Levi and Surley: Life with His Energy Conservationist

By Mary Gunderson - 

You might see Levi around town: U.S. Bank Stadium where he works part-time; Allianz Field for Minnesota United FC games; or out and about in Downtown Minneapolis where he resides. At his side, you’ll see his Can Do Canine Mobility Assist Dog, Surley, the almost-white Labrador.

Levi has cerebral palsy and loves his active life, but since he uses a power chair when out in public, he couldn’t be so active without the assistance Surley provides. Surley is on the job whenever he’s asked to pick up things from the floor. He also helps by doing routine tasks such as opening doors by pressing a button or tugging and getting clothes into and out of the washing machine. Levi regularly directs Surley to help take his shoes, jacket, and gloves off.

Without Surley’s skills over the course of the day, these actions are exhausting for Levi and sometimes beyond inconvenient. “If I drop my glove outside and it’s ten below zero, I could freeze my hand off in the time it takes me to pick it up and put it on again.” Levi calls Surley his “right-hand man” and even better, his “energy conservationist.” He says, “Surley allows me to conserve energy for other things like cooking dinner and going out with friends. He’s so much more than a piece of medical equipment.” Levi adds, “ Emotional support, while a benefit, is secondary or even tertiary in my perception of Surley's role.”

Levi and Surley teamed up in September of 2023. Surley is a successor to Dempsey, Levi’s first Can Do Canines dog who passed away in 2022. “I applied two months after Dempsey, but I wasn’t in a hurry,” he says. “I told them to take their time to find a dog. Some people get impatient and say, ‘Why is it taking six months?’ I say, ‘Don’t put a dog in a relationship they won’t enjoy.’”

As Can Do Canines strives to continuously improve training, some things had changed from the time Levi got Dempsey to the time he got Surley. For Levi, this meant he needed to unlearn some cue words or training techniques that Dempsey was familiar with but Surley wasn't. “It’s different and an eye opener.” For example, Dempsey understood the command, “lap” meaning to rise up on Levi’s lap for him to dress the dog to go outside. Surley didn’t know this skill, so Levi and his trainer, Jen, worked with Surley to eventually add this skill.

Levi marvels at how much Can Do Canines volunteers and staff care about the dogs and the people they serve. Even during the interval before Surley, Levi never felt forgotten thanks to regular contact from Can Do Canines about how the search for the right partner was going.

“Every day I’m thankful for him, for Can Do Canines, and for every person who had a hand in getting us to this point,” Levi says. “When you see all the people who come together, it takes your breath away.”

Levi calls it an “honor and a privilege” to have Surley. “I hold us to high standards. We’re a walking billboard for Can Do Canines. We try to set a good example and be the best team we can.”

 

Thank you to all those who made this partnership possible:
Whelping Home — Sue McLinn
Raisers — Robert Ramseier and Cariann Mathwig Ramseier, The Talamine Family
Special Thanks — Federal Correctional Institution-Waseca, University of Minnesota FETCH Program (Aylana Leck, Brooke Schultz)