Wendy and Dixie Visit Eugene

Dixie is a member of Summit's D Litter. She was born along with her two brothers last October while Shiloh and I were Team Training. Wendy brought Dixie and her 11 yr old collie mix, Chaihuly, with her to do a follow visit with Shiloh and me. Shiloh has been partnered with me for six months now, though in the grand scheme of both of our lives that is a very short time period. Each day we grow and gel as a team. We were happy to welcome Wendy, Dixie and Chaihuly to our home turf to show them how we are doing and share some of our favorite activities. Dixie and Chaihuly got to experience Eugene's wonderful dog parks. Shiloh and I also took Dixie to her first ever open air Farmer's Market. The farmer's market is a wonder of sights, sounds, smells, people, and temptations for a mere seven month old pup like Dixie. Dixie had a mind (mostly) only for Wendy and the treats she new she had. Like any smart, curious pup Dixie found it hard to be good wanting to investigate all these new people and things. Knowing this Wendy carefully balanced letting her investigate some of the odd things like the wind chimes made from silverware and asking for calm, controlled behavior. Having raised and trained my own first service dog, I know an environment like this is demanding for both pup and handler. After about twenty minutes it the outing was declared a success and we took Dixie home. It is very important when working a young pup like this to keep new outing fun and interesting while taking care not to overwhelm the pup. When Dixie started showing sign that she was mentally tired by yawning and having difficulty focusing it was time to go. Working a dog whether pup or adult past what they can handle serves only to show the dog working is not fun. Since service dog work is very demanding it is paramount that the dog want to do it and early experiences be as positive and fun as possible.
This day was also the first time Dixie had walked next to a wheelchair. Having Shiloh to model after and cookies to earn (Wendy pushed my wheelchair while we walked to the market.) Dixie fell into a very nice heel easily. Though once she wasn't paying attention and got her toes clipped. It did not stop her from trying everything she could to get the elusive cookie from me. Every dog who works with chairs gets their toes clipped once, because they are not used to this metal fortress being around a person and are trying to get closer or they simply weren't paying attention. This is why wheelchair dogs are also introduced to manual chairs first and power chairs second. Getting clipped by a manual chair only startles, but allows the dogs to learn the best space to walk and why they can't crowd a chair. I was happy to see Dixie doing so well. She is bright, happy, willing and sweet. I hope she will make a great service dog one day, maybe for someone who uses a wheelchair. Come visit us again sometime!

Meet Shiloh and Melissa 2008 Graduates

My name is Melissa Mitchell. I went to Summit when my first service dog, Bastien, was ready to retire. I had taken on the monumental task and risk of raising and training my first service dog myself. In the near decade of our partnership I experienced many changes in how my disability, cerebral palsy, affected me. Yes, I know they say it doesn't get worse, technically, I suppose that's true. The brain damage doesn't get worse, but the body wears out in surprising ways that, for me, lead to increased physical limitations. I went to Summit because I knew I needed to retire my first dog and I just did not have the energy and emotional stamina to both retire my boy and raise and train a new service dog for myself. I knew I would most likely fail and I needed the assistance I knew a carefully chosen, well trained service dog would provide. I chose Summit for many reasons, not the least of which was their use of rescued dogs whenever possible. Summit also put a lot of time an effort into getting to know me and my life in order to find the dog I needed and who needed me.(you can read about my life with Shiloh on my blog) Shiloh and I have been together for nearly five months and each day we learn, grow, and live together. While life with a service dog is not the right choice for everyone, I know in my heart I have made the right choice for myself and Shiloh. Shiloh is an exceedingly bright, sweet girl who has blossomed from the shy, unsure young dog she once was into a wonderful partner who will only continue to become an indispensable part of my life.

Some updates...

Recently, the "C" litter was born. This is the 3rd litter that Summit has bred in its breeding program. The litter includes five boys and two girls and all the puppies are healthy and good natured. You can read more about the litter and see a photo in Summit's July newsletter here:

http://www.summitdogs.org/Newsletters/2008_Jul.pdf

We have created a "Summit Assistance Dogs" group on facebook. For those of you that use facebook, please consider joining the group. facebook provides a convenient way for the folks at Summit to interact with the community of people interested in Summit's activities. By way of (great) incentive, Grant has uploaded some photos and videos of the puppies in the "C" litter to the facebook Summit group. You may join the group by following this link:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7080623401

Daz

Morgan's blog for the end of March

Heyla


I had to spend last weekend alone without Alice. It was hard. I was worried and missing her. She went away without me for 4 days. Don't I look worried?
I tried to be happy with my dad person Wayne. We took long walks, and I even tried meditating with him.


Here is Alice being silly as usual with her bunnies. I tried to join in the fun with "Peeps Around the World" series of photographs of those little cultural icons in trees, bushes, wherever. But it was not much fun without my special person, Alice.


And it was an exciting time for black cat Sophie who on one of our walks(!) got treed by a barking and snapping dog. She was up there for over 3 hours. Finally Wayne had to become fireman Joe and rescue her. That's what she gets for trying to walk with us.

