Don’t Stop Believin’

Let me tell you how I met my partner in crime, my brown eyed girl Journey.

If this looks familiar, its the one thats tatooed on my forearm, also it’s my Fave

This tale actually starts decades ago. One of my best friends growing up who had the same condition as me (FA), had a service dog. I got to see first-hand how much this dog benefited him and his family. Radar was a great companion to him, and provided assistance with daily living.

In 2011, I applied through PADS to get my own service dog but was informed that the waiting list was three years. PADS stands for Pacific Assistance Dogs Society and supports people with disabilities by partnering them with certified assistance dogs.

Three years later, which brings us to 2014, PADS notified me that they had matched me with a dog. Little did they know the match they made was a match made in heaven. Journey was and still is my soul dog. Late in October 2014, we arrived at the PADS facility in Burnaby. For the next two weeks, we stayed in a little condo on the facility grounds where me and Journey participated in training together. The first night, Journey’s trainer stopped by to introduce me to Journey. When he left Journey in the room with me, she wouldn’t even look at me which goes to show how bonded she was with her trainer. Even though visitors weren’t allowed I invited my Aunt Bernice, and my friends Johnson and Amrit as I wanted them to meet my Journey girl.

The day after I met Journey for the first time.

Side story, while we were there my sister almost accidentally burned our little condo to the ground. She made the smoky mistake of setting a plastic colander on the hot element while making a late-night snack. The smoke set off the fire alarms and my sister got to spend the whole next day picking hardened plastic off the stove.

When the two-week training was over it was time for me and Journey to head home. Before we left, Journeys trainer, who had a very strong bond with Journey, asked for a moment to say goodbye. It was a very bittersweet moment as he looked like he was going to burst into tears saying goodbye to Journey after working with her for the last three years.

Journey was 3 years old when I took her home which is older than most but that is a story for another time. She is now almost 12 years old and still the sweetest girl. Journey's name was a happy accident, as she was named after the band and one of my biggest passions is music.

Journey worked with me as a service dog for 7 years and retired in 2019. Her reason for retirement was that I lost the ability to control my wheelchair and her at the same time. Ridiculous if you ask me, but even though she isn’t working anymore she still helps me whenever she can.

If I had the opportunity to talk about Journey and all the stories of our 9 years together, I could talk for days but I will just give a glimpse. One of the rules that PADS had was that the dog doesn’t sleep in the same bed as you. This lasted two weeks of training… Another story that demonstrates how smart Journey is, is that one time I fell out of my chair as I didn’t have my seatbelt on (because I was smart back then.. SMRT). I had my wallet nearby and handed Journey my ID and said to take it to Mom in hopes she would think this was strange and come help me off the floor. Journey took my ID and dropped it by my mom’s feet, my mom thought this was weird and told Journey to bring it back to me. Thankfully, my mom decided to check and see if Journey had given me back my ID and found me in need of a hand. The moral of the story; Journey is a huge part of my life and now that she is retired she is living the good life alongside me. She is enjoying her retirement, soaking up all the attention and pets now that she is no longer working.

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