Experience, Military, PTSD, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Andrew and SD M-ozzie

Look at this beautiful letter Wounded Warrior Andrew, who was paired with Ozzie (now called Mozzie) while at Laurel Ridge, wrote to Ozzie’s previous owner. Andrew is doing wonderfully, and has found a superb Service Dog trainer in North Carolina. I spoke for about two hours with this trainer, and he said Mozzie is brilliant and will make an excellent SD – and that Andrew is completely committed to the process!“Hi Nikki!

I thought I’d send you another update.

I just started training today with Mozzie, (added an M, he doesn’t seem to mind too much , and he’s picking things up really quickly. It was only the first class, but we rehashed proper grooming/handling inspections (ears, eyes, nose, paws, tail, etc.), sitting and standing, and how to potty on command!

I’m currently staying with a couple from our church, and Mozzie is really feeling at home with two other dogs, Kuma and Nala. Kuma is the family’s grumpy old man, but Mozzie and Nala like to chase each other around and play all the time!

We’ve been to the vet for a few shots, had an accident or two in the house, but otherwise have been getting along splendidly. Now that training has begun, I only expect the bond to continue to grow between us.

We go for walks twice a day, and Mozzie goes everywhere with me. To the grocery store, to work, the doctor’s office, even to the bathroom with me!

Thank you again for everything, I hope you and your family are well!

Andrew”

MIRACLES HAPPEN WHEN PEOPLE WORK TOGETHER!!!

 

Experience, Military, PTSD, San Antonio, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Changing of the Service Dogs

What a bittersweet day it was yesterday! Our dear, dear client, Tracy, who suffers with psychiatric difficulties, and her wonderful husband, Jon, had fully-trained Great Pyrenees, Apollo, as her Service Dog for a year. Unfortunately, even though their bond was strong and Apollo was a wonderful Service Dog, over time, Apollo started bonding more with Jon. Tracy made the tremendous sacrifice to adopt out her beloved Apollo to a Wounded Warrior, Brian, who is currently at Laurel Ridge. Brian was a dog handler in the military, and has extensive experience with dog training. He has a very sad story – the dog he worked with on deployment became extremely special to him, as they saw a lot of combat together. When the mission ended, however, they took the dog away from Brian. This started his PTSD and other symptoms. He tried his hardest to get that dog back, and SHOULD have, but he found out that the military had “retired” the dog and adopted it out! He says it was probably the greatest trauma of his life.

He saw Apollo on our website, and fell in love. Tracy, Jon, and I went to Laurel Ridge and the bond was instant between Brian and Apollo. Brian was so sensitive to Tracy, who was both sad to say goodbye to Apollo, but so happy he was going to someone like Brian. Laurel Ridge is letting him stay there while he goes through treatment. We also saw client Joseph, who was there with his SD, Viva!!

Apollo will be in wonderful hands. And the happy ending to this is that Tracy finally found a dog that suits her better – the beautiful Cooper, lovingly fostered by Margaret Melvin. Cooper is almost fully trained and clings to Tracy in a much more helpful way than Apollo did.

Two SDs and two happy owners! Attaching a picture of Tracy’s new SDIT!!!

God bless you, Tracy and Jon, for your generous sacrifice. You are paying it forward. And thank you, Margaret, for giving the gift of Cooper to Tracy! Here is a picture of Apollo, then a picture of Cooper!

Houston, Military, PTSD, TBI, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Ronnie and Roxy

From our wonderful trainer Kendra, in Houston. She is training with Ronnie, a Wounded Warrior with PTSD and TBI, and his SDIT, Roxy!

“We met at Target and practiced a mock Public Access Test. Roxy did perfect! We also practiced walking behind a cart, and they will continue working on that.

At our next met we will have the official Public Access Test. In the picture is Roxy in a dressing room; she goes right under the chair. She is going to rock the exam!”

WAY TO GO RONNIE, ROXY, AND KENDRA!!!!

