What Do You Want Him To Do Instead?

Posted on September 18, 2008
Filed Under Class, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

for the longest time i have been battling with liame whenever he gets in or out of the car. while i am opening up the back of the car he is usually running around wherever we are looking for something to eat or chew. this frustrates the hell out of me. i dont think there is anything i hate more than trying to fish things out of his mouth.

so after having it drilled into my head by my canine studies program instructor, i sat down and thought about the problem i was having and asked myself the question, “what would you rather have him do instead?” my response: all i want him to do is just sit and stay. for last couple of days before entering and after exiting the car i have told liame to “sit” and then “stay”. dude it worked like a charm. look at the picture in the post, how cool is that? but now i feel sooooooooo incredibly stupid. it took me a really long time to figure out that i was expecting him to know how to act when getting in and out of a car. it makes me wonder how in the world a normal person without hours and hours of dog psychology and training behind them end up with well behaved dogs.

One More Absence And You Could Be Terminated

Posted on August 26, 2008
Filed Under Care, Firsts, Mistakes, Mitigating Symptoms, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

my boss sat me down yesterday and gave me a formal warning about my attendance. in all honesty, i was kind of expecting something to be said about it due to the fact that i am frequently sick. the thing that really surprised me was that this entire time i thought that making up the time by working late the next couple of days or working on a saturday negated the fact that i was absent because i was getting my work done. apparently i was in the wrong. they want someone who consistently shows up to work every day. at this point with my current health status i dont know if i can do that and am really worried about losing my job. depression and immunity are intertwined and unfortunately very unpredictable - thats why its called a disability. they have asked me to get with my doctor and come up with a plan to help with the anxiety attacks (i think because they finally witnessed the full blown one last week) and come up with a plan to try and improve my health. last september my doctor told me that i should go to a rheumatologist because my sedimentation rate was high and i had been getting sick over and over again. i sort of stuck my fingers in my ears and decided that i just didnt want to know anything more about anything that could be wrong with me. its enough to have 4 major health problems, i dont need another one. but now i guess i am forced to find out what is wrong and come up with a plan to start feeling better. in all honesty i was hoping that they would just understand that immunity in depressed people is f uped and try to accommodate me by flexing my schedule when i get sick. i thought thats what they were supposed to do but in all honesty i am now swimming in unknown territory. i will play by their rules right now and provide them with the doctors information they are requesting since they have been so accommodating in the past. im just hoping that in the mean time, that if the “you have one more unexplained absence and your terminated rule” is just a threat and wont become a reality. its not like i am playing hookie here people, i have been legitimately sick. im never 100% even several days after a sick day. when i come in after being sick most people dont even want to be around me because i look and sound so horrible and they dont want to catch anything. im worried and dont know what to do. i will be doing some research on this level of accommodation because right now i know that my only weapon at this point is knowledge. i will share the information i have gathered with you bloggers because i GUARANTEE you, if you have depression, you WILL run into this issue at some point with your employer too.

Going Clothing Shopping With A Service Dog In Training Puppy

Posted on August 24, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Smile, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

went to the service dog club meeting yesterday. i was again amazed at how well liame ignored the other dogs.

we also went to the mall and i tried on some clothes at a clothing store. when you go to try on clothes with a young pup make sure you get a big wheelchair access room, the floor is clean (unless you want your dog to clean it for you and swallow pins), and your dog cant dart under the door. it takes me 3 times as long to try clothes on with liame than it does with jasper. jasper would just sit there and wait until i was done, liame can only sit for a minute or so and then has to try to clean the floor, pull the tags off the garments and lick my shoes. sometimes i cant help but laugh at his antics but other times they drive me crazy!!!

