Category Archives: Texas

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

HOORAY FOR MAXIMUS AND HIS NEW DAD, WOUNDED WARRIOR, DONALD

HOORAY FOR MAXIMUS AND HIS NEW DAD, WOUNDED WARRIOR, DONALD!!!

After over a month of planning and preparation, Wounded Warrior Donald, who was receiving treatment at Laurel Ridge, finally set off for sunny California with his new SDIT, Maximus! (now renamed “Boris”). Thanks to a great team effort with amazing fosters from San Antonio Rocks and the entire SA Rocks team, Donald spent a lot of time getting to know Boris and bonding – which was instant! Donald’s doctor wrote the prescription for Boris – who got to also meet two other Service Dogs placed with Wounded Warriors staying at the Laurel Ridge facility permanently until discharged.

Donald first saw Boris on our website, and over a month ago started emailing and calling me every day about him! We talked extensively about Service Dogs, their special training needs, his ability to take care of a Service Dog, and general knowledge about having a Service Dog for his PTSD and other medical issues. He read our manual thoroughly, signed our contract promising to take care of Boris for life, and already put me in contact with two Service Dog trainers back in California that have agreed to work with him. I have made contact with each trainer. Donald filled out the SA Rocks application, and they accepted him after professionally confirming that he was capable, ready, and able to take care of Boris – which I know Donald can!

Equipped with all the necessary items, I picked up Boris at 4 am to make it to the airport by 4:30 where I met Donald. We checked in (it was United Airlines – even though I called ahead and arranged the flight), the “supervisor” at the check in desk asked to see Boris’ “paperwork”, to which I answered, “No, I have already called in and arranged with your Disabilities Department that Boris will need no paperwork because he is a medical alert dog”. Then, she said, “I’m going to check on this.” To which I said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, there is nothing to check on. It is illegal for you to deny Donald and his Service Dog entrance onto the plane”. She walked off in a huff. United has always given us the biggest problems. So then, as always, I requested a gate pass to help Donald through the Security checkpoint. We stood in an EXTREMELY long line, very nervous about making it to our gate in time – and the “greeter” at the end of the line clearly saw the dog – when we FINALLY got to go through security, they said, “Oh – if you have a Service Dog, you get to go through the preferred passenger line and cut through”. Thanks for telling us! In any case, knowledge for you all to know.

We did make it to the gate just in time, and Donald and Boris were first to board. They made it to California just fine, and training begins Monday!!

Anxiety, Dallas-Fort Worth, Experience, Texas, Tourette's Syndrome

Training at Trenton’s elementary school

From our wonderful trainer, Candace, in Fort Worth, who went above and beyond training Trenton and Priddy to pass the PAT!!!

“Today I spent five hours at Trenton’s elementary school. What an incredible day! Priddy, who passed her Public Access Test the previous weekend, did spectacularly! She stayed under Trenton’s desk or close by his chair the entire time. She was alert and aware of the children and classroom movement, but she did a great job of “blending in” as much as she could. Trenton did amazingly as well, both personally and handling Priddy. His symptoms were decreased or avoided!! (Tourette’s and anxiety). Not only that, but Trenton was the hit on the playground during recess. The only thing that Priddy didn’t handle too well was dodge ball!

Their homework is to get Priddy into the gym more around balls so that she becomes comfortable with them. Until then, an area was specialized for her outside of the immediate gym area. What a wonderful day! It was a pleasure being a part of Trenton and Priddy’s debut together in school!”

WHAT A MARVELOUS GIFT YOU HAVE GIVEN THIS FAMILY, CANDACE! TRENTON AND PRIDDY – WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! AND WHAT A MARVELOUS WAY TO TEACH OTHER STUDENTS ABOUT SERVICE DOGS!!

Equipment, Experience, Military, Mobility, Navy, San Antonio, Texas, Veteran, Wounded Warrior

Talk about inspirational people!

Talk about inspirational people!! All of you are such inspirations to us at Service Dog Express!!

