ADA Rights, Experience, Virginia

Update from Andrew, and Service Dog “Ender”.

A wonderful update from our former client, Andrew, with his Service Dog “Ender”. Andrew is a Crime Prevention Specialist with his County Police Department in Virginia! He is completely dedicated to educating the community about the value of Service Dogs. What a WONDERFUL gift he is giving back! Here is his latest email to us:

Hi Laurie,

Ender and I have now spoken to 4 groups about Service Dogs (definitions, some training requirements, their uses, access permissions, etc.) The first two groups were at a State convention of High School Students that are focusing on entering either human or animal medicine. Out of that, we were asked to speak at a Vocational school that teaches students to become Vet Techs. We have now educated around 150 people with this information. There’s no way that I could handle the groups size without Ender. Of course with his sweet personality and temperament, he really helps build connections and relationships. I am forwarding the email that the instructor from yesterday sent along with two pictures that she took. As you can see, I think we made some progress. I hope that they’ll benefit from the training.

Best Wishes,
Andrew

“We need the community to be our eyes and ears. We are the hands and feet. Together we can speak with one voice”

Good afternoon, Andrew

Thank you so much for coming in today and speaking to the students. They thoroughly enjoyed it and they learned a great deal. You and Ender are making a difference and you are a great advocate for the service animal. I would love to help out at any point with fundraisers or public events to help educate the public. My students would be interested in any type of public awareness that we can do to support such a wonderful cause. I have attached the photos from today.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would forward me an address in which we can send some words of gratitude. Have a great evening.

Thank you,.
Angela F, LVT
Valley Career and Technical Center
Veterinary Assistant Instructor

Asperger's, San Antonio, Texas

Veronica and Isaiah and their SDIT, “Shaggy!”

From our excellent trainer, Beverli, who is working with Veronica and her son, Isaiah, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, and their SDIT, “Shaggy!” This was their second training session.
Beverli writes:

“We had our second training session today at Lowe’s. We specifically trained Shaggy’s now quick response to “sit, stay, down” from a walking position. We also worked on extended “down/stay” and “sit/stay” for 6ft+ (I like to challenge the team to do beyond what is necessary for the test). Shaggy’s heeling has made great improvement, as well as his “leave it”.

We also addressed other Service Dog tasks, such as calming Isaiah when he gets overstimulated in public, using the command “check your boy” when he started to get overwhelmed.

Areas that need to be addressed are mother Veronica’s ability to be Shaggy’s leader. She is very soft-spoken, so we will continue to work on it.

Other homework that was given for the next session was: “Stay” while out of sight, “sit while on a walk at random”, and “down on walk, at random”.

Experience

Safe rescue of two purebred German Shepherds

Laurie would personally like to express her extreme gratitude to our trainer, Sue, who ensured the safe rescue of two purebred German Shepherds that were at risk of being euthanized at Animal Care Services. I had been contacted by the owners of the dogs who had them for awhile, and the owner, a Wounded Warrior, said they could no longer care for the dogs. I told him immediately that I would personally come and assess the dogs since they live in my area, and that since they knew so much already, we could place them with new Wounded Warriors or clients. Well, I called him back to find out when he would like to do the assessment, and he said he just got “fed up” one day and took them to ACS. I asked him for the ID numbers, and then posted to all our trainers to please see if these dogs could be saved. Thank you to Sue and everyone else that she coordinated with, these two dogs are now safely in foster homes!!! YAY SUE!!!

Anxiety, Panic Attack, PTSD, Texas

Carmen and SDIT Ollie

From our trainer Jackie, who is working with Carmen, who suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and panic attacks due to sexual assault, and her SDIT, “Ollie”.

3/8/15
SDIT Ollie recently joined SDE with handler Carmen. Ollie is a 5 year old Lab/Shiba Inu/Shar Pei mix, and yes, he is an interesting blend of stunning. Ollie was assessed for his capability to become a Service Dog for his handler, Carmen, who suffers from PTSD. Ollie already has passed the Canine Good Citizen Test, so has his basic commands down well. Ollie is very in tune with Carmen. The new team will begin working on more public exposure and re-enforcing Ollie’s current training.

