Morgan’s Blog (as dictated to his human, Alice) Life of a Service Dog

Hey all. I want to tell you about some of the neat things I get to do as Alice’s service dog. We’ve been partners since 2002.

We moved to New Mexico from Anacortes, WA in 2005. Wayne drove with the kitties; I flew (in the cabin of course) with Alice, and her service person/friend, Donna, from Seattle. It took me a while to adjust to the very different climate and high altitude.

One of the neat things I get to do is go with Alice to one of the elementary schools. All the kids make a big to-do over me and the whole front office likes me too. We go once a week. Alice is teaching me to read from flashcards to show the kids how smart I am.

We went yesterday and talked with one of the counselors. She had never heard of dogs reading or even kids reading to dogs.

Alice uses flashcards with me and I know about 7-10 different words. Some of the words I recognize and some I try to read Alice’s body language, which changes ever so slightly with the different words. For example I like to bark, but only when I am asked to. Sometimes I bark when I dog dance because I get so excited. So when Alice holds up the flashcard that says, “Alert” she raises her eyebrows a bit and I know that means to bark. Pretty cool, huh?

Another thing I love to do is explore the land of New Mexico with my humans. Alice even has agreed to camp now that she lives here. I love to be outside, and they even let me off leash ‘cause I know to stay at the campsite.



Alice and Wayne nicknamed me “Perimeter Dog” when we camp, because I go into this ancient dog pose, and sit on the perimeter of their campsite and watch for danger. We usually go for long hikes too, although Alice can’t walk that far. But she loves to be out in nature too, just like me.

At home I like to lie on the sofa with Alice. Since the cats get to be on the sofa, Alice lets me get up and snuggle with her. Here I am, sharing the sofa with the black cat, Sophie. I live with two cats, which are very spoiled and have great food that I snitch once in a while. Cat food is so good, but my humans don’t like it when I take the food from the spoiled kitties. Those cats are so lazy. They even sleep on my bed sometimes!



I like my job of taking care of Alice, and she is pretty good at taking care of me. We have a good life together. Woof!

Morgan,
Summit Service Dog, 2002 Graduate