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.

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.

“Service Dog In The Building!”

Posted on January 3, 2009
Filed Under Firsts, Mistakes, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | 1 Comment

we went to the seattle aquarium a couple of days ago. right before we were about to enter the aquarium the front desk clerk made what i would have assumed was a general staff announcement that there was a “service dog in the building.” i didnt understand it at first and thought it a little insulting but then it occurred to me that even though liame had been introduced to all types of environments that the penguins, otters and octopus might be a little taken aback by the fact that there was this furry predator staring them down. sure enough when we came to the octopus tank, the octopus started squirming around in him tank and tried to hide behind a rock. according to the attendant the octopus had barely moved all day. when we came up to another tank which happened to be really long and at liames level, he spotted a fish swimming really fast in it and tried to chase it down the wall. telling him to “leave it” worked but it bugs me that i have to be so reactive all the time. i wonder if his age is causing this impulsiveness or maybe its because he is the product of champion hunters? when i picked out liame i knew i needed a dog that would be an active participant in my life, a dog with a lot of energy and drive to encourage me to get out of the house. guide dogs have such passive personalities that they seem to be more like an assistive device rather than a living breathing animal. i know they select their breeding stock so that they turn out that way. sometimes though liames constant on the go, inquisitive personality makes me wonder, did i screw up and get a dog with too much drive?

Marley and Bereavement Time For A Service Dog

Posted on December 26, 2008
Filed Under Jasper, Major Steps, Service Dog Laws, Things That Make Me Want To Cry, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

we went to see marley and me yesterday. oh my god. before yesterday i had never done the ugly cry in a theater. it took me two weeks to read the last couple of chapters of the book because i knew what was coming. but there it was, boom, on the screen, them putting their bestest friend to sleep. oh my god. i am crying just writing this. i cant believe that sometime in the near future i am going to have to give jasper the injection that will end his life. i did the ugly cry for a dog on the screen, having to do that to jasper is going to throw me into such a deep depression that i am scared that i might not come out of it. up until recently, jasper had been at my side, 24 hours a day for three solid years. i had more contact with him than i did my husband. my husband refers to him as my “floppy eared boyfriend” and he is so right. in addition to losing the first dog i have ever owned (or been owned by), i might end up losing my job over it too. there is no “bereavement” time off for the death of a dog. and because disability law states that they have to accommodate me just like they do a wheelchair, they dont have to provide me time off because they dont do that for if you lose your wheelchair, or your crutches or your prosthetic arm. i wonder how others who have lost a service dog have dealt with this issue in an employment setting. im going to have to do some research about this. service dog academy’s employment coaching needs to cover this issue because its bound to come up sometime.

Attention Seeking At My Desk

Posted on November 20, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

since i can remember, liame has been rushing people who approach my desk in anticipation of attention from them. since this type of attention seeking behavior is inappropriate for a service dog i have been extremely embarrassed by it. prior to a week or so ago, i would verbally reprimand him and tell him to go lay down. this would work for a few seconds but he would end up slowly creeping towards the person trying to get a whiff of their pants or shoes. although this sniffing behavior was not technically a greeting in human terms it was another inappropriate behavior - ie you cant have a service dog go sniffing some random stranger in the grocery store. seeing that this behavior had started to become a pattern (greet, retreat after reprimand, crawl back while i was talking) i had to come up with another solution. thank god i still have the crate because as you can see in my previous posts it has become a useful tool to get liame to stop doing inappropriate things. so as of today, when liame goes to greet a visitor in my cube he will immediately be placed into the crate. and since this behavior has two components, an attention seeking dog and a willing puppy loving person who bends over to pet him i have placed a sign on my computer asking people to refrain from petting him. i hate to do it but people have gotten lax in ignoring liame.

Grandpuppy?!?

