Lily is an 11-week-old golden retriever puppy in Bristol, Virginia who's training to be a therapy dog.  (--Bristol is 150 miles southwest of Roanoke, on the Tennessee border.)   

 

 

--Lily works with Heather Mullin, an occupational therapist at NHC Healthcare Bristol.  Many of Heather's patients are recent amputees who are learning to use their new prosthetic limbs.

 

 

--Which makes Lily the perfect choice to relate to the patients . . . because she was born without a right front paw. 

 

 

--It would be cheaper and easier to just amputate Lily's entire leg . . . but instead, Lily got fitted for a prosthetic paw last Wednesday.  It'll be finished this week.

 

 

--Heather said, quote, "People can relate to her by seeing her disability and seeing how happy she is."

 

 

(WCYB.com)