Saturday morning found Ducky the dog dressed for his first day at his new job, in an orange jacket that tells everyone he is a service dog, and in a jelly bean print bandana just for fun, like a man with a holiday necktie.

It was early, the sun still rising, when his trainer put him in the car and drove out to the airport for a dog's version of an important business trip.

Ducky had a job to do, a job that saved his life.

The labrador/border collie mix had been at the Humane Society of the Black Hills shelter since February and was running out of chances.

One family adopted him but returned him because he behaved badly.

The shelter asked Billee and Scott Schaible if they could take him into foster care, like they had with other animals, and socialize him.

Billee Schaible didn't think she could this time. She had a lot planned for this spring, including a class reunion in Nebraska. She didn't have time to teach a naughty dog to sit, stay and shake.

But if no one helped Ducky, he would have to be euthanized, because he couldn't be adopted as he was.

"I didn't want the fact that I was busy to be the reason he was euthanized," she said.

So she took Ducky home and started to work with him, teaching all the usual doggie commands, plus how to play "dead dog." A mix of working breeds, Ducky took naturally to the new skills and loved feeling useful, Schaible said.

And she went to her class reunion as planned. When she was there, she ran into a former classmate from Tucson, who is disabled and whose service dog was getting too old and sick for the job.

Ducky didn't even need an interview. He was hired. Once he receives more training in Tucson, his job will be to help Patty Harris around the house, opening the refrigerator, turning on lights, picking up objects and more.

Everything was in motion. Humane Society board member Mary Scull called her friend Gary English, local manager for Frontier Airlines. He couldn't fly Ducky freight, because it's too hot in Tucson for that, but he offered to use his free tickets and, on his day off, personally accompany Ducky to his new city to meet his new boss.

Another board member, Kara Sewell, who made Ducky the jelly bean bandana, met the group at the airport.

Billie kept Ducky on his leash at the airport, and she didn't nuzzle him like a pet. She was all business, giving commands that the dog obeyed.

But when it was time to go, she handed the leash to English so he could take the dog to the plane. She stood and watched Ducky trot away without even looking back at her, and she wept.

That's what she trained him for, to do his job. But she loved him just the same.

Now she'll have time to help another animal who might need a job or a home.

"If you keep one," she said, mopping up her tears with a tissue, "you can't help 25."