Morey and I were invited to speak at ICAN’s annual golf fundraising outing. I never mind talking about how great my service dog is (obviously), or how much of an impact ICAN has had on my life and I was more than happy to accept this invitation. Many of the people who were participating in the fundraiser did not know very much about ICAN, and I was glad to be able to come to show and tell what ICAN does for people. Morey got to meet several of the new puppies in the ICAN program as well as several of the dogs in training. In his working gear, Morey gave them a polite “hello” but wasn’t too interested in interacting.
Many of the ICAN volunteers who had known Morey since he was a puppy called him “Little Morey (in contrast to ICAN’s director’s dog, "big" Maury. I hadn’t heard Morey called “Little Morey” in quite a while and it reminded me of all the people involved in his life before he became my dog. It was fun to watch him recognize people by their voices and see how he stared at them as if trying to figure out how he knew them. My talk went well; Morey acted like a well-behaved service dog laying at my feet. Many people thanked me afterwards for sharing my story, but it was really my pleasure. I never get tired of sharing how my service dogs have changed my life and how ICAN has made that possible.
One of my friends and teammates from the Indy Wheelchair Rugby Team was matched with Morey’s sister, Lonnie, in October. While I was home we had the chance to get together and have a “family reunion” with Morey and Lonnie.
