Morro Bay woman seeks help after theft of service dog harness
– A Morro Bay woman with disabilities is seeking help after thieves stole the specialized harness her service dog relies on to provide mobility and balance support.
Sam Reed, 25, said the harness is essential for her dog, Winnie, to assist her. Reed lives with vision loss, cerebral palsy, and hyperadrenergic postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, also known as H-POTS. The condition causes her heart rate and blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels when she stands. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, disorientation, panic, and fainting.
“This, in combination with my vision loss and the nerve damage in my legs, makes it very hard to tell where my body is in space since I can’t really feel the ground,” Reed said. “I have a very hard time walking by myself and fall quite often if I don’t have help, so we got Winnie to train her as a service dog to give me more independence and confidence.”
Reed said Winnie is well-trained, but the harness is what makes her effective as a mobility service dog. “Mobility dog harnesses have specialized handles that, when fitted properly to the dog and the handler, provide a type of feedback that allows the handler to feel the ground through the counterweight and motion of their dog, which greatly improves gait and balance,” she said.
Reed reported the theft to the police department and harbor patrol and checked nearby cameras but was unable to recover the harness and vest. She said she is now ordering new equipment from a company that provides custom-fitted, genuine leather harnesses with lifetime warranties.
“Without a mobility harness, I can’t bring Winnie out with me because her tasks that make her a service dog come from her harness,” Reed said. “So I’m hoping I will find a way to order something new soon so that we can put this whole thing past without Winnie’s training or my health faltering.”
A GoFundMe has been launched to help Reed replace the stolen harness.
As of Wednesday, the fundraiser has brought in $700 towards a $1000.
