Our family has always had animals – mostly dogs. We have been members of multiple dog rescue organizations specializing in fostering newborn and young litters of puppies. Our daughters grew up bottle feeding puppies every 2 hours and then saying goodbye to them when they were adopted into their “furever” homes.  We have had well over 150 rescue dogs cross the threshold of our home in the last 25 years.

 

So why WSS/BBS dogs? Our oldest daughter developed a need for a service dog. It was then we realized the severe shortage of dogs qualified to do this important work. The WSS is currently being used for service work all over the world especially in Europe.  By God’s Grace, we were introduced to a breeder of these amazing dogs.  Through her mentorship, we were able to obtain one of her puppies (Ace) and find an organization to help us self-train him as a working service dog. A word to the wise, self-training a service dog is hard work for both the trainer and the dog but the rewards are worth it.

 

As a service dog, Ace has been a huge blessing. He has given our daughter an opportunity to be out without worry. He has been with her in university settings, hospital/ICU stays, ER’s, doctor’s offices, etc. He has given her freedom to live life with his help as a safety net. Currently, he works as a mobility dog by bracing her when she gets disorientated. He continues to be a medical alert dog by alerting her when her medical condition is changing and helping her to get to a safe place with time to request help.