In 2023, CH2 readers met Martina, a 120-pound Great Pyrenees who had acquired quite a following. Her friends and followers know her fondly as “Marti, the therapy dog.” She and her owner/handler/mom Jennifer Rulli visit places like Pockets Full of Sunshine, Hospice Care of the Lowcountry, local hospitals, and several assisted living facilities in Beaufort County where Marti’s exceptional temperament, her intuitive communication skills, and her ability to make people smile has made her a very popular guest.
Now, with the help her mom, Martina has published her first book.
Jennifer Rulli is photographed at her home with Martina after a day of visiting local retirement homes, bringing joy and big dog hugs to the residents.
Rulli and Marti have been providing therapy for more than four years. During that time, Rulli has handed out Marti’s therapy dog cards to lots of people. On the back of the card recipients learn a little bit of Marti’s unique back story.
“People have always been fascinated with that tiny little paragraph of how Martina was found,” Rulli said. “That gave me the idea that Martina should tell her story in a book.”
Rulli began to write down everything that happened to Marti, from the day when Rulli’s friend found 10-month-old Marti in the Indiana snow, to her time at the shelter, how she got to Hilton Head Island, and her amazing passage from shelter dog to therapy dog. Once it was on paper, Rulli went online and found an illustrator and publisher who wanted to work with her. Eight months later, Martina’s Purpose was in print.
In the book, readers learn that when she was still a young dog, Marti was found tangled up and trapped in a barbed wire fence during a snowstorm. Miraculously, a friend of Rulli’s, who was the president of a dog shelter in Indiana, drove past the fence where Marti was trapped and saw her – even though the white of her fur made her almost invisible in the snowbank.
A resident at Indigo Pines gives Martina a big hug and both enjoy the interaction.
“Marti was exhausted from her struggles to get free, hungry, very cold, and visibly had been neglected wherever she came from,” Rulli said. “I met her on the third day and instantly fell in love because I already had two half-Great Pyrenees sisters who were born in the rescue.” Rulli had been a volunteer for the rescue for 10 years after adopting the first dog.
“I took Marti home for sleepovers multiple times on the weekends,” Rulli said. “I took her to get groomed. I was going to the shelter every day to help clean kennels, so I spent a lot of time with her.”
When COVID hit, because things were so much worse in Indiana, Rulli’s husband insisted the family go to Hilton Head. Meanwhile, Rulli couldn’t stop thinking of Marti. She learned that Marti’s best friend and roommate at the rescue had been adopted and that Marti had become very depressed and withdrawn.
Offering love and affection to her friends with special needs is what Marti does, sometimes up to six days a week.
In April 2020, the rescue president reached out to Rulli to see if she would be willing to foster Marti until she could get back to normal. “Is there any way you can get Martina down to Hilton Head? She’s not eating, she’s not playing, she’s miserable.”
Martina arrived in Hilton Head on May 19, 2020. Her stay was intended to be a foster situation, according to what Rulli’s husband was told.
“My husband was furious when he found out I’d agreed to foster Marti because I didn’t tell him about it until she was enroute,” Rulli said. “She arrived on his birthday! I promised to find her a home down here in Hilton Head. Then, when my birthday rolled around in August, he told me we could adopt her. It was the best birthday present!”
Martina’s Purpose is available at MiraSol Health and Pockets Full of Sunshine. Contact information is listed at the end of the article.
Rulli began pet therapy with Marti at the suggestion of her sister, who recognized the dog’s exceptional temperament. Her sister recommended that she bring Marti to Pockets Full of Sunshine, and when her family saw how great she was with the Rays (the clients) at Pockets, Rulli’s dad recommended that she reach out to The Preston Health Center at The Cypress of Hilton Head, where her grandmother was a resident 40 years prior. Eventually, they branched out to The Pines and to The Seabrook as well. From there they were invited to join Hospice Care of the Lowcountry (now Mirasol Health). .
“Marti had to get her Canine Good Citizen certification for hospice work, which was no problem because we’d already been honing those skills for two years,” Rulli said. “Then, after COVID, the hospital opened up their therapy dog program, and we were invited there.”
Marti next had to obtain her Alliance of Therapy Dogs certification, which was also easy because she was already accustomed to hospital equipment, walkers, and other equipment from working in the nursing homes. The only real test was ensuring that Marti could maintain her composure and calm demeanor at the variety of venues where she was involved.
To qualify as a therapy dog, the dog must be at least one year old and demonstrate mastery of 10 specific tasks, which are extremely important when any therapy dog is in public. For example, a dog who can’t “leave it” on cue or interact with children in a friendly manner will not succeed. Marti passed all 10 tasks with flying colors.
The tasks are:
• Accepting a friendly stranger: Dog will allow a friendly stranger to approach it and speak to the handler in a natural, everyday situation.
• Sitting politely for petting: Dog will allow a friendly stranger to touch it while it is out with its handler.
• Appearance and grooming: Dog will welcome being groomed and examined and will permit someone, such as a veterinarian, groomer, or friend of the owner, to do so. It also demonstrates the owner’s care, concern, and sense of responsibility.
• Going out for a walk (walking on a loose lead): Handler is in control of the dog when the dog is walking on a leash.
• Walking through a crowd: Dog can move about politely in pedestrian traffic and is under control when on a leash in public.
• “Sit” and “down” on cue and stay in place: Dog has training, will respond to the handler’s cues and will remain in place (sit or down position, whichever the handler prefers).
• Coming when called: Dog will come when called by the handler.
• Reaction to another dog: Dog can behave politely around other dogs.
• Reaction to distraction: Dog is always confident when faced with common distracting situations.
• Supervised separation: Dog can be left with a trusted person, if necessary, and will maintain training and good manners.
“I noticed when I initially met Marti, as traumatized as she was, that she was very calm, even with all that she’d been through,” Rulli said. “A calm demeanor is the primary trait you want to see in a therapy dog.”
Offering love and affection to her friends with special needs is what Marti does to this day, sometimes up to six days a week. Rulli and Marti also have a few private clients whom they visit at home and give them special one-on-one time.
“People ask, ‘Does she ever get excited? Does she ever play and run and have fun like a dog?’ And she does,” Rulli said. “She has several doggy friends that she meets up with on the beach to run and romp and play. She’s not constantly on duty.”
But she is always on the lookout for someone who may need a new friend. Once when they were out walking on the beach, Rulli and Marti encountered a group of people sitting in their beach chairs enjoying the sand and sunshine. One of them was in a beach wheelchair.
“Of course, out of the 10 people sitting there, Marti approached the person in the wheelchair,” Rulli said. “She definitely has the knack and know-how to lift spirits and make people feel special and loved.”
In Martina’s Purpose, Marti shares with readers that even as a young dog tangled in a “mean old fence” and hidden by the snow, she never gave up. She knew she had a bigger purpose in life.
“My story is about how I was able to turn my life around from trauma with the help of several ‘hoo-mans’, who are the best,” Marti shares in her book. “They showed me love and warmth, which is something we all long for. Now I can pay forward the kindness that was shown to me on that cold winter day.”
To get a copy of Martina’s Purpose, visit MiraSol Health via web at https://loom.ly/c6NpjUI or visit Pockets Full of Sunshine at pocketsfullofsun.org. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the organizations where the book is purchased.