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For Liberty: The gym and the dog
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Eight-month-old Liberty and 3-year-old Violet, who are service dogs with Assistance Dogs of the West, spent Wednesday morning visiting Liberty’s namesake, Liberty Gym in Albuquerque. Both service dogs walked about the gym, saying hi to guests and sniffing seemingly everything in sight.
Liberty was named by Sheila Keller in honor of Liberty Gym, which is owned by her brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Dorine Gaylor, and to honor her late dog, Lucy.
“The gym gives people not only physical abilities to do what they want, but mentally too — and I think that Liberty will do the same thing and just open up someone’s world,” Keller said.
Assistance Dogs of the West trains roughly 25 to 30 dogs annually over 18 to 24 months. After the dogs graduate from training, they are sent all over the country to work as medical alert dogs, with children on the autism spectrum and with injured combat veterans .
