The American Kennel Club's Award for Canine Excellence
National Award Winner in the Category of Therapy Dog Excellence.
AKC ACE Award Presentation Made in Pennsylvania
On Saturday, October 6, Jake, a Golden Retriever loved and trained
by Canine U owner Danielle Wilson was the ACE Award honoree in the Therapy Dog
category. They received a silver collar medallion and $1,000 check to commemorate
the occasion. The presentation was made at the New Castle Kennel Club in Aliquippa,
Pennsylvania.
Participants in the ceremony, from left to right were: Douglas
and Danielle Wilson (owners),
Lee Herr (President of New Castle Kennel Club), Ronald N. Rella (AKC Assistant
Executive Secretary).
Awards for Canine Excellence (ACE)
In 1999, The American Kennel Club took action to express its time-honored respect for the extraordinary canine-human bond, as well as its appreciation for the innumerable ways in which dogs meaningfully contribute to our lives. That initiative gave rise to The American Kennel Club Awards for Canine Excellence (ACE), which celebrated its first presentation year in 2000.
To qualify, the dog is required to be AKC registered or registerable, and have performed some exemplary act, whether large or seemingly small, that has significantly benefited a community or individual. One award will be given every year in each of the following five categories: Law Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Therapy, Service, and Exemplary Companion Dog. When appropriate, dogs earning honorable mention will be selected.
Each of the five honorees will receive a cash award of $1000 and an engraved sterling-silver collar medallion to be presented at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship. Their names will be engraved on a plaque that hangs permanently in The American Kennel Club Library in New York City.
JAKE'S JOURNEY:
Once in a lifetime, if you're lucky, a dog like Tobys Sunny Jacob Don Wilson
CD, NA, NAJ, TDIA (Jake) comes along: smart, versatile, and instantly beloved
by all he meets. For Danielle Wilson, Jake is that dog.
When not working toward obedience and agility titles, Jake is a therapy dog at the Duke University Children's Hospital Critical Care Unit. He is a Delta Society Pet Partner and is also certified by Therapy Dog International, which has bestowed upon Jake its "Active" title (TDIA) for his more than 50 hospital visits since March 2000. In addition, the Golden Retriever Club of America recently honored Jake with its first-ever Gold Standard Award for "enriching and inspiring us for a lifetime."
Wilson, an elementary school teacher, Uses Jake as a classroom demonstrator when presenting her Prevent-a-Bite program to students. His involvement in Wilson's Golden School Read-Ins at the library has led a local newspaper to dub Jake "the Reading Dog."
But Jake's true calling is therapy work. Countless suffering children have been comforted by Jake's irresistible charms. The parents of one 8-year-old boy told Wilson that their son's sole motivation for going to his chemotherapy treatments was to visit with Jake. During his treatments, the boy sat calmly with Jake by his side. And when the inevitable happened, Jake was in the bed cuddled beside the dying child.
Young cancer patients have a special affinity with Jake, who waged his own
successful fight against the disease in 1998 and continued to visit the hospital
during his treatment. Wilson says, "He became a source of inspiration and
a connection for those kids who had cancer."