06/21/2025
We had an amazing day with the Cherokee County fire and EMS first responders today! Multiple service dog and SDiT teams came out to meet our first responders and expose our dogs to the people and tools they might see in an emergency situation. We not only got to see a firefighter in full gear (and get delicious treats from him, so that if we're ever in a fire the dog knows to run TO that guy and not AWAY from him), we also got to practice loading into the ambulance, riding the medilift up and down, and even being handled by an EMT and settled in a corner of the truck out of the way. We are so thankful we got to be a part of this experience and hope to do it again sometime!!
On another note, Oaken and his handler also came to the event, and it was AMAZING to see them again - and to see how Oaken was able to focus on his person in a working environment. You do as much as you can to prepare a dog for a handler transition, but you never quite know for sure how well the skills you teach them are going to transfer, especially for that first month or two while the dog is getting settled in - so I was terribly proud to see him behaving so professionally, in a new environment with lots of strange new stimuli (ambulance! jaws of life! chair lift!) and surrounded by other service dog teams, without batting an eye.
And of course, it was really satisfying to take the vest off after the event concluded and throw ourselves together into a wiggling licking kissing ball of hands and fur :) He's Liz's dog now, and I am so very proud of that fact, but of course he'll always be my little baby. I put my whole heart into every dog I work with, and it's a beautiful thing to get to visit them once in a while and see what amazing work they're doing out where they're meant to be.
