...and Lows

Highs and Lows

It is not quite the end of November. Just a month has passed since my last post but much has happened. For the past five years Veronica and I have had the eventual life goal to move outside of Vancouver, to the Sunshine Coast. Much of the timing for this goal depended on our son, Cameron, moving out for University in Ottawa. When this happened two years ago we felt we had the freedom to make OUR move but it just didn’t happen. Cameron moved back home in January but, as luck should have it, everything for our move fell together in October. 

We found a lovely little house with a fenced yard in Gibsons, near the Marina.  We most definitely want to stay involved with West Coast Assistance Teams and with training Kenzie. Our general plan is to return to Vancouver regularly, staying overnight with family as needed, and hopefully to make it to every second class puppy class.

 

This move has given Kenzie lots of new opportunities for socializing and training. 

Because our house in Vancouver was a rental, we had many people coming to see it. We also sold and gave away a lot of stuff through craigslist. This meant a lot of people knocking at our door that Kenzie had never met before. Over a couple of weeks Kenzie got a lot of practice, and therefore got much better, at holding a down stay, waiting quietly, and then approaching (reasonably) calmly when she had been given permission. She still looks like she really wants to wiggle out of position but she can usually control herself, even if it is just barely.

One day she impressed me so much, I had to send a text message to Veronica and Sharon and Ryan right away to say that Kenzie is a rock star. If you aren't familiar with the Vancouver area, the Sunshine Coast is a 40 min. ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay. Usually we drive but it's much less expensive to walk on. Sometimes Veronica and I can't leave at the same time, so one of us walks on and the other takes the car.

For me, walking on entails arranging for ferry personnel to meet me with a wheelchair.  Whoever is pushing the wheelchair has to be very close to Kenzie and I. Kenzie had no trouble with this. The second difficulty was that walking on from the Gibson ferry terminal means you walk into the loud, smelly lowest deck of the boat. There is a very tiny elevator where Kenzie has to obey complicated commands to allow the wheelchair, the person pushing and Kenzie to all fit in. Kenzie was a rock star. She didn't shy at all for all the noise. And she obeyed everything exactly correctly to get in and out of the elevator. It doesn't seem like very much written here but she really was amazing.

As I sit here to write this she is on the couch beside, her head slid off my lap when she rolled onto her back, sticking all four legs in the air.   The work to get her to help my muscle pain by laying on me and to help my stress management with more cuddliness has definitely gone well.  She’s less stand-off-ish with me and kissier with everyone else.  Instead of retiring to the bedroom in the early evening, she stays with me until I tell her it’s time to go to bed.  It’s  as though she’s decided that since she no longer has to stay on the floor, it’s worth hangin’ for the evening.

Having a disability, having a service dog?

Deciding to have a service dog or not

 

A little over a year ago Veronica and I decided to raise a service dog. Partially we made this decision because we didn't feel we could make the 10 to 15 year commitment, financially, lifestyle or otherwise, that you're looking at when you own a dog.

Kenzie spends most of her time with me. As you may know, I do have a disability. However, it never occurred to us that I would benefit from having a service dog and we had no intention of training her for me. West Coast Teams trains mobility assistance dogs. Having a disability and using a scooter just allowed mobility training to happen all the time.

I would not have described myself as needing a mobility assistance dog. I can pull off my own socks and jacket. I can get the phone or the remote. I can reach out and touch the button to cross the street or open a door or the elevator. I can bend down to pick things up. I can open the fridge or turn on the light. Of course many of these things mean getting out of my scooter if I'm using it. But I can do that.

In terms of mobility assistance, with fibromyalgia, there are always worse days and then these things are very helpful. Also, any energy saved is energy I can use for other things.  If I don’t have to get out of my scooter because Kenzie will take care of whatever it is, maybe I have the energy left to do something else, something important to me.

 But mostly I can and do these things myself.

BUT THEN about six months ago we realized that although I don't feel a lot better I am functioning at a higher level than I was before we got Kenzie. I leave the house more, I spend more time outside, I see and speak to more people.  There is no quantitative medical test to show I have a disability, how severe it is, or how it is affecting my life.  Many of my symptoms are subjective.  But all of the things Kenzie helps me with are concrete, the type of measures that doctors, insurance companies and government offices like. So we started to think about whether I would benefit from having a service dog, from keeping Kenzie after her training was complete.  Maybe having it be the concrete factors also made it easier for me to accept the difference as legitimate, too.

I didn't tell very many people about this possibility, that I may keep Kenzie or have a service dog. Of course months ago when I realized that maybe it was a good thing for me, it was much easier to avoid a decision. Kenzie's behavior still needed a lot of work. My rationale was I couldn't tell how well we would fit together until I saw how Kenzie was closer to the end of her training. While she isn't completely trained now she has calmed down a lot and the end is in sight.

In the meantime I have spent a lot of time thinking and discussing with V why or how Kenzie helps me. Being at home with me she helps prevent isolation. Being outside the home with me she does the same thing. Strangers talk to each other when one of them has a dog. Eventually the strangers become friends. I make better decisions to take care of myself because I will need to take care of Kenzie. She interrupts me if I am focusing too much on an activity and overdoing it. She prompts me to do things that are good for me like sleep or spend time outside.  Somehow it is easier to make decisions that are good for her and just happen to also be good for me, than it is to make those decisions just for my own good.

It's hard to describe how having Kenzie helps me at an appointment or meeting, in a restaurant or at a social event. Of course even these events are tiring and having her with me keeps me from over doing it by giving me a reminder and great excuse for leaving. She can also provide an excuse in other ways, when it is easier to give her as a reason than to give my health as the reason for a decision. She gives me a focus and something to pay attention to rather than getting stressed about something or focusing on my physical condition.  Sometimes if I am feeling anxious about something we are going to do to, thinking of having Kenzie with me lessens my anxiety.

