Meet the Product Models: Norm Update

You might recognize Norman from his previous interview a few years ago. He recently modeled for us again for the product launch for our calming beds. And wow, Norm has been busy since then!

One of the first things Norm's human, Cyndie Kieffer, said on the phone was "Norm had a day off yesterday and he was disgusted by it." Norm loves to work. He's nine years old, and a border collie/husky mix. He has lots of different jobs to keep himself busy!

For one of his jobs, Norman is a photo ambassador for a pet photographer, Grace Marie. He's great at hamming it up for any camera, because he knows he's a star. Norm's got a big, friendly personality! He's actually finishing up his time as a photo ambassador, and his human says he's "loving every shoot".

He's also a registered volunteer therapy dog with Pet Partners. He volunteers at nursing homes three Fridays out of each month. He loves working at Helia Healthcare, Emerald, and Brookstone Estates in Olney. In Lawrenceville, he works at Southern Meadows. He also volunteers at Acorn Estates and Oakview in Mt. Carmel. Norm also volunteers with a children's grief group once a month. Norm's younger brother Cliff is helping him out with some of these responsibilities, too, picking up the tools of the trade from his big brother. Norm isn't the biggest fan of sharing the spotlight, but he's working on it! And he's proud of his brother for passing the Pet Partner evaluation.

Norm's favorite thing to do is "Paws and Relax" events at universities, like Ivy Tech Community College and the University of Southern Indiana. The college students love to make him the center of attention, and he can do tricks and show off his skills!

Norman has been his human Cyndie's co-teacher/canine partner, as well, for animal assisted play therapy in Michigan. He loved helping people who want to offer this kind of therapy in their practices.

This gregarious pup loves working with humans of all ages. He works in group homes and community day service, and helps advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. Norman often works in a private practice to support neurodivergent kids. He really enjoys games and interventions with them. He knows the kids well and is very receptive to them and their families. He loves to greet everybody at the facility too, he's a big welcome guy.

When Norm's not working, he loves doing sports! Norman has earned three different titles in the North American Sport Dog Association: Urban Locating 1 and 2, and Trailing and Locating 1. He's especially good at finding rats. The rats are safely housed in little boxes for dogs to find. Norm is known in these competitive spaces as The Rat Man. When he walks into the competition, people sing the Batman theme song, but of course they say Rat Man instead.

And never fear, the welfare of the rats is definitely taken into consideration and is very important to the organization. The rats are well-loved, and the judges say they are a part of their families. People make sure the dogs don't grab hold of the containers the rats are in, and events don't take place if it's too hot outside.

Norman got into these sports because a good friend of his human who owns a dog training facility started offering courses. His human was very curious about this, because when Norm was younger, he was really into agility training, but as he's gotten older most of his time is spent doing therapy work. She wanted him to have a physical outlet, and to account for his age, decided to introduce him to rat hunting. He fell in love with it!

He also tried shed hunting. Norm can find the sheds no problem but doesn't see the point in bringing them back to his human.

Norm does water physical therapy to help him build his strength up at the Canine Aquatic Center. It also keeps his endurance strong. He was not a fan at first, as he really didn't like water as a personal principle. He was very angry with his family at first. However, after each session, his family took him to his favorite place, a dog-friendly establishment called Barker's Brew House. Norm loves to swim now! He walks right into canine aquatics and greets the staff. He swims without any problem. Now Norm gives the whole experience a paw up! He goes at least twice a month.

Norm also has a girlfriend named Fiver. They had a hiccup last year   he took her to Bar-K in St. Louis, and they both went off and did their own thing instead of hanging out together. He spent some time with an Australian Shepherd, but now he and Fiver are back together and strong again.

There's also a book in the works, called SuperNorm Saves the Day! Keep an eye out for that within the next year.

Norman is a busy, happy, vibrant dog! He even has merch to raise money for the rescue he came from   Claws and Paws in Olney, IL. If you'd like to support Norm's efforts, check out the animal rescue he came from here and here, and check out his social media here. You can also buy a shirt by contacting his human, Cyndie Brashear Kieffer, via emailing sit.stay.heal@hotmail.com or by messaging her on Facebook, either to this account or this account.

Photo credit: Grace Marie, Cyndie Kieffer, Judy McClure