Military dog gets a retirement ceremony

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - It was a special day for a special friend at Eielson Air Force Base. Military Working Dog Teddy had his retirement ceremony today. The event was attended by members of base leadership as well as some of the other working dogs.

Teddy was provided with a ribbon and pin, and was showered with praise as speeches were given in his honor. Teddy was a working dog for the Air Force for 9 years, during which he helped search for bombs, while also serving as a patrol dog.

After the ceremony, he was given a steak to eat, and attendees threw balls for him to play with to celebrate his service.

Teddy was adopted by the Schumacher family. Tom Schumacher is a working dog trainer with the Air Force, and in 2017 was assigned Teddy as his first working dog.

Tom and his wife Mariah said that they wanted to adopt Teddy to ensure he had the best possible life after service.

“It is very sentimental, he was my first dog I had, but also he taught me a lot. He is the one who kind of trained me because he was already an experienced military working dog and you know he tested the waters with me and at the same time he trained, he helped train me,” Tom said.

His wife added, “We honestly fell in love with Teddy. He was one of the first security forces members that we met up here and then he worked with my husband for over a year. So me and our two children got to watch him over the fence for over, a little over a year and we just fell in love with him and are so excited to have him at our house.”

The dog will spend the rest of it’s life with the family and Tom said he plans to let him relax on the couch after his years of service.

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