Unofficial PAS mascot finds home with volunteer

SANDPOINT — For a time, there wasn’t much hope that Lady — a blind collie mix — would ever leave the Panhandle Animal Shelter and find a real home.

Anonymously dropped off in December 2007, Lady most likely had a tough life before arriving at the shelter. She’s probably six or seven years old, but PAS workers believe Lady’s blindness is not from old age, but from some form of blunt-force head trauma.

Despite her disability, Lady’s sweet demeanor and playfulness made her a staff favorite, with some even calling her the shelter’s unofficial mascot.

“She’s an excellent, excellent, smart dog,” said Mary Levy, a PAS employee. “She has a sixth sense. She really is developed for a blind dog. She feels her way back and forth and senses movement.”

Just when it looked like she might live out the rest of her life at the shelter, a PAS volunteer decided Lady would make an excellent addition to her family.

Nicole Bianchi has been a volunteer dog walker at the shelter since April, and while she has an affinity for every dog at the shelter, she felt a special connection to Lady.

“You don’t pick them, they pick you. And she picked me,” Bianchi said. “For whatever reason, there was a connection.”

With Lady’s special needs, Bianchi and her fiancé needed to renovate part of their Clark Fork home before bringing the dog home. After adding a ramp and gate on the deck and moving a few obstacles from inside the house, Lady was ready to come home.

She’s only been there for a week, but Bianchi said Lady is adjusting beautifully to her new surroundings.

“She stays within this buffer of eight to ten feet of me, just by hearing the shuffle of my feet or the sound of my voice. It’s just incredible,” Bianchi said. “She’s an amazing dog.”

Despite their fondness for the dog, Levy said she and the rest of the shelter’s staff were ecstatic to see Lady find such a wonderful new home, even if it means they no longer get to see her.

“You can’t imagine (how excited we are),” she said. “ She’s the only dog that’s gone out of here that I absolutely broke down and bawled over.”

For a list of other dogs waiting for new homes, visit www.pasidaho.org.