Trails & Tails with Honor

I really had think about this blog and whether or not to write it because it’s so near and dear to my heart… You see a while back my mom and I were always going to the doctors for her, I knew something was not right because she always seemed to be tired and in so much pain. What I could not understand is how she was able to keep going like she was and always with a smile? There came this one day when we were in the doctor’s office and I could tell things were off with my mom so I made sure she kept patting me. I think it took the stress off us both… Finally the doctor came in and started to tell her so much stuff and then this word came out of the doctor’s mouth that made my mom stiffen and go quite “Cancer”. I really had no idea what that meant I just knew that my mom needed me… We got in the car and I placed my head on her shoulder and she began to cry, from that moment things seemed to change everyone in my family was talking about this thing called surgery. I had never heard that word before and looked to my mom for understanding… She told me that it would make her better and I could understand, because that’s all I wanted for her. The day finally came and we all got into the car (my mom, Marianne (mom #2)) and I headed to the hospital. Even though when we got there my mom tried to put on a brave face I could tell she had fear about the day. When we got in the room these people came in and started to put the strange things all over my mom they would make loud noises. So with that I had to keep checking on her to make sure she was alright and to let her know I was there… Marianne came in the room with this big chair for me and placed it right beside my mom’s bed. I climbed into   it and stayed there right beside her till these women came in and took her away. Marianne told me she would be back soon… we waited there for what seemed like forever! Then it happened I caught the smell of her in the air… I started to bark I to let everyone know she was back. We went back to see her she was ok but not herself, that was ok I was with her we were a pack again. After that we went home and I made sure never to leave her side. She is doing better these days and I love that!! You see the lesson we should all learn from this is… Nothing is stronger than love!

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Is that a service dog?? Why do you have one??My mom and I hear that on an everyday basis but there are some times when I see my mom get a little withdrawn when she is asked over and over again why she needs me?  I often wish I could tell her that everyone needs someone no matter if they have two legs or four and we all forget that sometimes…  I never understand why I am such a big deal…  I mean because I wear a vest yes I get to go everywhere with my mom but the way I see it all of my dog brothers and sisters are in their own way service dogs. Why else would we be called man’s best friend… How often do humans forget who greets them at the front door with such happiness wanting nothing more than to make your bad day better …. I have seen a human crying with such pain in their heart and with a gentle  lick the pain starts to fade and the tears turn into a smile now that is power.  I am so proud to put on my vest everyday to know that I have made my mom’s life easier and the bond we have for each other is so strong…  I guess why I wanted to write this blog is so that maybe all the Humans out there realize that no matter if your four legged friend wears a vest or not we are all doing our Humans proud each and every day. … Lesson of the day is treat all as you wish to be treated!!

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As you all know I am a Service dog and I get to go everywhere with my mom. I truly enjoy that because I get to see a lot of new things and Humans… Most everywhere we go together I am excepted there there are times where I am not and that is so wrong. I wish I could tell those places that "don’t you know I am here because my mom needs me"!! There is one place we go to all the time and never once have we had a problem there in fact the owners John and Debra love me so much there I get cookies as soon as I walk through the door. The place I am talking about is Zumes Coffee House in Charlestown MA… My mom and I will sit with our friends for hours in there, my mom talking to her friends and me well I will be laying down doing a ton of people watching it’s so much fun and the best part is they don’t even care if I take a little nap. John often refers to me as his girl friend I so love to see him too, Debra tells me all the time I am such a sweet girl. I am telling you this place is great you often will find me and my mom there every week day morning… My mom tells me there use to be a show called Cheers and when a guy would walk in they would shout out his name I feel the same way as soon as I walk in there people I have never seen before tell me good morning and offer me a pat and its ok as long as my tell me to say hi first. Everyone in Zumes really respects me and my mom and it’s a good feeling. Both John and Debra also have big supporters of Stiggy’s Dogs and that means so much to me because if more Humans acted like them then service dogs and their handlers would have the support that they need going into business. So the lesson of today is ….. Zumes anyone??

