Speedy

What we know of Speedy's life begins when she was about two years old, when she was rescued by a research group out of Oklahoma State University. That research group had a specific job for her to do: to find by scent explosives and ammunition. She struggled at first, getting so excited about finding the things that she would get distracted by her own tail. After the decision was made to dock her tail (unusual for yellow labs), her focus became razor sharp and she excelled in her new job.

For five years Speedy was the best bomb-sniffer the university had trained. Being the best meant a life of travel around the world teaching other dogs how to sniff out explosives. Speedy was a professional, with infinite patience for other dogs, even those that struggled to get along with others.

At the age of seven she retired from that and moved on to her next project with the university: testing the effects of high-altitude flight and parachuting. Speedy likely didn't get to actually jump out of planes for this two-year study. In the winter of 2015, at the age of nine, it was time for Speedy to retire from a life of science and adventure. She was adopted by Sandie and Jonathan Wood.

The transition to quiet residential life was not easy. Some habits were hard to break, such as the need to sniff out the perimiter of every room that she entered. Even after the sniffing stopped, she never stopped pacing clockwise circles around rooms when she was restless. Other training was forgotten almost instantly; her first stop before going to her new home was an Atwoods for a collar and bowl. She tried to lay down in the store's entryway, and it took a couple of minutes for her new owners to guess that she was trying to signal that she scented gunpowder on some safes. But a trip through the ammunition aisle yielded no new behaviors. We can only assume that had there been an actual bomb in the house she would have done her best to tell someone.

Speedy was a smart dog, and learned many new things at home. She learned what cats were, and her professional assessment was that they weren't bombs. She learned how to play with a puppy and a kitten. She learned how to open the gates of chain-link fences, which she had the opportunity to do twice. The first time she was safely returned by the university; the second time she stayed in the yard after letting all of the other dogs out (maybe she just wanted some alone time?). She learned what head- and butt-scratches were, eventually. She learned that soft beds were nice, and that people would continue to play fetch with her.

Over the past couple of years Speedy stayed relatively healthy, with a couple of well-managed chronic conditions (and just a couple emergency surgeries). Despite the side-effects of one of her medications (muscle loss), she remained active and alert. While she ordinarily had a room to herself during the day while the humans were away, for the past couple of months she's had the freedom and care that only a stay-at-home human can give. She enjoyed lots of head-scratches under computer desks, frequent breaks outside to potty and sniff the things, bunches of treats and the occasional bit of people food (she became an unapologetic begger).

This morning, May 27th 2020, Speedy was humanely euthanized at home.