3/16/15
Carmen and her SDIT for PTSD Ollie had their first session today. Carmen brought family members that she lives with to the training so that they could learn the do’s and don’ts related to Service Dogs. Additionally, we wanted Ollie to focus solely on Carmen despite distractions and despite the familiarity of others in the home. Carmen worked with Ollie on sitting and waiting at the end of every aisle. The younger children provided various distractions that Ollie had to work on ignoring. We worked on anticipating possible problems. For instance, Ollie is already has previous training and is in sync with Carmen. However, with a new role in her life, I encouraged Carmen to provide more hand signals and verbal feedback in advance regarding what tasks she wanted Ollie to perform. Ollie also worked on “leave it”, “stay”, and “recall.” The new team made great progress!

3/22/15
Carmen and her PTSD SDIT Ollie had their second session today. Again, Carmen brought a family member to continue to educate the family and to continue to work on Ollie’s ability to deal with focus and distractions. This session occurred at a local restaurant, which was only Ollie’s second time in an eating establishment. We continued to work on having Carmen providing continuous feedback to Ollie regarding what she needed from him and letting him know when he was on task. Ollie did great with “leave it.” He was very alert to everyone and everything around him. Carmen will continue to work on recognizing Ollie’s nonverbal communication to her. Ollie already has some natural alerting but will require some redirection in how to perform these tasks, and Carmen will begin working on noticing these behaviors more. Ollie responded very well in the eating establishment although he did get a little antsy when people walked by. Carmen and Ollie will continue to work on re-enforcing his commands in public settings.

Anxiety, Epilepsy, Military, San Antonio, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Wounded Warrior Ryan, and his SDIT, “Shade”

From our trainer, Beverly, who is working with Wounded Warrior Ryan, and his SDIT, “Shade”. Ryan suffers from epilepsy and anxiety.

Beverly writes:

” This was the first appointment with Ryan and his new pup “Shade.” Shade is a very intelligent black lab who is bonding well with Ryan and fitting nicely into his family. His previous pup wouldn’t settle down and was causing more stress, so she was re-homed prior to him obtaining his new pup.

We worked on “Sit, Down, Watch Me and Leave it”. Shade picked up on all of them very quickly and did well during the session. Ryan will work in several short sessions throughout the day, since Shade is young (6 months) and he is a student (online) and home with her most of the day.

Since Shade is showing high intelligence and bonding well with Ryan, I believe she will quickly pick up on any chemical changes and will be easy to train to alert to seizures or anything else we ask of her. They make a great team!

UPDATE: They’ve worked together for 2 weeks on the above skills and Ryan says Shade is doing very well. We will meet on Wednesday for the next session to work on “heel, wait and stay”. I’m excited to see the progress and watch Shade and Ryan become a fantastic SD team!

PTSD, San Antonio, TBI, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Wounded Warrior Donny and SDiT Max

Laurie had a super session with Wounded Warrior, Donny, and his SDIT, Max!!! Max is the most amazing Sharpei mix you could imagine, initially rescued by Cherry Jenkins of In Dog We Trust. Donny suffers from a TBI and PTSD, but takes Max everywhere with him – they have such a strong bond that if Donny even goes outside for 10 minutes to work, Max will just watch him out the window and whine a little bit until he is reunited with Donny!

Laurie writes:

Our first session was at Donny’s home, and Max was already well-trained by Donny using the training manual. This time, we met at Petsmart in New Braunfels, and went through several different commands. Max was perfect, and Donny was so at ease with him! Max is always watching Donny and they have a beautiful bond. We did several meet and greets with adults and children while Max stayed in a perfect sit, met other dogs with whom Max got along easily, and even tied him to the shopping cart with no problems! Max heels beautifully. He always comes when called. We practiced sit/stays, down/stays, and squeezed all kinds of squeaky toys to see which frequencies really got Max’s head to perk up! It was so much fun! Max was not distracted by anything or anyone around him. Donny has done such a wonderful job training beautiful Max. Max received so many compliments from both staff and customers about how well-behaved he was! Donny always gives him lots of praise and love – and they snuggle up together at home and Max sleeps right next to Donny. Next trip – Walmart at a very busy time!!!!!!

