingerly love.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE FRANCO, KOVR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Ginger, the wheelchair-bound Friday visitor at the Somerset (ph) nursing home. Sight not necessary to understand this Australian Queensland heeler, bred to herd cattle, is now a healer of the heart and soul.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He brings the spirit way up, way up, way up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The one with the waggley tail

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just special. Special, special.

FRANCO: Ginger practically has free roam at Somerset (ph) since two months ago, when staff (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and Ginger's owner, Melissa Young, a hospice worker, decided to give Ginger's love away.

MELISSA YOUNG, GINGER'S OWNER: She has a very calming effect, I think. Are you a calming effect?

She has no agenda other than to love people unconditionally. And I think people sense that and they feel safe with her.

FRANCO (on camera): Come here. Good dog. Good dog. One more?

Ginger originally broke her back about two years ago, when her owners, a couple from Northern California, were in Utah on vacation. They were playing frisbee with Ginger when Ginger slams into a concrete barrier. Good girl.

(voice-over): Ginger's owners wanted to put her down, but a local vet wouldn't have it. First, he operated on the dog, and then he went on television.

YOUNG: They found somebody that specializes in pet therapy, and he took her and trained her to do this kind of work. FRANCO: But Ginger's work at Colorado Convalescent Hospitals and the like is cut short after first the pat therapist dies, and then the vet who takes her back dies as well. She ends up at a sanctuary for animals, where Melissa Young adopts her.

YOUNG: I find myself very lucky, you know, very blessed that she came into my life.

FRANCO: Now, those blessings are a regular Friday staple at Somerset (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she brings the lesson that you can really overcome anything.

FRANCO: In West Sacramento, I'm George Franco, KOVR, 13 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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