These days we hear of therapy dogs as companions to people who are stressed or who need to talk to someone or something. The therapy dog at the Blalock Orphanage, simply named Sigmund, fulfilled a special role. There weren’t enough staff members to talk to all the kids who needed to tell their stories so Sigmund would get into a chair, strike a pose as you see here, look the kid in the eye, and listen. Sometimes he’d even nod as if he just heard the kid say something meaningful. Even kids who wouldn’t talk to anyone else talked to Sigmund. He died in the mid-50s, and they buried him on the grounds of the mansion.
Even after he died, kids would go to his grave site, sit near it, and simply talk.
Sigmund is the perfect therapist. What a find; to see him mentioned in the Blalock Mansion papers!!
Hi Cari, thanks. The story/ post came about quickly. I wanted to do another post on the Blalock and that morning found that dog that someone had sent on Facebook. I took off the writing of that one and found that he’d be a good listener (probably a she, right?) Anyway, that dog’s look is priceless, isn’t it. And what I’ve decided lately is to put on posts about some ongoing topics (Blalock, Belfry in Bloomer, and there are a couple others) and instead of one post here and then a week later, another post. If I run 4 or so together they’ll have a better impression, I hope. I also have to learn how to connect to past posts so when I do one on that guy who got poked in the eye, that I can connect or have the reader hit a button and go back to read that story. Anyway, thanks for your continued support and it was fun reading about you and the stump. Loren