Puppy with hydrocephalus learning to help kids with same condition

When Frank, a Chihuahua-dachshund mix with an abnormally large head, was eight weeks old, he suffered a seizure.

He has hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain."

His condition made him more likely to be euthanized — his five siblings had already been adopted — so the Richmond Animal League, a no-kill shelter in Virginia, took him in and immediately placed the puppy in the care of foster parents Toni and Kevin Mark, hoping that someone would soon offer a permanent home to the special-needs pet.

Someone did: Stacey Metz, an administrative assistant in the Department of Neurosurgery at Virginia Commonwealth University, often works with children and adults with Frank's condition.

"They think they’re the only ones. It didn’t happen to any of their friends," Metz told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "It's always nice to know they can relate."

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Frank, now nine months old, started training to become a therapy dog soon after Metz adopted him last summer.

"His foster family knew that this was the life for Frank — that he was destined to be a little dog with a big impact," Amy McCracken, executive director at Richmond Animal League, wrote of Frank’s adoption.

"Seeing Frank with his two families the night of his adoption broke our hearts wide-opened [sic]. Frank is the only one dry-eyed in the pictures, as if he knew he was on to big adventures where he could repay his foster family for giving him the chance to be found — and loved — by the perfect family."

And while Frank won't be fully certified as a therapy dog for about a year, he's already getting some 'on-the-job experience,' meeting hydrocephalus parents at their homes or at the Richmond Animal League.

This month, Frank befriended a toddler named Dylan Lipton-Lesser, who developed hydrocephalus while fighting a severe infection shortly after birth. The two-year-old boy's condition has stabilized in recent months, with his development "shooting through the roof," his mother, India Lipton, told TODAY.

"These two boys — a toddler and a puppy — come on, it's just too much," Lipton said. "Dylan is on his way to walking now...I can just see him and Frank running when Dylan is strong enough. In the meantime, they'll have lots of fun crawling around together!"