Posted on November 3, 2008
Filed Under Jasper, Mistakes, Service Dog Laws | Leave a Comment

my mother came into town this week and literally within 20 minutes started undoing some of the intensive training i have been doing for the last 10 months. the infractions that occurred within the first 20 minutes included:
- slipping him some deli meat while we were shopping in the grocery store
- calling him over to her
- granting people permission to pet him without checking with me first
she kept giving me excuses about how he was her grandchild and that she only had 2 weeks to spoil him. you would think that having had spent several weeks with jasper over the course of the last few years that she would know not to do this type of stuff while liames vest was on but for some reason it didnt seem to register with her. i wonder if her lapse in judgement came from the fact that liame is still very much a puppy.

so mom, just so we are clear, liame wears that vest to serve me, not for anyone elses entertainment or pleasure and certainly not to be a substitute grandchild. service dogs are not supposed to eat food handed to them, not supposed to leave their companions side and are not supposed to greet people by jumping up and licking their faces.

This Dog Is Driving Me Bonkers!

Posted on October 22, 2008
Filed Under Care, Service Dog Laws, Todays Mood | Leave a Comment

two and a half weeks of confinement to a crate has changed liame into a dog that i dont know. he is rude, jumpy, mouthy - even with his vest on. thank god he got his stitches out and has been cleared for some light exercise. he is driving me bonkers. i now know what people experience with a dog that has not been allowed to exercise his drives. i cant even give him any work to eat puzzles because that will make him too active! on the other hand, its been kinda nice to lock him up in his crate and get some things done around the house without worrying about if i dropping something he can eat.

i saw some utube videos on service dogs. i saw a video of a 5 month old performing tasks and the only one liame wasnt trained to do at that age was turn on the lights. im now feeling more inspired than ever to work on task training. even though i dont necessarily need him to pick things up or carry things for me, they are simple tasks to show people that he is trained if i am ever asked to do so in an airport.

Another Sign?

Posted on September 26, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Mitigating Symptoms, Service Dog Laws, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

here was the fortune of the second fortune cookie of the two ones i received today. this one states “you could prosper in the field of medicine”. OMG! even though I am training dogs it still falls within the field of medicine because I will be helping people attain a dog to assist them with their medical disability. spooky.

The Sign

Posted on September 26, 2008
Filed Under Clubs And Organizations, Major Steps, Service Dog Laws, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

last night i took my canine studies exam. im pretty sure i passed.
i had a very interesting thing happen yesterday and today that leaves me excited about what could be. my mother in law sent me a link to googles 10 to the 100th contest where you can win money to start a business. i was instantly interested and started thinking about how money could turn this simple one person business idea into a full blow non profit with a puppy raising program, dog rescue, multiple trainers, advocacy, couseling and legal support for those who receive the dogs.
so here is where it got weird. not that i believe in fortune cookies but today i got chinese food for lunch and my fortune stated “an important business venture may soon develop for you”. i wonder could this be THE SIGN?

To Alarm Bark Or Not To Bark, That Is The Question

Posted on September 22, 2008
Filed Under Mistakes, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i spent this saturday evening hold up at the W hotel in downtown seattle as a means of relaxing and preparing for my exam on thursday. it was supposed to be relaxing but it ended up with me being up until 3AM in the morning creating flash cards for me and the other students to use during our review the next morning. even though only a few people showed up for the review it did help to go over the concepts with them. we had some fun and they got to see what liame was really like without the vest - rude, jumpy and licky.
i also noticed that liame started to become very protective of our room and would start to growl and bark whenever he heard someone in the hall or anyone knocked on our door. im still a little torn between him being an alarm barker or just being silent. the alarm barking helps to let me know if someone is trying to get into our house or hotel room but it is annoying to other guests. i dont know what service dogs are supposed to do in a hotel situation. should i teach him to never bark while his vest is on and then keep it on all the time in the hotel room or should i just let him bark and possibly give people a bad impression that service dogs are uncontrollable?
oh and just so you know in the city of seattle, service dogs in training have the same access rights as service dogs as long as they are accompanied by the person with the disability.

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