An update from our trainer, Andrew, who is working with Brooklyn, who suffers from PTSD, flashbacks, anxiety, and nightmares, and his SDIT, Starlette.
“This was a wonderful session where we discussed the importance of duration. Since the Public Access Test requires that the dog stay in the commanded position (i.e. down or sit, for at least three minutes), we discussed that. Starlette is doing extremely well. She has taken to her new family, and has become very protective over Brooklyn’s son and Brooklyn himself, but in a positive and progressive way. In times of stress, Starlette will take the lead and push back in a “cover” position against Brooklyn as of to say “you can stand back I got this”, and she will hold her ground in a non aggressive way. She has learned to play a game which they have aptly named “find Sean” which is the name of Brooklyn’s son, where Starlette will go find the two year old boy, circle him, and sit next to him. Brooklyn has worked on the “find your spot” game. The “find your spot” game is the act of the dog finding a handler-designated spot for the dog to go to when told. Starlette has her spot in each of the three main rooms in the house (the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom). She is doing so well that Brooklyn is going to begin taking her to work with him where he works as a chef in the kitchen at a hospital on 32nd street in downtown Austin!
I wondered why this happened, and now I know. My spinal surgery – done before Trooper passed – failed. My disc herniated once more, worse than before, and now I’m going to have to get a spinal fusion. Because of all of my other health problems, I will most likely spend three weeks unable to walk and will have to go through extensive physical therapy. A close loved one recently passed away. I felt completely alone, terrified, hurt. I felt like I had nowhere to go. Then, one day, I curled up on the floor to cry… and both of my girls crawled over to me to lie down on me. They licked away my tears, made me feel like I wasn’t alone, and then… I slept.
So dear everybody reading this, let me tell you something, okay? It gets better. It may seem like it never will. You might be scared. You might be hurting. You might be sick… I’m right there with you… and let me tell you: you’re not alone. You’re never alone. You’ve got the people at Service Dog Express, just like I do… and you have your dogs. They change lives.
“I met at the mall with client Ronnie and SDIT Roxy. and as always it was a c
We walked through the bedding aisle, and she was unsure of it, so we continued to walk through there until she was more at ease. Client Ronnie also put her in a sit while we was in the bedding aisle and she did beautifully. We continued to walk the mall and even walked in the food court. We passed right next to a man holding a tray of food and she paid no attention to him; didn’t sniff at him or anything. We also sat at a table and Roxy naturally goes under the table. She was even falling asleep under there! There were TONS of distractions as the mall was very busy (more than normal), and Roxy’s focus always returned to Ronnie. Ronnie is a lot more confident having Roxy with him. We will continue with training in public and next week and will met at the toy store.”
An update from training with Wounded Warrior, Joseph, and his SDIT, Viva, who he adopted from In Dog We Trust, rescued by Ms. Cherry Jenkins. Joseph has been in the Air Force for 5 years, but due to several very difficult deployments, has 
surroundings. It was very obvious that Viva is extremely in tune with Joseph’s anxiety (he was beet red and sweating a bit during our time there, but was such a trooper and kept on going!) We got all the items we needed, and when Joseph started to feel overwhelmed, he got down and played with Viva.
Joseph is also very alarmed by unexpected loud noises, so I told him before each exercise that i was going to create a loud distraction behind him by throwing something non-breakable close by as he walked away, and I wanted him to continue walking and watch Viva’s reaction. We did this several times, and each time, Joseph jumped a tiny bit, but watched as Viva merely looked back at the noise and then went back into a heel. I explained to Joseph that that is exactly what she and he needed to do – Viva WILL alert if there is something dangerous approaching (which there has not been yet), but Joseph can TRUST that Viva will “have his back”. Viva is very picky about her toys, so there’s a picture of a stuffed lamb Joseph pretended was a little doggie with Viva. Even after checkout and along, two hour session, we got back to the truck, at night, and Joseph was so proud of himself and Viva although he would never admit it, and I told him how proud I was of him. Then he turned around and said, “Can we go back in? I want to get one more thing!” That was AWESOME! We went back, got the item, and Joseph had his head held high. WHAT A TRIUMPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“I met with my wonderful client Ronnie and his SDIT Roxy this morning. I did an assessment on Roxy and she did AWESOME! She let me touch all parts of her body and mouth with no problems what so ever. She already knows sit, down, stay, leave it, heel, drop it, and hugs. She is so very smart and catches on very fast! We met at a very busy dog park and she was still was able to follow commands. Wounded warrior Ronnie is excellent at training and working with her!
After the assessment, we did a training session. Roxy does heel with the occasional pull which we will continue to work on that. We greeted some dogs along the way and she said hello perfectly, And was able to come when he called to continue the walk. We passed other people, a stroller with a baby and Roxy didn’t pay no mind to them. We practiced walking and randomly stopping to place Roxy in a sit. This way she can get better at sitting on command. They will continue practicing this. He placed Roxy in a down/stay and walked about 30 feet away and called her. She did wonderfully. We talked about how to do the watch me command and the importance of it. This will be the homework. We also talked about what commands he wants Roxy to perform for him. Roxy has already started to alert him to nightmares. (What a very good girl!!) Roxy also has naturally started to do covers. I shook a mason jar full of coins next to Roxy and she didn’t budge, She was not bothered. She went through the agility course at the park and was great at it.
Her focus is on Ronnie, always looking out for him. Their bond is inseparable!!!! We went over and covered so much! It was and is a absolute joy to work with this team!!! Our next session will be in the mall.”
“Hi Laurie, it’s been a long time since i have sent an update. Since last sharing with you, Solea and I have had to endure some tough times with the loss of my uncle and cousin in two brutal murders. We attended the viewing services together. Our bond has grown even stronger since the last time and I only take anxiety medication if I’m going to be out of the house longer than 30 minutes at a time. We have managed over and over again on doing small outings such as a Family Dollar or a corner store. We went recently to a Subway together and were questioned if Solea was a Service Dog. I replied yes and educated an employee who was very interested to learn more. We also have been to the ER together due 
to dehydration from the stomach flu. We have been to Tractor Supply back to back recently together with no anxiety medicine! We also went to the movie theater recently – our second time there together and my second time in almost 4 years!”
