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Sully the service dog accompanies Bush one last time

Posted at 7:50 PM, Dec 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-03 15:42:07-05

Sully, a yellow Labrador service dog who worked with late former President George H.W. Bush, is accompanying his master one last time by traveling to Washington with Bush’s casket.

In a photo tweeted by Jim McGrath, Bush’s spokesman, Sully can be seen sitting directly in front of Bush’s casket at a Texas funeral home Monday morning, his head bowed in unison with the Bush family members that surround him.

Last night, McGrath shared a photograph of Sully lying next to Bush’s casket along with the caption, “Mission complete.”

Sully is named after former airline pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, who became famous for landing a damaged passenger jet on the Hudson River and saving all 155 passengers and crew in 2009.

A highly trained service dog, Sully will now go back into service to help other veterans and is going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, former President George W. Bush wrote in an Instagram post.

“As much as our family is going to miss this dog, we’re comforted to know he’ll bring the same joy to his new home, Walter Reed, that he brought to 41,” Bush wrote.

Sully can perform a two-page list of commands, including answering the phone and fetching items.

“As one person said, he can do just about anything except make you a martini, but not to worry, he can go get you someone to make you a martini,” McGrath said in June.

He was trained by America’s VetDogs and developed his own huge following on Instagram, @sullyhwbush. America’s VetDogs is a charity that provides service dogs to veterans, active-duty service members and first responders with disabilities.

Sully went to work with Bush this summer after former first lady Barbara Bush passed away earlier this year.