May 17, 2019

My Last Journal

by Soloman

This will be my last journal. After serving 22 years, I am finally going home on 5/21/19. I would like to thank New Life K9s, Jack, Nicole, Rosa, Lt. Nolan, Kate, and everyone within the organization for allowing me to be a part of something that is greater than myself. I thank the ladies for giving me this opportunity for me to learn to educate dogs while I get to learn more about myself. With each dog I have learned to have more and more patience. And through this experience I became more confident in myself, more patient, more empathetic, more mindful, more caring, and loving. I believe these are all the attributes that will help me be more successful in life as I return to society. I cannot say how much I am thankful for this program in short words, except to say thank you. With that said, I should write about Dancer. Dancer has made tremendous progress since day 1, but it’s been a slow process. There are times when I see great hope for her, but in truth there are many times more that I see that may be troublesome. She seems to have a prey drive, she prowls and tries to go after birds, cats, squirrels. She even plays like that with smaller dogs. She constantly barks at either dogs (mainly during play, but also to dogs she hasn’t met or known too well like Robbie). She barks and whines when I walk away (although she’s gotten better lately). Skill wise I have confidence in her to pick things up quick. I know she’ll be able to retrieve, open or pull things or doors, snuggle/cuddle, and make people laugh (she’s so funny). I suppose only time will tell how she turns out. I hope that she makes it. I know we’re not exactly keeping track but being 0-2 (0-graduates & 2-“warrior support dogs”) I do feel some kinda way. I thought Annie was my redemption dog but she didn’t work out. I feel like I’m leaving unfinished business. I suppose only time will tell how that turns out also. So I wish all the luck to Dancers next educator(s). I won’t be going to far so I suppose we’ll all keep in touch and hope to attend Dancer’s graduation one day. I don’t know what else to say so, this is Soloman Kim, Dancer’s Primary Educator signing off. #TeamDancer