Chancer, The Wonder Dog

I have always wanted another dog ever since my first dog died in kindergarten. But, my brother became highly allergic so I probably won't have another dog for awhile. But, this article "Wonder Dog" by Melissa Fay Greene highlights how dogs can be so much more than just pets and companions. For a now thirteen year old boy named Iyal Winokur, his golden retriever Chancer has changed his life. Iyal was adopted by the Winokurs from Russia in 1999 and was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS is a form of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders where because the mother drank alcohol during her pregnancy, her child's brain and nervous system were severely and permanently damaged. Iyal was explosive with tantrums caused by the tiniest things, urgency, attempts to jump out of moving cars, and rages in the middle of the night. After trying everything, the Winokurs called 4 Paws and went to Ohio to receive a dog that changed their family's life. Chancer has the ability to keep Iyal anchored in the world with full night sleeps, disrupting tantrums and providing the emotional companion that Iyal could never find in his family or humans.

Melissa Fay Greene writes an amazing article with pathos, logos, and ethos. The pathos is just the story she reports in its entirety about how a dog was able to change a boy's life with FAS and prevent his mental state from completely declining to schizophrenia or psychosis. The logos involved are the numerous different statistics and quotations from organizations and doctors, like Alan G. Weintraub, Dr. Jacquelyn Betrand of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. general surgeon, and Alan M. Beck, the director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University's College of Veterinary Medicine. The ethos appeal is established with Greene's credibility of knowing which people to talk to and quote on Iyal's story, including his family, Karen Shirk, and Jeremy Dulebohn. Another interesting technique that was used was "Before Chancer, B.C." and "After Chancer, A.C." for how situations have changed. Honestly, I highly recommend this article; it was truly a wonderful story.

Source: Greene, Melissa Fay. "Wonder Dog."The New York Times 2 Feb. 2012, sec. Opinion: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.

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