Ember Has Retired

Okay, so it's time that I posted about this.

Ember officially retired from active duty service dog work as of October 30th. She actually stayed with Mike in New Jersey.

She is living it up and getting a chance to just laze around and be a normal dog again. She was a little confused at first and still wants things to do, which isn't surprising as brilliant as she is.

It wasn't originally planned that she was going to stay. She's getting older and the one damaged toe is more tender with arthritis acting up. I knew it was bothering her, but she worked despite that. It was starting to effect certain mobility support tasks she preforms, which is why I got Journey and started training him to take her place. Just before we left for NJ, Journey had fully learned the primary task I need them for and was preforming it anywhere I asked 95% of the time, which is a huge milestone.

When it got closer for the original time for us to fly back, Mike had made comments about how much he'd missed Ember and missed having a normal dog  that behaved ( because his family's dogs don't ). I knew Journey would be taking over eventually, and we're at a stage where I really need to work him more and develop focus and other skills that will help him as a working dog. The timing was right and it meant Ember could keep Mike company. So it sort of just happened. I took her out one last time to work in vest, and we got some pictures and then she became a normal dog again.

She loves it up there and Mike has his dog back. :)

The ironic and amusing yet bad thing that happened afterwards, is that Mike's mother fell last week and broke her foot. She's in an immobilizing boot/leg thing and on crutches till further notice. Mike was working when it happened and couldn't leave his desk, but Ember heard it and bolted downstairs and refused to leave his mother's side till they took her to the ER and Ember couldn't go.

Long story short, she's okay but in pain and can't do much. She's been having a hard time getting around on the crutches. Their two dogs have tripped her and made her fall again or just generally gotten in the way and jumped on top of her or her hurt foot. Meanwhile Ember has done exactly as she was trained to do, and has done nothing but try and help in any and every way her doggy brain can figure out how to.

Mike's mother sent this to me earlier this week:

"Thank you for the birthday card & wishes for flowers, but most of all Thanks for Ember she is amazing, as you know I broke my foot urgh!, Ember has been by my side ever since, she has picked up & carried more thing for me than I can count she is so cute tries to hold me up when I wobble around she TRUELY is AMAZING"


I had to laugh, because I know how sensitive Ember is. She was born to comfort and help. She'd pick up on other people all the time when we were out in public. It's the reason I originally wanted to do therapy dog stuff with her before my medical stuff got weird and she became a service dog instead. I got a giggle out of the mental imagery of her trying to do the body pressing and bracing tasks to help with hobbling on crutches.

I'm not sure they realized originally just how much Ember was helping me with when I desperately needed it the most. I was fairly okay for the most part while I was in NJ, so I wasn't having to ask her or Journey to do half the things they normally do. So they didn't see everything she is capable of.

Now his mother is experiencing first hand what a trained service dog can do to help someone.

It's amazing what a difference the dog retrieving an item you can't easily reach makes, when you can hardly move and would otherwise struggle and risk hurting yourself more just trying to do something as silly as picking something up off the floor. Especially when it is multiple things, multiple times a day.

Ember knows her job!  She just doesn't understand she's supposed to be retired now! She loves working and helping too much!  Once an assistance dog, always an assistance dog.

NJ Trip Recap

Thursday before we left we went shopping to get a few last minute items for the trip. Journey went with me and was beyond amazing. On the way to check out a box of ziplocks fell from the cart and Journey picked them up for me.

At the checkout the cashier dropped a pack clean wipes and I asked him to get them and he looked at me, and I laughed and called him a jerk for not picking it up, as I turned to get something else from the cart. The cashier laughed and said that as soon as I said that, he turned around and picked it up. When I turned back he held it for me and got lots of praise.



The trip to JFK in NY went very smoothly. Neither of the dogs were very phased by any of it. Getting through security was pretty painless. I let them know the dogs had metal on their collars and vests and would set off the detector, which they did. They did a physical search and we waited for stuff to go through the x-ray. One of the security people was afraid of dogs, and she was staying far back as she could laughing the whole time. She said "They're beautiful but I am terrified of 'em!" Which the other security people thought was hilarious.

Waiting at the gate we had lots of people curious about the dogs being there. We were among the first to board and were in the first row. Got the dogs settled and got comfy, had a brief delay before we took off. Only time the dogs were remotely concerned was during takeoff and landing, but that was more because of the incline and angle change when the "floor tilted" even though we were just sitting still. They quickly relaxed and were perfect during the entire flight. Once we landed at JFK, we got a ton of compliments from everyone as they departed the plane, saying how calm and amazingly well behaved and quiet they'd been for their first flight, even for  working dogs.


While there, I had a chance to see some good friends I hadn't seen in years. Went out to Long Island to see Naryu and had sushi and ice creams and visited. Then headed back across the island to meet up with my friend Sherry and her husband and visited and did a lot of catching up. I got a chance to give her a gift I had been waiting a long time to give; a painting of her beloved dog who had passed away many years ago.

Back when I did a commission for her of her mother's dog, I had asked for an image of hers too. She had totally forgotten about it and got all teary eyed when she realized what it was.  After that, we went to another part of Long Island to meet with my friend Sharon and her guy. It was a blast catching up with them because they are a lot like Mike and I, and we all used to work together. We had dinner and sat and talked. During the visit I learned a few new photography tricks for low light situations which made me happy squeeee. I really wish we would have had longer to visit with everyone, and it wasn't all crammed into one day.