Here is an update on 53 year-old Wounded Warrior John, and his 8 year-old SD, Sancho. They keep on truckin! Even though John has suffered many strokes and a heart attack, he still wakes up every morning focusing on the positives in his life – especially the love he has for his best buddy, Sancho. They continue to go on walks with John in his scooter, and some days, John will walk without being in a scooter to keep his legs moving. He takes SUCH good care of Sancho – teeth cleanings, joint supplements, and keeps himself busy by reading all he can about dog training. John has difficulties finding words sometimes because of his strokes, and his memory can sometimes escape him, but nevertheless, he persists and usually expresses more concern about how I am doing when we talk or visit than how HE is doing. What a compassionate, selfless man! Here is a recent update from John’s wonderful caretaker, Mary:

“Hello,
These are the photos I forgot to send yesterday. This is a quiet Walmart. We went here to get some vitamins and flavored water with my sister, Kathy, who suffers from schizophrenia. A few customers noticed Sancho’s adorable shoes, and he attracted so much loving attention! Sancho was on his best behavior – as usual – and everyone there talks about how calm and sweet Sancho is! The bottom picture is John talking with the optician at the Walmart.”

NEVER GIVE UP!!!

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

CONGRATULATIONS to Wounded Warrior, Blake, and SD Zoid

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Wounded Warrior, Blake, and his now SD, Zoid!

Due to deployments, Blake is usually in a wheelchair and met the amazing Zoid through Cherry Jenkin’s In Dog We Trust rescue after contacting us. It was love at first site. Our trainer, Brenda, who is a paraplegic in a wheelchair with her SD Murray, trained with Blake and Zoid about how to use and work with Service Dogs while in a wheelchair. They did an amazing amount of work together and Blake followed training advice to a tee! He and Zoid have an indescribable bond.

Unfortunately, Blake recently found out he developed lung cancer due to exposure to toxins while deployed. He is moving to Arkansas to be near family while he undergoes treatment for this. Luckily, through Skype and videos, as well as through emails and on the phone, Brenda has determined that Blake and Zoid are now an official SD team!!

We at Service Dog Express have the utmost admiration for Blake and his always upbeat, positive attitude. We are confident that Zoid will be there for him as he fights this new battle, offering comfort and support. Please send prayers for healing, and please honor Blake by showing how much his resiliency is an inspiration for all of us!!!

Anxiety, Panic Attack, Psychiatric, PTSD, San Antonio, Texas

CONGRATULATIONS to Tracy and Cooper

CONGRATULATIONS to Tracy, who suffers with extreme PTSD, flashbacks, and disassociation episodes, and her now SD Cooper!

Tracy has been through SO much over this past year. She was originally paired with SD Apollo, and at first, it was an instant bond. Tracy and her loving husband, Jon, met Apollo about one year ago, and immediately at my house, Apollo started doing covers for Tracy. For a long time, and with a lot of training, Tracy and Apollo passed their PAT together.

However, as time went on and Tracy’s therapy was not working, her disassociation episodes continued to get worse. She began withdrawing from everything – even Apollo – and Apollo started bonding more with her husband, Jon. Apollo would not sleep on the bed nor next to it to wake Tracy from her night terrors. They realized, sadly, that Apollo would be better off in another home. They gave Apollo to a Wounded Warrior, whose symptoms were not as severe. It was a bittersweet day for Tracy.

However, in the meantime, Tracy had already adopted Cooper, a magnificent dog fostered by a woman named Margaret, who already knew most of the PAT command – he had just not found the right “person”. Tracy and Jon adopted Cooper while still looking for a home for Apollo, and Tracy went right to work practicing everything she had learned from working with Apollo to working with Cooper. Cooper had the very opposite type of personality as Apollo – while Apollo was very laid-back and slow-moving, Cooper was more active and much more in tune with Tracy’s moods and behaviors. Cooper immediately started sleeping with or next to her, waking her from night terrors, and would alert every time she went into disassociation. It wasn’t that Apollo wasn’t a great SD – he just wasn’t the one for Tracy’s particularly strong needs.

