Annette Ottak was on the difficult road to recovery after suffering a serious stroke when she found Cinnamon.

A pit bull, Cinnamon landed at Charlie’s Place, the Clear Creek/Gilpin County Animal Shelter, when her owner could no longer care for her.

The dog was both terrified and aggressive when it arrived at the shelter. The staff had to use a catch-pole just to get her from one kennel to another.

Annette, 43, adopted Cinnamon, and as she worked through her own recovery, she retrained the dog. By helping each other, the two have made astonishing strides. Within the last several weeks Cinnamon was officially certified as a therapy dog.

One step at a time

In October 2007, Annette had a stroke and nearly died.

The Empire resident and employee of Henderson Mine was expected at work one Wednesday. When she didn’t show, her employers got a hold of her oldest adult son. He found her in bad shape.

She had been unconscious for close to 24 hours. Her kidneys and colon had shut down. Her heart was quickly following suit.

“I was not expected to survive,” Annette said. “And when I started coming around, they were talking assisted living.”

She spent the next four months in the hospital and another living with her parents. She began physical therapy, learning how to speak, using a walker, getting in and out of the shower. It was a long and difficult journey, and Annette still had miles to go.

She said the physical therapy was difficult, but it was hardest on her ego having to relearn everyday actions.

When she finally went home, a friend suggested that she adopt a dog to help her become active again.

The day Annette went to Charlie’s Place, she didn’t really intend to get a dog. But when she saw the pit bull, Annette felt a connection.

“It was just nice that somebody would need me,” Annette said. “I would have a reason to get up to feed her and make sure she goes outside and gets exercise.”

She chose Cinnamon, and with patience and a half-pound of lunchmeat, she coaxed the skittish canine into her house.

“My mom was so upset: ‘Oh my God, a pit bull? She’s been abused, they’re huge, she’s mean, you can’t walk — what are you doing?’ “ Annette recalled. “(But when) she met Cinnamon for the first time, she says … ‘You’ve saved each other.’ “

The two took it slowly. Annette was learning to walk again, and Cinnamon was afraid of going too far from the house. With time and practice, their excursions ranged farther and farther from the house.

“Cinnamon would go with me, and when she would get to the end of the leash, she would sit down and wait for me to catch up,” Annette said. “… As I was getting stronger, her boundaries were growing, and we grew together with everything.”

That doesn’t mean Annette doesn’t run into difficult patches. She said there’ve been plenty of times when she’ll go into a supermarket, and she feels like her mind isn’t working right.

“I get stressed, and I end up leaving in tears,” Annette said. “(Now Cinnamon) goes in with me, she sees I get stressed, she hunkers up and sits down, and we just take five.”

Annette now can take Cinnamon everywhere she goes because Cinnamon is a certified therapy dog. Therapy and service dogs must be trained to follow a list of commands. They are carefully tested, then allowed to wear a vest and patch announcing their status.

“I did the training myself,” Annette said. “I suppose you could hire someone to do it for you — I don’t want a dog trained by someone else. I want her to be mine, so (she) and I did the training alone here in town.”

As a result, Cinnamon received a canine good citizenship award and passed 10 different obedience tests.

Sue Peterson, the animal control shelter manager with the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office, said that when Cinnamon arrived, she would cower and growl.

“She never actually bit anybody, but we were afraid she might (because) she was so scared,” Peterson said.

She said that when she saw Cinnamon recently, the difference was remarkable.

“She was very calm. You could walk up to her and pet her, and she really enjoyed the attention — a perfectly mannered dog,” Peterson said.

She added that any dog adopted from a shelter should receive training, but owners of pit bulls have an extra responsibility because of the aggressive nature of the breed.

“If you have an untrained, unsocialized pit bull out there, you’re just going to create more problems for the breed,” Peterson said.

Today, both Annette and Cinnamon are doing well. Annette said she owes a lot to Charlie’s Place. Annette talks and walks with few traces of her stroke, and Cinnamon obediently stands by her side, proudly sporting her new red vest.

“I think pit bulls get a real bad rap. People get them for the wrong reasons and aren’t willing to give what they need,” Annette said. “… I think that is why she and I connected so well. I needed to take care of her to keep me going, and she wanted to make me happy to keep her going.”

Contact Ian Neligh at couranteditor@evergreenco.com, and visit www.clearcreekcourant.com.