Flat Collars Blow - At Least For Those Of Us With Back Problems

Posted on February 25, 2009
Filed Under Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i tried training liame using his flat collar. friends… i really did try but the little knuckle head is so powerful that he really hurts my back when he pulls on his leash. so instead of using the gentle leader head halter we have switched to the gentle leader harness. i made the switch because i am tired of getting approached on the street and getting asked why my dog is wearing a muzzle. it shows you just exactly how clueless the general public is even in seattle when something wraps around the top of the pivot point of a dogs mouth and they are still asking you if its a muzzle. anyway, the gentle leader harness is perfect. it fits under his vest and people never know he has it on. i know in order to be able to pass the service dog exam he has to be able to walk on a flat collar but at this point my back cant take his enthusiasm and his desire to explore everything while my eyes are on something else.

Renewed Sense Of Optimism

Posted on February 17, 2009
Filed Under Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

yesterday as i was going through my email i accidentally stumbled upon an email from 2001 responding to a job posting for a assistant training position for paws with a cause. it gave me a renewed sense of optimism that i really am doing what i am supposed to be doing. sometimes i feel very overwhelmed with the idea of opening up a non profit training program and that there is so much to do and never enough time to do it.
in liame raising news it appears that the hours and hours of time we have spent trying to get liame to look at me when he sees food on the floor is starting to pay off. i am now getting this behavior in the grocery store and have started expanding the behavior into just paying him treats for him randomly looking up at me and watching me. it is creating a wonderfully attentive dog when i am paying for the behavior but he goes back to his old self once i am distracted. i really need to learn how to fade out rewards properly or else im going to be stuck walking around with my training belt full of food for the rest of my life!

Yes, I Frequently Give Commands To Random Strangers

Posted on February 13, 2009
Filed Under Mitigating Symptoms, Service Dog Laws, Things That Make Me Smile, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

today i stopped off at home depot and got a few things for the fountain i am making for the back yard. after picking up some office supplies at the office store i dropped into the starbucks world headquarters and had lunch in their cafeteria. liame brought a lot of attention to us and it seems like every single second that i am in a publi place i am not focusing on the moment but my desire to escape the situation. people come up to me all the time at the grocery store, walking down the street, on the bus, etc and i WANT to be able to talk with them but in all honesty all i really want to do is run away. its like this war rages inside of me every time i go out in public. logically i know im not going to get hurt or people are going to make fun of me or anything bad is going to happen but all i want to do is not be there in that moment. i give one or two word answers to their questions and avoid their obvious attempts at conversations. i appear so normal sometimes to those who i have grown accustomed to but in all honesty the social anxiety is always there, under the surface waiting to rear its ugly head while i fight it back tooth and nail. i did have one redeeming moment though. i was in an elevator with a bunch of starbucks employees and told liame to sit. a guy turns around, looks directly at me and genuinely asks if “sit” was meant for him. i chuckle, look down at the dog, look back up at him and say, “yes, i frequently give commands to random strangers” which generates a large laugh in the elevator. i get that response often when giving liame commands and i think i am going to have to use that line again sometime.

CSDT vs CPDT

Posted on February 6, 2009
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations | Leave a Comment

i want to become a CPDT. in order to qualify to even take the certification exam you need at least 300 hours of training under your belt. i added up all the time i spent taking classes with liame, all the time i have spent assisting at seattle dogworks and the few customers i have trained for and have ended up with a little over half of the hours required. i thought i would have had more than that but it aint looking good. unless i start teaching soon i wont be able to take the test until next year rather than in september like i had originally hoped. there is part of me that wonders who except for dog trainers actually knows what a CPDT is? i could give myself the designation of CSDT standing for certified service dog trainer (something i have just made up on the fly as i was typing this) and in all honesty the general public would not know the difference between a CPDT and a CSDT. i wonder, why am i so fixated on this designation?

Elitist

Posted on January 30, 2009
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

yesterday i went to the dog park and met the regional guide dog coordinator for the seattle area. it was nice getting to talk with her about service dogs and how they are raised. she brought her guide dog puppy drop out to the dog park for some socialization and running around. apparently she doesnt like the guide dog organization forbidding them to bring their puppies to the dog park either. i ended our talk by handing her my card and maybe she will contact me. in all honesty i wont hold my breath though. most people who have service dogs from the big organizations dont think that dogs that were not trained by their organizations can be service dogs. personally i think this is a somewhat of an elitist philosophy but i can understand why they might have this view. i cant tell you how many times ive been into a store and had my dog aggressed at by an unmarked “service dog”. there is part of me that wished there was an official national organization that certified service dogs by access and task testing and proof of medical documentation. even though i took advantage of the loop hole in the law that allowed me to train jasper as my service dog, i think it would be beneficial for all legitimate service dog teams to be guaranteed safe access to public environments. it only takes one bite from an aggressive dog to ruin a service dogs career, the life of the person who uses it and years of training.

