I’ve written about Cynthia before.

Cynthia Daniello and I met curiously. We became friends through two radio shows that I did about dogs. Cynthia called regularly, she is in her 80’s, lives in a Virginia assisted care facility, has worked for vets and loves animals. She wanted help training her new deaf rescue dog, Edgar.

She is confined to a wheelchair but gets around.

She has become an expert fighter against landlords who try to keep people like her from having dogs or cats. She is a gifted dog trainer and taught her deaf dog Edgar how to understand commands, verbal and through food stomping. Edgar died last year, and once again, she had to fight for permission to get another one. When I wonder, will the animal rights movement begin to love human beings?

I’ve never met Cynthia, but we have become close friends, mostly via the telephone. She isn’t really into the digital world’s way of communicating. I admire her greatly. She is humane, courageous, and stubbornly independent. And she loves rescuing dogs and training them. She is awfully good at it.

In addition to combating cold-blooded landlords, she also has to fight cold-blooded rescue groups.

She is one of those people who needs a dog at this or any age. She lives alone, and her dogs are a true companion. She often cares for her elderly neighbors.

Cynthia makes sure the dogs have a good home to go to if she passes on. This week, she e-mailed me and said she just got Roo. She comes online once in a while, and you can e-mail her at [email protected].

Cynthia is a hero of mine. A kind and generous person, a brave and independent person, and a genuine dog lover. Roo is happy and much loved. Cynthia worked in vet’s offices for a long time. She knows her stuff. I helped her work through Edgar’s deafness, but she doesn’t need any help with Zoo.

“Her name is Roo,” wrote Cynthia. ” She was named for the tiny kangaroo baby in Winnie the POOH stories. Her mother was an American Eskimo Dog—father unknown, possibly an Australian Cattle dog.  She is very much Eskie, even with her tail curled over her back when excited.  But her coat is short, white–with one brown ear and one brown spotted ear.  I plan to do a DNA test.  She is so much fun. “

I apologize for the photo being out of focus; it was the only one she had of them together, so I decided to post it. Cynthia is on my list of the best people in the world. Congratulations, Cynthia, on another happy and much-loved companion. You are a living symbol of the good that dogs can do for older people and that older people can do for dogs.

The only issue Zoo has is a lot of fear barking. She’s working on it.