Please Help Me Partner With A Service Dog

My mobility assistance dog, Luke , retired in 2015. My world has gotten very small without the independence that he afforded me.

I have an opportunity to partner with a new canine companion who would enable me to engage much more fully with life. I could take road trips again; I could fly on a plane again. I could go to writing conferences and do challenged athlete fundraising rides  again. I could resurrect my poetry in the schools project with a furry co-facilitator for workshops. I could do all the little things that seem mundane but mean so much to be able to accomplish without help: do the grocery shopping, go to doctors appointments, the post office, take a cat to the vet, get the car serviced. I could do big things, like go on a hike or go to a Broadway play in New York, or go to Tennessee to visit my god daughter and hold her baby.

I haven't done a lot of what I love in the last five years. Not one road trip or a plane ride, no volunteering doing creative wordy things. I've not even been to the movies since Luke retired. And as hard as it is to think of not being with Luke, the idea of my world opening back up, full of opportunities and adventures, full of connecting in meaningful ways, feels exciting. I want very much to feel safe when I leave home, the way I used to because of  having a mobility assistance dog. I'd love to feel that kind of capable, that kind of autonomy and freedom again.

Training dogs to be superheroes takes mad skills and a lot of time, and it's far from cheap. If you're able, I'd really be grateful for your help.