George H. W. Bush's Service Dog Sully Gets His Own Statue and a Kiss from JJ Watt Over Two Days

Dec 05, 2019 by apost team

The passing of George H.W. Bush reminded the world of the kindness and courage of the 41st president. In addition to being a loving husband and father, the elder Bush had a great love of dogs, a love that was exemplified in his friendship with his service dog, Sully. Sully and Bush went everywhere together and developed a strong bond. When Bush died in November of last year, the yellow Labrador retriever continued his work as a service dog, this time at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Sully took a bit of break from his service earlier this week to be a guest of honor at a number of events.

First, on Sunday, Sully attended an NFL game that saw the Houston Texans triumph over the New England Patriots 28-22. During the game, Sully shared a kiss with Texans defensive end JJ Watt to the adoration of those in attendance, as seen here at ABC13 News. Sully also attended the Texans-Patriots game on official business with the group that trained him, America’s VetDogs. During a time out in the game’s second quarter, Sully introduced Army veteran Lukas More to his new service dog, the black Labrador retriever Chestnut. Chestnut was brought to More by none other than Pierce Bush, the grandson to the deceased 41st president.

apost.com

Sully continued his adventure by visiting the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. It was at the museum that Sully got his first look at a statue of himself that was commissioned by America’s VetDogs. Sculpted out of bronze by Susan Bahary, the sculpture will be on permanent display at the museum starting on Friday, December 6. The statue took Bahary three months to sculpt, standing 30 inches and weighing 60 pounds. Sully himself gave his approval to Bahary’s work, sniffing his bronze double as he wagged his tail, as ABC News reports.

Bahary later told reporters that she was glad to have been commissioned to work on the Sully statue. The globally renowned artist says that she was moved by Sully’s friendship with the late former president and wanted to show the canine’s immense loyalty to Bush in her work. John Miller, the CEO of America’s VetDogs, said in a public statement that Sully is an amazing ambassador to their work and that it was an honor to help the former president in his time of need.

What do you think of Sully and the work being done by America’s VetDogs? Pass this news on to dog lovers everywhere.