For the past week, I've been working on my presentations for the upcoming Service Dog Seminar hosted by Dogs in the Park in Guelph, Ontario, May 31-June 2. By way of a quick endorsement, this is the terrific event! We've been attending since the beginning (6 years now); not only are the sessions very helpful but it's a great opportunity to meet other service dog users/trainers and to practice behaviors around other service dogs! Additionally, I know of only one other such seminar (in Washington state) and I understand that Dogs in the Park is not planning to host a seminar next year.
I do an "Introduction to Service Dogs" presentation each year which I update based on personal experience and feedback from the previous years. This year, based on our experience finding out about Hardy's heart issue, I am adding a section on what to do when things don't go as planned. The interesting thing is that I thought a lot about what I would do if that happened but until now, didn't really include that in my presentation. In my opinion, that was a big oversight on my part!
As an owner-trainer service dog handler, considering what you will do if things don't go as planned is, I believe, a critical part of the process of deciding whether you can or should owner-train your own service dog. Prior to getting Laurel, I spent about a year researching the possibilities for getting a program SD or owner-training one. I joined several service dog lists on Yahoo and one thing that surprised me was how many people there were with multiple dogs (4 +) because one was their current service dog in training and the rest were washouts. That observation coupled with the pretty grim statistics regarding the large percentage of dogs that washout from the biggest, well-respected service dogs programs that breed their own puppies made me recognize what a serious task I was considering undertaking. It also made me realize that I needed to consider what I would do if my service dog candidate failed to work out for whatever reason: behavior, temperament, medical, or physical.
When we decide to owner-train, we all think we're going to have a successful outcome. Hence, I also thought it was important to stack the deck in my favor so I decided to get an appropriate puppy from a breeder. I know some people are committed to rescue and/or have decided that they can't raise a young puppy. I am sure that it is possible to get an appropriate dog from rescue given the expertise to choose one, time and patience. With the recent economic downturn, with people getting evicted from their homes, dogs were turned into humane societies and rescues because their owners couldn't keep them in their new place. However, the fact remains that most dogs at the APL or rescue are not appropriate for service dog work. They are generally rehab projects and service dog training is difficult enough with a physically and temperamentally sound puppy/dog with adequate socialization. That is still not likely to be the puppy/dog you find at a shelter or a rescue.
Sometimes, though, no matter how careful you are, things don't go the way you planned and you either have to wash out a service dog prospect or candidate, retire a service dog early or consider getting another candidate earlier than planned. I'm in that position right now. I absolutely believe that having two working dogs is important for me because mine do three medical alerts - they are aware of me at all times, wake me at night and only take time off because there are two of them. Laurel will be 7 on June 2nd and although Hardy is doing very well, his future is less certain that we would like. I talked to his cardiologist and she said that getting another puppy was probably a good idea. My husband and I talked about it - we really weren't keen to have three dogs right now but decided to go ahead since Laurel would be 9 when a puppy from this summer would be old enough to work and although Hardy can still do service/therapy/crisis response work, we aren't certain about his future.
I reviewed the preparation questionnaires I created to see if anything had changed in my needs or wants, lifestyle, finances etc. I determined that I wanted to get another Labrador and that I wanted to get one from Hardy's breeder, Donna. She knows us and she knows Laurel and Hardy. She's considered one of the top breeders of Labradors; not just for the show ring but primarily as performance dogs: guide & service dogs, SAR, drug dogs, police dogs, therapy dogs as well as for various dog sports. I talked with her in early spring and asked her to look at her upcoming litters with me in mind. She has a yellow litter born April 15th - 4 girls and 3 boys that she thought might include my puppy. I've contacted a certified CARAT evaluator from Chicago who will come and temperatment test the litter for me and if there is an appropriate puppy, she/he will come home with us June 10th. If I don't find a puppy, I'll wait until the next litter Donna thinks might work out for me. In the meantime, I'm reading all the puppy books again and working on a training plan. It's an exciting/terrifying thought!
I'll be chronicling my journey with my 3rd service dog prospect beginning now with the plans and preparations that went into our decision as well as photos from the first litter I'll be considering (5 weeks, 2 days old) at: frompuppytopublicaccessonceagain.blogspot.com
Friday, May 24, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Update After a Prolonged Absence
Wow! It's been over a year since I wrote on this blog. Obviously, I am not a good blogger! Recently though, I was contacted by someone who apparently followed my blogs (this and frompuppytopublicaccess.blogspot.com) and I realized that I haven't posted anything for a long time!
First, Laurel and Hardy are still working well together and we are having a great deal of fun as well! Laurel will be 7 in June (unbelievable to me!) and Hardy turned 3 a couple weeks ago. They continue to take great care of me; we are still working through how to best handle the alerting and they continue to amaze me with their ability to predict accurately and consistently three different medical issues, working as a team so that one of them is always keeping track of me while the other one takes a break. I've probably mentioned this before but I did not train this (I wouldn't know how to do that) and it is everything I had hoped for and much more than I had expected. We were at an agility trial this past weekend and Hardy was obviously the "alert dog on call". He kept track of me and alerted even when I was on the other side of the building while Laurel lounged in the X-Pen.
Laurel and I are focusing on agility right now. We are competing more than I expected to when we started but certainly not at the level of many of our friends. I think I can safely say that although there are many teams that are much better than we are, there aren't many (any?) that have more fun! Q or NQ, Laurel and I have an absolute blast together and I never doubt that she is working her heart out trying to figure out exactly what I want her to do! I also feel very confident that Laurel would not be a successful working service dog if we did not do dog sports, particularly agility. When she is vested, she is a very different dog; serious and more subdued than her normal (overly) enthusiastic, friendly self. I certainly admire her ability and willingness to "work" for me but I also recognize that it has to be stressful to control herself to that extreme. When Laurel was young, I chose to allow her time to "be a dog" despite several service dog trainers' advice to the contrary. I am thankful we decided to allow her that freedom. Laurel does not have the ideal temperament to be a successful service dog but she has given me the gift of alerting and has worked out how to be appropriate when in public.
We participate in multiple venues because I enjoy and learn from the different classes. We do about 4 CPE (Canine Performance Events) trials a year - we love the games and the people but there aren't many trials near us in facilities that work for us. We're in Level 4 in everything but Standard, where we're still working on finishing up Level 3.
We also do about 4 - 5 ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club) trials. You can compete with any breed, the entry fees are very reasonable, you can run 5-6 times a day, the trials here tend to be smaller, the people are great and most importantly for us, you can train in the ring! Although Laurel has beautiful contacts in class and even at run-thrus, she tends to leap from above them at trials. It's obviously her level of enthusiasm and arousal and it's particularly difficult when the contact is on the final line of obstacles coming towards the finish. Additionally, I am generally not anywhere near her when she does the down contact. So, when a friend told me that we could do ASCA and train in the ring, I jumped at the opportunity! They have Regular (Standard in any other venue), Gamblers and Jumpers (jumps and tunnels) - each class runs twice, the second class reverses the course from the first class. If Laurel misses a contact, we've already NQ'd and I can turn right around and redo the contact as many times as I want until the course time runs out. While our contacts are still not our strong suit, they have greatly improved since starting ASCA. We're also competing at the Elite Level in every class and even have our Elite title in Gamblers. Although Laurel does beautifully in Jumpers, ASCA's course times are pretty tight and we have had trouble making time so we still need 10 more points for that title.
Although there is only 1 USDAA trial we make a year, we have competed twice. USDAA is considered the most competitive venue and we are the amateurs playing amongst the pros! I love the games and was surprised how kind the other competitors have been. We have a couple Q's in Performance I and will be lucky if we ever get a title considering how little we compete. The courses are technical, which is actually one of our strengths and I love watching the top competitors! Besides Snooker, my favorite game, they also have a Team class, which is loads of fun!
We started competing in AKC agility almost 2 years ago and now compete more there than in any other venue. That is mostly because there are far more local AKC trials but also because all my friends compete there. When we first started, my goal was for Laurel to get into Excellent (Novice-Open-Excellent) in both JWW (Jumps with Weaves) and Standard. We got our Novice JWW title in one weekend (3 attempts, 3 Qs with 3 first placements) but there was quite a while when I thought we would never get out of Novice Standard (due to our contact issues). Well, this past weekend, Laurel finished her Excellent Standard title (AX) and got her first Masters' Q (what until January 1st was Excellent B). She has surpassed my goals for her and we are now working on our Masters' titles (you need 10 Qs).