Full Blown Shut Down, Stare Into Space, Drunken Body Movements Panic Attack

Posted on August 22, 2008
Filed Under Care, Firsts, Jasper, Mistakes, Mitigating Symptoms, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

i had an anxiety attack at work yesterday. i dont have normal oh my god im going to die, my heart is going to explode, cinematic anxiety attacks, i have shut down zombie stare at the walls, absolute brain and body shutdown attacks. i had no medication available since i took it to go to the dentist on monday and forgot to refill my bag and liame was not trained to help me like jasper is. when i finally made it to the ground liame came over to me, tried to play with me for a couple of minutes and then decided he had other things to concentrate on. it took me a long time to come out of it enough to be able to just pack up my things and head home. liame practically dragged me out of the building, stumbling and bumbling all the way like some drunk trying to walk the line. ive had attacks at work before but thanks to medication and jasper i have never gone into a full blown shut down, stare into space, drunken body movements panic attack. it was weird that no one said anything to me while it was happening but i could tell that people were staring. i still cant help but be embarrassed by it.

The Second Fear Period

Posted on August 19, 2008
Filed Under Care, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i think liame is officially moving into his second fear period. we went back to the dentist yesterday and liame was afraid of walking on the grates in the sidewalk. ive also noticed that he has started to show fear of jumping onto his step when getting out of the car. i now understand how frustrating this can be to have a dog that you trained and trained and trained to desensitize to EVERYTHING you could think of and to then have this irrational fear of something so familiar pop up. with the pigeon incident and now the fear responses to familiar items, i am now POSITIVE that its time to start wearing the bait bag 24 hours a day again. the bait bag pictured is in this post is the nicest i have used. its pouch snaps close, 2 pockets, rings where you can attach things to it and it goes all the way around a large womans waist. to my bait bag i attached a dog bag holder of which i am currently using to hold a bottle of soap since i have soap allergies, a clicker and i put a squeaker in the front pocket for those days when i cant seem to get his attention even with food. its the perfect little training utility.

Pigeon = Treat

Posted on August 14, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

we did all this training to desensitize liame to other dogs but entirely forgot to desensitize him to the pigeons in downtown seattle. these arent your normal everyday birds that wont even get within 25 feet of you when you are walking with a dog, nooooooo these are seattle pigeons, birds that dont, make that WONT, move until the very last second, which would have been fine if i would have trained him while he was a little puppy that pigeons = treats from mommy but i didnt. so now, every time we see a pigeon, liames pray drive kicks in and he ends up yanking me around downtown. i was hoping i wouldnt have to keep wearing my training belt anymore but now i can see we have a lot of pigeon counter conditioning and desensitization to do. pigeon = treat, pigeon = treat, pigeon = treat for the next several months. argh.

Maybe He Will “Magically” Pick Up On My Mood

Posted on August 11, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Jasper, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry | Leave a Comment

i fear the dentist so much that i literally get sick the day before going to the dentist, the day of the appointment and the day after the appointment. i was tortured by my childhood dentist who would never believe me that one shot of novacane was never enough to dull the pain of the drill. normally i bring jasper with me even though i am medicated since he tends to provide a calming influence when i am panicked and can sit in the corner when i am not. i remember the last time i got a cleaning it started hurting a bit and i started to get nervous and hyperventilate. i had my headphones on and was trying not to go into full blown panic attack when the hygienist stopped what she was doing and tapped me on the shoulder and said, “your dog is acting funny”. i didnt have time to even respond to the comment because at that very moment jasper stuck his big old wet nose under my hand and forced it up in his way that says “pet me mommma”. i will never ever ever forget that moment for the rest of my life because he was never trained to respond to the type of panic attack i was having. i was having a heart racing, im going to die panic attack and he was trained to deal with the zombie panic attacks i normally have (where i dont freak out, i just shut down and stop functioning). although i didnt specifically train him for this type of panic attack, i think he was able to associate my normal pre panic attack behavior with this panic attack and respond in the manner he was trained to.

i took liame with me to the emergency dentist appointment i had today. i wish i could say that he did the same thing jasper did but he didnt. i went into full blown im going to die, crying like a small child panic attack mode and liame just sat in the corner doing nothing. liame did nothing because i havent trained him to do anything yet. most of the specialized training that i have to do with him cant really happen until he is a bit older. right now we are still working on dont eat everything you see on the sidewalk and dont jump up on people. according to the trainers i have spoken with at guide dogs, they dont start specialized training until around a year and a half old because they have to learn socialization and basic obedience in order to lay the foundation for the more advanced training requirements. in all honesty there was a little part of me that hoped that liame would somehow “magically” pick up on my panic attack without any training but obviously that was a foolish idea, these dogs really do need to be trained.

