Dog Names Ending in ou

Imagine being a teenage boy with the intellectual development of a toddler. Then imagine being afraid to go anywhere where there are people because you are afraid to be knocked down. Patrick Maresh has hypotonia, which is a lack of muscle development in your whole body. This tough disease also prevents Patrick from speaking because the delicate throat and facial muscles were not able to grow properly. He is also very thin and easily fatigues with sensory-processing issues as well as cognitive disabilities.

With all of these stumbling blocks in his way, you may think that Patrick just spends his life in a wheelchair, unable and afraid to do anything for fear of being hurt. But not Patrick. He is always wanting to go places and do things and has a love of life that many of us do not even have. However, he was not always this happy and neither were his parents, Jan and Bill Maresh who had struggled to get Patrick to do anything without a meltdown. 

Patrick’s disabilities are similar to autism as he has difficulty communicating and does not like to be around strange people or loud places. His mother, Jan has to take care of almost all of Patrick’s needs such as feeding and diapering him, but she doesn’t mind a bit. What she did mind was seeing him scared and unhappy, which he always seemed to be prior to getting Marylou. 

Marylou is a Golden Retriever service dog from Canine Assistants in Georgia, which is an organization that provides specially trained canines for people with disabilities. Before Marylou, Patrick could not communicate; now he is able to use an electronic talker that gives him a voice for what he wants to say. He uses it to give Marylou commands as well. But when he just wants her to come to him, he calls, “Hoo hoooo” and the smart pooch comes running to him. 

Marylou was a two-year-old when the Mareshes got her, and she has been a Godsend, according to Patrick’s parents. She bonded with Patrick right away, and his occupational and physical therapists say he is much more present and engaged than he used to be and seems to enjoy life much more than before. “He cannot be passive with Marylou there with him,” says his occupational therapist Kathy Serakuku, “because she makes him react and take part in everyday life.”

Marylou is also a big help in protecting Patrick from falls and injuries. Patrick is able to walk the hallways of Downers Grove North High School where he has a job delivering mail. They also go to basketball games and other activities at the school. And Marylou was recently one of nine pooches to win Milk-Bone’s “Dogs that Changed the World” award. She has been a blessing for the Maresh family and has changed their part of the world for sure.