Danny continues to make progress

Danny continues to make progress despite a rather slow training week for me with being busy on another project. I have been working on loading Danny into the back of our Summit van using some wheelchair ramps that I have. I am amazed again how quickly we progressed. A little grain goes a long ways with this guy! By the end of the first session he was loading and unloading though a little clumsily and lacking confidence. Tonight, however, he walked right up the ramp and back down 4 times with loads of confidence. Next will be a short driving trip in the back of the van. I don't anticipate any problems.

Danny has also made great progress on retrieving. He now readily takes the dumbbell from my hand and holds it briefly. He will also pick it up off the ground and has even brought it to hand a few times. I anticipated this process taking much longer than with a dog but actually have far less training time in with Danny to get to this stage. I think he will be an eager retriever.

We are also messing about with turning a light switch on. He just started reliably targeting the light switch plate with his nose tonight. I know it won't take long for him to turn on the switch as he has already done so by chance a few times.

I have put a temporary halt to bringing him in the house until I get some rubber boots for him. I'll be ordering those tomorrow from Amazon.com of all places. The boots look easy to slip on and off and should solve the problem of him slipping around on my pergo floors. Then we will continue work on housebreaking.

Hope to get a few photos or even a short video this week of Danny retrieving and loading in the van.

Sue

Notes from a volunteer puppy raiser: Maya

That brings up to dog #5 who is my current dog, Maya. She is Eddie’s half sister and looks just like him, but a bit smaller. She is very exuberant and confident, but cooperative and helpful. To help ease the stress of moving to Anacortes, I bring her visiting families and classrooms, and leave her there, to see that life goes on quite happily without me. She was a weekly guest at a second grade where the kids really loved her. They gave her a crackerjack birthday party when she turned one – handmade cards, gifts, party hats, treats, the works.

She has great public access skills and does well in markets, big crowds, very noisy places. Her breeder, Sharon, works very hard with her pups before she sends them into the world. She does early neurological stimulation with them just after they are born, desensitizes them to hats, umbrellas, gunshots, surprises as well as socializes them to a variety of folks. Maya is not comfortable with balloons flying over her head, but not much else bothers her.

She now has her baby sister, Chloe, who is her full sister and just a year younger, living with us. One of Maya’s self-appointed jobs is cleaning Chloe’s ears whether they’re dirty or not. And, of course, Maya is a great chew toy for Chloe who attacks her with a ferocious vigor. They were both with me at the Pierce Co.Humane Society’s Dogathon where we had our Summit booth. Maya worked, did demos, and schmoozed for five hours without complaint while Chloe waited patiently behind the booth. I couldn’t ask for two better girls.

Maya will be moving up to Anacortes in September for her final training, and, hopefully, graduation. You’ve seen that my other 4 dogs had ‘career changes’, and I am no longer so confident to think that just because I work hard to train the dogs, that they will ‘make it’. It’s an awful lot to ask a dog to do the job of a service dog, and most of them just aren’t made for that type of work. But I am hopeful about Maya. Either way, she will be a working dog: either she graduates the program and gets a life partner, or she goes back to her breeder to begin life as a mother dog, another job that she could do very well. I’ll keep you all posted on her progress. That’s all for now.

Donna

Access challenges with assistance dogs

I have had a few access challenges with my dog, but none that upset me so much as the one I had this past weekend.

I was in an outlet mall and went into a "County Kitchen" type store.  I walked to the espresso bar in the back of the store and grabbed a Coke.   A woman rushed over to me and said, "Miss, you can't have your pet in here".  I said that he is an assistance dog, so it is legal for me to have him with me.   I work very hard at being pleasant, polite and informative in these moments.

She said, "It's my store and you can't have a pet here!"  I told her again that he is an assistance dog and would she like to see my certification card to verify that it is legal for me to have him with me.   She said, it really didn't matter, but ok.

I took out the i.d. card Summit had given to me and handed it to her.  Then, she turned around the corner of the espresso bar and disappeared from my sight.

I waited a few minutes and then went to find her.  She was just around the corner, copying everything on the card down and scrutinizing it.   She looked at me and said, "It's my store and I don't want you in the back here by the food, so I'll ring you up in front."

By this time I was angry and embarrassed, as many of the shoppers and staff were looking at us.  We got to the front checkout and she told me how much I owed her.   I gave her the money and asked her to give me my card back.  She said she had already.  I looked in my billfold and it wasn't there.   I told her this and she said, "Oh, I just reached in and put it back in your purse!"

