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Teddy, Surfside Crisis Response Canine Who Could Not Walk, Goes Home In Lap Of Luxury

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - His bags packed and his green dinosaur toy in tow, Teddy was finally getting ready to roll out of town on Tuesday.

Scooped into the trunk of his car by his mom and dad, Teddy hit the road towards Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport as he began his trek back home to Philadelphia.

Teddy, a 6-year-old basset hound lab mix, served 3 weeks in Surfside as a crisis response canine, with only one job, putting smiles on the faces of first responders.

"If Surfside taught me anything, beauty in humanity, even in dark spots," said Sophia Barrett, Teddy's mom.

Struggling thru a dark spot of his own right now, Teddy, as it turns out, tore two hind knee ligaments and suffered a herniated disc in his back because of all of his hard work in Surfside.

Last week, Sophia did not know how they would get Teddy home.

The toll of driving or flying commercial would have been too much for this hero. Instead, he flew in the lap of luxury on a Hawker 800XP private jet.

Teddy had no way home until the team at Titan Aviation Group got wind of this pooch's predicament.

The owner of Titan donated $10,000 to send Teddy and his entourage home in style.

"I saw the pics and knew we had to help," said Dirk Vander Sterre, Titan Aviation Group owner.

The roughly $10,000 one-way trip was paid for by Vander Steere and his team.

A combination of the red carpet and Teddy's new celebrity status stirring up some dogged determination to keep moving forward.

His owners are in awe of all the support shown their four-legged pooch.

Jake Blouch, Teddy's co-owner said, "It's not really real to me, an incredible act of generosity. Thought this would never happen, but here we are."

Teddy's gofundme page got more than $24,000.

"It's small incremental steps to getting better, but we noticed so much improvement... standing on his own," said Sophia.

"He started to put weight on his hind legs, as he stepped out of the pool with a full-body shake," said Jake.

CBS4 was told Teddy will be making a full recovery.

Soon, he will be back at what he does best, wagging his tail in excitement and putting smiles on the faces of first responders at crisis scenes like Surfside.

CBS4'S Joel Waldman was told Teddy got up on his own four legs during the flight to the City of Brotherly Love.

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