George H. W. Bush adopts service dog

George H. W. Bush adopts service dog. June. 28, 2018 07:30. by Taek Kyoon Sohn sohn@donga.com.
Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush has adopted a retriever into his family as his first service dog, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Service dogs assist people with disabilities or patients who have difficulties in daily lives. Retrievers, which are known for being smart and gentle, are often used as service dogs. Bush’s new companion is also a Canadian-born Labrador retriever.

Bush named the male dog “Sully” after an American airline captain who steered his flight to safety on the Hudson River off Manhattan in 2009 after the plane after it suffered an engine blowout, saving the lives of the entire passengers on the flight. Bush also opened an Instagram account, @sullyhwbush. Sully was trained by a nonprofit organization that provides service dogs for retired servicepeople or rescue workers with disabilities. The dogs can bring telephone receivers to their owners when they ring and fetch objects as ordered.

Bush has been depending on a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility since developing a form of Parkinson’s disease in 2012. Bush wrote on his Twitter account that he “could not be more grateful, especially for their commitment to our veterans.”