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.