To Puppy Park Or Not?

Posted on January 25, 2009
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Mistakes | Leave a Comment

we went to the dog park today and something kind of frightening happened. liame almost got attacked a couple of times by three different dogs. once while we were walking towards the water, once while we were at the water and once as we were walking back towards the car. we have never had a day like this before. it was like every dog in that place was out to get my little boy. guide dogs for the blind doenst allow their puppies to go to dog parks. i think its because they can get attacked and can be scarred for the rest of their life. i have been pretty lucky in that liame has never been bit at the dog park. i specifically did not take him to the dog park while he was still a little pup because every single time another dog got rough with him in his puppy classes it was always a dog that had been to a dog park or a dog daycare and had been in an altercation with another dog. todays incidents are making me rethink my decision to go to the dog park with liame. maybe i should take the advice of the guide dog organizations and keep liame away from uncontrolled doggie interactions.

Leave It, No, Leave It, Watch, Leave It Liame! Liammmmme!!!

Posted on January 21, 2009
Filed Under Class, Major Steps, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

we have started switching to walking around on a flat collar. since one of the classes i have been assisting in had only a few dogs in in amanda has allowed me to train liame while the other dogs are training. this has given me the opportunity to work on not pulling on the leash and ignoring food on the ground. basically we spend our entire hour walking around food, waiting for him to look up and me and then giving him a treat from my pouch. im trying to get him to make the connection that if you want food then look at me rather than going after it like a madman while its on the floor of the supermarket. do you know how embarrassing it is to have a dog repeatedly try to eat a single piece of food off of the floor in a grocery market while you are going “leave it, no, leave it, watch, leave it liame! liammmmme” oh so embarrassing!

Back To The Surgeon

Posted on January 19, 2009
Filed Under Care, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

we went back to the surgeon today. apparently liames elbows are still swollen. he is still having difficultly getting up from a lying position but once he takes those first couple of steps he bolts around the house like there is nothing wrong. i told him about us going to magnuson and him going out into the water and how he wont go out past his chest. he said that i would have to wait until the summer and have him follow me out since he doesnt even want to follow other dogs out. ive noticed that when he gets up from a lying down position i can hear his joints pop. the surgeon seemed to dismiss it but its got me a little worried. he joints didnt pop until after the surgery. i cant pinpoint where in the front portion of his body the popping is coming from. i hope this doesnt mean more surgery and the the possibility of dropping him from the program. i have had fun raising him and would feel really bad about having to train another dog.

I Cannot Fail

Posted on January 15, 2009
Filed Under Care, Major Steps, Things That Make Me Smile, Todays Mood | 1 Comment

so i had my second day of assisting classes yesterday. i live for these dog training classes, especially the older dog classes. puppies are cute and all but i want to train service dogs - a more complicated a mature doggie client. they have completely different needs than puppies. thank goodness i volunteered for these classes before i got laid off. at least now christine and amanda know that i just didnt want to help them with classes because i had nothing else better to do.

both jasper and liame seem to be adjusting to the new routine. i however, am not. i now understand how a home based business can take over ones life. i am so motivated and driven at this point that im doing nothing for myself. i think ive watch maybe 10 hours of tv since the 5th - a pretty amazing feat for someone who used to spend most of her waking moments catching up on tv programs. im looking at being laid off as an opportunity to start my own business, become my own boss and help people at the same time - something i have been wanting to to for literally years. i cannot fail. i will not fail. and hopefully i can control this obsessive compulsive tendency of mine and in the process of not failing, not get burnt out either.

Managing Without The Training, Pay And Authority

Posted on January 9, 2009
Filed Under Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

i knew once they started bothering me about my attendance and instituted their “tracking” system it wouldnt be long. i did a job, a job none of the other retouchers wanted to do. i got hired on to do retouch work and ended up managing the entire job from start to finish. i was the reason why we made our deadlines and the customer never really complained. i was in and out of my seat being a detective, doing the dirty work, tracking down and resolving problems before the customer even knew that they existed. because i volunteered to do a job that needed to be done and that no one else wanted to do because they were “real retouchers” , i wasnt in my seat for my entire 8 hour shift and couldnt be easily “tracked” on a spreadsheet. the sad thing is that if had bothered to look they would have found me within 100 feet of them, doing my freaking job. i was the reason everyone elses work ran smoothly and they were in their seats. today i found out that my tasks got assigned to an upper level manager. turns out that i was doing the job of a manager without the training, pay or authority to make real decisions. its making me mad just typing this.