Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-

I have two: First is my lab, Jack. Of course he would retrieve anything. In a group of adults throwing a ball for him, he would bring the ball back to whoever threw it. But when our young neighbor kids threw him a ball, he made them take turns. If the boy threw the ball, he would bring it to the girl, and vice versa. He did this repeatedly, on several occasions! He never did that with anyone else. Here's Jack, at his happiest - by the lake. Then there's Topper - our first Cardigan Welsh Corgi. He was not especially affectionate - he would sit with you on the couch as long as you were petting him, then he would go lay on the floor. My teenage son suffered from depression and anxiety in high school. At one point his doctor put him on a med to which he reacted very badly - he had drastic mood swings, from hysterical laughter to suicidal thoughts within minutes. He stopped taking it right away, but the effects lasted a week. Either DH or I was at his side the whole time, usually snuggling on the couch in the family room. Topper would be at the far end of the house, presumably asleep, when suddenly he'd run to the family room and jump into my son's lap. Within a minute DS would report suicidal thoughts. The dog stayed in his lap until it passed, then sat at the other end of the couch, keeping a watchful eye on him. It happened several times that week. When that awful week was over, Topper went back to his usual, more aloof self. I don't know how he knew - I just know that having the dog at my son's side made those episodes a little easier to handle. Another Topper story - not nearly as dramatic. We went to Itasca State Park in Minnesota - home of the birthplace of the Mississippi River. My sons love to wade down the river, and started off, as they had done before. Topper wasn't crazy about the water, and didn't like to swim (even though he was good at it). DH and I planned to walk a path, and meet the boys downstream. Topper would have none of it - he insisted on following them down the river, through the water. He had his ears flat back on his head - a very unhappy look - but determined to not let the boys out of his sight! Lucky for Topper, the water was really low that year. Here are the three of them, on a log across the river:

Yes, Lisa, I hope you're correct. It's just that (because of past experience) when I see a post promoting a commercial website on the very first day the person registered it makes me suspicious. I hope the poster truly intends to inspire us. Advertising is against the rules on the GW forums for a reason -- spammers have ruined many un-monitored sites.

This is a rather old thread but I wish to make a comment anyway since every time I search for fire safety-dogs, it comes up as one of the few resources. Also this thread catapulted me into finding a solution! This is it and I couldn't be more excited to have found it!Someone above mentioned a harness made for letting rescue dogs down from a helicopter into an emergency zone. That looked great until I found the following, which is less than half the price at $70. https://www.x-itproducts.com/how-it-works-large-pet-escape-sling/ At this time it's not offered on Amazon so you have to go directly to the X-It website to order. Ours arrived today. My husband and I tested it out a bit. Okay, we didn't throw our dog out the window however easily got our 80 lb. Golden into the sling/harness very very quickly without any struggle from him (and he's a guy who snaps at being brushed - gently). It's just so easy to get the sling on - slip paws into the large holes, pull up and cinch the velcro at the neck. Next we picked him up using the handles - no problem - and again, not an ounce of struggle. He was obviously well supported and comfortable, even off the floor! We were very happy to discover the sling comes with an attached nylon webbing strap that was way longer than it would take to get him down from our 2nd story bedroom. (It's made for a 4 story building.) Best of all, the "strap" has handle loops every so often taking away the danger of it slipping through your hands while letting your dog down. We're seniors yet I feel confident we can do this if necessary! Of course using this is a last resort and it clearly states that in the instructions. But we feel so much better having a 2nd way out of our 2nd story bedroom for our dog, as well as ourselves (via ladder). We're so grateful someone finally thought of large dogs. Thank you X-It!!! We'll be spreading the word to everyone we know who has dogs. And no, we're not paid by the company, nor have we received any free products! We're simply happy to have finally found this solution. But I agree with some of the above comments, the next house we buy will be one story. Until then, we have a plan.