On a cold, rainy December night in 1996, Rick Hairston plucked a black Lab puppy — “the biggest and most wiggly in the pile” — from a litter of 13, and named him Moses.
Hairston had recently moved to Wilmington from St. Louis, Missouri, where he’d volunteered with a service dog organization. Finding no such group in North or South Carolina, he decided to start one, and cofounded Canines for Service in order to train service dogs to help disabled adults and wounded and traumatized veterans navigate their days and live independently. Moses became the founding pup for the organization. As the poster dog — and demonstration dog, therapy dog, and Paws for Reading Dog — Moses covered half a million miles, and met senators; congressmen; and men and women of all ages, sizes, and shapes before he died in 2011.
After 2,500 hours of training, a service dog knows 90 commands and is worth $40,000. He can pull a manual wheelchair, retrieve a bottle from the fridge, unload the dryer, and pick up something as small as a pierced earring back or a penny — and something as large as a 10-pound weight. He can serve as a brace for his owner when he or she falls. For someone with degenerative disc disease, these actions are lifesavers — or, at the very least, back-savers. For owners with emotional issues, therapy dogs are a comfort, a living buffer between the stressful world and their mental state: Part of a dog’s training involves merely sitting or resting for hours at a time while their “person” naps, or attends a meeting.
Every dog lover knows that look: the liquid eyes and curious head tilt that asks, What next? How else can I unconditionally love you? For Canines for Service dogs, unconditional love is merely one entry on their résumés.
This story appeared in print as “Man’s Best Friend, and More.”
Why does this Haywood County town have some of the cleanest water in the state? It’s the result of the community’s efforts to keep the forests in its watershed pristine.
The spectacular views in North Carolina’s High Country aren’t just inspiration for writers, painters, and sculptors. Those landscapes — the rugged gray face of Grandfather Mountain, the vibrant fall leaves, the deep green meadows — are brushstrokes on Earth’s own canvas.
The sprawling vineyards and wide-open skies that stretch for miles across seven North Carolina counties offer relaxing getaways — not to mention some of the state’s finest wines — for Sunday drivers aching to escape the rush of city life.
Nothing lasts forever — and that’s what makes many of our cherished moments so special.