Weve Been Dealt A Devastating Blow

Posted on July 17, 2008
Filed Under Care, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Want To Cry | Leave a Comment

weve been dealt a devastating blow. quote from the note the doctor says “his elbow films are suggestive of some mild elbow dysplasia.” personally i wouldnt call limping after a 15 minute walk “mild,” the doctor didnt have time to talk with me about the diagnosis and a treatment plan because he had to head into surgery but from what i could get out of the nurse the type of dysplasia was FCP (fragmented medial coronoid process). i spent a good hour in the car crying yesterday.

Breeds Of Dogs And Discrimination

Posted on July 12, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment


this is a photo of my first dog, Penny. she was a pure bred german shepherd.

in order for us to attend the party on wednesday we had to skip our canine good citizen class at the humane society. i originally felt bad about it but once at the party, as explained in the previous posting, i used the time to train him to accept the petting of strangers and ignore other dogs while his vest was on.

i also skipped the puget sound assistance dog clubs service dog certification meeting today because i was told by the group that i didnt have access rights to the mall they were testing in. this kind of pissed me off a bit even though it was true. some of the members of the group have been refused rights to access places because of the fact that they dont appear disabled. to tell you the truth, i have never ever, ever, EVER been denied access with liame or jasper. i think part of it has to do with the fact that they are always wearing their vests and they fit the stereotypical description of a service dog (ie labrador retriever). i bet that the members of the group that were denied access did not have a lab. this is important point for all of you out there to remember: if you want as little hassle as possible get a labrador retriever or golden retriever. with these breeds of dogs you will encounter alot less discrimination than someone with a boxer or a mutt. i know its unfortunate situation that there are people out there that discriminate based on breed, but you all need to be aware of the fact that it DOES happen. if you do happen to have a non stereotypical breed for your service dog, you need to be even more prepared to prove that your dog is an official service dog than someone with a lab or a golden. and one more important point about the breed of the dog, if you do happen to choose to go with a non stereotypical breed of service dog, make sure your breed has a reputation as being a friendly breed. the point of having these dogs is to force you to interact with people on a daily basis, not scare them away with your german shepherd or pit bull. please dont spam me with your comments about how german shepherds and pit bulls are good dogs, because i am already aware of it, my first dog was the smartest german shepherd anyone ever knew, never harmed a soul and yet everyone was terrified of her.

An Opportunity For Training

Posted on July 9, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Firsts, Major Steps, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

photo taken at the citydog magazine party at the W hotel in seattle.  photo copyright citydog magazine 2008. 

i think i can safely say we are potty trained.  its been over 3 weeks since the last accident in the house.  the only reason he last incident happened anyway was that the poor guys bladder was so full he started dribbling on the floor.  i didnt think this day would ever arrive.

we went to the city dog magazine bday party this evening at the W hotel.  after initially taking off his vest so that he could mingle with the other dogs i came to the conclusion that this was a great opportunity for him to be around other dogs with his vest on and learn that he has to ignore them.  he did surprisingly well. however, since i need to proof this behavior i should really try to go to more places where he will be more likely to meet other dogs with his vest on.  currently we normally dont encountering dogs in our daily routine.  

an unfortunate issue we did have at the party was that the tables at the hotel were at shin height so liame decided that it was at perfect buffet table height.  oh boy was that embarrassing, thank god he is still wearing his “in training” patch.

i have been allowing liame to jump up and put his paws in my lap and lick my face while at home.  it didnt occur to me to train for this behavior because he offers it on his own all the time.  this behavior came in handy at the party when i got overwhelmed with all the people there.  although i dont think that liame was at all picking up on my mood, all on his own he put his front paws on my lap and try to lick me in the face, something he hasent done outside of my home before.  it was kind of nice to have him want to get my attention even when surrounded by food and other dogs.  i think i will mold this behavior into a service for him since it gets me out of the moment of what i might be experiencing (say for instance anxiety) and back into the real world.

« go back — keep looking »