I got the call Thursday, telling me that I was getting a service dog. I am ecstatic! I applied for a dog about three years ago with St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation, which trains and places service dogs with Virginia residents. About three weeks ago, I had an interview with Montana (Monty for short), his trainer, the head trainer, and the director of SF.

What can I say about Monty, except that he is lovable, smart, and incredibly sweet. He is a 2 1/2 year old black Lab. He will be able to assist mostly by helping me keep my balance and getting up from a seated to a standing position. It is a truly helpless feeling when I can't get up off a toilet! If I fall, he can brace me enough that I can get back up. This is an incredible dog. He will enrich our lives so much.

Monday, I begin 30 hours of required training with Monty and his trainer. After that, he will come home to live with us. It will be lots of work, and I can't wait to get started!!

Wow! That is so cool, AZ! When do we get pics???

I wish I still had my dog TinyMonsters, he would have made an excellent service dog. If I ever have to get a service dog, I'm going to get a dog of his breed. (I was an amateur dog trainer with Tiny, maybe I should look into getting another dog soon and see if I can find a professional service dog trainer to work with?)

TinyMonsters was a Bouvier des Flandres (there should be a picture of him in my profile, if that didnt upload, ask and I'll post a link to pictures of him)

Give your service pup a lot of hugs and kisses and tummy rubs!

Cindy: I promise that I'll post pictures soon.

Erin: Tiny looks and sounds like he was a sweetheart. Have you ever read any of the Stephen White series? I'm pretty sure his main character has a Bouvier.

Congrats AZ! That is so cool! Labs are great service dogs! We have a yellow lab and I suppose she could be trained as one if the need arises. But right now, I don't need one...

Can't wait to see pictures of Monty!

Erin, what a beautiful dog. The Bouvier's are very smart and loyal dogs! AZ, you are correct about the dog in Stephen White's book.

Hi Mary Ann, nice to see you..

I was about to ask where you've been hiding, but I see you've been very busy. A Service Dog, wow, I'm so excited for you. I love black labs...they're so lovable, yet so strong and protective.

I can't wait till you get him home and send us a picture. He can be our new Family doggy.

How are you doing? I hope, well.

AZ, I'm so happy for you. 3 years is a long time to wait. Can't wait to see a pic of "our" Monty. Don't forget to scratch behind his ears for me.

How cool! Congrats! We want a pic of the pooch!

Thanks, everyone. "Our" Monty sounds wonderful. Sally, I've been alright. Thanks so much for asking. I've been thinking about you.

Oh yeah, Tiny was a big sweetheart. It about killed me when he died. We thought there was something wrong with him. Took him to the vet about 3 weeks before he died, they said he was great. (he'd been having potty issues, all over our white carpeting)

3 weeks later he was dead. I have a few theories on what killed him (he was only 9yrs old)

One theory is that the poison dog food from china started a year before it actually did. (Tiny died in March of 2006, poison dog food was earlier this year)

Another theory is that the neighbor who was allowing his two dogs to terrorize the neighborhood at night had somehow poisoned him. (Tiny died about a week after said neighbor had dumped about 40-50 pounds of his dog's poo in my front yard and all over my aunt's yard...neighbor lived right next door to her, his dogs had attacked my aunt's dog IN HER HOUSE at least twice)

Another theory, is that the rabies vaccine that Tiny had at his vet visit 3 weeks before he died was too much for his sick little body.

Last theory, a few of his littermates had gotten sick and died in a similar way. So, it could have been a genetic thing...oh, and Tiny had accidentally been poisoned when he was 3yrs old...and when he was 5, the kennel we put him in for a week while we moved to a new house had a complete butthole working for them, and that jerk nearly beat TinyMonsters to death. So, Tiny might have had health issues from that.

Tiny now "sleeps" on the headboard of my bed. We had him cremated by the Rainbow Bridge and he's in a beautiful little box. I've already told a bunch of my relatives that if I die, that Tiny HAS to go with me, and he's got to be mentioned on my headstone too. That's how good of a dog he was. He gets to stay with me for all eternity now.

I'd like to get another Bouvier, but I'm worried that any new dog would never live up to how good a dog Tiny was. Plus, with the MS, I'm not sure I want to have to deal with training another Bouvier. They're a LOT of work! Too smart for their own good.

Hmmm...I seem to have hijacked the thread, talking about TinyMonsters. Oooops!