Dandy, beloved suburban safety dog, dies
To schools around the suburbs and to her handler, Glenn VandeBonCoeur, Dandy was more than a drug-sniffing dog — she was a friend, a hard worker and a girl with quite a personality.
“Her name fit her well, she was truly a Dandy,” said VandeBonCoeur of Winfield. “She loved to work, but she loved people too.”
Dandy, one of the first safety dogs in the state, was put to sleep last week after a tumor on her heart was detected, but her legacy and her personality will long be remembered at the schools where she searched for drugs, counseled students and spent her life.
Dandy was trained in Texas through Interquest Detection Canines and came to VandeBonCoeur in 2003 as he was opening the private dog security company's Chicago office.
Prospect High School in Mount Prospect became the first public school to work with Interquest, looking for more of a relationship with a safety dog than the experience of bringing police drug dogs into the school, said Dean of Students Patti Tedaldi Monti.
“We're not trying to scare kids and make it a secret,” she said. “We want our kids to know how strongly we feel about not having drugs in the building.”
Dandy would visit Prospect several times a month, inspecting the parking lot and locker rooms for drugs, but also giving classroom presentations on animal behavior, how drug dogs work and more.
“They loved her; she became a part of our culture,” Monti said.
Dandy traveled to schools around the Chicago area, spending time in special education classrooms, having journalism students write articles about her, going to football games and proms at schools from Libertyville to Bourbonnais.
Although Dandy retired from her sniffing work a year ago, she kept going to schools with VandeBonCoeur's newer dog, Goldie, and helping in other ways, such as in the social work department.
“Kids will tell a dog something they won't tell a parent or a therapist,” Monti said. “She had a really calming effect on them. There's no judgment — if you're having a bad day, a dog doesn't pass judgment on you.”
Dandy and her outgoing personality were well-known at Prospect and other high schools where she walked like she owned the halls, her owner said.
“When she walked down the hall, her paws and tail were held high,” he said. “She was the queen of the castle, sashaying down the hallways.”
At a prom assembly about not drinking and driving, the students would clap for the speaker and Dandy thought the applause was for her, Monti said. Relishing in the spotlight, she would spin around and do a little dance, bringing laughter to a typically serious event.
“She was quite a show girl, quite a personality,” Monti said.
VandeBonCoeur said the amount of support since Dandy's death has been a bit overwhelming, but that he has been happy to see how many other people loved her as well.
“The outpouring from them has set me back on my heels a little bit,” he said.
Students at Prospect High School are raising money to donate to the Buddy Foundation in Dandy's memory.
“There was something different abut her,” Monti said. “I know everyone says that about their dog, but she was just unbelievable.”