Other things
Los Gatos Lions Club
I was introduced to the Los Gatos Lions Club after I met a sweet lady named Jan one day at Chili's. I was out with my family and we were trying to find a place to eat. We chose a Chinese food place but as soon as they saw my service dog Brodie they told me that dogs were not allowed in the restaurant, my family and I were really hungry and we didn't feel like arguing so we decided to go across the street to Chili's and I'm so glad we did.
While we were standing in line I started talking to these two ladies that were also in line, I was telling them about the experience that we had at the restaurant across the street and one of the ladies mentioned that she belonged to the Los Gatos Lions Club, they are huge supporters of Canine Companions for Independence. I told her that I went to an abilities Expo and tried to get on the waiting list to get a service dog but I think the waiting list was five years or more so I looked around online and I found a place called Pro Train and got a service dog from them, I love Brodie to death but she's not the best service dog because she is animal aggressive. She gave me her business card and we talked back and forth for a while and then I lost Brodie to cancer. She told me to put in an application and because of her I was on my way to Santa Rosa to take a tour after I filled out an application and was accepted, she expedited might application and I was getting a service dog within a year.
I was so excited and thankful! After I got Robby, my second service dog, we started going to the Lions Club about once a year to do a demonstration of what the Canine Companions for Independence service dogs can do. Everybody there was so kind and they really were impressed! When one of the members, Bob Scubis, got a puppy named after him… They called the puppy Scooby who was an adorable black lab. I found a little CCI black lab puppy, I bought a bunch of them to give away when I was there, and he loved it!
Robby and Scooby
Lions club 12/2/09
December 22, 2009, at 7:31 PM
Los Gatos Lions to recognize the canine program
By Judy Peterson
Los Gatos Weekly-Times
Posted: 12/17/2009 11:59:04 AM PST
Updated: 12/17/2009 11:59:05 AM PST
Lions Club member Jan Phillips, right, gets a big kiss from Robby, a 2-year-old service dog that...
The word "serendipity" perfectly describes the accidental meeting of Jan Phillips and Tammie Lou Van Sant.
It happened in April 2008 when Van Sant, who is a quadriplegic, was denied service at a San Jose restaurant. So she and her friends went to another restaurant where it just so happened, Los Gatos Lions Club member Jan Phillips was dining.
Phillips introduced herself to Van Sant, and the two began a journey that culminated last month when Van Sant brought home a service dog named Robby. Van Sant got Robby, with Phillips' help, through the Lions Project for Canine Companions for Independence.
Van Sant and Robby attended the Dec. 2 Lions Club meeting to share their story with other members.
"It's been one of the best experiences of my life," Van Sant said. "He can push the little buttons on an elevator, he can open doors and push them closed."
Service dogs like Robby are highly trained to assist adults and children with disabilities. It costs about $50,000 to breed and train service dogs to the point where they're ready to "graduate" and go home with their new owners. The dogs are given to the disabled owners for free.
Robby knows more than 40 commands including "leash," which prompts him to pick up his leash off the floor and hand it to Van Sant.
"He watches her, he follows her until she gives him the release command," Kathy Groen said. Groen is Van Sant's aunt and neighbor in Santa Cruz, and both are Los GatosHigh School graduates. Van Sant graduated in 1980 and Groen in 1959.
With Robby in tow, Van Sant is able to go to movies and concerts and do her own shopping. "She's got her life back," Groen said.
It was a long road, though, from that fateful day in 1995 when Van Sant was a passenger in a truck that was involved in an accident on a rain-soaked Pacheco Pass. She was thrown out of the truck and found herself in the middle of the highway unable to move.
Van Sant spent more than three months recovering at Valley Medical Center. Then, in 2001 and 2002, doctors from Stanford performed tendon transfer surgery on her arms, so now she is able to do things like play cards and eat on her own with specially outfitted silverware.
A computer program called Multimedia Max controls Van Sant's house lights and thermostat and can even lower and raise her hospital bed.
But it is the addition of Robby to the Van Sant household that has really given her a feeling of freedom. Van Sant met Robby at the Canine Companions for Independence regional center in Santa Rosa.
"The trainers there know the dogs' personalities and match them with the people," Van Sant said. "It's a perfect match every time. They try so hard until they get it right."
Once a dog is matched with his or her companion, they undergo two weeks of training so they're comfortable working together.
Van Sant was particularly impressed by a match made between an Iraq War veteran and his new pooch.
"While I was there, there was a gentleman from Iraq who was injured, and they matched him with a service dog," she said. "The dog was so helpful to him. The dog instantly fell in love with him, you could tell."
The veteran's program is called "One Team, Two Heroes." Lions Club member Jan Phillips, right, gets a big kiss from Robby, a 2-year-old service dog that is owned by former Los Gatos resident Tammie Lou Van Sant. Van Sant is a quadriplegic who was seriously injured in a `1995 car accident. Phillips met Van Sant last year and helped her get Robby through the Lions Project for Canine Companions for Independence. (George Sakkestad/Los Gatos Weekly Times)
Los Gatos Lions Club January 2011
January 5, 2011, at 10:08 PM
Los Gatos Lions Club Special guests were in attendance at the LG Lions Wednesday noon meeting. Tammie Lou Van Sant, her Canine Companion "Robby", and caregiver Teresa. Tammie visited us a year ago and gave us an update on her progress with Robby. The Lions support the wonderful "Canine for Companions" program and all the work they do. Tammie also receives special help from the Santa Cruz County Spinal Cord Injury Peer Support Group.
