Resident Battling Vertigo Seeks Service Dog

Juanita Maranda says that “I constantly feel like I’m spinning.”

Maranda, of Westborough, said she has had vertigo since January 2008, "and I don't know why.”

A “balance dog” would help her, she said.

Maranda is fundraising for $7,000 toward getting a trained service dog from Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities.

ECAD, in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., charges $8,500 for such dogs, Maranda said. Maranda said she has raised $1,500 total through her family and a donation from the Rotary Club of Westborough.

Maranda is running a fundraising effort on giveforward.com. Donations there totaled $175 as of 8 p.m. Wednesday.

"I'd hold onto the dog. The dog would be trained to pick up items. Because with vertigo, you don't want to bend over for  anything,” Maranda said.

Maranda said that "I've had all different kinds of tests" since she began experiencing vertigo.

"I'd get occasional vertigo on certain elevators if they bounced a lot. But, it wouldn't stay. It would go away,” said Maranda, who added she is "on Social Security disability for other things."

Four or five years ago, she applied for a dog at NEADS in Princeton.

"At that time, they had a two-year waiting list, and weren't taking anybody new. I currently heard they are no longer doing just balance dogs,” Maranda said.

“They'll do them if people need other things."

Maranda said she found ECAD in New York.

If she raised the $8,500, she would have to spend two weeks in Dobbs Ferry cabin there to train to work with the dog.

Maranda asked that donations by check directly to ECAD include her name in the notes space.

"They won't start looking for a dog for me until they have the bulk of the money," Maranda said.

Maranda said her current service dog, a Corgi-Sheltie mix, “can't really steady me. He's way down on the floor.”

Maranda said she has a cane, and also gets help from her mother, Francine.

"If I'm out, I'm usually holding onto her,” Maranda said.

“If I'm in a store, I have to hold onto the shopping cart. I have to hold onto something. That's why I'm doing the dog."