Admittedly, we have gotten more serious about agility. We didn't start taking agility class using all the equipment until Laurel was almost 3 and since we were never going to compete, we didn't work on contacts or start line stays. And still, we generally take one class a week (although for about 12 weeks, we've been splurging by taking 2). We don't have equipment at home and we just do agility in class. I have been lucky in having instructors willing to work with us and my power chair. Agility is a fun game with my chair but it is a very different one! And recently, a world class agility competitor and an amazing teacher, Stuart Mah commented that Laurel and I had to be better than everyone else in order to compete at the same level. It's not something that I focus on but it was nice to have someone confirm that it is harder to do agility using a power chair (and I know someone who uses a manual chair!) Laurel and I certainly don't need to compete but I think Laurel needs to take agility class in order to be able to do her job as my service dog. It is her love; her favorite thing in the world to do with me (other than snuggling in bed or on the sofa with me)!
We have continued to do some rally and obedience competitions - I substituted as the trial secretary for an APDT rally trial in October and Laurel got her Level 3 title with an Award of Excellence. And I act as the Advocate (Representative) for 2 C-WAGS Obedience & Rally trials a year so Laurel has gotten every rally title C-WAGS offers as well as her Level 2 Obedience title with Qs towards Level 3. It is clear she does obedience and rally to humor me; in fact, you can see the look of disappointment on her face when she sees the rally signs and/or lack of agility equipment!
Laurel and Hardy continue to be best friends. She is clearly his teacher and he obviously adores her. When I ask Hardy to do something for me, Laurel waits without interfering until and unless I ask her to take over the task for me. And if I
ask Hardy to get something by name and he doesn't know what it is, Laurel will
pick it up and then drop it so that he can get it for me. I am often reminded
about what one of Hardy's first veterinarians up in Guelph, Ontario, said when
he saw Laurel and my brown puppy together when Hardy was about 10 weeks old. He
talked about what a great teacher Laurel was, that Hardy was lucky to have her
and that he would grow up to be a better dog because of it.
I wrote my last post the middle of March 2012. Hardy and I had just responded to the school shooting at Chardon High School February 27th and we were still going to visit the students and staff every day at that point. I had no idea the depth of the journey we were on, how long we would be involved at Chardon nor how much we would become a part of that community.
The experience at Chardon has changed my life. For a period of time, in fact, it took over my life. It has changed my perception of the tragic events and crises I see on the news and in the media. I used to feel empathy from a distance and now I know what a difficult time the survivors (victims, family members, witnesses, community members, first responders etc) are going to have for a long time to come. We will continue to respond to those crises that we can - I am very grateful to have this way to share how much my service dogs have changed my life with others. In my opinion, not all therapy dog teams can do crisis response work and I am grateful that we can.
Unfortunately, shortly after school ended last June, we experienced our own small crisis centered around Hardy. Because we had been told that he had a reaction to anesthesia used during an eye procedure when he was a year old, we took him to a cardiologist prior to having his neuter surgery/x-rays done in July. We thought we were going to discuss what kind of anesthesia to use that would not cause his heart to go into arrhythmias. Instead, we found out that he has a random heart problem. Apparently, a section of his heart is sending out extra electrical impulses so that his heart has lots of extra beats. The first holter monitor report showed that he had 9000 extra beats over a 24 hour period.
Normally, this problem is not diagnosed but is the leading cause of young, healthy dogs dropping dead. As soon as we got the diagnosis, we stopped most of his activities while we tried various human heart medications to regulate his heart beats. It was a long, painful, frightening time but by October, we felt like we had found a combination (Mexiletine and Sotalol) that was working. It is a pretty daunting drug regime - he takes Sotalol every 12 hours without food (none 2 hours before or one hour after) and Mexiletine every 8 hours, with food. The Labs are now getting food five times a day; although it's the same total daily amount as their 3 times a day schedule, they are delighted with the change. We were encouraged by the changes we saw in Hardy's behavior on the medication - he seemed generally more energetic and was even getting into trouble. Unfortunately, the holter monitor done in October didn't show any major reduction in the number of arrhythmias but we continued the medication based on what we had observed in his behavior. The cardiologist kept assuring me that Hardy could do all his regular activities, including agility. We started agility class again but when he didn't seem to really love it, retired him again. Over time, we let him play a bit after Laurel's class and got to the point where it seemed like he was really loving it again so we brought him out of retirement once more. He even competed in a couple more agility trials and got a couple titles.
Last Thursday, we headed back down to the big veterinary clinic in Akron, Metropolitan Animal Hospital to participate in the annual service dog eye exam and see Hardy's cardiologist. Laurel's eyes are just fine. Hardy had thickening of his eyelids plus all the wandering eye lashes (distichia) that were removed when he was a year old have grown back. Normally, we would use steroids for the eyelids but that would encourage the hairs to grow and of course, normally, we would freeze his eyelids and pull out the extra eye lashes but that would potentially increase the thickening of the eyelids. Additionally, overnight, Hardy had developed a big red lump on one of his upper eyelids. One of the vet techs was able to "express" it which indicates that it was a clogged duct. We got a prescription for an antibiotic/steroid ointment to put in his eyes and the ophthalmologist will see him again at the end of June.
The cardiologist performed another echocardiogram to see how Hardy's heart looked as well as how it was functioning. Nine months ago, there was a possible indication that his heart wasn't functioning as effectively as it should but because it was very slight, we were hoping it was nothing. Unfortunately, this time that same measurement (fractional shortening) showed a decrease of over 3 points indicating that Hardy's heart doesn't contract as well as it should. Additionally, his heart is now slightly larger than it was and although it is not yet enlarged, since he is only 3 years old, it is not a good sign since it indicates cardiomyopathy (which I made the mistake of Googling so now I know that would be bad). For now, things are slight enough that we are just going to do another echo in 6-9 months. The good news was that Hardy's sinus rhythm was normal during the test! He came home with a holter monitor and we're awaiting to hear the news from that. Based on the most recent news, the cardiologist supported my decision to retire my brown boy for the third and final time from agility. It certainly seems as though the risk outweighs the benefits since agility is not his favorite thing to do! She also assured me that Hardy can continue his service and therapy/crisis response work. Since those activities are the ones he loves, we feel very fortunate and grateful. We're also going to try some freestyle based on CFF (Canine Freestyle Federation) and see how he likes the idea of "dancing" to music!
Since finding out last summer that Hardy's future is somewhat less certain that we would like (although in reality, none of our futures' is at all certain), I started thinking about the timing of my next service dog candidate puppy. Although we have never actually wanted three dogs, Brent and I think we need to consider our next puppy sooner rather than later. Even though looking for one this year seems like it would be very early; the reality is that if we got a puppy this summer, by the time he/she was two years old and ready to start working, Laurel would be 9 years old and even Hardy would be 5. I have gotten so spoiled having dogs that alert and when I see how Laurel and Hardy work together, allowing each of them to have time off when they're not focused on me or working; that is something I don't want to risk.
Obviously, our most recent cardiology appointment did nothing to dissuade me from the decision to begin looking for a puppy so our search begins again with a litter born April 15th that will be 8 weeks old June 10th. We are going back to Hardy's breeder and will be looking at yellow or black puppies. I would prefer a girl but if the right puppy is a boy, I'd have to take that puppy. I found a certified CARAT (Suzanne Clothier's puppy temperament test) evaluator in Chicago who has agreed to come and look at the puppies on the 10th. I just purchased her airline ticket so this is starting to feel real. This first litter is all yellow, with 5 girls and 3 boys. The breeder is very excited by this litter; the sire is a pretty amazing dog and his sire is the leading sire for one of the largest national service dog programs. Although I am hopeful we might find the right puppy in this litter, I'm prepared to continue to look if we don't.
Sometimes I'm very excited about starting this journey again and other times I'm just terrified! Laurel and Hardy have settled in, work so well together, get along beautifully and are so easy. Now, we're voluntarily going to upset that particular apple cart! Seems kind of crazy to me!
First, Laurel and Hardy are still working well together and we are having a great deal of fun as well! Laurel will be 7 in June (unbelievable to me!) and Hardy turned 3 a couple weeks ago. They continue to take great care of me; we are still working through how to best handle the alerting and they continue to amaze me with their ability to predict accurately and consistently three different medical issues, working as a team so that one of them is always keeping track of me while the other one takes a break. I've probably mentioned this before but I did not train this (I wouldn't know how to do that) and it is everything I had hoped for and much more than I had expected. We were at an agility trial this past weekend and Hardy was obviously the "alert dog on call". He kept track of me and alerted even when I was on the other side of the building while Laurel lounged in the X-Pen.