They practiced and perfected each and every inside command – as Tracy made up her mind not to give up on the idea of a Service Dog – and they started going out into public (something that Tracy had stopped doing as much when her symptoms returned and Apollo was becoming unresponsive). She said it was like night and day. Cooper never let Tracy out of his eyesight, alerted the minute she would start to have a flashback, would get Jon if she needed help, and Tracy began to feel confident again.

After many intensive, multi-hour sessions, Tracy and Cooper passed their PAT! They were perfect together. They passed every command out in public over and over flawlessly. Cooper automatically covers Tracy without command from whatever direction she needs it. We even dressed Cooper up in Halloween attire, and he got a lot of meet and greets with happy little children! Now, Tracy is off to receive intensive outpatient therapy with Cooper ready and by her side, and she rests comfortably knowing that fully-trained Apollo is helping someone else.

BEST WISHES, TRACY, COOPER, AND JON! THANK YOU FOR YOUR BITTERSWEET SACRIFICE!

Anxiety, Austin, Panic Attack, PTSD, Texas

Hannah and SDIT Addie

From our trainer in Austin, who is working with 16 year-old Hannah, who suffers from PTSD and anxiety.

“Hi Laurie!
I had a great session with Hannah and SDIT Addie, her German Shepherd puppy!

Last time we met, we worked on Addie’s excitement towards people and dogs in public, and she has made HUGE progress! Hannah got Addie a head halter due to Addie pulling on the leash, and it made a huge difference!

We spent some time inside Petsmart to expose Addie to a dog environment and then went outside and worked on loose leash walking in the park with the head halter on. She is still getting used to it, but her walking with it made a huge difference for Hannah being able to control her. Addie has an obsession with little children, so we went over to a playground, sat on a bench and worked in on keep her settled while there was a child running around so Addie could get used to them.

I made the suggestion that they go to a playground, find a bench to sit on and over-expose Addie to kids so she gets desensitized to them.

Hannah also asked me about how to make Addie’s recalls stronger. I suggested putting Addie on a long leash and call her over and treat her every time she comes to her. Another way to make her recalls much stronger is doing it at a dog park when she is around other dogs and distractions, and just practice calling her back and highly reinforcing that.

They both did great today and can’t wait until our next session!”

Austin, Experience, Texas

Lucia and SD Lily’s Exciting News

SUCH EXCITING NEWS FOR OUR DEAR CLIENT, LUCIA, AND HER SD, LILY!!! THIS IS FROM HER TRAINER IN AUSTIN!!

“Hi Laurie!

I had a session with Lucia and Lily a couple of days ago. The Austin Pets Alive shelter had a videographer following Lucia and Lily around, doing a documentary and they filmed a training session of ours, along with an interview with me! We met at a Target so we could work on distractions and “leave it” in the toy aisle. Lily did well, except there were moments where she was VERY distracted; dogs have off days just like us humans too!

Lily does exceptionally well out in public and I was super happy that Austin Pets Alive had chosen Lucia and Lily to film to show a clip at their upcoming Gala to raise money for animals!”

OBVIOUSLY AUSTIN PETS ALIVE SAW HOW WONDERFUL AND DEDICATED LUCIA HAS BEEN THROUGH HER STRUGGLES AND HER AMAZING WORK WITH HER SD, LILY!!! SO PROUD OF YOU TWO!! THANK YOU TO OUR TRAINER!!!

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

CONGRATULATIONS to Ronnie to SD Roxy

CONGRATULATIONS to Ronnie, a Wounded Warrior with PTSD and TBI, who, with the excellent training of Kendra, passed his PAT with now SD, Roxy!!!

