Charlotte may not know the difference between latex and oil-based paint, but she is eager to please the customer at the southwest Abilene Lowe's store.

She dresses like most of the other employees, easily identifiable by the red-and-blue vest that everyone wears.

She's shaggier than most employees, and sits around a lot. She doesn't say much.

She has a nice smile. Oh, and those eyes that draw you in.

Charlotte, who was "hired" just this fall, is a 10-year-old golden retriever. She brings her pal, Clay Luthy, to work with her.

Clay is an Air Force veteran, a former C-130 loadmaster, who officially was the one hired by Lowe's. He "blew out" not one but both knees, which since has required five surgeries. He cannot bend his left knee and can slowly work his way down on his right knee to get to items on lower shelves.

Tough stuff for an otherwise sturdy 35-year-old man, who has a wife and three kids to support. But Clay's story is not a sad one. He makes do, which is a theme at a home improvement center, right?

Besides, who focuses on him?

"Everyone loves Charlotte," he said of his constant companion, who's trained to help Clay get back on his feet should he fall prone to the floor. LINK

Good job Charlotte  

Just saw this story and wanted to see if it was posted yet. Search revealed thread so no duping...

Anyways, regardless of your opinion on the whole service dog thing, this is awesome on behalf of Lowe's. Way to go!!

Being a C-130 Loadmaster is tough on the knees at times. Banged mine around plenty, but never blew one out.

Good on Lowes, for sure!

Great for Lowes!  
But how does a Loadmaster blow out his knees?  Dad was a Loadmaster for 30 years. He was on the C-5 design and test team, second Loadmaster to make rank of CMSgt, spent several years in Antarctica building McMurdo station, Berlin Airlift and put the first load ever on a C-130. And he broke it
He wound up deaf as hell, but no problems with the knees.  
And no, Mom was not a truck driver  
Wondering if it was an accident he had.

I'm actually fine with this as it appears to be an actual service dog (helps him get up) as opposed to some fat woman's rat dog that helps her with PTSD related to the fucking chocolate fountain at Golden Corral running dry.

The image you just painted is hysterical

I've probably heard of your dad! But as far as this guy, shit can happen on the Hercs. Unlike C-5s, and maybe the 17s, a Herc Loadmaster does most of his own onloading and offloading. Pushing pallets, running into shit, jumping out of the troop doors or off of the ramp (while on ground) can be rough on the knees. Hell, one time in the ME, I was trying to climb onto the ramp in the horizontal position, and slammed my left knee right into one of the ramp toes. That hurt like a mother.

That's here where I live. I don't know the guy but he worked at the prison I work at for a while.
Say them the other day at the store. Good on Lowes for doing it.

Yea, sounds like the C-130 guys get the hard work!  Dad was the NCOIC of the 437th in Charleston from '70-'77.  Went by the nickname "Big Foot"  James W. Smith. His best friend at the time he made Chief beat him by one day.  I think out of his 30 years, he was a Chief for 18 of them.

A service dog for bad knees.

I'm glad it's an actual service dog and actual injured veteran, not a pet that some snowflake "needs" because they have nightmares from 30th AG.

I'm the motherfuckin' Bob Ross of fat women posts.

As a dude with bad knees and even worse vertebrae from playing soldier, a dog that can help you up after a fall, or even more helpfully, pick up dropped items would be a godsend.