Happy National Puppy Day 2023

There is a sweet movie called A Dog’s Purpose that alludes well that dogs are not only man’s best friend, but that they are suited for higher purposes to serve and connect. Our community definitely understands this with having several dogs serving in Victims Services units across Alberta and Canada at large, as well as the sweet pups who serve the littles at our Edmonton Zebra Centre so incredibly well.

Recently one of our staff team, Nicole White, applied successfully to be an ‘Adult Raiser’ for Aspen Service Dogs Inc. “Having met the requirements of the Alberta Training Standard, per the Service Dog Act of Alberta, Aspen Service Dogs prides itself on supplying highly trained, well-behaved canines that are able to perform a variety of tasks for their human partner. Aspen Service Dogs is one of only a handful of organizations approved to produce and train Service Dogs in Alberta”. Nicole was looking for something to give her some additional self-purpose in addition to her purpose-filled career as a funeral director and embalmer, and Aspen’s Adult Raiser program fit the bill. Her role is to support her pup’s skills training in the home setting, further implementing what he learns on a daily basis at ‘school’, as well as to provide a warm and loving home setting for him to relax and renew in so that he can be a better service dog student. She loves that her care for her pup equates to giving care to others, and his furry presence has impacted her world in ways that she did not expect.

After an extensive intake and training process, Nicole was matched with the sweet, kind, and intuitive Kojack. His demeanor is that of a solid mix of both playful and compassion. He is highly intuitive and gentle, and can sense anxiety, stress, and sadness in the humans in his world, coming close and even laying a paw or his head on them to provide his sweet care and comfort. He loves to be loved on with pets and belly rubs and engages fully with every person who engages with him. He has learned several skills, the most recent being pushing and activating automatic door-opening sensors. He’s quite the student!

Kojack has brought his care to our Park Memorial team, as well, with frequent visits to the funeral home. You can always tell when Kojack is on-site, as he will have a revolving group of our staff surrounding him, benefitting from his calm presence and a boost to the day’s morale – especially needed on our very heavy of days. He has also served at one funeral at the request of the decedent’s family, and he was a welcomed calming and comforting presence.

Kojack has been paired with a little girl whose needs match Kojack’s skill set, and he is poised to graduate from Service-Dog-In-Training to a fully-fledged service dog. In doing so, Nicole will say a bittersweet farewell to Kojack as he journeys into service and awaits her next Aspen Service Dogs furry friend who needs her care. We wish Kojack every good tail wag, treat, and belly rub as he journeys into service.

Good boy, Kojack… Good boy.

Happy National Pup Day from Kojack and Park Memorial…