When Sarah Kathryn was younger she told her parents she was going to be a dog until they got her one as a pet!

“When I took her to the doctor’s office she would bark” says Jeanne Frey, Sarah’s Mom.

Her parents eventually got her a small Bichon named Mikey who wasn’t very into all the hugs and snuggles she offered him.

“I was that kid who hugged on him relentlessly and he did not love me..so fast forward to Alice Eloise who is the best thing that’s ever happened to me and my best friend in the whole world” Sarah Kathryn says.

It wasn’t until Alice Eloise came into her life that she knew she found something very special in her life and this pup didn’t mind all the hugs she could get!

“It was like Christmas morning magic, that’s the only way I know how to describe it. She was just so sweet and she tumbled into my lap.  She is as silly as they come, as loving as they come and as soon as I met her it felt so right,” Sarah Kathryn says.

Double doodle Alice Eloise is more than just Sarah Kathryn’s BFF, she’s her service dog.

“A double doodle has one parent who is a golden doodle and the other parent is a labradoodle & they were initially bred for service work,” Sarah Kathryn says.

Sarah Kathryn’s journey to her silly service dog as she calls her began when she was 12 years old. A simple ankle sprain turned into a rare diagnosis and then a diagnosis of HLH.

”HLH is very rare and it’s typically found in babies, I was diagnosed when I was 19,” says Sarah Kathryn

After several other symptoms and losing function in her arms, she decided a service dog like Alice Eloise might not be what the doctor ordered but it’s exactly what she needed.

“Puppy love is the most healing medicine there is, it can do wonders,” Sarah Kathryn says.

Early on in her illness, Sarah Kathryn said she made a decision, “I decided I would rather be a happy then sad, real ground breaking I know…it got me thinking that you can’t help the things that happen to you but you can do your best to how you react to them.”

She even wrote a children’s book about that idea called: Alice Eloise’s Silver Linings, the Story of a Silly Service Dog.

“Sometimes its something very small, some days it might not be anything really big but still noticing those little things can make such a difference. But don’t give up because you can miss out on those bright silver linings if you do,” Sarah Kathryn says.

The book’s message is simple, there’s always a reason to smile if you look for the positive in life.

“Basically to us that means that whenever you are going through a difficult time or you are facing a challenge, realizing that there’s always a reason to smile you just have to look for those silver linings,” she says.

Service dog Alice Eloise will always be Sarah Kathryn’s silver lining and these two besties hope their new book will do the same for readers.

She says, “My life has not been what I planned. I had big dreams, I wanted to be a vet, I wanted to be a missionary, I wanted to go to Africa and rehab lions & none of those turned out the way I thought but I also have some really beautiful things that I’m really thankful for…so whenever people look at our journey that’s what I want them to see. If you search out to see the beauty in things, you’ll find it.”

You can find her book at www.AliceEloise.com it’s also in Amazon.