Tails of the City: Ready to Serve
Summer Kozai says her assistance dogs have helped her regain her independence. More importantly, they’ve brought joy and connections.
Like many 26-year-olds, Summer Kozai was focused on her career and having adventures with friends. Then her life took a dramatic, difficult turn. The ‘Iolani School grad contracted bacterial meningitis, most likely during a work trip in the Marshall Islands, and in the chaotic aftermath upon returning to Hawai‘i, wound up unable to breathe. When she awoke from a medically induced coma weeks later, she learned she would need to have all four limbs amputated.
The now 42-year-old spent many months at The Queen’s Medical Center, then three more years in Portland, undergoing various surgeries and therapies to learn how to function with prosthetic limbs. While in Oregon, she received her first service dog—Trooper—via Assistance Dogs of Hawai‘i.
For the next eight years, the black lab was Kozai’s constant companion, helping her rebuild her life and gain independence. But Kozai was also bolstered by her own remarkably resilient spirit, which kept her living in gratitude instead of resentment. Eventually, she resumed her career as a defense contract auditor based in Honolulu.
After Trooper died in 2021, it took Kozai three years to heal from the loss. “I was so heartbroken,” she says. She applied for another dog only after learning that Trooper’s now-grown puppies were ready for their assignments. In February 2024, Trooper’s daughter, Oakley, came to Kozai’s side, and like her father, became her supportive shadow.
“The main thing that they did and now do to help me is retrieve items and close and open doors,” Kozai says. The uber-motivated Oakley—whom Kozai has nicknamed “‘Opihi” because she’s a “Stage 5 clinger”—is thrilled when asked to assist. “As soon as I say, ‘Oakley,’ she’s running to help me with whatever I need,” Kozai says. “If I print something, she’ll get the paper from the printer. If I’m trying to brush my hair and I drop my brush, she’ll pick it up. Any time of day, she’s ready to help.”
Yet, the biggest thing her dogs have provided is helping her reintegrate into the world. “When I had the amputations, the first few years were very difficult, and you worry about how everyone else sees you,” Kozai says. “I was living in a nursing home, which is already weird for a 27-year-old, but when I got Trooper, part of the requirement is you have to take them out on neighborhood walks and socialize them. It forced me to get outside, and I ended up making so many friends.”
For Kozai, a dog’s unconditional love is healing. “I never stopped having fun with friends,” Kozai says. “But the love, joy and companionship that Trooper and Oakley brought—that’s something that a human, I don’t think, could ever do. Everything they do is selfless. There are no conditions—they just want to help because they love you.”