At this point, I was done.  I was shaking and ready to cry, just from the embarrassment, frustration and feeling bullied.   She asked me what state it was that it was legal for me to bring my pet in.  I stated that it was legal here, in this state, as well as anywhere in the US.   She said, "I'm an ex-cop and I'm going to look into this!"  She was very rude.  I said that if she'd like to call the police, I'd be more than happy to wait and they could explain the law to her.   Although I was maintaining my anger, we both knew I was jabbing back.

At that point, she quit talking with me and said I needed to leave her store.  I did.

A friend I was shopping with went back and talked to her.  The woman had calmed down and was listening to my friend, as well as to her employees.   She eventually came outside and apologized, stating that just 5 minutes before I came in a woman had brought in her Chihuahua and wouldn't leave.  She also said that the health department does surprise inspections and she never knows what to expect.  She apologized for hurting me and said she couldn't believe she acted that way.   Although I was crying, I felt like it was a pretty good ending to the situation.  Had she not come out and apologized, I fully intended to report her to the Department of Justice.

Anonymous

Notes from a volunteer puppy raiser: Charley

Very shortly after Eddie moved up to Anacortes, I received dog #4 - Charley - another black poodle but from a different breeder. He was a really sweet guy, but very fearful of too many things, like the hot air coming out of the wall heater and the onions frying on the stove. Needless to say, I didn’t have him very long, and he is now a very happy pet in a home with children, and brings the family much joy.

Donna

Notes from a volunteer puppy raiser: Eddie

My trainee #3 was Eddie and was one of the great loves of my life. He is a large black Standard Poodle donated by Sharon Colvin of Montana. He was so much fun to train – he could do just about everything – lights, laundry, doors, drawers, retrieval, sock and jacket removal, bracing on steps and after falling. We made a really fun book about his visit to a kindergarten class which should be in print soon.

He came very close to graduating and already had his possible partner, Michelle. He decided he didn’t want to do the job, though, as it was too stressful for him. As soon as he went back to being a family pet, his eye and ear problems, which were extensive, cleared right up, so I guess he knew best, but it broke my heart that he didn’t make it. He lives in Dallas now and does pet therapy and reads with children. We hope he’ll be listening to his own “Eddie Goes to Kindergarten” book.

Donna

Notes from a volunteer puppy raiser: Tonka

My previous posting was written while I was training my first service dog, almost 4 years ago. I was fresh and very hopeful about this new adventure. My hopes were not fulfilled with Ace. He was a little to shy and sensitive and did not graduate, but went on to be a therapy dog.

My next dog was a Belgian Travern and came to me as a completely untrained pup who had been destined for French Ring Sport which involves attacking and immobilizing a ‘bad guy’ in addition to other things. The breeder donated Tonka because she said he was a ‘slug’. He was beautiful and very bright and quick to learn, and a little scary for me as a new trainer. He wanted to herd my white poodle (think sheep) and he was very serious about this job.

We had him for 10 days and then went to San Francisco, leaving him back with the breeder. Our plan was to pick him up on our return, but when I called, I learned that they had taken him to the vet and found him full of arthritis and hip dysplasia, thus their evaluation of “slug”. So that was trainee #2.

Donna

Notes from a volunteer puppy raiser: Ace

I’d often thought about it – could I do it, and could I ever give him up? Raising a future service dog sounds like a great thing to do, and I’m here to say that it really is. Our five year old Standard Poodle, Chicco, completely agrees. For him, having a 24-7 playmate is close to heaven. They excel as each other’s chew toys, and are always ready for a game of chase, tug, or wrestle. Ace, the future service dog is a 9 month old Golden Retriever, and needs to learn all sorts of skills for his future life. He sits and waits before going in or out of doors, stays down for long periods of time, and does all the typical basic obedience tasks.

One day when we were practicing “back” in the kitchen, both dogs were sitting in front of me. “Back” – Ace sent back. “Chicco – back” and Chicco sat there. Ace went up and poked him with his nose, as if to say “Hey you, move back” then went back to his place. The problem is that this Ace is just so good at everything he tries, so sweet and loveable, so well behaved while in public with his magic cape on, that I’ve grown rather attached to him. But I think about the important job he will be doing soon, and the person who will grow to love him and need him even more than I do. Every morning when he gets up out of his crate, he stuffs a toy in his mouth and runs around to greet everyone as he sings his good morning song. He has a marvelous appetite and eats a bit like a vacuum cleaner. He is so interested in food that he’ll try anything for a treat. And smart too: when I have two treats out for the dogs and say “take it”, Ace grabs the one closer to Chicco, then grabs his own. When Ace graduates and is ready to go to his future home, somebody who has not had the best of luck so far, will take hold of that leash and will be the luckiest new owner of the most perfect pup – Ace.

Donna