Towards the back portion of 2020, I applied for a service dog through Canine Companions for Independence. Over two years later, I have Schooner.

Looking back, it was so worth the wait, but waiting was hard.

My mom has never loved having pets. Pet hair is basically inevitable, and she just doesn’t enjoy it. So when I consistently begged for a dog in 2020, it wasn’t met receptively.

“Mom, please? I’ll take care of it by myself.”

But that wasn’t convincing enough. It’s not that I can’t do it, but as she reminded me, dogs aren’t too helpful to people with balance issues. They pull, they get under your feet, they are a handful.

So, the deal was, if I can endure the waiting process of getting a service dog, that would be a situation she could work with. Of course, service dogs still shed and still have medical problems. They aren’t robots, but they are very well-behaved, and Schooner, especially, is very calm and slow as molasses most of the time.

HEY, I WALK SLOW AS MOLASSES.

That’s one reason why we’re a perfect team, and Canine Companions knew exactly that when they called me in December 2022 and invited me to team training in Orlando, which I was at from Jan. 30-Feb. 10. He’s still learning and so am I, but I know he is going to be very helpful for me, not just as a companion, but as a working dog.

Schooner is a black lab and golden retriever mix. He turned 2-years-old in December, and has been through training in a prison, nine months with his puppy raisers in Florida, and then months of training at CCI’s Southeast Region in Orlando, where I did my training the past 10 days.

Schooner is very calm, goofy and sweet. He loves his sleep, almost as much as he loves his food. He is a drool king. Anytime he smells a single kibble of his food, there goes a string of drool from his droopy chin. He also has his playful moments, which he spends playing fetch and chewing his toys. Oh, and he LOVES getting his teeth brushed because he is in love with the flavor of his toothpaste. It’s a challenge to even get the toothpaste to his teeth before he licks it clean like a cupcake.

And he’s very well-mannered and obedient. He knows many commands: push, get, jump, car, visit, lap, tug, light, sit, down, speak and shake, just to name a few. The main things I anticipate him helping me with is picking things up off the floor, pushing automatic door buttons and pulling open my apartment door, as well as turning on and off lights when I get in and out of bed (I can’t balance in the dark). He can also learn new commands: mostly ones that are similar to ones he already knows. That will take time.

The main thing I look forward to is being able to go places on my own and feel comfortable because he will be there with me! I struggle with anxiety, especially in crowded, public places, and his calming presence will help me feel comfortable. I have to slowly integrate him into my schedule so he won’t get overwhelmed, but I look forward to bringing him to sporting events (especially baseball and softball), going around campus and to class, taking him to my internship office, going to physical therapy, and going to the park to play and sit outside while I work.

He’ll be my buddy for years to come. Service dogs typically work until around age 10. However, it will come with some challenges. On a college campus, I know there will be distractions. He’s very calm and focused, but it doesn’t take much pulling to “throw off my groove.” I also know many people will want to greet him and see him do commands, which is awesome, but I don’t generally want others giving him commands, so that he doesn’t get confused about who to listen to. I also have to manage his weight well – that is one of the agreements with CCI. I can’t let people feed him or let him eat things off the ground. As I mentioned, he goes crazy over food, so this will definitely take a lot of awareness from me.

Through every trial and tribulation that comes my way, and as FA continues to progress, I know I will have a buddy with me at all times. A loyal friend who doesn’t judge and is there to cheer me up on my bad days is all I needed, and I got so much more.

That’s delayed gratification at its finest. My mom was right – the wait was well worth it.