Laurel and I are focusing on agility right now. We are competing more than I expected to when we started but certainly not at the level of many of our friends. I think I can safely say that although there are many teams that are much better than we are, there aren't many (any?) that have more fun! Q or NQ, Laurel and I have an absolute blast together and I never doubt that she is working her heart out trying to figure out exactly what I want her to do! I also feel very confident that Laurel would not be a successful working service dog if we did not do dog sports, particularly agility. When she is vested, she is a very different dog; serious and more subdued than her normal (overly) enthusiastic, friendly self. I certainly admire her ability and willingness to "work" for me but I also recognize that it has to be stressful to control herself to that extreme. When Laurel was young, I chose to allow her time to "be a dog" despite several service dog trainers' advice to the contrary. I am thankful we decided to allow her that freedom. Laurel does not have the ideal temperament to be a successful service dog but she has given me the gift of alerting and has worked out how to be appropriate when in public.
We participate in multiple venues because I enjoy and learn from the different classes. We do about 4 CPE (Canine Performance Events) trials a year - we love the games and the people but there aren't many trials near us in facilities that work for us. We're in Level 4 in everything but Standard, where we're still working on finishing up Level 3.
We started competing in AKC agility almost 2 years ago and now compete more there than in any other venue. That is mostly because there are far more local AKC trials but also because all my friends compete there. When we first started, my goal was for Laurel to get into Excellent (Novice-Open-Excellent) in both JWW (Jumps with Weaves) and Standard. We got our Novice JWW title in one weekend (3 attempts, 3 Qs with 3 first placements) but there was quite a while when I thought we would never get out of Novice Standard (due to our contact issues). Well, this past weekend, Laurel finished her Excellent Standard title (AX) and got her first Masters' Q (what until January 1st was Excellent B). She has surpassed my goals for her and we are now working on our Masters' titles (you need 10 Qs).
Admittedly, we have gotten more serious about agility. We didn't start taking agility class using all the equipment until Laurel was almost 3 and since we were never going to compete, we didn't work on contacts or start line stays. And still, we generally take one class a week (although for about 12 weeks, we've been splurging by taking 2). We don't have equipment at home and we just do agility in class. I have been lucky in having instructors willing to work with us and my power chair. Agility is a fun game with my chair but it is a very different one! And recently, a world class agility competitor and an amazing teacher, Stuart Mah commented that Laurel and I had to be better than everyone else in order to compete at the same level. It's not something that I focus on but it was nice to have someone confirm that it is harder to do agility using a power chair (and I know someone who uses a manual chair!) Laurel and I certainly don't need to compete but I think Laurel needs to take agility class in order to be able to do her job as my service dog. It is her love; her favorite thing in the world to do with me (other than snuggling in bed or on the sofa with me)!
We have continued to do some rally and obedience competitions - I substituted as the trial secretary for an APDT rally trial in October and Laurel got her Level 3 title with an Award of Excellence. And I act as the Advocate (Representative) for 2 C-WAGS Obedience & Rally trials a year so Laurel has gotten every rally title C-WAGS offers as well as her Level 2 Obedience title with Qs towards Level 3. It is clear she does obedience and rally to humor me; in fact, you can see the look of disappointment on her face when she sees the rally signs and/or lack of agility equipment!
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| Laurel & Hardy APDT Oct 2012 - 8 placements, 2 titles with Awards of Excellence, & 1 Level Championship |
I wrote my last post the middle of March 2012. Hardy and I had just responded to the school shooting at Chardon High School February 27th and we were still going to visit the students and staff every day at that point. I had no idea the depth of the journey we were on, how long we would be involved at Chardon nor how much we would become a part of that community.
Hardy and I, along with several other teams, continued to go to school every day for a little over a month immediately following the shooting. Not only were many of the students profoundly affected by the events of that day; so were the adults! Although many of the administrators were very skeptical about having crisis response dogs in the schools, they heard from the students, teachers, staff and parents how important the dogs were. In fact, we continue to hear that on a regular basis.
During March, we reduced the number of teams at the High School to three (including Hardy and me) and in April, following the school's Spring Break, we began to reduce the number of days the dogs were there. If the school felt like they needed us more (during exams or at an assembly, for example), they let us know and we responded accordingly. During the seniors' last week and at the end of the school year, we went back to every day. We attended Chardon High School's Baccalaureate, 8th Grade Graduation, 12th Grade Graduation rehearsal and the teachers' last day as we tried to help everyone prepare for Summer Break. Because some of the students indicated they'd like the opportunity to see us over the summer, we made arrangements to go to the local Public Library once a week.
For a number of reasons, seeing people at the Library didn't work out very well. Hardy and I were only there a couple of times but we managed to have at least one of the three teams there most weeks. When school started the last week of August, we were there every day again. The trial of the shooter was originally scheduled to begin November 26th but was delayed until January 10th. Additionally, it was difficult to anticipate what might trigger people in the Chardon community - a scheduled drug sweep with a bunch of police dogs or a missing teenager which sent helicopters into the air again. Then the unimaginable happened at Newtown, CT, sending the Chardon victims into crisis mode again. When everyone came back to school after the winter break, it looked like the trial would happen - the jury had been seated and everyone was gearing up for a very difficult ordeal. A week before the trial date, however, the trial was continued again until sometime after the 1 year anniversary of the shooting (February 27th).
When the school representatives told us they felt like they were back in crisis mode, we brought back the entire team (about 13 teams with two support people). We did this following the Sandy Hook shootings until the students left for Winter break and then when they returned to school in January. The entire team stayed there until everyone's emotions settled following the delay of the trial and then came back in the month prior to the anniversary. Hardy and I spent the 27th at the High School with our friends. We attended a Memorial Service the night before, spent the day being available for anyone needing a friendly dog to pet or sit with or cry with. The students spent the day participating in acts of service and while they were planning the events, decided that they wanted to do something for the dogs that had shared their time with them. Someone suggested that they make fleece leashes - each of us that had been with them during the past year got at least one and we use them with gratitude. I use mine to remember why Hardy and I are doing crisis response work to begin with.
About three weeks later, the shooter pled guilty to all the charges and was sentenced to multiple life terms plus some years. There was a problem with what the shooter did and said during the hearing and that also created stress and pain for his many victims. We went back to every day for a short time and will be at the school through the end of this school year. Although the staff and students have indicated they would like us to come back next year, with a new superintendent taking over this summer, we are not sure whether we will be asked or allowed back.
Hardy loves going to Chardon - just ask him if he wants to go see his kids! He enjoys therapy work but crisis response is something different and that is what he loves and for which he is really talented. In early January, we went with Extra Mile Ministries to Newtown, CT. We spent four very busy days there providing comfort to people hurt by the tragic school shootings at Sandy Hook.
We also went to Boston following the bombings at the Marathon. We arrived Friday before they had caught the second bomber and drove through a downtown Boston devoid of people. Saturday and Sunday, Hardy and I teamed up with my daughter, Kristen and her Pointer, Soapy to visit people at the memorials and to see the police and national guardsmen. It is very hard to describe what happens when people who have been touched by tragedy visit with our dogs but it is something pretty amazing. Besides the comfort they find with the dogs, it often provides a bridge for them to be able to start talking about what happened. I know that Hardy and I always leave exhausted but I know that it is a privilege to be there attached to my special brown boy's leash!
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| Visiting with Chardon first responders at a rally in their honor |
For a number of reasons, seeing people at the Library didn't work out very well. Hardy and I were only there a couple of times but we managed to have at least one of the three teams there most weeks. When school started the last week of August, we were there every day again. The trial of the shooter was originally scheduled to begin November 26th but was delayed until January 10th. Additionally, it was difficult to anticipate what might trigger people in the Chardon community - a scheduled drug sweep with a bunch of police dogs or a missing teenager which sent helicopters into the air again. Then the unimaginable happened at Newtown, CT, sending the Chardon victims into crisis mode again. When everyone came back to school after the winter break, it looked like the trial would happen - the jury had been seated and everyone was gearing up for a very difficult ordeal. A week before the trial date, however, the trial was continued again until sometime after the 1 year anniversary of the shooting (February 27th).
