SwankyCletus

I have heard it is for the dog's best interest. The relationship between a service dog and it's owner is incredible- so much stronger than a normal relationship with your pet, because you actually rely on this dog to do daily tasks and/or keep you safe. These dogs aren't just pets, they're support. Once the dog is retired, and the new service dog enters the picture, the old service dog won't be allowed to preform the same functions- it will no longer go everywhere with its owner, instead, the new dog fills this role. It won't have a 'job' anymore, which can also lead to a lot of stress, because lots of dogs are very job oriented. While I don't agree with it, the reasoning behind removing the old dog (or at least, what I've been told by my mom, who has a service dog) is that the new environment spares the dog a lot of stress, and lets the retired dog avoid having to watch a new animal fill the role it's been filling for its whole life.

Source: My mom has MS, and has had a service dog for my entire life. We were allowed to keep ours after she was retired, but many people choose not to, or aren't allowed to.

There could be bureaucratic issues as well, or problems with the family/owner keeping two dogs, but when my mom talked with us about keeping Chanel (our now-retied dog), that was how she explained it.

I will say that Chanel did have a hard time adjusting to losing her place in the family. It helped that we own a farm, so my dad started taking her out to do farm stuff, and she still was 'useful' because of that. As she's aged (she's 15, pretty blind, and has joint problems), I think she's a lot happier just being the family pet, getting to sleep the day away, and spend more time with the family.

You should be able to go to an urgent care and get anibiotics. It won't help with the actual tooth problem, but the infection is a big deal. My dad had an infected tooth, and now permanently has Bells palsy because of it.

My mom's service dog is a poodle! No one is allergic to pet dander, we just were given a poodle this go-around. Cutest thing ever, and smart as a whip.

I did butterfly conservation for a few years. A huge part of the decline is habitat destruction, and the loss of host plants. While butterflies will eat nectar from most flowers, the caterpillars of many species will only eat one or two species of native plant. For my butterflies, it was a little tiny violet with a very niche habitat. When these plants are lost, either through human development or invasive species, the caterpillars don't live long enough to pupate and reproduce. These caterpillars will starve before eating other plants- they're simply not able to adapt to the loss of the plants.