He’s the Teacher’s Pet Now, but Rex’s Future Will Put Him in Different Class

It probably won’t be long before Jack Heard will have to part with Rex.

“I knew from the start I would have to give him up,” said Heard, 53, an art teacher at Golden West College who acts as a foster parent to Rex, a 6-month-old golden retriever. “When it comes time to give him up, I know it’s going to be tough. . . . It’s going to be tough.” Rex is his constant shadow in the classroom, “and when I paint in my studio at home, he just sits there or curls up and waits for me.”

Although raised with dogs, “I never really had to give any of them away,” said Heard, of Fountain Valley, whose work as a classroom teacher suited him to Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit program that trains dogs to assist wheelchair-bound students as well as other disabled people and senior citizens.

Even though it will mean he will have to give up Rex, Heard said he’s going to root for the dog to complete the training and become a full-time companion for a physically disabled student. “I know if he doesn’t make it,” said Heard, “I get the first chance to adopt him. But I really want him to make it. I really do.”

Chances are that Rex will be accepted, said Jim Murray, who gives the dogs their advanced training for Canine Companions for Independence. Upwards of 90% of the dogs that make it through the puppy training stage will do well in advanced training, Murray said. And Murray knows full well the trauma Heard will go through when he has to give up the dog. “I gave one up myself,” he said. “You get that ‘hurts so good’ kind of feeling.”

In the meantime, Rex spends a lot of time in Heard’s classroom, often sauntering over to students for a pat on the head. “He’s kind of a pleasure to have around,” said student Michele Nemier of Huntington Beach.

Heard said that kind of connection with students will help Rex get through a six-month advanced training program in Rancho Santa Fe where the dog will learn to perform various tasks for students. Among those tasks will be picking up dropped objects, carrying books in a special backpack, pushing elevator buttons, turning light switches on and off and pulling a person in a wheelchair up hills.

“I just know Rex is going to be a terrific companion for some disabled student,” said Heard, “and I’m raising him with that idea in mind. He’s really a good dog.

“I guess I can get another one. . . .”

If you can believe it, Eleuterio (Ben) Padilla, 59, of Newport Beach wants to start a Liar’s Club.

Be aware, however, that he was once president of the Procrastinator’s Club and never did get around to holding any meetings.

For sure, though, “we’re going to hold our first Liar’s Club meeting on Friday, Nov. 13,” he said, “and eat some steak, drink some whisky, maybe smoke some cigars and tell some outrageous stories.”

Padilla, a Newport Beach publisher of special-interest magazines, said he’s looking for anyone who wants to join a liar’s club for good fellowship and some good stories. “We never lie to be malicious,” he said. “And that’s the truth.”

He can be reached at (714) 644-6444.

Padilla says he can be trusted. “I might have lied a little bit in my life,” he said, “but this is the truth.” A little bit?

Stephen P. Eastman, 18, of Santa Ana, will become an Eagle Scout and will receive his official charge from his grandfather, Sam Eastman of La Habra Hills, who earned his Eagle badge 60 years ago. Nice touch.

He’s called the “Rock Doc,” and it’s a fitting title.

“This is fun and that’s my relief, the way I relax,” said Dr. Howard A. Fishbein, a family practitioner in Irvine who gets together with five other part-time musicians and unloads by playing rock ‘n’ roll music at weddings, concerts and other occasions. The band recently played at the Irvine Harvest FestivaL.

Fishbein, who plays a keyboard synthesizer, said playing rock and roll “definitely is not work, but neither is my job. Playing doctor is fun too.”

The band includes singer-wife Linda Fishbein, a bass player, drummer, two guitarists and a saxophonist.

And he mixes work with play. Fishbein is the doctor on duty at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Acknowledgments--Circus owner Doris Gatti, 63, of Fullerton, named Artist of the Year by the Buena Park Art Guild on the basis of accumulating the most points in art competition. Working in oils with a preference for flowers, landscapes and animals, Gatti started painting 10 years ago.