A Lion in puppy’s clothing
Jack will be inducted as an official lion in June and after a year of training, he will go through the certification process to become an official therapy dog.
Jack has a great future ahead of him, offering many selfless deeds in the Tzaneen community.
His aim is to bring comfort, joy and light relief to members of our community that are fighting huge personal and physical battles.
Jack will dedicate his life to helping others.
Jack is a four month old Labrador puppy.
Originally, Jack was destined to go to the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind, after being kindly donated by Tzaneen resident, Conrad Kruger.
Kindly, the members of Tzaneen Lion’s Club offered to foster Jack until he was old enough to go for his training.
The Lions Club International have four main pillars; saving sight, supporting youth, providing disaster relief and meeting humanitarian needs.
Lions Club International have an aim for 2018, to raise funds for vision by October of this year.
With vision being the aim of the year, fostering Jack before his induction into the Guide Dogs Association was going to be Lion Club Tzaneen’s contribution to the cause.
However, Jack’s bloodline made him unsuitable for the South African Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind as they have strict criteria for the dogs allowed to join the service.
So plan B was implemented for Jack’s future. The Lion’s Club of Tzaneen would no longer just be fostering Jack, he was going to become the newest addition to their team.
Jack is now being trained as a therapy dog, with the hope that he will be able to offer support to people in need in the Tzaneen community.
Jack will be inducted as an official lion in June and after a year of training, he will go through the certification process to become an official therapy dog.
Lion’s Club Tzaneen hope to take Jack to offer comfort to terminally ill patients, elderly people in care homes, patients receiving chemotherapy treatment, traumatised and abused children, and anyone else needing their pains to be eased.
For now, Jack’s trainer, Grüschenka is trying to expose him to large social events so that he can get used to being calm around people. Jack was at the Ebenezer Mile and his behaviour was impeccable. He is so well mannered and has an extremely calm and gentle personality.
Jack is destined for great things in our community.
