Cox doggedly tries to keep up with demand for carts for paralyzed animals

SARASOTA – John Cox didn’t expect his retirement to go to the dogs.

One-hundred-five, to be exact, along with four goats, four cats, a duck and a goose.

Last year in May, the 57-year-old retired deputy for the Sarasota County Sherriff’s Office, his goal to buy carts for dogs that had been injured or paralyzed, started the not-for-profit RUCK9 (Rescuing Uniquely Created K9s). Cox first learned the need for these carts while visiting Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue in Tehachapi, Calif. There he saw dogs born without limbs, ones that had them amputated, or old dogs that had lost their back end.

Cox held a fundraiser that May during which he walked with a 30-pound rucksack strapped to his back around Nathan Benderson Park and The Mall at University Town Center a distance of 5.59 miles, ending it after the-then 56-year-old had completed 56 miles.

The first dog Cox outfitted with a cart was Sandler, a paralyzed 12 1/2-year-old dog, he saw at Sarasota’s Satchel’s Last Resort Rescue and Sanctuary. Sandler eventually got his cart, the larger ones costing upwards of $700.

Sandler, and a whole bunch more. After a story on Cox’s mission ran in the Herald-Tribune last year, he began getting swamped with requests for carts. One man called from Europe. A husband and wife from Palmetto, both retired teachers, were so moved by what Cox was doing, they sent him a check for $1,000.

“This thing is going crazy,” said Cox, who doesn’t make the carts, but secures them from a company. He pays for shipping and any upgrades to the carts, and any money raised or donated is put back into the company.

“At year one, I was at 65 (dogs),” Cox said. “Not even four months later, I’m at (105).

There are some days I’m ordering eight and nine. People are reaching out left and right.” On Tuesday, Cox will send a cart to India for a dog named Diva.

“I never turn anybody down,” Cox said. “I care about the dogs. For all the animals, if it’s needed, I will provide it. My motto is, If it’s for a day, a week, a month, or a year. My wife says I need an assistant. I am on the phone constantly, making calls, ordering, tracking. It’s insane. I am very busy. I had no clue how much of a need it was going to be.”