When the school representatives told us they felt like they were back in crisis mode, we brought back the entire team (about 13 teams with two support people). We did this following the Sandy Hook shootings until the students left for Winter break and then when they returned to school in January. The entire team stayed there until everyone's emotions settled following the delay of the trial and then came back in the month prior to the anniversary. Hardy and I spent the 27th at the High School with our friends. We attended a Memorial Service the night before, spent the day being available for anyone needing a friendly dog to pet or sit with or cry with. The students spent the day participating in acts of service and while they were planning the events, decided that they wanted to do something for the dogs that had shared their time with them. Someone suggested that they make fleece leashes - each of us that had been with them during the past year got at least one and we use them with gratitude. I use mine to remember why Hardy and I are doing crisis response work to begin with.
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| Walking with Chardon students to 1st Anniversary Memorial at Chardon Square |
Hardy loves going to Chardon - just ask him if he wants to go see his kids! He enjoys therapy work but crisis response is something different and that is what he loves and for which he is really talented. In early January, we went with Extra Mile Ministries to Newtown, CT. We spent four very busy days there providing comfort to people hurt by the tragic school shootings at Sandy Hook.
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| Visiting in Newtown, CT |
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| Visiting in Boston |
Unfortunately, shortly after school ended last June, we experienced our own small crisis centered around Hardy. Because we had been told that he had a reaction to anesthesia used during an eye procedure when he was a year old, we took him to a cardiologist prior to having his neuter surgery/x-rays done in July. We thought we were going to discuss what kind of anesthesia to use that would not cause his heart to go into arrhythmias. Instead, we found out that he has a random heart problem. Apparently, a section of his heart is sending out extra electrical impulses so that his heart has lots of extra beats. The first holter monitor report showed that he had 9000 extra beats over a 24 hour period.
Normally, this problem is not diagnosed but is the leading cause of young, healthy dogs dropping dead. As soon as we got the diagnosis, we stopped most of his activities while we tried various human heart medications to regulate his heart beats. It was a long, painful, frightening time but by October, we felt like we had found a combination (Mexiletine and Sotalol) that was working. It is a pretty daunting drug regime - he takes Sotalol every 12 hours without food (none 2 hours before or one hour after) and Mexiletine every 8 hours, with food. The Labs are now getting food five times a day; although it's the same total daily amount as their 3 times a day schedule, they are delighted with the change. We were encouraged by the changes we saw in Hardy's behavior on the medication - he seemed generally more energetic and was even getting into trouble. Unfortunately, the holter monitor done in October didn't show any major reduction in the number of arrhythmias but we continued the medication based on what we had observed in his behavior. The cardiologist kept assuring me that Hardy could do all his regular activities, including agility. We started agility class again but when he didn't seem to really love it, retired him again. Over time, we let him play a bit after Laurel's class and got to the point where it seemed like he was really loving it again so we brought him out of retirement once more. He even competed in a couple more agility trials and got a couple titles.
Last Thursday, we headed back down to the big veterinary clinic in Akron, Metropolitan Animal Hospital to participate in the annual service dog eye exam and see Hardy's cardiologist. Laurel's eyes are just fine. Hardy had thickening of his eyelids plus all the wandering eye lashes (distichia) that were removed when he was a year old have grown back. Normally, we would use steroids for the eyelids but that would encourage the hairs to grow and of course, normally, we would freeze his eyelids and pull out the extra eye lashes but that would potentially increase the thickening of the eyelids. Additionally, overnight, Hardy had developed a big red lump on one of his upper eyelids. One of the vet techs was able to "express" it which indicates that it was a clogged duct. We got a prescription for an antibiotic/steroid ointment to put in his eyes and the ophthalmologist will see him again at the end of June.
The cardiologist performed another echocardiogram to see how Hardy's heart looked as well as how it was functioning. Nine months ago, there was a possible indication that his heart wasn't functioning as effectively as it should but because it was very slight, we were hoping it was nothing. Unfortunately, this time that same measurement (fractional shortening) showed a decrease of over 3 points indicating that Hardy's heart doesn't contract as well as it should. Additionally, his heart is now slightly larger than it was and although it is not yet enlarged, since he is only 3 years old, it is not a good sign since it indicates cardiomyopathy (which I made the mistake of Googling so now I know that would be bad). For now, things are slight enough that we are just going to do another echo in 6-9 months. The good news was that Hardy's sinus rhythm was normal during the test! He came home with a holter monitor and we're awaiting to hear the news from that. Based on the most recent news, the cardiologist supported my decision to retire my brown boy for the third and final time from agility. It certainly seems as though the risk outweighs the benefits since agility is not his favorite thing to do! She also assured me that Hardy can continue his service and therapy/crisis response work. Since those activities are the ones he loves, we feel very fortunate and grateful. We're also going to try some freestyle based on CFF (Canine Freestyle Federation) and see how he likes the idea of "dancing" to music!
Since finding out last summer that Hardy's future is somewhat less certain that we would like (although in reality, none of our futures' is at all certain), I started thinking about the timing of my next service dog candidate puppy. Although we have never actually wanted three dogs, Brent and I think we need to consider our next puppy sooner rather than later. Even though looking for one this year seems like it would be very early; the reality is that if we got a puppy this summer, by the time he/she was two years old and ready to start working, Laurel would be 9 years old and even Hardy would be 5. I have gotten so spoiled having dogs that alert and when I see how Laurel and Hardy work together, allowing each of them to have time off when they're not focused on me or working; that is something I don't want to risk.
Obviously, our most recent cardiology appointment did nothing to dissuade me from the decision to begin looking for a puppy so our search begins again with a litter born April 15th that will be 8 weeks old June 10th. We are going back to Hardy's breeder and will be looking at yellow or black puppies. I would prefer a girl but if the right puppy is a boy, I'd have to take that puppy. I found a certified CARAT (Suzanne Clothier's puppy temperament test) evaluator in Chicago who has agreed to come and look at the puppies on the 10th. I just purchased her airline ticket so this is starting to feel real. This first litter is all yellow, with 5 girls and 3 boys. The breeder is very excited by this litter; the sire is a pretty amazing dog and his sire is the leading sire for one of the largest national service dog programs. Although I am hopeful we might find the right puppy in this litter, I'm prepared to continue to look if we don't.
Sometimes I'm very excited about starting this journey again and other times I'm just terrified! Laurel and Hardy have settled in, work so well together, get along beautifully and are so easy. Now, we're voluntarily going to upset that particular apple cart! Seems kind of crazy to me!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Working on a Book & Doing Crisis Response with Hardy
Obviously, this blog is not going to be a day-to-day journal like Puppy to Public Access was. Laurel, Hardy and I have all been doing well. We've been busy and I've been working on a book - for awhile, friends and family have suggested that I write about my experiences with owner-training my service dogs. I'm not sure anyone would buy that book but I have researched the available books and haven't found one about doing owner-training - planning, researching, getting the puppy or dog etc. The books that talk about having and using a service dog assume you have a program dog.
My husband, Brent is definitely my biggest supporter and for my birthday at the end of November, he got me a couple days at a nearby retreat/conference center to work on the book. Between the Holidays and my reluctance to see whether writing a book is actually something I could do, I didn't go to River's Edge until the end of February. It was a remarkable experience! The energy there is wonderful - it is quiet and everyone is really lovely. My room had everything I needed and the Internet connection is spotty at best which meant that I could read e-mails on my phone but wasn't able to respond at any length. I took Laurel with me and other than running her outside a couple times a day for potty breaks and heading to the dining hall to get a food tray to eat in my room, I was able to focus on my book. I got an outline completed as well as notes for many of the chapters. In fact, it worked so well and the price is so reasonable that I'll be going back on Sunday. I have another reservation for May and eventually, plan to spend a couple days there a month until the book gets done. This way, I can work around my other commitments - my infusions, teaching class, workshops/seminars and competitions but if I need a longer period of time there too, that's a possibility.
Unfortunately, the day after Laurel and I returned home, there was a school shooting at Chardon High School about 30 minutes away from our house. One male student shot and killed three other male students sitting in the cafeteria before running through the building and shooting two other students. Hardy and I went to the Chardon Middle School the next morning as part of Partners with Paws to be available for students, staff, teachers, parents and community members coming to talk to counselors there. Friends of ours, Laurie & Ken Buchele, who live in Fremont, OH, are part of a K9 Crisis Response organization, Extra Mile Ministries. Ken arrived Tuesday afternoon and went with us to the community memorial service that evening. We went back to the Middle School the next day and made arrangements for the K9 Chaplains/Comfort Dogs to be a part of the school district's & community's healing from this tragic event.
