Emma The Helpful Lab

01/08/2026

Happy National Labrador Retriever Day to this girl! Thanks for keeping me alive!

12/31/2025

Emma update: there’s not a ton to update. Emma is currently still her normal self. She’s still high energy and happy dog. That’s how we like her. She’s still working most of the time. I do leave her home a few days a week to work cub. However for the most part I work her and cub side by side right now. Most likely her cancer had grown in the past few months but it hasn’t impacted her life significantly. She’s still catching alerts faster than tech, still playing fetch, still going head first into life, etc. Our Prayer is that this continues and we have several more months like this with her.

11/30/2025

Tonight our work peeps threw Emma a retirement party! I’m so thankful for folks that want to celebrate the best girl! We are still letting Emma pick when she retires, at the guidance of our vet team, but we wanted to celebrate her while she still feels great and can really enjoy it.

11/11/2025

Okay. Here’s what we know about Emma. Emma has Papillary Squamous Cell Carcinoma, this is a locally aggressive type of cancer but it doesn’t metastasize.

It could be cured with surgery but after seeing the CT that is not the best option for us. Her cancer is in her nose and most of her upper jaw. So to get the cancer we’d have to remove all of her nose and upper jaw. That’s not fair for a dog that scent focused and carries something in her mouth most of the day.

Radiation is an option but it’s a lot of time away from Emma and a lot of side effects for very little extra time with her. So this isn’t the right choice for our family. We have decided to keep Emma comfortable.

We’ve discussed this with our regular vet here in Johnson City and with the Oncologist, and both agree that we are making the right choice for Emma.

Right now Emma isn’t acting like anything is wrong and you wouldn’t know she has cancer if you didn’t notice her nose. We have a plan in place for when we need it to manage her symptoms and pain.

However right now this cancer isn’t effecting her at all. All the vets we’ve seen have said that it’s in Emma’s best interest to let her work until she doesn’t want to anymore. So we are letting her choose when she retires. Emma is a very expressive dog so I know that she’ll tell us when she’s ready to retire.

Emma’s current prognosis is that she has months left with us. We’re not sure if this will be 2 months or 12 months but we’re soaking in every moment we have with her.

Thank you everyone for your support during this time!

10/14/2025

Emma has cancer. We got the news yesterday morning and we’ve informed everyone in our close circles. There are a handful of things up in the air still. However, we do know that we are facing an aggressive form of cancer. There is a good chance that this could be cured with surgery. We are working closely with her care team to know what’s best for Emma, and what her future as a service dog looks like. No matter what, we will always make the decision that is in the best interest of Emma.

09/01/2025

08/27/2025

Happy National Dog Day to my favorite girl! Thank you for keeping me alive!!

08/25/2025

If chaos was a dog, it would be this dog.

08/01/2025

We’ve been busy this month but this girl is a pro a tackling whatever life throws our way.

07/12/2025

It’s hot outside which means it’s dog boots season!

06/27/2025

5 years ago today I brought home a spunky little Labrador puppy. She’s now a spunky little Labrador adult. When I tell you not much has changed about her personality in 5 years, I mean I could show you very similar pictures of adult Emma that I’ve taken this week.

04/28/2025

Come see us at work! Thank you to BeLocal for the feature!!

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