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
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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.

Jasper Is Famous

Posted on September 11, 2008
Filed Under Jasper, Service Dog Laws, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

Jasper and I were featured on Evening Magazine a few years ago. Here is the link to the story if you want to view it.

Jaspers Story

I originally pitched the story idea to them as a “you should do a story on psychological service dogs” and told them I would give them info about it but I DID NOT want to be in it. After they convinced me to be a part of it I thought it would be about how these dogs are used to help people with psychological disabilities but it turned it into a girl saves dog, dog save girl story. But hey, its TV and I couldnt control the final product. BTW, I was diagnosed at 21, not 29 and am in NO way CURED of this disease.

Airplane Travel Tips

Posted on April 28, 2008
Filed Under Firsts, Major Steps, Service Dog Laws, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

days before an airplane trip with a service dog in training:
-send as much food to the location you are going to as you can. the postal service has flat rate boxes that hold at least a week worth of food (for a 70+ lb dog). you dont want to get stuck in your location and not have access to the same type of food that your dog normally eats. besides, i dont know anyone who wants to lug 20 lbs of food through an airport.
-give your dog his sleeping meds several days before the flight to check for adverse reactions. it is imperative that you DO NOT give your dog his sleepy pill for the first time on the flight. adverse reactions at 30,000 feet can kill. remember - pack the sleeping medication on your carry on or you will be up the creek without a paddle.
-pack at least 2 days worth of dog food on your carry on. i know its a lot of food but if you get stuck in an airport (like the delays that recently made headlines) you need to make sure you at least have food for your dog. its not like you can go and buy him a ham sandwich in an airport without nasty consequences (diarrhea/projectile vomiting/etc).
-pack a rawhide and a small container of peanut butter in your carry on. just incase your dog is nervous on the plane you want to make sure that he has something to distract him during take off and landings.
-call the airline in advance and tell them you are traveling with a service dog. now here is the important point to remember. i know you think that the bulkhead seats are great, and they are, but i recommend that you ask for the seat right behind the bulkhead. usually these are premium seats that have more leg room than those in the back plus the dog gets to place some of his body under the seat infront of him. after 18 flights with a 70+ lb lab ive found this to be true for most of the airlines. some operators will release a seat immediately and some wont. unfortunately its a crap shoot. try to be as nice as possible to the operator. remember, most of their day is spent talking with angry passengers.
-go to the vet and get your health certificate. technically they cant deny you boarding without this (unless you are flying to hawaii) but its always great to have it with you.
-make sure your doctors note is as up to date as possible. airline regulations state that it must be less than a year old.

-if you are afraid of being denied boarding make sure you have all your bases covered by having
a letter from your doctor explaining what the dog is for
a health certificate from your vet clearing your dog to fly
your dogs vaccination certificates
a service dog vest with proper identification patches
a dog that has been recently bathed and groomed (including fresh smelling breath)