Crystal, aka the sweetheart, was adopted by Liz when she was eight weeks old. She originally lived with Liz, as she was the first dog in the Uplifting Paws program, so she has seen it all. Liz, who battles with personal mental health obstacles, noticed that Crystal alerted to her episodes naturally. Liz knew that Crystal would make an excellent psychiatric service dog due to those natural instincts when it came to her own mental health struggles. 

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Crystal began training to become a psychiatric service dog and was originally assigned to an owner with autism. Crystal fulfilled all the training and eventually even moved in with the owner last year. 

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This is where Crystal’s story is unique. The two lacked the necessary chemistry between an owner and a service dog. Crystal stayed with the owner for about two weeks until it was apparent that the owner could not care for her and was not benefitting from the dog either. The issue being the owner’s parents wanted her to have a dog, but she herself was not ready. 

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Crystal came back to the program and began refreshing her training and is now reassigned. Crystal will move in with her new owner in late January. Liz is confident that the two will be a perfect match as they have already bonded over their training. She believes that Crystal has found her forever home and that she will have an immense impact on her new owner.