From "Polo and the Harp" available exclusively through Apple Books, Copyright  2023. (All Rights Reserved)

It was a joy to write this book. It all started with a lullaby that was arranged using my HOME slow air, which inspired the section about combining Therapeutic Music with Storytelling in The HOME Recordings: Strategies for Certified Therapeutic Musicians.  The audio was recorded at Quinn Music studio, with the help of our own special "Mother Goose," Carol Ansel. Carol has decades of experience reading stories to children. For many years, she could be found in the Story Tower, reading stories to library classes of students from pre-school throughout their elementary school years. Her voice is attached to many happy memories of childhood in our community.

The pictures in the storybook are based on pictures I used when Polo would visit groups during Community Helpers month. We had a laminated photo book, with coloring pages about Polo, that children could pass around the circle when we visited schools, libraries, and youth groups, to tell about how Service Dogs helped in their community.

Polo could be found providing AAIs (Animal Assisted Interventions) just about anywhere: in schools, at playgrounds, at hospitals, at therapy or doctors' offices, in stores or at the movies, even at resorts and major attractions like Disney World and Discovery Cove! She particularly liked her hikes and daily visits to the barn, where she could visit her friends involved in Equine Assisted Therapy.

Polo was a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. After "work," where she provided AAIs, Polo could relax at home and play with Andy, a tri-color Pembroke "mate."

While Polo was a talented Service Dog who could even alert for seizures and ultra-high frequency sounds, she was also a beloved family pet. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 15, after a happy and healthy life.