Rowdy has been through a lot in his life, but he loves all the attention he receives because of his unusual markings. People always want to stop and given him pets so he adores it! His mom, Niki Umbenhower says she gets a kick out of the attention he receives too. She’s channelling all the positive attention to help raise awareness for vitiligo, with Rowdy participating as a representative for the American Vitiligo Research Foundation. The sweet dog is teaching children about the skin condition and that it’s OK to be different.
One child he met is Carter Blanchard, an 8-year-old boy with vitiligo. He hated the way he looked until he met Rowdy.
“His face was transforming very quickly,” said his mom Stephanie Adcock. “The first thing he’d tell me when he got in the car is that he hated his face and hated the way he looked.”
Carter was so excited to meet Rowdy and ever since meeting him, Carter has been way more confident and has learned to embrace his uniqueness.
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