Paraplegic's service dog attacked in Santa Cruz...
May 16, 2012, at 5:31 PM
Paraplegic's service dog attacked in Santa Cruz
By KIMBERLY WHITE - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted: 05/14/2012 06:46:29 PM PDT
Tammie Van Sant's service dog Robby II was attacked by an off-leash dog...
(Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)
SANTA CRUZ - An unprovoked dog attack is bad enough. But it's especially egregious when the victim happens to be a service dog for a paraplegic.
Santa Cruz resident Tammie Van Sant has been paralyzed from the chest down, confined to a wheelchair, since an auto accident in 2005. Robby II, a friendly, white Labrador retriever mix, entered her life four years later, serving as both her faithful companion and assistant. Robbie performs duties such as opening and closing doors, turning lights off and on, even punching elevator buttons.
Late in the afternoon on May 8, the duo was cruising along Beach Street, near the Ideal Bar & Grill, when they came upon another dog laying on the sidewalk next to a bench. Assuming it was either on a leash or tethered, they continued past.
Suddenly, the leash wrapped around Van Sant's forearm went taut, violently yanking her wheelchair back.
"The dog leaped at Robby and tackled him into the street," where they were narrowly missed by a passing Metro bus, she said.
"By the time I'd turned around, the guys had grabbed their dog and walked back to their bench," she recalled. "And as they walked by me, I said, 'Are you kidding me?' They didn't even try to get my dog and they didn't even try to help me. They just grabbed their dog, and the guy said, 'Oh, I'm sorry about that.'"
Fortunately, a passerby did stop to help, and Van Sant and Robby II returned home safely. Two days later, however, a dark, inch-long bruise remained just above her wrist, caused when the leash was forcefully yanked from her arm.
"It makes me nervous about going out, and I'm afraid that it will affect Robby's ability to go out," she said. "There's "no way I can protect him."
But she has little recourse since she never identified the other dog's owner. Robby II has been attacked previously, but Van Sant said she was told police officers couldn't do anything unless she'd been bitten.
Santa Cruz Police Department spokesman Zach Friend said Thursday the municipal code prohibits dogs from "harassing, threatening or injuring persons," and that she should have immediately reported the incident to the police.
"One thing we could do, at a minimum, is to take an incident report" that could be used if any medical issues arise, Friend said.
Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel Tammie Van Sant's service dog Robby was attacked by an off-leash dog but escaped unscathed.
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I met turkey egg from the little rascals at Sunshine Villa, an independent care facility here in Santa Cruz. A couple of friends of mine worked there and I used to get my hair done there. I was leaving one day and he was sitting in the lobby and we started up a conversation, I must have talked to him for hours and he pretty much told me all about his life but not who he was. As we finally said goodbye he handed me one of his cards and told me to look him up on the Internet. When I got home and in bed that night I looked him up and his story was so fascinating! He did tell me to come back and visit him and I was looking forward to it when one of my friends told me that he had passed… I'm so glad that I met him and got to talk to him!
Happy birthday to Douglas Greer, an occasional Rascal of the early 1930s. Doug was born Charles Douglas Greer in Canada in 1921, and came to California at age three. After winning a “freckle contest,” according to his obituary, he began an acting career. His earliest Our Gang appearance was SHIVERING SHAKESPEARE, where he had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him cameo as a lazy curtain puller during Mrs. Kennedy’s stage play. A casting directory mentions his nickname as “Turkey Egg,” a moniker that Doug later claimed was given to him by Our Gang director Bob McGowan. Douglas later appeared in SCHOOL’S OUT, where he gave a silly answer to Miss Crabtree’s equally silly question - “What was Abraham Lincoln’s mother’s name?” “Mrs. Lincoln.”
Doug played a silent member of the Gang in LITTLE DADDY and FREE WHEELING, a tough kid in the audience of the Rascals’ play in SPANKY, and a party guest in BIRTHDAY BLUES. He also had a role in BARGAIN DAY that was almost entirely left on the cutting room floor.
Outside of Our Gang, Doug appeared in the occasional feature, including WHEN A FELLER NEEDS A FRIEND (with Jackie Cooper) and NO GREATER GLORY (with Frankie Darro). Doug’s busy career as a kid actor put him behind in his studies. However, thanks to help from a high school teacher, he was able to graduate at 21-years-old.
As a young man, Doug worked for the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Burbank, California. He was a member of the 10th Mountain Division Ski Troops at Camp Hale, Colorado during World War II. Douglas was sent back to Lockheed for inactive duty just before his outfit was to head overseas to the Italian Alps. He later learned that every officer in his company had been killed or wounded in just the first three days of battle. Douglas was back in service the following year, and spent the next two years traveling Europe.
Douglas went on to found the company American Northern, Inc., a laboratory furniture and supply company. Among the company’s specialties were fume hoods, biological safety cabinets, and exhaust systems. American Northern’s equipment eventually helped to stop a tuberculosis outbreak at Northridge Hospital.
In his later years, Doug lived with his family in Lake Tahoe, where he spent leisure time fishing and skiing - and even performing magic. He was even a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood.
Despite his seemingly gloomy demeanor when he had to answer Miss Crabtree’s question in SCHOOL’S OUT, Doug was known by many to be a caring person with a great smile. He passed away at age 94 in early 2016.
