This Dog Is The Latest Addition To The Home Depot Staff, And The Customers Couldn't Be Happier

"She went from so scared and so sad to the happiest dog"

Damjan

• Published in Animal Stories
• August 5, 2021

When Heaven was adopted by Jackie Rakers, she was anxious and scared of just about everything. The shabby rescue arrived from Kentucky River Regional Animal Shelter. Her life before being rescued was hard.

That made her anxious around strangers and afraid of loud noises. Her mom was thinking about ways to help her get comfortable around people, and she found the best way to do it— by taking her to the Home Depot.

"The Home Depot runs started as a way to help her with her fears," Rakers says. "She was nervous about new places and new sounds, so we'd go for five minutes, and she'd get all the treats. Then we started going longer and longer and exposing her to more and more things within the store."

The store is enormous and dog friendly, so It was the perfect place for Heaven to socialize and start coming out of her shell. She was so good that the employees loved her and gave her own employee overall.

When she sees her mom taking out the apron, Heaven knows she’s going to her favorite place.

“I keep it in the car, so we are always ready,” Rakers says. “As soon as she can tell we enter the parking lot, she just quivers until I put the apron on her and then takes off towards ‘work.’”

“She walks around like she owns the place,” Heaven’s mom added.

Heaven is always welcome in the local Home Depot, and the whole staff knows her by name. They love hanging out together, and there's even a photo of her in the staff break room.

Even though she is not an official employee, she offers excellent customer service when visiting her favorite store.

"She walks around minding her own business and then suddenly insists on meeting someone," Rakers said. "She just sits and stares. They always end up saying how they needed that pick-me-up. It's like she has a sense of who needs to be shown they are loved that day — and one of her favorite places to do that is Home Depot!"

Heaven adores running errands with Rakers, and everywhere they go, she somehow manages to find someone who needs cheering up.

"She was scared of everything, but with a lot of training and patience, she learned to trust, and now it's like she pays it forward," Heaven's mom says. "She finds who needs her and gives them that smile and a cuddle."

The only "drawback" of these Home Depot runs is that every visit makes Rakers come up with some new home improvement project. But seeing Heaven happy is totally worth it.

"She's the perfect example of what happens when you meet someone where they are at and love unconditionally," she says. "She went from so scared and so sad to the happiest dog."

Damjan