Now that the blog is up and running, Mama is letting me write my first post!

I thought I’d start with a little bit bout me. I don’t remember much before I was in the shelter, but I was told that I was a stray on the streets of Philadelphia.

While in the shelter, I was pulled by a woman with a shelter who said “look at this dog’s eyes… she’s too smart to be here!” I was then adopted out to a family who I thought would be my forever home. But apparently I was too rambunctious and didn’t listen so they returned me. Really, they just didn’t understand me.

Now I’m glad that they did return me because my next adopter was Mama and she promised me from day one that she would never give up on me. And she didn’t – even when I was so scared in a new home, I chewed up everything I could get a hold of – even when I got so excited to see her again after work, I would barrel myself into her. Eventually I learned that this really was my forever home and I settled in. I didn’t act out of fear anymore and I learned that car rides didn’t mean I was going to be dropped off with strangers again.

Mama and me trained to be a service dog team together. I love using my brain and figuring things out and I especially love helping Mama. It didn’t take too long for me to become certified because apparently “I’m a quick learner” – at least that’s what my Mama says. The truth is, I just get bored easily and I figured out that if I learned a new task quickly, Mama would move on to another.

I’ve been certified for about two and a half years now. I go everywhere with Mama. Whenever I have my vest on, I’m working and I take my job very seriously. I wish others understood how important my concentration is. I need to focus on my Mama to make sure that she is safe. When strangers are constantly trying to pet me or talk to me, I can miss important signs that I need to tell Mama about.

If there is one thing that you learn from this post, please let it be: DON’T PET SERVICE DOGS. Please, just ignore us. We take our jobs very seriously and we don’t need any added distractions.

Thanks for reading and maybe Mama will let me post again soon!

-Hedwig