Age: 8 years
Breed: Golden Retriever
Status: Angel
Received Wings: October 2023
Rocky’s loving tribute from his mom and dad:
Our gentle boy Rocky crossed over the rainbow bridge Friday, October 20, surrounded by love from his family and fur sister Madison. He was a sweet boy who brought us so much joy for eight years. He never viewed his disability as a handicap and always had the courage to try new adventures and enjoy life to the fullest. Rocky enjoyed chasing his slobbery tennis ball, family trips to the Blue Ridge mountains and hiking with his family. His greatest joy was doing therapy visits since 2017, especially those with autistic children who he
understood perfectly. We will miss our little man and his unique face. Run free through the fields chasing butterflies with eyes that see and legs that can carry you swiftly.
Rocky’s Bio:
“Rocky, who suffers from Chiari, a neurological disease and is visually impaired, loves hearing young children’s voices,” says Ginger. “He’s our own special needs child who seems to understand children better since they, like him, don’t consider handicaps to be limitations.”
After Hearts of Gold Coordinator, Ginger, adopted the now 5-year-old golden, he worked alongside previous GRRMF alum Bailey, who was TDI certified in 2014. Rocky has done therapy work since 2017 and has ensured that his new GRRMF sister Madison is following in both of their paw steps.
The facilities on this veteran team’s agenda are: Moffitt Cancer Centers (Tampa); The Blackberry Center; Bethesda Memory Care Center; The Town Center; Fountains of Melbourne; No Limits Academy; Ability Plus Therapy; Village Veranda Memory 
Care Center; Enterprise Elementary School, and University campus – Florida Tech, Valencia East, Barry University Law School. They also act as ambassadors at many of the events we ourselves host.
“Rocky loves his therapy visits to No Limits Academy for spinal cord and brain injury 
children. He adores listening to their voices and they adore interacting with him. Because of his visual impairment and neurological issues, Rocky will zone in on an autistic child and immediately soothe their sensory issues. Both will comfort each other with understanding and love. “It’s truly beautiful to see. My reward is being able to tag along on the other end of the leash and watch the joy that Rocky brings to everyone.”
“Because Rocky is blind,” Ginger continues, “we had to be creative during his training since he didn’t know when I’d be turning. I solved the problem by putting his favorite tennis ball in my left pocket so that he could follow its scent. When the ball moved right, he instinctively turned. It took a lot of patience and practice, but he ultimately passed his AKC-CGC and therapy certifications.”
As for this dedicated team’s future plans, Ginger intends to continue supporting the GRRMF Hearts of Gold program’s efforts to be recognized as a certifying therapy organization and to gain access to facilities that currently only accept nationally certified TDI and ATD dog/handler teams.
Training/Certifications:
Basic Manners
Canine Good Citizen
Project PUP certified
Moffitt Cancer Center therapy certified
Hearts of Gold Therapy Team