Hardy and I with our support person, Mary Berr, were waiting for the students and their parents when they entered the cafeteria for the first time that Thursday and we greeted the students back to school for the first time Friday. In fact, we've been there for about 4 hours almost every school day since. It has made for long days and has consumed my life for the past couple weeks and while there is stress, it has also been very rewarding to see the healing that has already begun. By all accounts, the Chardon school administration has responded about as well as possible to these tragic events; the Chardon community has come together to provide support and people around Ohio, the country and the world have gone to extraordinary lengths to show their caring! For my part, it has been a privilege to be at the other end of Hardy's leash and to see the students', teachers', administrators' and staffs' response to having a dog availabe to pet and hug. I have watched Hardy closely to make sure that the stress doesn't overwhelm him; when he gets tired, I make sure he gets a break but, he loves spending time with "his kids" and despite his youth, has done a beautiful job in this crisis response situation. The school wants us to continue to bring the dogs through the end of the school year so we are slowly transitioning from "crisis response" to a more normal "therapy dog" situation. Hardy will continue to visit on Wednesdays. And we have let the school administration know that we will return for those difficult times - graduation, the 1st anniversary or whatever.
I do not think that all service dogs make good therapy dogs or should do therapy work. I don't do therapy work with Laurel. She is such a friendly, enthusiastic dog that she has had to learn that when she is out with me, she cannot solicit attention from others. I feel that having her do therapy work would be unfair because it would just confuse her - sometimes she can be petted but other times, she can't. She already knows that when she isn't dressed and we are taking classes or she is competing at dog sports, she is "just a dog" and gets to act like her real, goofy, Labrador self. Hardy, on the other hand, is a friendly but more reserved dog. When he is out with me as my service dog, he doesn't ask others to pay attention to him. If someone asks to say hello and I agree, I release him by asking, "Want to say hello, Hardy?" So, when he is out doing therapy work, I release him to say hello. And during this time, when he is being petted by so many people over so many days, when he has gone out as my service dog, he has had no problem with the difference.
Laurel and Hardy have changed my life in such dramatic ways and I have wanted to share that with others. Being part of the K9 Crisis Response team, K9 Chaplains/Comfort Dogs has allowed us that opportunity. We will continue our therapy dog visits but now we will be available for any crisis call-outs in which we could participate. Once again, I'm very proud of my young brown boy!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Introduction to my 2 comedians, Laurel & Hardy and me
By way of introduction, I'm Linda and I have 2 working service dogs: a 5 1/2 year old female yellow Lab, Laurel & a 20 month old male chocolate Lab, Hardy! Besides changing my life and working together everyday to make my life better and easier, the Labs and I also do dog sports & Hardy just passed the Delta therapy dog test!
If you are new to my blog(s), I live in northeastern Ohio and have common variable immune deficiency (CVID) which may have contributed to my apparent propensity to develop odd and/or rare medical diseases or disorders. In college, I was in an accident that caused a spinal cord injury and as a result, I have a progressive neuromuscular disorder, Adhesive Arachnoiditis and atypical Rheumatoid Arthritis. As part of those problems, I also have a chronic pain disorder, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) and my muscles, voluntary & involuntary, don't work as well as I'd like. My neurologist thinks I also have MS although that isn't for certain since I can't have the MRI necessary for diagnosis. What I can say is that the symptoms of Arachnoiditis are very similar to those of MS and do we really think I'm lucky enough to have both? I also have Superior Vena Cava Syndrome which requires that I take coumadin every day and I have an eye disease, Retinal Histoplasmosis (which has caused bleeding lesions on my one retina so far). About 2 years ago, I developed steroid-induced diabetes which resulted in becoming an insulin dependent diabetic overnight.
However, I have also been extremely fortunate! After the accident and 2 surgeries, I was told I would never walk again but, I could feel one of my big toes and while I was in rehab and learning to use a wheelchair, I was also working on moving that big toe! Eventually, although my neurosurgeon wasn't happy that "I hadn't listened to him", I relearned to walk and was able to finish college with majors in equestrian studies and business administration. When I graduated, I decided that since I like being able to walk and do other physical activities, I wouldn't ride anymore. Shortly after I got married to my college sweetheart, Brent in 1979, we got our first Standard Poodle together. For several years, until we had our daughter, Kristen, and I began graduate school, I competed with our Standard Poodles and a neighbor's Sheltie in AKC Obedience. Then, for about 10 years, we raised our children, I took care of my grandfather and then went back to work full-time. Right before Labor Day, 1993, a car rear-ended mine and I herniated some disks in my neck. I wasn't able to do anything for several months and when I started physical therapy, we realized that my overall condition was getting worse instead of better. I went from being able to walk to needing a cane, then a walker, having to use forearm crutches, a manual wheelchair and then eventually, a power chair. At that point, I recognized that a service dog would be helpful to me and I applied to one of the largest national service dog organizations. Little did I know that I would be on their waiting list for about 17 years (since I finally got a letter from them last year asking if I was still interested in getting a service dog!)
About 7 years ago, when our children, Kristen & Devin had both left home, I began to investigate in earnest the possibility of actually getting a service dog (as opposed to just being on a waiting list). Although I know that there are some really amazing Standard Poodle service dogs, I decided to switch breeds and go with a Labrador Retriever for my service dog. I can no longer groom my own dog and thought it would be very expensive to pay to have a SP groomed every 3-4 weeks based on being out in public. Although they are about the same size, Labs are sturdier; my chair is very heavy and I knew I would run my dog over at some point. I also figured that since both Labs and SPs are water retrievers, how different could they be? Well, I have spent the last 5 1/2 years finding out and Laurel spent her first two years hearing me bemoan the fact that she was not a Standard Poodle!
Truthfully, however, I quickly fell in love with my yellow girl and developed a real appreciation for the breed! Then when Laurel was about 6 months, she gave me the gift of alerting! It really was just about me figuring it out! One afternoon, when I was laying in bed Laurel threw herself onto my stomach and tried to pin me down. I figured she was just being more obnoxious than usual and put her into her crate for a timeout. She screamed, a sound we'd never heard before and haven't heard since! About an hour later, I began to have abdominal spasms and when I thought about it, I remembered that she had done something similar a couple other times. I began to track it in her training journal and started to listen to it. I wasn't sure how to handle it but I decided to show her that I was taking my medications and let her be with me so that she could see what was happening. By tracking her alerts, we were able to prove that they are predictive and accurate and by learning to listen to her, my life was changed! I don't end up in the hospital in full, rigid body spasms, the spasms don't last as long and I can be more active. A couple months later, Laurel showed me an entirely different alert for my rheumatoid arthritis in the chest wall (which feels like a heart attack). Again, being able to take my medications before the pain starts is just huge! Then, two years ago, I developed steroid-induced diabetes (the steroids "fry" your pancreas and you become an insulin-dependent diabetic overnight). Before my doctors realized what was going on, Laurel was persistently licking me around my lips. It was obvious she was trying to tell me something but I wasn't listening. I untrained that alert (which was fine since I hate to be licked, especially on my face) so that once I learned I had become diabetic, I retrained her to use an entirely different alert.
From the time Laurel was a puppy, we took her to a variety of training classes with a clicker training instructor about an hour away from our house. We went 3-4 times a week and I was reminded how much I enjoyed doing dog training and also competing in dog sports. Public access skills and service dog tasks are extensions of obedience exercises and when I researched service dog trainers in our area, I wasn't able to find one I wanted to work with. Instead I found an instructor who used clicker training and was willing to work with us. Originally, I decided to compete in some rally-obedience and obedience because there is no such thing as standardized certification of service dogs (and programs certifying their own dogs doesn't count). Competing in obedience-related dog sports would show that we continue to train and be "tested". Once we started, however, I found that we both loved it so we continued. We also took the CGC test and a Public Access Test yearly for Laurel's first 4-5 years.
Early on, we realized that Laurel loved to watch agility on TV so I thought we might give it a try. I figured it would help her confidence and that we might enjoy taking class together. I never planned to compete however. We started out taking class on homemade teacup agility equipment but we had the best time together! Soon after (and I don't remember why), I investigated a training hall that was much closer to us than where we were going (7 vs. 50 miles each way). We started taking an obedience class during the day there and soon after, we were doing an agility class as well. They have regulation equipment and the space is much larger so it was more challenging. And we were still having a wonderful time!
