Hi! My shelter name is Jamie, and I am a Flat-Coated Retriever (FCR) wannabe. Flat-coated Retrievers are also called flatties. Flatties are from the retriever family. They look almost like Golden Retrievers, but their fur color is either black or liver.

I was a 1 1/2 year old stray. A rescue call came into Friends for Life Animal Rescue (F4L) in Gilbert, AZ to save my four pups and I. We were living in a construction site drainage tube. After F4L rescued us, I was very skittish, scared and distrusting. For six years I lived with a loving F4L volunteer. Unforeseen circumstances brought me back to the shelter. I was then placed with another family for a very short time. I turned creatively destructive, and was returned to Friends for Life.

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Four months back in the shelter seemed gloomy (who wants a seven year old dog). In 2011, one week after Thanksgiving I was adopted. RUFF!

I now live in my forever home with my guardian parents (Eileen and Dennis), my best friend Doddger (a crazy cat), Tiger and Cleo (two tolerable older cats) and Blues and Jazz (two squawky parakeets).

With patience and love, I overcame most of my phobias. With advanced training, I became a registered therapy dog in September 2013. I didn't care being in the hospital. PEW! I didn't like the smell, it reminded me of the vet's office. So for a while mom and I were visiting senior homes. They were so loving. Mom found an organization, Paws2Read. That's how I found my niche volunteering at the library as a reading therapy dog. Kids would read to me; how cool is that! Being a reading therapy dog gave me self-confidence interacting with other therapy animals, kids and parents. I got to meet new 2-legged and 4-legged friends, and received a lot of hugs, kisses, and treats. Did you know I was actually afraid of kids and other dogs? That's where all that training came in, to overcome my phobias.

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As a therapy dog, I also got to go to all types of events. I even went to ASU's Finals Week and Special Olympics to help de-stress the Freshman's and the Olympic contenders. I also attended a lot of literacy events, and of course, mom's book signings and school author visits. I even went to Phoenix Children's Hospital Dine with Your Dog event and donated my Blueberry Bear book for their silent auction. Mom donates a lot of books for children's literacy and animal shelter silent auction events.

So you're wondering how did I become my mom's inspiration. Well, mom nick-named me Bear because I look like a little black bear when I'm all curled up on my big comfortable bed. After realizing how much I love blueberries, my nick-name changed to Blueberry Bear. She thought my new nick-name would be a perfect picture book title. And so, mom wrote Blueberry Bear, and how she imagined I would be as a rambunctious puppy, and we lived happily ever after.

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