General

Daveed and his SDIT, Redmond

From trainer Andrew, who is working with 19 year-old Daveed and his SDIT, Redmond. Daveed has a rare disorder called Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) – but he is motivated, positive, and ready to keep on working with Redmond so he can live on his own! Daveed’s family ordered a special Medical Alert ID for Daveed with all his medical information and emergency contacts on the back.

“This session occurred on Friday the 26th at 3:00 pm. We worked on everything previously discussed – more repetition to reinforce the behaviors. I did introduce Daveed to the beginning steps of teaching Redmond to drag things like a clothes basket. How we began with this behavior was by putting a ball in a sock and enticing Redmond to grab it. When we found that the dog doesn’t have toy drive, we put cheese in the sock (Redmond’s favorite) and got a much better response! As soon as Redmond showed interest in it, we marked the behavior with the chosen word and reward. This will go on until the Redmond is able to take the sock in his mouth and then give it back.

We also reinforced the heeling maneuvers that we worked on previously – we introduced Redmond to a higher distraction level; the front yard. We worked the dog on sit/stays and down/stays. We worked him on loose leash walking and heeling maneuvers. This is very important because Daveed has an unsteady gait and Redmond needs to learn how to stay in a heel despite the gair. We worked Redmond on controlled entry into the house, and then worked on the act of the dog sitting at the bottom of the stairs until Daveed gets up to the top (or down on the bottom) and releases him.”

BRILLIANT TRAINING IDEAS, ANDREW!!! GREAT WORK DAVEED AND REDMOND!!!!

Anxiety, Dallas-Fort Worth, Equipment, Marine, Military, PTSD, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Sean the Marine…Semper Fi

From our trainer, Candace, in Fort Worth, who is working with the Morrison family. They have a very unique and special situation. Sean is a Wounded Warrior with PTSD, and they adopted a 3 – legged German Shepard. They were curious if her disability would disqualify her as a Service Dog. They will be looking at getting her a prosthetic leg as she was born missing her leg at the elbow, and has enough left for a prosthetic. The veterinarian said that she would be just fine as a Service Dog! She has the perfect temperament and trainability.

As a PTSD, service-related Marine, Sean struggles with thunderstorms, loud, sudden noises, and going out in public in general. The family were told by his psychologist that a service dog would help him greatly, and after looking into it and doing hours of research, they believed this would be most beneficial for him. It has been!! What a remarkable family they are to adopt this highly intelligent dog, and to do everything necessary to ensure that being a Service Dog will be healthy and productive for both the dog and Sean. They will constantly be reviewing progress with their veterinarian.

“I would like to introduce the newest member of the Service Dog Express family: The Morrison Clan. Yep, that’s right, Sean’s SDIT was born with just 3 legs! But, according to Sean, she is everything he needs. She will look around corners for him as they go down halls. She always remains on alert wherever they are. She passed her assessment with flying colors! The next step is working on their SDIT’s endurance and basic training. So far, she responds very well to Sean, and I think they will be a remarkable team.”

Autism, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas

The Jaynes Family

From our trainer, Candace, in Fort Worth, who is working with the Jaynes family, who have 2 severely autistic twin 8 year old boys and an 11 year-old daughter.

“The Jaynes family is dedicated to training Bear, their SDIT. He is a handsome golden retriever who is just as laid back as laid back can be. Really. He is content to just lay there and hang out with his buddy, Parker. But for this night, the Jaynes’ family mother and daughter have teamed up to work on the basics with sweet Bear Bear. He made some progress since the last time we met, but what I didn’t tell the Jaynes’ family is that we were really working towards increasing Bear’s attention span. And it worked! Together, we got Bear to participate longer in the training and he seemed a little bit more excited about the training process than he was the time before. He is such a sweet boy, we just need to get him a little more motivated to work!

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

Wounded Warrior Nathan and SDIT Owen

From our trainer, Beverly, who is working with Wounded Warrior Nathan and his SDIT, Owen!!

“We worked on Owen’s sit/down stay, as he tends to become anxious and want to get up when Nathan is more than 10’ from him. Since we met at the dog park in Selma at Bluebonnet Bunk n Biscuit, and there were dogs present to utilize as teaching tools for Owen to “Leave it” and “Watch” Nathan, it was a very productive session! We also discussed using the Adaptil collar to help calm Owen’s anxiety and working on exposing Owen to short periods of separation from Nathan to reassure him that he is not being abandoned and to start getting him past his separation anxiety. Overall Owen did very well and picked up leave it and to ignore other dogs quickly!