Two years ago, I finally wilted under pressure from our agility friends which resulted in Laurel and me competing in our first agility trial. The venue was CPE and we were at the fabulous training facility in Washingtonville, OH - Four Seasons K9 Athlete Center. I came out of the ring following our first run thinking that we needed to continue competing in obedience and rally but determined that we would definitely continue in agility. Truly, I believe it is just about the most fun you can have with your dog and I believe our service dogs need more fun than most! Since then, we have gone on to try three more agility venues - AKC, USDAA and ASCA. The weekend before Christmas, we will join all our friends at Cleveland's IX Center for the 4 days of the Crown Classic shows - conformation, agility, rally and obedience. In the past, Laurel and I have competed in rally - last year, Laurel & I won one of the Advanced classes to gain her RA title. This year, we will be doing all agility. Then, over New Year's we will head back to Washingtonville for the CPE trials and I will try a couple Level 1 classes with Hardy jumping 16 inches.
But I'm jumping ahead of myself here ... when Laurel was about two, we realized that she had some allergies, which wasn't really a surprise since her mother did. We took her to an allergist and she has been taking allergy shots ever since. We also give her benadryl and during the summer, if she's having problems, we'll use the steroid-based allergy medication. According to the allergist, it sometimes takes a couple years before the shots become effective and towards the end of the summer Laurel turned three (2009), she was pretty miserable. Laurel's biggest allergy is to cats so of course, she and our cat, Maggie are best buddies - they rub all over each other and Maggie loves to sleep on top of her! Other than that, Laurel has mild allergies to all grasses, weeds and trees as well as mites (dust and storage). Her feet get itchy so she licks and bites them. That summer, the tops of her paws were oozing blood and we stayed inside and cool as much as possible.
Laurel's allergies and the reality that she really works all the time (she'll wake me up at night and if we're together, she keeps track of me and how I'm doing) so even though we don't go out in public all that much, being my service dog is a big job and I worry about her. As a result, I started thinking about when and how I would consider getting a successor dog. My problem with that was that whenever I thought about getting a successor, my mind immediately went to Laurel's retirement and her death. Despite that emotional response, I discussed the issue with other service dog handlers, my friends and my service dog trainer. I had been talking to Labrador Retriever breeders for several years and one breeder's comments made the most sense to me. This breeder, Donna Reece of Ridge View Labradors said that it sounded like Laurel's job had become too much for one dog and that I should consider getting a puppy to be her partner, more than her successor. I'm sure others had been trying to tell me the same thing but the way Donna explained it just resonated with me and allowed me to consider looking for a puppy. I knew I wanted to have Sue Alexander, our service dog trainer, temperament test the puppies so we talked about when to start looking. She was going to use Suzanne Clothier's CARAT testing and we decided to look in the spring of 2010, thinking that it might take up to two years to find the right puppy. At that point, I started talking to breeders in earnest and made arrangements for Sue to come to Cleveland to look at two of Donna's 6 1/2 week old all yellow litters at the beginning of June.
Sue, a friend of mine, Susan and I headed to Donna's place Saturday, June 5th in the morning. Susan videotaped Sue testing all the yellow puppies (11 in all) - there were a couple nice puppies but Sue didn't think she had found the perfect one. There was also a litter of 8 week old chocolate puppies there but they were all spoken for. Regardless, Sue asked if she could test them and Donna agreed. Now, there was a reason that I had Sue come and look at all yellow litters ... in her mind, color or sex shouldn't matter to me but I really wanted a yellow Lab so I stacked the odds in my favor. However, when Donna graciously agreed to let us test her brown puppies, even though each of them had someone waiting for them, it would have been pretty rude for me to refuse to consider them. So, of course, by the middle of the third puppy's test, it was obvious that he was the right one! Even I recognized it and tears were streaming down my face (yes, I can be oddly emotional at times). Donna said that he was mine and even though we weren't prepared to take a puppy home with us, Hardy got microchipped, Donna said goodbye to him and he rode home with us. After Brent raced Sue to the airport, he came home and we took Hardy with us to get some puppy supplies. A couple weeks later, Laurel, Hardy and I packed up and drove up to Guelph, Ontario to spend the summer with Sue and her husband, John at their farm. John teaches puppy classes at their training hall, Dogs in the Park. Hardy and I took every class available and over the summer that added up to 81. During that time, he met and played with all different sizes, temperaments and breeds of puppies and we practiced all different types of skills and behaviors. Laurel and I took "Intro to Levels Class" (based on Sue Ailsby's Training Levels) 6 days of the week. We also went for off-lead walks around the farm, at a park and went swimming in a lake. We took Hardy on a number of public access trips and had a busy and very successful summer!
Since then, Hardy has gotten his AKC Puppy S.T.A.R. and CGC certification and passed his Delta Society therapy dog test and Public Access Test. We also got two Qs towards the APDT Puppy rally title, 3-Qs in C-WAGS Zoom 1 rally and 1-Level 1 obedience Q. He has a lovely temperament for service dog work - he is calm and well-balanced, friendly but not overly so. He has been slow to mature mentally and physically and sometimes, he drives me crazy! We have been taking agility together since he was 6 months old and although he seems to enjoy it, he is not the "jumping fool" Laurel is and he will quit (something Laurel would never consider doing). I have to figure out a better way to motivate him, something I've never had to think about with my yellow girl.
Donna's comments about Laurel and Hardy being partners were prophetic! When we were up in Canada last summer, I had a flair of the rheumatoid in the chest wall. Laurel was alerting a lot and having a difficult time because I would take my meds but the pain wouldn't just go away. One time, when Hardy was 3 months old, he came running up to Laurel while she was alerting. Instead of playing with him, she yelled at him (something she had never done before) with an attitude that clearly said, "I'm working here ... this is serious business, not play time!) Hardy rocked back and watched her carefully because her response was so out of character! She alerted at least once every day and I could see him watching exactly what she was doing. Then, one day about two weeks later, Laurel alerted while Hardy was outside in the yard. When I let him in, he asked to come up on the bed with me and did the same alert Laurel had just done. I told him how great he was and a couple days later, he actually alerted before she did. During the summer, Hardy also learned to alert to the muscle spasms the same way, by watching and imitating Laurel. Then, in June of this year, Hardy alerted to my blood sugar for the first time. He has proven to be as accurate and predictive as Laurel which I find amazing! Even more so is that Laurel and Hardy take turns - if one of them alerts, the other one doesn't bother. If I'm not doing well, one of them is with me at all times but they will take turns as to which one it is. Having the two of them working together has been everything I had hoped for and certainly more than I expected!
Two years ago, I finally wilted under pressure from our agility friends which resulted in Laurel and me competing in our first agility trial. The venue was CPE and we were at the fabulous training facility in Washingtonville, OH - Four Seasons K9 Athlete Center. I came out of the ring following our first run thinking that we needed to continue competing in obedience and rally but determined that we would definitely continue in agility. Truly, I believe it is just about the most fun you can have with your dog and I believe our service dogs need more fun than most! Since then, we have gone on to try three more agility venues - AKC, USDAA and ASCA. The weekend before Christmas, we will join all our friends at Cleveland's IX Center for the 4 days of the Crown Classic shows - conformation, agility, rally and obedience. In the past, Laurel and I have competed in rally - last year, Laurel & I won one of the Advanced classes to gain her RA title. This year, we will be doing all agility. Then, over New Year's we will head back to Washingtonville for the CPE trials and I will try a couple Level 1 classes with Hardy jumping 16 inches.
But I'm jumping ahead of myself here ... when Laurel was about two, we realized that she had some allergies, which wasn't really a surprise since her mother did. We took her to an allergist and she has been taking allergy shots ever since. We also give her benadryl and during the summer, if she's having problems, we'll use the steroid-based allergy medication. According to the allergist, it sometimes takes a couple years before the shots become effective and towards the end of the summer Laurel turned three (2009), she was pretty miserable. Laurel's biggest allergy is to cats so of course, she and our cat, Maggie are best buddies - they rub all over each other and Maggie loves to sleep on top of her! Other than that, Laurel has mild allergies to all grasses, weeds and trees as well as mites (dust and storage). Her feet get itchy so she licks and bites them. That summer, the tops of her paws were oozing blood and we stayed inside and cool as much as possible.
