Trooper's Journey
Trooper had a rough start to life. When Emily adopted Trooper she saw that he had a lot of potential and was determined to help him have a fulfilling life where he could help others by sharing his joy and kindness as well as his story of overcoming a traumatic past. Emily created a website and Facebook page to allow people who were interested in his story to follow him on his journey to becoming a therapy dog. She titled it "Trooper's Journey." Little did we realize that this journey would become a lot bigger than either of us anticipated.
Here is a basic timeline of Trooper's Journey through life thus far:
Trooper was born in November 2012. Emily is not sure of the exact date and that he was for sure born in November, but based on the age she was given when she adopted him he would have been born in November. Emily has designated November 11th 2012 as his birth date because it coincides with his adoption date.
Trooper's ear was cropped too short from a botched home cropping using a rubber band. He also had a rubberband around his neck that was embedded in his neck by the time he was found at 3-4 weeks old. Emily can only imagine that the rubberband had been placed there shortly after he was born. Emily doesn't know what really happened to Trooper during this time. She can only imagine how horrible it must have been to have his first experiences in life be so horrible. If the person responsible for the dogs didn't have the decency to remove the rubber band, she can only imagine that they also didn't provide the dogs a clean, warm place to live either.
Emily was told that at 3-4 weeks of age Trooper was dropped off at a shelter that was going to euthanize him because he was in such rough shape, is a pit bull, and had a mother that was aggressive. This was when Last Paw Rescue stepped in and took care of him.
Trooper was taken care of and nursed back to health by the wonderful fosters who took him in. When he was old enough and healthy enough he was adopted out, but the situation didn't work out so he was returned. Emily isn't sure how many homes Trooper lived in but it was clear that it had been several because he has very deep rooted abandonment issues that we have worked on a lot. We aren't sure if they were multiple adoptive homes or multiple foster homes. Or perhaps it was just the loss of the security of his adoptive home that scarred him so much.
On April 11th 2013 Emily adopted Trooper through Last Paw Rescue. He was 5 months old. They have been inseparable ever since.
On July 3rd 2013 Trooper graduated from his Junior Obedience Class
at the Coulee Region Humane Society. He was almost 8 months old.
On November 11th 2013 Trooper celebrated his first birthday in true Trooper style by having a party with his human and canine buddies.
On February 21st 2014 Trooper started his Daring Adventure into the World of Therapy
Dog-dom with his first real animal-assisted activities session through Touching Moments with participants at Riverfront Inc. in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He did exceptionally well and was a natural at it. He doled out a lot of kisses to the participants. 15 months old
On March 2nd 2014 Trooper graduated from his Canine Good Citizen Class and passed the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen Test.
On January 26th 2015 Trooper was accepted into Paws 4 Independence
to begin his official Service Dog training. Emily has been working
with him on this type of training since she adopted him. The time
was right and we needed the support of such a great organization
to help us with what we don't know and all of the challenges that
come with Service Dog training
On February 4th 2015 Trooper received his Service Dog in Training
vest because he met the requirements that Paws 4 Independence has
for this title based on all of the training we had done on our own
What is Trooper's Journey Anyway?
