Blind Golden Retriever 'Smiley' Warms Hearts as Therapy Dog

A golden retriever named “Smiley” is living up to his name as a therapy dog who brightens the days of patients and nursing home residents in the small town of Stouffville, Canada.

Smiley was born without eyes, but is still able to work as a St. John’s Ambulance service dog in Ontario. The dog’s owner, Joanne George, rescued the dog from a puppy mill, when he was about 1 or 2 years old.

“He was very scared, [the dogs] had never been out of that barn,” George recalled, adding that Smiley quickly bonded with another one of his dogs, a deaf Great Dane named Tyler.

“Tyler was so bouncy and crazy and happy go lucky and [Smiley] turned into the same dog,” George said. “He came out from underneath the tables where he was always hiding.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/blind-golden-retriever-smiley-warms-hearts-therapy-dog/story?id=29533746