Laurel's allergies and the reality that she really works all the time (she'll wake me up at night and if we're together, she keeps track of me and how I'm doing) so even though we don't go out in public all that much, being my service dog is a big job and I worry about her. As a result, I started thinking about when and how I would consider getting a successor dog. My problem with that was that whenever I thought about getting a successor, my mind immediately went to Laurel's retirement and her death. Despite that emotional response, I discussed the issue with other service dog handlers, my friends and my service dog trainer. I had been talking to Labrador Retriever breeders for several years and one breeder's comments made the most sense to me. This breeder, Donna Reece of Ridge View Labradors said that it sounded like Laurel's job had become too much for one dog and that I should consider getting a puppy to be her partner, more than her successor. I'm sure others had been trying to tell me the same thing but the way Donna explained it just resonated with me and allowed me to consider looking for a puppy. I knew I wanted to have Sue Alexander, our service dog trainer, temperament test the puppies so we talked about when to start looking. She was going to use Suzanne Clothier's CARAT testing and we decided to look in the spring of 2010, thinking that it might take up to two years to find the right puppy. At that point, I started talking to breeders in earnest and made arrangements for Sue to come to Cleveland to look at two of Donna's 6 1/2 week old all yellow litters at the beginning of June.
Sue, a friend of mine, Susan and I headed to Donna's place Saturday, June 5th in the morning. Susan videotaped Sue testing all the yellow puppies (11 in all) - there were a couple nice puppies but Sue didn't think she had found the perfect one. There was also a litter of 8 week old chocolate puppies there but they were all spoken for. Regardless, Sue asked if she could test them and Donna agreed. Now, there was a reason that I had Sue come and look at all yellow litters ... in her mind, color or sex shouldn't matter to me but I really wanted a yellow Lab so I stacked the odds in my favor. However, when Donna graciously agreed to let us test her brown puppies, even though each of them had someone waiting for them, it would have been pretty rude for me to refuse to consider them. So, of course, by the middle of the third puppy's test, it was obvious that he was the right one! Even I recognized it and tears were streaming down my face (yes, I can be oddly emotional at times). Donna said that he was mine and even though we weren't prepared to take a puppy home with us, Hardy got microchipped, Donna said goodbye to him and he rode home with us. After Brent raced Sue to the airport, he came home and we took Hardy with us to get some puppy supplies. A couple weeks later, Laurel, Hardy and I packed up and drove up to Guelph, Ontario to spend the summer with Sue and her husband, John at their farm. John teaches puppy classes at their training hall, Dogs in the Park. Hardy and I took every class available and over the summer that added up to 81. During that time, he met and played with all different sizes, temperaments and breeds of puppies and we practiced all different types of skills and behaviors. Laurel and I took "Intro to Levels Class" (based on Sue Ailsby's Training Levels) 6 days of the week. We also went for off-lead walks around the farm, at a park and went swimming in a lake. We took Hardy on a number of public access trips and had a busy and very successful summer!
Since then, Hardy has gotten his AKC Puppy S.T.A.R. and CGC certification and passed his Delta Society therapy dog test and Public Access Test. We also got two Qs towards the APDT Puppy rally title, 3-Qs in C-WAGS Zoom 1 rally and 1-Level 1 obedience Q. He has a lovely temperament for service dog work - he is calm and well-balanced, friendly but not overly so. He has been slow to mature mentally and physically and sometimes, he drives me crazy! We have been taking agility together since he was 6 months old and although he seems to enjoy it, he is not the "jumping fool" Laurel is and he will quit (something Laurel would never consider doing). I have to figure out a better way to motivate him, something I've never had to think about with my yellow girl.
Donna's comments about Laurel and Hardy being partners were prophetic! When we were up in Canada last summer, I had a flair of the rheumatoid in the chest wall. Laurel was alerting a lot and having a difficult time because I would take my meds but the pain wouldn't just go away. One time, when Hardy was 3 months old, he came running up to Laurel while she was alerting. Instead of playing with him, she yelled at him (something she had never done before) with an attitude that clearly said, "I'm working here ... this is serious business, not play time!) Hardy rocked back and watched her carefully because her response was so out of character! She alerted at least once every day and I could see him watching exactly what she was doing. Then, one day about two weeks later, Laurel alerted while Hardy was outside in the yard. When I let him in, he asked to come up on the bed with me and did the same alert Laurel had just done. I told him how great he was and a couple days later, he actually alerted before she did. During the summer, Hardy also learned to alert to the muscle spasms the same way, by watching and imitating Laurel. Then, in June of this year, Hardy alerted to my blood sugar for the first time. He has proven to be as accurate and predictive as Laurel which I find amazing! Even more so is that Laurel and Hardy take turns - if one of them alerts, the other one doesn't bother. If I'm not doing well, one of them is with me at all times but they will take turns as to which one it is. Having the two of them working together has been everything I had hoped for and certainly more than I expected!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Laurel and Hardy begin the Holiday activities!
I'm in the process of writing an introduction for this blog but it's taking me a bit of time so in the meantime, I'd like to share some of Laurel and Hardy's recent activities!
There is one thing we've been doing with our Labs that none of us are enjoying! A couple months ago, our area (northeastern Ohio) broke our all-time record for rain. Normally, we don't have any problem with our yard being overly wet or with flooding ... we live in Highland Heights after all (shale ledges to the east and above Cleveland) and our house is set higher than the others in our neighborhood. Our back yard is shaded by the woods behind it but we have a swale in the back of our yard which generally handles any water runoff during heavy rains. This year, however, by September, we had had so much rain that our backyard was a swampy mess. Eventually, we started taking Laurel and Hardy out to do their business in the front yard since it is in full sun and sloped down to the sidewalk. That worked for several months but the rain has just continued relentlessly and now even the front yard is a wet mess! We've been hoping the temperatures would drop to freezing and stay there but so far, that hasn't happened. This weekend, we're expecting temperatures in the 50s with rain forecast from Sunday through Wednesday! The Labs are not enjoying this weather because they are not getting to go out into the yard to run around and play and my husband, Brent and I are not happy because we have to wash feet every time they come in.
Although Laurel and Hardy are very good about and cooperate with their foot baths (they climb in the pan and wave their paws in the water, then they climb out and hold their feet up for us to dry), washing their feet multiple times a day is still hard for me to manage by myself. I am reminded that I would have trouble caring for my two service dogs without my husband, Brent's help and that it was a good thing we taught our dog's to potty on various surfaces, including cement, so that they can stay off overly-saturated grass prior to going into stores or other public places! And I'm still hoping that it will stop raining and/or get cold and stay cold!
Laurel, Hardy and I are still taking competition rally & obedience classes as well as agility. Brent takes one of my classes with Hardy and of course, we work on things at home daily and at the training hall a couple days a week.
And honestly, other than church and dog-related activities, we really don't go out too much. So, it was a pretty big deal when we decided to go see the Muppets movie Thanksgiving evening. We took Hardy with us and he was really very good. My only complaint would be that he didn't sleep enough. Although he didn't bother us or anyone else; didn't move around or make any noise, I would have preferred if he had slept through the movie. As we left the theater, many people commented that they hadn't known he was there.
The day after Thanksgiving we bundled up and took everyone to a big Craft Show in Medina (about an hour away) called Christmas in the Colonies (or maybe now Christmas Around the World). We've always enjoyed some of the vendors there and have found some lovely gifts for various people over the years. I don't know what was different this year but when we got there a few minutes before it opened Friday morning (our usual time), there was a long line through the parking lot waiting to get in. It looked like it was going to be much more crowded than we're used to and the stalls and aisles are not really wide enough without a throng of people everywhere. We decided to leave the Labs in their crates in the van which worked out beautifully since they had a piper (bagpiper) playing to the people in line and our guys got to enjoy the music too! Once we were inside and saw how congested and crowded it was, I knew we had made the right decision to not bring either of them in with us. We found several wonderful presents for people and were out of there by noon.
Saturday, our friend and dog photographer, Jack Powers brought his portable studio by our house and took some more photos of Laurel & Hardy. The photo at the beginning of this blog is one of his. We took a couple photos of me holding my most uncooperative cat, Maggie, a few of me and Brent, some of each Lab, some of them together and some with me included. Jack commented that it took about twice as long to set everything up as it did to do the shots. It does help to have well-trained dogs but also two Labs who pose when a camera is pointing their way! I'll share some of the photos on this blog as soon as I get them from Jack!