Experience, Houston, Texas

CONGRATS TO ANGEL AND SD DOC -WUZZ UP!!

From our trainer, Kendra, in Houston, who has been training with Wounded Warrior, Angel, and her now SERVICE DOG, “Doc”! THEY PASSED THE PUBLIC ACCESS TEST!!!

Kendra writes:

“At our final session, I met Angel and her now Service Dog, Doc, at the mall for the PAT. We were originally just going to do a training session, but because Doc is so very smart and his mom had already had Doc trained by the time first met them, we only had a few things to work on. We worked a “stay” with Angel walking in circles around Doc and also a stay while Angel went out of Docs sight. After that, we did a walk through just to verify if Doc was indeed ready as I thought he was. He did great! He went through the PAT like it was nothing! We sat at the food court and dropped food directly on the floor right in front of him. We couldn’t help laugh because he really held back! You could tell he really wanted that biscuit but he didn’t get it. When we were ready to move on we did tell him he could have it for doing so awesome! He did meet and greets, we made tons of noise, from ramming a buggy into that metal gate, to dropping my clip board behind him as he was walking. He is a pro! He will serve him Angel well! I am so proud of both of them!”

Doc, Trainer Kendra and Angel
Anxiety, Fibromyalgia, San Antonio, Texas

Rhonda and SDiT Tank

Laurie had the most incredible first meeting with new client, Rhonda, and her SDIT, “Tank”. Rhonda and Laurie had tried getting together for a very long time for training, and finally, we had our first session.

Laurie writes:

Rhonda suffers from several medical conditions, including a heart condition with a pacemaker due to cardiomyopathy. She often has pain and some anxiety, but her AMAZING Staffordshire Terrier, Tank, is SO bonded with her, that he responds to her whenever she feels unwell physically or emotionally. When I met Rhonda, it was like meeting someone you have known all your life. She is absolutely beautiful both inside and out. Rhonda has such a passion for animals – especially those in shelters and rescues – and although she cannot work due to her medical condition, she spends all the energy she can helping out dogs and cats in need with local rescues and raising truly amazing children as a single mother. She just has one of those “auras” about her that is filled with light and love.

When I arrived, I was greeted by both Rhonda and Tank. Rhonda and I talked for quite some time, and we went through the basic commands with Tank – she had taught them all to Tank herself!! Tank, with his beautiful bright green eyes and soft coat knew “sit”, “down”, “controlled load and unload”, “heel”, “sit/stay”, “down/stay”, “come” (he will need a bit of work on that as Rhonda has quite a bit of land and when Tank runs, he RUNS!), “watch me”, let me pet him all over, put my hand in his mouth, is wonderful with children, other dogs, their cat, and never met a stranger he didn’t love! But he loves Rhonda so very much. It will only take a couple more sessions before Tank complete his Public Access Test. He already has a beautiful vest, with a pouch indicating all of Rhonda’s medical information clipped to it.

I cannot wait for our next session together, and I know Rhonda and I have already formed a friendship that I hope lasts for a very, very long time!

Mobility, San Antonio, Texas

Noelle and SDiT Hazel

From our trainer, Brenda, who is working with client Noelle. She writes the following:

“We worked on sit/stay/come, and down/stay. I had her start with her SDIT, Hazel, at one end of the house and had her repeat sit, stay, and come commands, while trying to get further away from her and getting her to stay longer. By the time we were done with that, Noelle could get several feet away from Hazel, who would stay until she gave her the come command. We then worked again on getting her to “down” and stay in a “relaxed” pose without bouncing right back up. We praised Hazel with petting and words of encouragement for staying. By the time I left, Hazel was lying down and staying put while we talked. Noelle is going to save a can filled with noisy items to shake to help with getting Hazel’s attention back, and will keep following up with what we were working on.