The following day we went into NJ metro area down by the river, to visit with my friend Jen, who kept Ash ( the cat she was fostering for me ) when we left New York. It was so wonderful to see her again, and nice to meet her boyfriend, who was really nice. I brought Ash a plethora of toys and good catnip. She was delighted in the way only Ash can be delighted and she wallered and did silly things. I gave her tons of love ( as much as she'd tolerate, she's a one person cat ). She's looking great and the love between her and Jen is very obvious. I really wish we would have had more time and not been so far away driving wise so we could have visited multiple times.

During the visit we had a chance to go to the winery that makes Carroll's Mead or the Renn Faire. I was only originally going to buy two bottles ( as that's all I thought I could safely make it home with in luggage ), but thanks to change in travel plans I lucked out and got a whole case of honey heaven. I'm not a drinker by any means, but that stuff is soooooo good and so wonderful to cook with.


A few things happened during the trip that made things a bit meh, but overall everything was good. We had a great time and it was nice to see everyone up there, most of all getting to spend time with Mike.  I brought him his birthday gift, and at the same time surprised his mother and step father and little brother with gifts of their own. I painted portraits of their dogs Starr and CJ, who passed away a few years ago from old age. They had those dogs as long as Mike and I have been together, they were both awesome. I wanted to give the in-laws something nice to remember them by, and they were very touched by the paintings.  His little brother got an Oriental Dragon figure and some goodies to play and bond with his cat, and later I got him a Grumpy Cat stuffed figure. Because, Grumpy Cat!

I was originally only supposed to be in NJ for 2 weeks. Unfortunately what ended up happening is Mike getting forced from part-time to full time on very little notice and his entire shift changed, including days off. When we planned the trip, he was only part time and expected to stay that way till after I went home.  Needless to say, come time for me to return, we had only had 4 total days to spend together that he hadn't been working. Everything worked out by my family wishing me to have more time to spend with him, and my aunt was okay watching the cats longer. So we changed my return flight and I ended up staying through till the end of the month.  Originally I was supposed to fly home, but health concerns determined otherwise. So instead, I had to cancel the flight and book a rental car to drive home.  There was some mild drama with the car rental, but that was overcome.

The drive home wasn't bad at all. I found nice hotels along the way where people were very nice, including staying at one in Roanoke/Salem Virginia. I couldn't help giggling at the names despite them not being related to either.  About halfway through we started to hit some inclement weather. We found out that a winter blast storm was coming down fast and had we changed anything about the travel, we would have gotten stuck in icy and possibly snow conditions. Somehow we managed to stay juuust ahead of the storm front and got far enough south of the effected area just in time to where it was too warm to freeze by nightfall.

It was really nice to finally get back to New Orleans. The cats were surprised at first, then elated and extra cuddly. They got lots of love and treats.

I really enjoyed the trip. and now that I have a jetBlue credit I have to use within a year, I am looking forward to a chance to go back very soon!

SD Rant

While at a local Petco today with Journey, standing near the checkout I overhear a man registering his puppy for classes. He asks the trainer "how much does it cost to make them a service dog?" nodding toward me and Journey. A few minutes before I had been chatting with the trainer since we have been going by there since Journey was a small pup and he was wondering how his training was going. The trainer awkwardly tries to explain to the man what classes they do offer, but not answering the question directly and seemed like he was in a bind. The guy started to try and question it, so I spoke up.

"You can't just make any dog a service dog. The dog has to be specially trained to help with a disability. You have to have a disability".

The trainer agreed and mentioned a few examples like a mobility issue or diabetes, etc. The man stared at me and Journey for a long moment.

Then his dog is brought out of the back from grooming. A young German Shepherd pup, probably 4 months or so old if even. Beautiful little dog, but a spazz with no leash manners. I just shook my head and sighed.

You can't just call any dog a service dog just because you want to ( whatever excuse you decide to use to try and "justify" it ).  You can't just slap a vest on any dog ( GSD or not ) and claim it is a service dog. It's a punishable crime / fraud to do so. You will be fined and face jail time.

On top of that, plenty of people who do have health issues and have legitimate disabilities, do have dogs. But that does NOT make that dog a service dog by default. Thankfully most of those people don't try and falsely claim their pet dogs are service dogs.

Those people who do use real service dogs don't go around cheerfully claiming they have or need a service dog like it is a god damned status quo or "cool thing" just because they want attention. In fact, most of us would rather not be swarmed with the attention we get when we go anywhere with our partners.

It doesn't matter if the dog is well behaved ( or what you interpret as "well behaved" ) at home or in public. If the dog isn't specially task trained to assist the person handling it with mitigating ( mitigate - v ; to make less severe, serious, or painful) their disability, it is NOT a service dog.  Period.

Back South

Back in Louisiana / Mississippi finally. Had a nice trip to New Jersey to visit with Mike. Stayed a bit longer than originally expected, then had to drive home rather than fly. Long story. Quite a bit happened that I will probably be writing about in later posts.

People who have been waiting for commissioned artwork should start watching the mail. I should have everything packed and shipped out by the end of next week at the latest. I will be contacting you to let you know.  Thanks again for your patience and understanding!

I know I have missed a lot while I was gone. Bear with me while I get caught up.  Wishing everyone well!  Thoughts and prayers to my friends and families going through rough times right now.