Your Saturday Edition About Loving Old Cars and Old Dogs – RedState
Happy Saturday, and always a good time to feel good, even if it’s not a Friday. I apologize for missing my usual Friday missive. St. Patrick’s Day offered a series of unfortunate events, one of them involving my 17-year-old SUV. This is our best working automobile, and we plan to use it on our exploration trip across the country to determine a state in which to retire. So to get the car up before that happened would have been a bit stressful.
The good news is that it was a simple fix, and the old girl, who I call Lightnin’, is doing great and she’s ready to roll for our trip next week. Lightnin’ has a special story: it was the first car my husband and I bought together, and we drove it on many adventures through California, Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. This will be the first trip across the country that we will take with her. I scheduled a service and tune-up before leaving, but even with this setback, my mechanic is convinced that she will do just fine.
The bad news is that I spent hours waiting for the resolution without my laptop. therefore, I haven’t done much essential work, including this article. But alongside the retreat and waiting hours, it gave me the opportunity to dive into my favorite time: dog videos. My Instagram and Facebook feeds are full of rescue organizations, people who take in dogs with special needs, senior dogs, and K-9 dogs.
If social media is used for anything good, this would be it. With two senior dogs myself, I am still heartened by the love and care given to these precious furbies, which most people overlook or feel have outlived their usefulness. Especially for K-9 dogs, their bravery, loyalty, and rescue skills are beyond incredible, and the bond between them and their handlers is especially meaningful. So when they retire, it’s a special and emotional time, even for friendly dogs. Here’s a nice cross section of the Midwest, South and Pacific Northwest.
The first is K-9 Tek of Dodge County, Wisconsin, who retired March 3.
From The daily dodge:
(Juneau) As the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office hosts a new K-9 in their ranks, another K-9 has completed its final shift. K-9 Tek officially retired on Friday.
“Lieutenant [Taylor] Nehls will bring Tek home and we are still working on all those details. He will retire on the Nehls’ farm,” says Sheriff Dale Schmidt.
On Tek’s last day, the Dodge County dispatch had a special message for K-9 and his handler, Lt. Taylor Nehls.
“We would like to thank K-9 Tek for his thirty-eight and a half years as a dog, otherwise known as five and a half years of distinguished service to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and your Master Lt. Nehls. Thank you Tek for serving the citizens of Dodge County with over 98 arrests, 314 deployments, and providing security for our deputies and other agencies on every shift and making sure your partner gets home safe every evening.
Schmidt says Tek has been a valued member of their agency and will be truly missed. Tek was a member of the Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force SWAT team and enjoyed giving many presentations at surrounding schools and at community events. The sheriff’s office will lose another K-9 as Kid is scheduled to retire in late June.
K-9 Jester of Walton County, Florida served five years with his Deputy Petty Officer Damon Byrd. Jester retired on March 1 and there is some seriously impressive video of him in action, in what appear to be tense and dangerous situations.
This is not goodbye. Just see you. @WCSOFL announces the retirement of our beloved K-9 Jester.
Jester, an energetic Dutch-born Belgian Malay, has been serving residents and visitors to Walton County for over five years.
From his tenacity on patrol to… https://t.co/zI6lv2kchv pic.twitter.com/sRO9Bt40Oe
— Walton Co. Sheriff (@WCSOFL) March 2, 2023
K-9 Vilo retired in late 2022 from the Orem Police Department in Utah. His story is special tearful.
Vilo, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd mix, had served five years in the Orem Police Department.
On his last day of service for Orem PD, manager Quinten Schroemges called to ship one last time, recording the conversation as his colleagues gave Vilo a proper ship.
Vilo had two previous managers before Quinten Schroemges, so the two didn’t immediately bond. But once they did, it was pretty special.
“I don’t know what it was.
I don’t know if it was just because I ended up really loving him from the start and I don’t know if he could feel that at the place where we bonded really well and worked well together.
Some of the situations are life or death, and there are situations where you know you could lose it where you send it to do something.
Schroemges wasn’t even sure at the time that he would be the person Vilo would be released to.
“So his sending off was quite emotional for me. At that time, I also thought I was losing it and I didn’t know if I was going to get it.
Luckily, after a few months apart, Vilo was able to come home with Handler Schroemges and join his two other dogs to be part of the family pack.
“It is nothing but love and kindness for another being who is here. I really wish everyone could experience it.
I wish they could too. Our pack has given us nothing but love and kindness, and we try to give it back in kind. As I mentioned in previous weeks Wellness Fridaysgetting old can involve to slow down, but that must mean becoming invisible, or worse, being rejected. This is why my video hobby gives me joy and hope. These charming K-9s have served their counties, cities and managers well. Thanks to these loving humans who adopted them into their families, they can now live out the rest of their days embarking on new adventures with heaps of love and kindness in between.
As it should be for all of us, human or canine.