At our next session, we started off outside taking a walk so I could see how Hazel was heeling with Noelle in and out of her wheelchair. Hazel was pulling her a little and trying to veer off, so I advised Noelle to keep Hazel very close to her and to tell her No Hazel, heel, and pull her back to the correct position. I also had her stop and tell Hazel to sit when she wanted to, which she did well. Hazel was getting distracted easily by many things outside; bugs, leaves falling, shadows moving. When we took a break while Noelle’s mom got her wheelchair, I had Noelle give Hazel the down and stay commands, but Hazel kept jumping right back up and wouldn’t get into a relaxed pose with the distractions, so I thought it best we work on that and getting Hazel to be focused on Noelle. When we would get her to lay down, I would have Noelle pet/praise Hazel to try and get her relaxed. If Hazel would bounce back up right away and then get distracted, I had Noelle use the can to get her attention, give her the “watch me” command, then repeat the down/stay. It took a little bit of work, but then Hazel FINALLY got it, and by the time I left, Hazel was lying at Noelle’s feet, in a completely relaxed pose, even when one of her parents would come walking up to us with a purposeful distraction! Noelle was to split up working with her inside and outside to get her use to minding with distractions.

Trainer Brenda, Noelle and Hazel

Hazel can be a tough cookie, but I advised Noelle to be even tougher! Once she gives Hazel a command, she MUST follow through and make Hazel do it, no matter how long it takes, or Hazel will figure out that she doesn’t really need to mind.

Anxiety, Medical Alert, Mobility, PTSD, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Updates from Candace

From our dear trainer, Candace, who recently obtained a new job in her specialty, but still finds time to train and loves it!

She writes:

Victoria her SDIT, Great Dane Anika

My first client, Victoria, suffers from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, mobility and related issues. She and her SDIT, Great Dane Anika, are on a trial period for the next 6 weeks, as her Anika had an adverse response to getting her paws grabbed. I’ve informed Victoria as to what she needs to do to socialize her dog, and how to reinforce a more appropriate response. She will keep me updated and I will reassess the team at a different time.

My second client, Kay, suffers from left hemiparesis. Her left leg if functional enough for her to walk with assistance, but her left arm is completely non-functional. Her right arm only has about 45% range of motion, and her right shoulder has had to be replaced twice. She has also had to have both knees replaced. I am working with their Golden Retriever, “Lady”, who will start training in 6 weeks because Lady was slightly skittish around traffic and I did not feel comfortable with her response to a noise distraction. However, Kay and her husband, Jim, had just gotten Lady, and I felt like they could do some basic training and socialize her. Lady is a really sweet dog, and I’ll keep in contact with this very determined couple.

Sherry and SDIT, “Rapturebuggy”

My third client is Sherry, who suffers from anxiety and PTSD. Sherry’s SDIT, “Rapturebuggy” passed his initial assessment with flying colors! I set Sherry up with a starting plan and have an appointment to meet with them in April to see how it goes. I reviewed the Public Access Test with them, and went over how to order a vest and other general information. I gave them some homework on basic command work. Rapturebuggy picks commands up very quickly. I think they will turn out to be a great team!

LaCretia and her SDIT, Boomer

My fourth client, LaCretia and her SDIT, Boomer, went through a mock Public Access Test today. LaCretia has adrenal failure and takes hydrocortisone daily for life. Currently, there are no tools to help her control the disease as there are no tests available to tell her when her cortisone is low. Boomer did fairly well with the mock PAT, but this was really to outline the team’s weak spots. Some of the things they need to work on are promptness of response to commands, not going after food, and staying in a down/sit position. The team was strong in the entry/exit of a vehicle, and they maneuver well together through the mall. From a Medical Alert standpoint, LaCretia reports that Boomer is doing well on his alerts to her cortisol levels, and we talked about what behaviors to reinforce and when.