Good Girl Stewart is a beautiful Golden Retriever, 21 months old, an age at which lotsa pooches might still be puppyin’ around. But Good Girl was, litter-ully, born an raised for A Higher Calling. See, she’s a Service Dog, an she met her Forever Human while she was goin’ to school at Dogs for Life. That’s where we decided to conduct the innerview – inside cuz it was, like, a zillion degrees outside.
Good Girl was with her Human, in her Official Service Dog Harness an leash, All Business. I was impressed, an a liddle nervous. I stood up straight (unobtrusively fluffed my ears) an said, in my pro-FESH-ional voice, “Good morning, Ms. Stewart. I’m Bonzo. It’s a great pleasure.”
Good Girl an her Human escorted me an my assistant to a table in the big classroom. She didn’t approach, but said, very formal, “Good morning, Mr. Bonzo. Please, have a seat. This is Mike, I’m his Service Dog. My other human’s Gala. I’m officially On The Clock today, but we’re makin’ a Special Exception for the innerview, so I’ll just slip outta my vest so we can yap.”
Soon as the vest was off, Good Girl trotted right over for the Wag-n-Sniff. “Please call me Good Girl. An I’ll call you Bonz, OK?”
She smiled.
“Pawsome,” I said.
“You see, Bonz, when I’m wearin’ my Official Vest, I’m workin’ an I can’t allow anything to distract me from my job, which is watching Mike at all times, in case he needs me. Me an Mike are a Team.”
“There must be all kinds of distractions,” I observed.
“No Woof! One time, in Target, a human ran over my tail with one of those cart things. I just sat there and looked up at Mike, like, ‘Seriously?’ Once, me an Mike were next to another service dog an her human. We just sat still an didn’t do any of that typical dog stuff. Another time, at the airport, my liddle cousin Mia (she was just 2) ran over an gave me a Big Hug and sat on my back. She was real liddle, an I guess I looked like a pony to her. I just stood there. I mean, she wasn’t that heavy. Truth be told, I knew right away she’d be so fun to play with when I was Off Work.”
“Shut the doghouse Door!” I exclaimed. “So, how’d you an Mike get together?”
“Well, I was born an bred to be a Service Dog, started training when I was 3 months old. There was so much to learn. The usual Sit. Down. Stay. Walk. Stand. Plus Good Manners, How To Pick Stuff Up. How To Open Doors. I practiced every day. After The Basics, I was ready to learn how to help veterans an other humans who got broken or have Very Bad Memories of Terrible Things that happened to them. We do stuff our humans can’t do alone.
“Meanwhile, Mike was volunteering at Dogs for Life. Before that he’d been a Pleece Officer, but he hadda very bad wreck and he was all broken. When he started volunteering, that was back in February 2018 I believe, I was already there. Cuzza his car wreck, Mike has trouble walkin’ and balancin’ an stuff like that, so he decided to see if he was eligible for a Service Dog. Turns out, he WAS. I was ready to go home with a volunteer and learn how to act in everyday an famly sit-choo-WAY-shuns, so the human in charge, Miss Shelly, assigned Mike to me for the How-To-Behave-Out-In-The-World-Under-Any-Circumstance part of my training.”
Good Girl leaned in an whispered, “Miss Shelly’s real wise about humans an pooches. I’m pretty sure she already knew me an Mike were MFEO, an that was her Super Secret Plan to let us get to know each other bedder. The minute Mike took my leash, I knew I’d found my Best Fren an my Forever Famly. An, Bonz, I somehow knew what Mike needed me to do. He says I’m in-TOO-uh-tive.”
“That is so Cool Kibbles!” I said. “So what was that Out-in-the-World training like?”
“We practiced stairs an elly-vaders, an took field trips: the airport; the bank; Einstein Bagles; Publix; Home Depot; rest-runts; Starbucks; the bookstore. I’m strong enough to help Mike walk, an go up an down stairs, an keep his balance, even pull him up when he wants to stand. I pick up stuff he drops, an open doors for him. I even learned how to Do My Duty On Command!”
“Are you Woofin’ me right now?”
“I Woof you not,” she laughed. “It’s a necessary part of training. In between tasks, I sit quietly right beside Mike. In rest-runts, you might not even notice me. When my leash an harness go on, boom, I’m in The Zone. It took me 9 whole months to become an Official Service Dog.”
“You must be so proud!”
“I am. It’s Totally Crispy Dog Biscuits knowin’ I’m doin’ an Important Job.”
“What about when you’re off work?”
“I’m just a normal, frenly pooch, kinda nutty, I’ve been told. I mean, a girl’s gotta let her hair down once inna while. My fav off-duty activities are Naps, Tummy Rubs an RABBITS!”
“Rabbits?”
“Yep. Rabbit smells are The Best. I spot a rabbit an I go into Creep-Pause-Creep-Pause Mode.”
“Have you ever, umm, caught one?”
“Oh, heavens no. I’m pretty sure the rabbits think I’m hilarious. But it’s still fun. Oh, also, I am Ambassadog for Disabled Vederans an Dogs for Life, so I get to meet lotsa nice humans. Mike even wrote a pome, just for me. Part of it says, ‘You’ve changed my life forever, an you’ll never know,’ but I DO know, Bonz. An I think Mike knows he’s changed MY life forever, too. I have a FAMly, an love – an a PURpose.”
I couldn’t have said it better. I wiped my eyes with my paw.
Heading home, I was feeling proud to be a fellow dog.
Till next time,
The Bonz
