Retiring as a Special Operations Medic

I'm Ian Dunbar. I did 26 years in the Army, retired as a special operations medic. After I retired, my wife described it as I still didn't have a dimmer switch, right? It was an on-off switch, always on, not necessarily present was starting to really negatively impact the family life.

Looking into a Service Dog

I reached out to a couple friends of mine who had service dogs. I asked them how it was working for them, and it seemed to really make a difference. So you start looking into it and you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is a ridiculously overwhelming expense."

Life with a Service Dog

They were able to raise enough money to allow me to have my first service dog. I got Tortuga in 2020. It just became amazing because it allowed me again to be present at those events and those things.

The dog is always there. The dog is always aware. You know, somebody moves into what we would consider our safe space or our radius or whatever, the dog alerts on it, and it allows you to look, "Okay. I see it. You know, no threat."

That was an awesome gift. We were blessed to have that, and unfortunately, Tortuga died on 14 June of this year.

"I lost my Battle Buddy."

A week later, we were sitting on the couch, and Elizabeth was like, "We need another working dog."

I had met Aaron, and Aaron had a service dog as well, and so we hit it off, and so I texted Aaron, I'm like, "Hey. You know, I lost my battle buddy."

 You know, he reinforced the Special Operations Wounded Warriors (SOWW). That nonprofit organization took care of him and got him his service dog.

I reached out to them. I got a call about a week later, and then had a combination interview with Josh from Baden K9 up in Canada and Joe, and they felt like I was a good fit for the program.

Meeting Ivy

I met Josh. I met Mike, and I met Ivy, my new service dog, and it was awesome. So I spent a week with those guys.

I really had a great time working with Ivy and bonding, and working through all the exercises. And stuff. It's a motivating factor for a lot of people. It gives them a reason to get outta bed in the morning, right? I've got to go, I gotta go deal with this dog. I gotta take care of this dog. I need to work this dog through. Its its normal routine.