I still get to go out as Alice's service dog, but not always. She is talking of getting me a part-time job! I mean, haven't I worked enough already? Don't I start getting treats for just being? Ommmmm...

Later,
Morgan
Summit Service Dog
(as written through his keyboarding person, Alice)

Morgan's Blog "Movies, Sleeping and not Sleeping!"

Hey dudes,

My people took me to a movie yesterday that was so bad, all three of us ranted and raved after it was over. Wayne wrote a letter to the editor, and Alice added her two cents. It was so bad, I got up from my sleeping place at Alice's feet, and near the end  begged them by panting  my doggie breathe on Wayne, with a please-let's-leave-now-look.

They agree, they should have left the theater, but no, they stayed till the excruciating end. The name of the film had something to do with Bach, music I generally like, but the humans complained about the bad film: script, editing, photography, directing, all that stuff. And, worst of all, they had no popcorn!

Dog dancing is still fun. Some new dogs coming into the program,but I still can't play with any of them. Mary says "no freelancing." That means no nose sniffing, or no butt greeting. I mean come on! We say hello that way! It's all part of being a canine. Lighten up, Mary!

My human sister, Annie is coming to visit again. I like her. That means long walks and hikes and camping! Oh boy, camping, what fun! But we sold our VW camper bus so we currently have no vehicle to camp in, and Alice says she's too old for tent camping. Whatever! I just want to get out there in the wild and smell all the good nature things, and the campfire and stuff. It's so much fun.

To tell you the truth though my aches and pains are still around. I try not to let Alice know, but she knows anyway. I guess getting older and wiser is not all it's cracked up to be. Alice agrees: she has something called insomnia: neither Wayne nor I can figure out how she can NOT sleep.

I'm doing just fine, although I'm told I now snore when I sleep. Do not! It's probably Wayne or one of the cats making that noise. Those people always blame me for fart smells, burping noises, now snoring. I don't really mind: I get secret joy of making those sounds and smells!

It's 4:30 am: Alice has been up since 2: she's getting sleepy, and making all sorts of errors typing. I think she needs a break. Go back to bed, Alice. I need to sleep some more anyway!

Yesterday we had a big wind storm. Alice got knocked over by a gust of wind, and took Wayne down with her. I stayed on four feet. Her balance isn't what it used to be. Sometimes she let's me out in the yard, no walkies. Here I am forlorn, waiting to be let back in the house.

Well, that's about it for now. Life is pretty good:

Walkies, dog dancing, visits to the elementary school,good food, and treats! And lots of napping for this dog!

Yesterday, Alice and I practiced some dance moves. I got hotdog pieces for my reward. Way to go, Alice!

Woof!

Morgan,
Summit,graduate of 2002,
(as helped by his human counterpart. Alice.)

Notes from a Volunteer Puppy Raiser

Hello everyone.  I have good news - my hoped for, and expected new puppy to train for Summit is 'in utero' and should be born middle to end of this month.  That means I'll get her towards the end of May.  The mom is a lab and the dad is a collie.  Their first two litters have been very successful in the training program, so I'm looking forward to some good results.  So far, I have had mostly standard poodles, and Summit feels, (I agree) that they are not the best breed for service dogs.  None of mine have graduated.  They are a little too alert, curious, and into their own agenda for a service dog.  As a personal pet, I think they are the best.

I have been going to weekly obedience classes with my Summit pups in training.  I go in Gig Harbor to Jeanne Hampl's class which is for basic obedience, but she gives me more specific service dog  tips during the lesson.  She started the Assistance Dog Club of Puget Sound which is for people partnered with assistance dogs.  It is a support group, a training group and a social fun group.

The club will be having a very good workshop on May 31, a Saturday.  It will be held in Gig Harbor and I'm sure it would be worth your time to attend it.  Sue Meinzinger will be presenting on canine temperament for program dogs.

I'll be there and hope to see you there, also.

Donna

Suzanne and Gusto

Many of you know that I lost my precious Sadie (my dog) last summer - well, this guy

was a service dog for a wonderful place called Summit Assistance dogs and the human he was with for the past couple of years died a few months ago and Summit decided not to place him back into service.  They knew about Sadie and contacted me to see if I would be willing to take Gusto - a 4+ year old male, who, like me, was rather a lost soul.  So, Gusto has joined the group and he performed spectacularly for his first snowshoe trip ever.  He quickly learned about not stepping on the back of your shoes!  He is quite well-behaved.  I think he was as ecstatic to be out with us as we were to have him along!  You will be hearing more about Gusto.  I can't thank Summit enough for being so caring for me and Gusto.

By now, it had warmed considerably from our start of 22 degrees and the snow was getting soft.  So soft, that it was balling up terribly on Gusto's belly and legs, making it hard for him to climb and plow through the deep stuff.  We decided that with another 900' of gain to make Teanaway Ridge, we would call it good.  Besides, we had probably already come a good 4 miles and with a decent amount of gain and this was Gusto's first snowshoe.  I didn't want him exiting quite this soon!

All-in-all, a great day in the mountains.  It had "warmed" up to 35 back at the car.  Someone had a good day!