What if you woke up one day and decided to single-handedly raise tens of thousands of dollars for those less fortunate? How would you go about it? Who would you help? Do you think you would enlist the help of your trusty pet dog?

There are plenty of generous people in our community who have done precisely that (with, perhaps, the exception of the dog), but when it comes to earning points for consistency and dogged (no pun intended) persistence, only a few individuals come to mind. Among that noble few is Pam Dickson of Fursman Kennels.

For 32 years this charming English woman has simultaneously worked toward three goals in the Virginia countryside: Running a top notch boarding kennel; training a few choice dogs of her own, and, in partnership with those dogs and the community she serves, raising money for charity.

Ms. Dickson has discovered that it takes a special confluence of three factors in order to accomplish all this: The perfect dog, patience and time and a generous community.

The Perfect Dog

More challenging than finding one perfect dog, one must, of course, find a succession of perfect dogs that can be trained and trusted. Ms. Dickson has had just that good fortune.

Rocky, a German Shepherd, was Dickson's first partner in charitable pursuits. When a friend's Aldie home was flooded by the Little River's overflow in the early seventies Rocky performed at a benefit on her behalf, passing a bucket and accepting cash donations for the restoration of her home. So successful was he that Dickson recognized a worthy calling and decided to pursue it.

Having trained Rocky to star in his own feature film (his acting ability could be compared to those of Rin Tin Tin), Dickson alternated his commercial pursuits with visits to hospitals and homes for mentally and emotionally challenged children, while she and Rocky raised funds at benefits.

At the time of Rocky's passing, Dickson might have called it quits had she not met an unlikely pup to carry on the legacy.

Treasure Chest was a weak, sickly pup who was severely malnourished. Another German Shepherd, he was fortunate that it was the ever patient, ever loving Dickson who found him and gave him a new life.

Together the two pursued a career path similar to Rocky's – mixing acting jobs and television appearances with charitable work. Dickson built what we would now term an agility course on her property (this long before the activity became a popular pursuit for dogs and their owners everywhere) and trained her partner to do amazing feats (jumping through flaming hoops, bounding up and down ramps and balance beams) before appreciative audiences.

Next up, Treasure Jr. had awfully big paws to fill when Dickson's beloved Treasure Chest died, but he seemed to be the dog for the job.

Like his predecessors, Treasure Jr. was perfectly trained – not only to do impressive tricks that would wow the crowds (like carrying his little basket of live bunnies and budgies, always a crowd pleaser), but also to tolerate all manner of patting and youthful appreciations of his lustrous coat.

To Dickson's absolute dismay young Treasure, after raising so much money for cancer research, got cancer himself and died last year at the shamefully young age of six.

Dickson was devastated and rightly so. She had lost not just a sweet and loyal pet but also a partner in an endeavor that achieved so much good for so many. Would she ever be lucky enough to find yet another friend and partner as reliable and true as her previous companions?

The answer came in the form of Young Rocky, a now two-year old German Shepherd hard at work and play. He is the hope for the future of Dickson's charitable initiatives.

He is handsome. He is loving, friendly and sweet. He is a decidedly strong candidate for the job.

Local citizens and Dickson fans everywhere can look forward to witnessing the happy exploits of young Rocky beginning this fall. It would have been sooner, but a leg injury set back Rocky's training schedule – and one thing Dickson has learned is that these matters cannot be rushed.

Which brings us to the second element in her plan for success.

Patience and Time

Everything Ms. Dickson has done has taken her time and her own blood, sweat and tears.

When she found the property where Fursman Kennels is now located it was not exactly the park-like setting you see now. Luxury kennels now house happy canine clients where dilapidated stalls once stood. An appropriately English style cottage also had to be completely redone.

Looking across the picturesque setting now it's hard to imagine the heaps of trash and the sorry state of things Dickson found all those years ago. Today Fursman Kennel is exactly the kind of place a dog, or a person, would love to spend a good chunk of time.

The dogs took time as well. In order to have the perfect working partner, one you could trust with a child's life, short cuts cannot be taken. Dickson has shown year after year, dog after dog, that patience and kindness in the end delivers the kind of training in a dog of which most of us only dream.

A Generous Community

So the perfect dogs meet the patient trainer and off they go to tackle their chosen task – to raise money for charities. What final element is necessary for their success? A generous and dynamic community, like the one Dickson recognized as soon as she arrived in Middleburg all those years ago.

For years Dickson's clients and friends and neighbors have all generously donated time, money and support for Dickson's charitable endeavors. She is as grateful and amazed by this as she is by the kind hearts of her dogs.

Who has benefited all these years from Dickson and her dogs' commitment – Breast Cancer Research, the Fauquier Hospital Foundation, the Shriners Hospital in Houston, local schools and nursing homes throughout the Virginia countryside, and the hundreds upon hundreds of children who have attended Dickson's Day in the Country affairs. And of course all of us lucky enough to count her among our esteemed neighbors.

Those interested in helping Pam Dickson raise funds in the memory of Treasure Jr. may send tax deductible contributions to Treasure's Cancer Fund, c/o Pam Dickson, P.O. Box 625, Middleburg, VA 20118.