Yesterday a car pulled up just as I was shutting things down to go home. I did not have anyone on the schedule. The car looked vaguely familiar.
Lani got out of the car. I had not seen her in a while. Back in 2009 she and her roommate Tammi, brought me two very interesting dogs. The first was Billy, a Dutch Sheppard; the second was Bosco, a Dachshund.
They were a challenging pair. Bosco was deaf. Billy was a retired military bomb detection dog. And to make it even more interesting, Tammy is vision impaired.
The challenge with Billy was his former occupation. Military and Police dogs are trained to think of their jobs as a game. The reward for doing well is a Kong. So these dogs are toy aggressive. In addition Billy was dog aggressive. He could not let a dog near the patrol as it might be carrying an IED.
Billy was arguably the most dangerous dog I have had to train. He was willing to kill. At the same time he was also a very easy dog to work with because he had learned to trust his handler. My job was to show him that Lani, Tammi, and I were to get the same respect as his military handler.
Billy also had some difficulty with his back legs, they had been severely injured in a bomb blast.
The training went well. Billy and Bosco moved on to group. Billy kept his eye on every dog in the room but had learned to live with others.
No one comes to Neighborhood Pack forever so eventually Lani’s pack slid into memory.
About a year later Lani came by with an article from the Fort Carson paper. Billy was now a therapy dog in their Wounded Warriors program. He related well to the combat veterans because he too was a wounded vet.
Lani had come by yesterday for Billy to say goodbye. He is 14 now and that is the life expectancy of his breed. He has kidney problems.
I could hear him out in the car. He knew where he was and he wanted to come in.
Lani had us pose for some pictures. Billy let me scratch his ears. Then he took a treat from me.
He has lost some weight, his back legs are a little less reliable, and he has some breathing problems. But he seemed to enjoy visiting his old haunt.
Billy, like me, had found something to do when he retired. Lani and Tammi gave him a wonderful life. The joy this dog brought far outweighs the loss soon to come. I'm grateful Lani and Tammi let me say goodbye.
And I am sure he will be waiting for us when our times come to cross the rainbow bridge.
Doug
