Kinsey is a member of Code 3 Associates, working with Nan Stuart. On Oct. 18., 2006, hundreds of animal lovers attended the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation’s Praise for Pets event to celebrate the special bond humans and animals share and to raise funds to benefit the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation. The 2007 event will be taking place in November so Kinsey is considered one of their current winners. She actually was their Service Award Winner, their giving canine awards in the categories for Heroes and Human / Animal Bond.

Here is the biography provided by the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation:

Our next award winner is Kinsey - an 11-year-old Golden Retriever with a bigger following than your favorite movie star. Kinsey, owned by Nan Stuart, is well regarded among thousands of animal control and humane society personnel, veterinarians, firefighters, law enforcement officers and other public safety individuals, as well as hotel staff and other people met along the way. Kinsey is a canine ambassador for Code 3 Associates, Inc which is an organization that provides quality training to public safety personnel and provides disaster relief for animals. She has helped train over 3,000 students in various aspects of animal cruelty investigations as well as technical animal rescue work.

Kinsey is also certified in Swift Water Rescue, Ice Rescue, is nationally certified for Animal Assisted Therapy and Activities as a Delta Pet Partner, and doubles as a service dog for her owner’s father, a stroke victim. She not only performs rescues on ice and in water, she also can serve as a victim to teach animal control or other rescue personnel how to rescue an animal. She understands how to be cooperative with her rescuer or how not to help, but remains immobile as an injured animal would be. In fact, if the person rescuing her does not handle her correctly, she cries as if being hurt (all the while winking at Nan knowingly).

Her intuition is uncanny in that she seems to always know who needs her most. During a class she kept going to a gentleman and finally went outside with him. Nan subsequently discovered he was blind and that Kinsey was serving as his guide. This past year she also spent 4 weeks in the hospital with Nan’s father as he suffered a stroke, was diagnosed with colon cancer and endured cancer surgery. Kinsey remained with her “patient” nearly around the clock and filled a void of his recently lost dog enabling him to recover from his trauma.

Kinsey is certainly an extraordinary example of the way companion animals can have such a tremendous impact on our lives.