A round of a-PAWS for our furriest Annie cast members!
Get to know Tuffy and Boomkin, and then get your tickets to see their stage debuts!
Tuffy
Tuffy is a 4.5 year old golden retriever who has been an animal-assisted therapy dog, certified through Pet Partners Therapy Dog program for three years. An animal-assisted therapy dog is different from a service dog in that Tuffy provides love and hugs for many people while a service dog will be trained to help just one person. A good example would be a dog trained to smell insulin changes in their handler and alert to that.
Tuffy’s mom heard about this opportunity through a friend who shared it with her through Facebook. He is having the BEST TIME meeting so many new friends! He absolutely loves visiting the theater and just thinks it’s all great fun! He is working hard to learn his “lines”.
Audrey, Tuffy’s mama, raised him to be her Velcro-puppy and absolutely adores her very good boy. He goes almost everywhere with her, including church just about every Sunday where he has come to be known as the church dog. Immanuel is where Tuffy learned his good manners and comfort around all types of people and things (scooters, canes, and wheelchairs, for example). Shout-out to Pastor Molly for allowing Tuffy to come to church even though she has dog allergies!
Tuffy is Audrey’s envoy in their community for bringing joy and hugs to this little corner of their world!
Boomkin
Boomkin is delighted to make his Missoula stage debut at MCT. Always happy to help out, he heard about Annie from his friend Tuffy.
Boomkin is a 7-year-old golden retriever that Felicia and Paul re-homed when he was 11 months old. They quickly saw that Boomkin was very smart, gentle and empathetic. When Felicia saw a sign at the public library for the Read to Me program (children read to dogs), she told the librarian in charge that Boomkin was the perfect dog for it. That was their introduction to the Pet Partners Therapy Dog program. Soon, Boomkin was certified with Pet Partners for therapy work and for crisis response.
In addition to the public library, Boomkin visits at Community Hospital’s inpatient rehab wing, the UM Mansfield Library during finals week, UM’s Wellness Program, and the Target Range School library’s program for 4th graders. The comment Felicia hears most often is that Boomkin makes them feel calm.
Boomkin’s name comes from an obscure part found on some sailboats*. He has an endearing happy growl: he holds a stuffie or two, growls and wags his tail when a person he knows visits and every morning when he greets his humans. Fortunately, he never growls when he’s working- because he’s a professional.
Boomkin would like to thank Elena Wickman with Wind River Canine Partners dog training for helping him learn his lines.
*(Editors note: A boomkin is a small pole off the stern that help support the sail’s rigging!)
To learn more about these amazing organizations,
here are some helpful links:
Tuffy will be playing the role of Sandy for the evening performances, and Boomkin will play the role of Sandy for the matinees,
except Sunday, December 7th when they trade for the day! Mark your calendars to see them BOTH!