During the week, Nathan will work on sit/down stays with distractions using his wife to assist with the distractions. Lots of rewards will be used and plenty review to help Owen relax. They will continue working on their PAT skills and we will keep reviewing each session until Owen is ready.

We did so much educating and discussing ways to help Owen with his anxiety that I forgot to take pictures!

WONDERFUL, INNOVATIVE WORK, BEVERLY!!!!

Diabetes, El Paso, Military, New Mexico, Psychiatric, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Beto and his SDiT Osito

From our trainer Michelle, who is in New Mexico.

“I had the pleasure of meeting with Beto and his SDiT Osito. Beto is a Vietnam Veteran with memory loss, diabetes and agent orange.

Training went well and we worked on making sure Beto knows how to hold the leash to prevent Osito from running off when the team works together. Osito also worked on “Leave it.” He does that perfectly! While working on Sit/stay and down/stay, not so much. I have learned from watching this team that SDiT Osito needs to be at Beto’s feet in case something happens with Beto’s medical condition, as Osito is extremely bonded to Beto. SDiT Osito has also learned when Beto says “Medicine” he comes and alerts Beto to take his meds! This is awesome, as it was a concern in the beginning.

SDiT Osito does alert to Beto’s diabetes – low and high! Good work team! I believe that with the new training, Osito will be ready for testing within the next 2 visits. He is a perfect little dog, and is still getting used to his vest – he is adorable.

Great work Team…. Keep up the work and training!

Experience, Military, Psychiatric, San Antonio, TBI, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Daniel’s love for SD Ivan – RIP Beloved Ivan

Some very sad news. Ivan went into congestive heart failure last night. They wanted to keep him at the Vet ER overnight, but Daniel refused because he said he did not want his beloved SD to spend his final hours in a hospital. This morning, at approximately 10:00 am, Daniel, following the realistic but dreadful prognosis of Dr. Muisquiz, decided to end Ivan’s suffering as his murmur was so advanced his poor, 3 year-old body could not take anymore. I made sure I was with Daniel to interpret what Dr. Muisquiz was saying, and go over with him what to expect during the procedure, and help him sign the paperwork. Daniel’s 18 year-old son, Logan, was there to support his father. It was truly one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen. Ivan was everything to Daniel – just like his wonderful wife and other children. Daniel held Ivan until his final breaths. Daniel, as to be expected, is not doing well. And one of the saddest parts of it is that Daniel had taken Ivan to a different veterinarian about two months ago, because Ivan was losing weight drastically, not eating, lethargic, and was having constant nosebleeds. That veterinarian apparently did not even listen to Ivan’s heart carefully. A grade 5 heart murmur can be detected just by FEELING the dog’s chest or one of his pulses in the leg arteries, as Dr. Muisquiz showed us. Of course, I will be giving this “veterinarian” a call, because I truly believe this was a case of malpractice. Ivan’s congenital heart murmur would have eventually caught up with him, but had he been diagnosed properly earlier, the process could have been slowed and Ivan would not have had to suffer so much.

Please “friend” Daniel Stroud on Facebook to express your condolences.

Thank you for bringing Daniel out of his shell and helping him to regain some normalcy to your beloved Wounded Warrior father, Ivan. You will be missed beyond belief. Luckily, you had 3 years of the best care and the deepest love a dog could feel

Dallas-Fort Worth, Experience, General, Texas

Son’s first day at school with his SD

From Jennifer, who has been training with Candace in Ft. Worth.

“I am so thankful for our trainer, Candace, from Ft. Worth. Today was my son’s first day at school with his SD. Candace made sure the day went well, and I am so happy. Thank you SDE for all you have done for my son, our SD, and our family..”

THANK YOU, JENNIFER, FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. WE ARE SO FORTUNATE TO HAVE CANDACE AS PART OF OUR TEAM.