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Paraplegic dog helps kids overcome their disabilities
Paws for concern
By: Christine Rook
"They were neck and neck, or rather walker and walker
- the toddler and the dog, both racing and having fun, but one needing help, the
other giving it.
Sophie, the paraplegic dog with a penchant for squeaky toys, was the giver
today.
This was a physical therapy session for 3-year-old Marco Schneider-Marble, whose
limbs appear weak and uncoordinated due to cerebral palsy.
"I'm racing her," he said softly as he struggled to coordinate his arms and legs
to keep up with 6-year-old Sophie, who had suddenly become interested in a toy
halfway across the room.
The impromptu racetrack stretched 10 feet in the pediatric therapy room, across
Michigan Avenue from Sparrow Hospital.
Sophie won because the Lansing boy tired. That didn't matter, though. The
beagle-basset hound mix had motivated Marco to exercise his arms and legs.
These days, Marco prefers not to come to his two-hour therapy sessions. Sophie,
however, allows Marco to forget that therapy is hard work."
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