“We met at target to do Ronnie’s PAT. I am SO proud of the hard work and dedication of this team! They did beautifully on the PAT and they PASSED!!! Roxy was born to do this work; as a matter of fact, when I was trying to get a picture she kept getting up to do covers because people were walking behind Ronnie! She just does it without having to be told! These two make the perfect team and are so inseparable, they love each other so much and it shows!!!! Congratulations you two!!!!”

Experience, San Antonio, Schizophrenia, Texas

Mary and SD Snowball

From Mary, who has SD, Snowball, SD for Kathy, who suffers from Schizophrenia:

“Hi Laurie,

Kathy and I took Snowball to her doctor appointment yesterday. Snowball did great! The floor in room was cold and Snowball was calm. Snowball gets excited at first and then is better. We want to work on that – having Snowball get calmer more quickly when he goes out that with you. The doctor loved how behaved Snowball was!”

SURE MARY! WE CAN WORK ON THAT. THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT IS TO HAVE KATHY TAKE SNOWBALL OUT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE SO THAT SNOWBALL BECOMES USED TO GOING OUT IN PUBLIC AND IT IS NOT SUCH A NEW, EXCITING THING FOR HIM.

Anxiety, Experience, Mobility, Panic Attack, San Antonio, Texas

It’s SUPER SERVICE DOG to save the day

What a WONDERFUL training session Laurie had with Nette, who has mobility issues and anxiety due to a stroke, and her beautiful SDIT, Ella!

Nette has just been doing a wonderful job training Ella between sessions. Ella knows all the basics – sit, down, stay, come, controlled load and unload, wait, and heel. She stays by Nette’s side and is of great comfort to her. Nette is beginning to take Ella out more and more, and her comfort level going out is increasing as she becomes more confident in Ella’s training.

We went to Costco and worked on training with electric cart, with Ella safely tied to it in a perfect heel position near Nette. We did sharp turns slowly so that Ella could get used to maneuvering alongside the electric cart safely and confidently. She learned SO quickly! It is helpful for Nette to know she can use the electric carts because sometimes her balance is off due to the strokes. We also walker Ella through the various sections of Costco, like the meat and bakery, and she did wonderful “leave its”. We also worked on Ella’s stay and come since we had an audience! Everyone was in love with beautiful Ella! We practiced staying focused while doing these tasks even with people watching, and Nette stayed calm and focused, which helped Ella . They have such a beautiful bond, and Nette is so compassionate and loving toward Ella – it’s truly beautiful to watch.

Nette sent me the following update on Ella!

“Just wanted to give you update on Ella. She turned one last week – can’t believe it! We are still working on meet and greets; she still gets really excited and forgets to stay sitting, but it’s more with kids than adults. Several weeks ago, I started teaching Ella the command: “take me to the car”. I would pick random times to suddenly stop and give the command, walk out to the car, and then give her treats. My purpose for this is that sometimes I become very panic-stricken if I am in a crowd and disoriented. I thought this might help me feel a little more confident about trying new places. In addition, my mobility is becoming more limited and I am spending more time in wheelchairs and electric carts.

Anyway, today was not a training exercise – but something triggered a panic attack in me, and I asked Ella to take me to the car – and she did it!! Usually, she looks back at me for assurance – but it seemed like she knew this was different. It’s a small thing, but it feels very empowering.”

NETTE – WHAT CLEVER AND HELPFUL TRAINING YOU ARE ADDING TO THE BASICS TO HELP YOU! WHAT ELLA DID BY TAKING YOU TO THE CAR IS NOT A SMALL THING – IT IS A HUGE TRIUMPH FOR BOTH YOU AND ELLA, AND IT SHOULD FEEL EMPOWERING! I HOPE YOU ARE FEELING MORE AND MORE CONFIDENT AND ASSURED THAT ELLA CAN DO HER JOB WHENEVER YOU NEED IT – AND THE FACT THAT SHE DID NOT LOOK BACK FOR ASSURANCE BUT JUST DID WHAT SHE HAD TO IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

I added this other quote from Nette’s FB page. It describes her and her husband to a tee.