Present at many on-campus events is a fleet of therapy dogs, owned by local residents who spend their free time lending the comfort and companionship of their pets to the students of Bucknell. Over this past winter break, Dozer, one of the stalwart dogs of the Bucknell pack and beloved by many, passed away. He would have been nine in April of this year.
Kelly Pastuszek, Dozer’s owner, welcomed Dozer into her family when he was eight weeks old with the intent to train him as a therapy dog. At twelve weeks, Dozer began limping; tests and trips to the vet revealed a chronic condition in his legs that would hinder his ability to walk for the rest of his life. “They told us we should put him down,” Pastuszek recalls, but they didn’t— and Dozer went on to help people across the state of Pennsylvania. At first, he sported a front wheel cart, but when he expressed displeasure with the apparatus, he was outfitted with prosthetics. Eventually, Pastuszek arrived at a solution wherein she’d pull Dozer around in a wagon from location to location and he would exit the wagon and sit, largely stationary, for the duration of whatever event he was working.
“Dozer never thought there was anything wrong with him,” Pastuszek reflects fondly. “He had this purpose in life and he was just going to find a way to get around, no matter what.”
With Pastuszek and, from time to time, other caretakers at his side, Dozer worked events and venues for a variety of people and causes. He had regular “gigs” at Lewisburg and Allenwood federal prisons, the AVP airport in Wilkes-Barre, nursing homes and schools in the area, nearby Bloomsburg University and other special events, as well as his reliable presence here at Bucknell.
One of the special events Dozer loved attending was the Special Olympics. “He always really related to the Special Olympics kids and they really related to him.” Pastuszek’s favorite memories with Dozer are at Special Olympics— she has a particular memory of a boy, there to participate in an Olympics event, coming up to her to ask why she was transporting Dozer around in a wagon. “I explained how Dozer was born, with his leg condition and the boy said to his mother, ‘Mom, Dozer is special, just like me!’”
But she treasures her memories of the time she spent with Dozer on Bucknell’s campus, too. “Dozer loved coming here,” Pastuszek says. “Everyone made him feel like a king. He loved the attention and pretty much grew up on campus here.” Though Dozer trekked throughout Pennsylvania, Pastuszek has “a lot of good memories with him [at Bucknell].”
Dozer is survived by his “little brother” from another breeder, Digger, who is currently two years old. Digger still attends events at Bucknell, with Pastuszek as his handler.