We have most of our shopping done and have been wrapping presents and decorating the house. Yesterday, I needed to run some errands to pick up some things. I have been taking Hardy with me on most of my trips for training purposes and Laurel has been very gracious about it. She'll look at me to ask if she is going and when I tell her she's not, she obligingly heads to her crate, the bed or up to spend time with Brent. This time, however, she looked at me as if to say, "I know I'm not going" and put herself in her crate. Of course, I caved immediately and decided to take her with me! She had such a wonderful time that I added a couple more errands to our list, including a trip to Costco to see all her friends there! We also stopped at a local mall, Beachwood Place, to see when they were planning to have "Pet Photo Night" with Santa. Yes, I am a CDL (crazy dog lady) and would like to take Laurel and Hardy to have their photos taken with Santa (maybe this is the result of not having any grandchildren yet!). It was really great to see how well Laurel did being back out in public after several months respite!
Last night, Brent, Hardy and I headed down to Playhouse Square to see Great Lakes Theater's production of A Christmas Carol. After attending almost annually, we haven't been for probably 10 years (their longtime and fabulous Scrooge retired and our children left home). We sat in one of the boxes at the back of the Ohio Theater and enjoyed a fabulous show! Hardy slept through most of the first and all of the second Act! The General Manager for Great Lakes Theater Company sat in the box next to us and kept leaving his filled wine glass on the floor. At one point, Hardy considered heading to that box for a drink but I realized what was going on and suggested he not. Unfortunately, there were a number of women sitting near us who had slathered themselves with perfume and both Brent and I are allergic. Brent's eyes swelled shut and I started sneezing and had trouble breathing. Apparently I had an asthmatic response which is never good since my diaphragm already doesn't work as well as it should. I'm still struggling with the whole breathing thing and missed a tricks workshop and agility practice today! Since it seems like more and more people are having unpleasant reactions to others' perfume, maybe everyone could consider public events perfume-free! If you're not willing to do that, please don't bath in it or slather it all over yourselves! Seriously, there are plenty of us who are affected by it ... Brent and I almost had to leave the performance!
There is one thing we've been doing with our Labs that none of us are enjoying! A couple months ago, our area (northeastern Ohio) broke our all-time record for rain. Normally, we don't have any problem with our yard being overly wet or with flooding ... we live in Highland Heights after all (shale ledges to the east and above Cleveland) and our house is set higher than the others in our neighborhood. Our back yard is shaded by the woods behind it but we have a swale in the back of our yard which generally handles any water runoff during heavy rains. This year, however, by September, we had had so much rain that our backyard was a swampy mess. Eventually, we started taking Laurel and Hardy out to do their business in the front yard since it is in full sun and sloped down to the sidewalk. That worked for several months but the rain has just continued relentlessly and now even the front yard is a wet mess! We've been hoping the temperatures would drop to freezing and stay there but so far, that hasn't happened. This weekend, we're expecting temperatures in the 50s with rain forecast from Sunday through Wednesday! The Labs are not enjoying this weather because they are not getting to go out into the yard to run around and play and my husband, Brent and I are not happy because we have to wash feet every time they come in.
Although Laurel and Hardy are very good about and cooperate with their foot baths (they climb in the pan and wave their paws in the water, then they climb out and hold their feet up for us to dry), washing their feet multiple times a day is still hard for me to manage by myself. I am reminded that I would have trouble caring for my two service dogs without my husband, Brent's help and that it was a good thing we taught our dog's to potty on various surfaces, including cement, so that they can stay off overly-saturated grass prior to going into stores or other public places! And I'm still hoping that it will stop raining and/or get cold and stay cold!
Laurel, Hardy and I are still taking competition rally & obedience classes as well as agility. Brent takes one of my classes with Hardy and of course, we work on things at home daily and at the training hall a couple days a week.
And honestly, other than church and dog-related activities, we really don't go out too much. So, it was a pretty big deal when we decided to go see the Muppets movie Thanksgiving evening. We took Hardy with us and he was really very good. My only complaint would be that he didn't sleep enough. Although he didn't bother us or anyone else; didn't move around or make any noise, I would have preferred if he had slept through the movie. As we left the theater, many people commented that they hadn't known he was there.
The day after Thanksgiving we bundled up and took everyone to a big Craft Show in Medina (about an hour away) called Christmas in the Colonies (or maybe now Christmas Around the World). We've always enjoyed some of the vendors there and have found some lovely gifts for various people over the years. I don't know what was different this year but when we got there a few minutes before it opened Friday morning (our usual time), there was a long line through the parking lot waiting to get in. It looked like it was going to be much more crowded than we're used to and the stalls and aisles are not really wide enough without a throng of people everywhere. We decided to leave the Labs in their crates in the van which worked out beautifully since they had a piper (bagpiper) playing to the people in line and our guys got to enjoy the music too! Once we were inside and saw how congested and crowded it was, I knew we had made the right decision to not bring either of them in with us. We found several wonderful presents for people and were out of there by noon.
Saturday, our friend and dog photographer, Jack Powers brought his portable studio by our house and took some more photos of Laurel & Hardy. The photo at the beginning of this blog is one of his. We took a couple photos of me holding my most uncooperative cat, Maggie, a few of me and Brent, some of each Lab, some of them together and some with me included. Jack commented that it took about twice as long to set everything up as it did to do the shots. It does help to have well-trained dogs but also two Labs who pose when a camera is pointing their way! I'll share some of the photos on this blog as soon as I get them from Jack!
We have most of our shopping done and have been wrapping presents and decorating the house. Yesterday, I needed to run some errands to pick up some things. I have been taking Hardy with me on most of my trips for training purposes and Laurel has been very gracious about it. She'll look at me to ask if she is going and when I tell her she's not, she obligingly heads to her crate, the bed or up to spend time with Brent. This time, however, she looked at me as if to say, "I know I'm not going" and put herself in her crate. Of course, I caved immediately and decided to take her with me! She had such a wonderful time that I added a couple more errands to our list, including a trip to Costco to see all her friends there! We also stopped at a local mall, Beachwood Place, to see when they were planning to have "Pet Photo Night" with Santa. Yes, I am a CDL (crazy dog lady) and would like to take Laurel and Hardy to have their photos taken with Santa (maybe this is the result of not having any grandchildren yet!). It was really great to see how well Laurel did being back out in public after several months respite!
Last night, Brent, Hardy and I headed down to Playhouse Square to see Great Lakes Theater's production of A Christmas Carol. After attending almost annually, we haven't been for probably 10 years (their longtime and fabulous Scrooge retired and our children left home). We sat in one of the boxes at the back of the Ohio Theater and enjoyed a fabulous show! Hardy slept through most of the first and all of the second Act! The General Manager for Great Lakes Theater Company sat in the box next to us and kept leaving his filled wine glass on the floor. At one point, Hardy considered heading to that box for a drink but I realized what was going on and suggested he not. Unfortunately, there were a number of women sitting near us who had slathered themselves with perfume and both Brent and I are allergic. Brent's eyes swelled shut and I started sneezing and had trouble breathing. Apparently I had an asthmatic response which is never good since my diaphragm already doesn't work as well as it should. I'm still struggling with the whole breathing thing and missed a tricks workshop and agility practice today! Since it seems like more and more people are having unpleasant reactions to others' perfume, maybe everyone could consider public events perfume-free! If you're not willing to do that, please don't bath in it or slather it all over yourselves! Seriously, there are plenty of us who are affected by it ... Brent and I almost had to leave the performance!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to my new blog!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone and welcome to my new blog, "From Public Access and Beyond"! This is a follow-on to my previous blog, "From Puppy to Public Access" which chronicles my journey from finding and selecting my 2nd service dog candidate puppy, Hardy, to his passing the Public Access Test (which just occurred last week).
First, if I could just mention that it's impossible to believe that Hardy is now 19 1/2 months old, that I've had him for 17 1/2 months; that Laurel is 5 1/2 years old and that I've been on my service dog journey for about 7 years now! My, how time flies (and apparently that much faster as you get older, right? I guess we all know what that says about my age!)
I wanted to get my new blog up and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Over the next week or so, I'll write a proper introduction and tell you about my journey with my two service dogs, Laurel & Hardy!
Later,
Linda
First, if I could just mention that it's impossible to believe that Hardy is now 19 1/2 months old, that I've had him for 17 1/2 months; that Laurel is 5 1/2 years old and that I've been on my service dog journey for about 7 years now! My, how time flies (and apparently that much faster as you get older, right? I guess we all know what that says about my age!)
I wanted to get my new blog up and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Over the next week or so, I'll write a proper introduction and tell you about my journey with my two service dogs, Laurel & Hardy!
Later,
Linda
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