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A while back my mom was cooking dinner she called it a boiled dinner….I honestly did not care what it was called I just knew it smelled so GOOD!! I laid by the stove while it cooked, watching my mom stir the pot (that’s this big metal water bowl that humans cook with)… It finally came time for it to be done. My mom started taking the veggies out and let me tell you those are paws down nasty… Then I saw it the biggest bone even it even still had meat on it!! My mom called it a Ham I wanted to call it dinner… I had to think of a way to get that ham but how?? I knew that mom would not let me have any so how? Then it came to me… Or should I say a knock on the door came, my mom headed out the door … I knew that the rest of my family was out as well so now was my chance. I had to find a way on the counter because there was no telling how long they would be out… With all my might I jumped on the counter and before I knew it I was devouring this massive piece of meat (sooo good)… I had no clue how much I had eaten but before I knew it I hit bone…”I should stop” I thought but everything in my body told me to keep going. With another large chunk in my mouth I looked down there was NO MORE!!! What was I going to do now I never meant to eat it all??  Then I heard it my mom coming to the door… Jumping down I ran to meet her at the door maybe she would not have thought it was me if I did that. Everything was going well then I heard her HONOR!!!! I knew she had found that she was missing dinner…I really wish I could have told her it’s not all gone mom I left the veggies but somehow I don’t think even that would have helped. She kept telling me that she could not even believe that I had just ate a 9 pound ham and how now I was going to be sick… Honestly at the time I could not get over it as well and I really was not feeling sick mostly I was just feeling full. My mom left and ran to the store to go get another ham for dinner I had to stay home because for some reason I could not stop drinking water…  Later that night after my mom and the rest of my family finished cleaning up it hit me I was feeling so bad and on top of not being able to not stop drinking water I had to keep going outside (I bet you can all understand what I was doing out there so I don’t have to really explain)… Again my mom ran to the store and got me so canned pumpkin she told me it would really help me and boy did it. Well the lesson of that day there had to be "never bite off more than you can chew"…

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After meeting my Veteran who I now call my mom...We started training and it was going so well I could tell by the way she handled my leash she cared about me. Even though her and I had not bonded fully yet I was working for her and she was doing the same for me....after a training session Jen told us we were going to a hotel to work on our bonding. I had no clue what that meant but I noticed my mom starting to pack up things and she looked so worried...I was really confused to what was going on was she leaving me??? After everything was packed up my mom told me it was time to go "I was going too"!!! I was so excited to be going with her and my black fluffy tail would not stop going (that happens to me when I get excited, I really never got why Humans butts don’t do the same thing)... Once we got into this place called a hotel it was a ton of new smells and so many new faces. I noticed my mom had a different smell as well it was a smell of fear... In a way I was scared to because I had never had to depend on her and now I would have to ask her for everything... Wow we both had so much to learn about each other. Well the first night in the hotel went as well as we could ask for.  Mom played with me and took me for nice long walks it was great to see her relax as the night went on...The next morning would prove to be the changing point in us as a team and in bonding... Mom put my vest on to let everyone know I was working and we headed down to the big open room with lots of people my mom called it the lobby, we needed to go there so my could get some coffee it’s a drink that looks like dirty water but she loves it..."I have tried it and its alright". Back to my story we were down there and my mom had taking me over to a table away from everything and to told me to wait there for her so I laid down but I made sure I could see her that way she knew she was not alone... All of a sudden this loud women came out of no wear and started yelling at me I thought she was barking so I started to try and talk with her by barking back that did not work cause we could not understand each other (woof, woof)... My mom came over to me and told me enough and so I stopped barking and went back to watching her. Then I noticed another women walking very fast up to my mom and I knew that was not allowed because that could really upset my mom’s PTSD so I broke from where I was and ran in front of the women so that I was in the middle of them. This woman told my mom that she could not have me by the food and that we would have to leave... I really wish she understood barking because I would have told her I was never by the food... My mom got really quite and took her food without saying anything and through everything away she put her head down and again I smelt fear...we went back to the room my mom went to the bed and began to cry and I knew something was wrong I wanted to help her snap out of it like I was trained to do... I started to pull out my toys and pushing them at her but with no change so then I just laid beside her and licked her tears from her face. From that moment we both knew we had each other to count on our bonding was complete!! So lesson from that day was........true love can be found!

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During the summer my family and I went to the beach. If there is one thing you all need to know about me, other than I am a top notch Service Dog is that I LOVE the water. My mom told me that we could swimming so I got wicked excited...But I could not help but notice that there were these strange looking things all around the beach. Let me help you understand what I am talking about.... The BIRDS they were so big and so loud that no dog could resist them. I kept trying to chase them down to play but they kept flying into the water... I finally had enough. So while I was swimming I noticed this one had landed in the water... I took off swimming out to the bird wih all of my might. As I kept going I did realize how far I had gone out... my only thought was to get that bird. All of a sudden I heard my mom yelling for me "HONOR" and as I turned around I saw my mom swimming to me because we were so far out... My mom and I made the long swim in together all the while I was thinking darn you BIRD.  When I got back on land I started to feel a pain in my butt...I could not hold my tail up and I started to cry. My family called it a day and we went home... as the day went on the pain got sooo much worse. My mom thought I had gotten sand in my butt the truth was I had pulled my butt muscle. Because I have no way of speaking to her I could not let her know what was wrong. She took me to the doggie ER where the not so nice doctor had to put something in my butt he said it was for my temp whatever that means. Come to find out I was right I had pulled my butt muscle the doctor called it swimmers tail I called it a pain in the butt...They sent me home with pain meds (thats a whole other blog).... So the lesson of the the day is ....DARN BIRDS!!!

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