mrs. beasley

ElizabethBeck did not want a dog. But she kept seeing pictures of one on Facebook, a shaggy dog with a cute face. The dog looked like Benji, and it looked so sad. “She was still there after a week, and I thought, ‘Oh, god, I have to go get her,’ ” Beck says. Turns out the dog, Mrs.Beasley, had belonged to someone previously. She knew all the important commands: sit, stay, down, come. So Beck tried teaching her other tricks, such as “bang,” where she holds her fingers like a gun and the dog is supposed to play dead. “It took me about five minutes to teach her that,” Beck says. SinceMrs.Beasley is so smart, Beck took her for certification through Therapy Dogs Inc. Now the two volunteer with hospice patients at the Veterans Administration hospital.They also visit a women’s shelter and the Dallas Advocacy Center, where Mrs.Beasley helps calm and encourage abused kids.