 

So why not to have a service dog?

Months ago I had a conversation with a person with a service dog for mental health, specifically anxiety. It is an invisible disability just as mine is when I'm not in my scooter. Because I am relatively young and look relatively healthy, it doesn’t occur to most people that I have health issues that interfere with daily life.  While it it is rude to ask somebody, often a stranger, "well, what's wrong with you?" Having a service dog and an invisible disability gets you this question quite often. Without your service dog (or scooter) you can easily avoid the whole conversation or choose to disclose or not disclose it. This is harder to do when more people talk to you with the service dog and then start asking questions.

Recently I have realized that another part of my reluctance to accept a service dog permanently has to do with both how I think I am perceived and what I think I deserve. Sometimes this is related to my appearance and having an invisible disability while other times it is in comparison to others. For instance, I often feel bad about taking an accessible parking spot when an elderly person might need it.  Or zooming past an elderly person when I am on my scooter and they are making very slow (probably painful) progress with a cane or a walker.  In my head it seems to be a question of how disabled I am and therefore how much consideration I deserve. But sometimes I am uncomfortable because of how disabled I think I am perceived to be.  This is complicated; hard to talk about and hard to explain.

It took me a really long time to accept the word disability.  Partly I got used to it as it is applied to other people in my volunteer life. Even when I did start using it as it applied to myself, I explained it in my own head that it was just simpler, a quicker, easier label to use in conversation than to explain what my health and my life are actually like.  I still don’t think of myself as disabled or having a disability, and I don’t necessarily think that’s a problem.  I am a just a person, an individual, and each individual’s life is different.   Sweeping labels highlight a small similarity in a group and ignore huge differences.

It also took me a long time to accept using a wheelchair or scooter.  I spent years rarely walking anywhere or getting any exercise and therefore rarely leaving the house, especially alone, because walking causes me so much pain and that pain takes away the enjoyment  from whatever I am doing.  The backlash of pain and fatigue in my body would last for a week or more.  And throughout all of this I was cranky and emotional.  Partly I thought this would end and I could have all of those parts of my life back – everything outside of my house, I guess.  But it never did and eventually I came to realize that the only way I was going to get outside my house was to use a mobility device.  It was an incredible feeling of freedom to be ‘released’.  But only after I got over a bunch of stuff.  Now, because I use my scooter, I not only get out and do things, but when I DO need to walk a bit I can tolerate it better and I recover quicker.

But still, there are some people for whom a service dog literally means they can live by themselves or leave the house by themselves. That is not me so I am struggling with whether it would be selfish to keep a fully trained service dog when it could help somebody else whose situation is so much more difficult than mine.  In my head, I am not THAT disabled.  I some ways this still amuses me that I can think this way after being off of work for this disability for more than 10 years, with no end in sight.

And then of course there is the public perception.   If I have a service dog, I must be that disabled.

V is not generally a glass half-full kind of person. However, when we talked about this she pointed out that turning this aspect around means legitimizing. When I need accommodation due to my illness I have a service dog therefore I must be that disabled and Kenzie legitimizes my request and my need.

The politically correct answer, if somebody says they have a disability that you can't see, is to simply accept the statement.  If the person wants to tell you more about their condition, they will. However, there are still a lot of times when people who see me as a reasonably young and capable looking individual question whether I have a disability. Would having a service dog make them less likely to question? I'm not really sure.  And would this make a difference anyway, anywhere except for in my own head?

I know all the responses to my concerns about how disabled I am or I am perceived to be or what I deserve.  I know the logic.  But I also know from my emotional reactions to situations that somewhere in my heart I still don’t believe them all the time.

The "loosest" description I have seen of who could use a service dog is anyone who's health, well-being and independence would be increased by a service dog. (Another consideration of course is whether they can care for and handle a service dog.)  By that first definition, since I am functioning more highly, especially in a number of categories that are considered especially healthy, maybe I should keep Kenzie. Maybe I should have a service dog.

A lot of the reasons not to have any dog, the resons why V and I decided to foster a service dog instead, apply to not having a fully trained service dog as well: the commitment, the cost, the lifestyle changes.

It is a tough decision to make.

A breakthrough!

One of the things that service dogs can do is lay on people.  Many people with disabilities have chronic pain.  For these people the service dog can be to be a giant hot water bottle and/or pressure on muscles that are spasmed.  For other issues, like in children with autism or Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, it can be behaviour interruption for temper tantrums – the dog pins the child and the child eventually has to give in and relax.

How does this relate to me?  Mostly my muscles don’t spasm in the real sense of the word but they tense up to a crazy degree and are very painful after very little exertion.  The most frequent and most painful area for this (for me) is my thighs.  And then this becomes the most interfering because I am not comfortable to walk or stand at all or in any sitting or lying positon, so it also makes sleep difficult.

So this aspect of practicing with a puppy in training SHOULD be very good for me.  Except this is far from Kenzie’s strong point.  Kenzie is lanky, slight, a bit bony.  If you picture picking up a small dog like a terrier, they stay rigid, but if you pick up a cat they slide down on either side of your hands.  The slidy body is easier for laying on people – we aren’t really that comfortable!  Labs and retrievers are kind of floppy like this (but not as much as a cat, that was just for explanation!)  Collies, not so much.  Kenzie, not so much.

Some of this is body type and breed, Kenzie is even a bit willow-ier than most collies, but some is breed temperament and HER temperament.  She’s just not a super friendly, cuddly girl.  She has gotten much more friendly to strangers in the last 6 months.  Before that she wouldn’t let strangers pet her at all, now she stays for a bit of petting and maybe even offers kisses.  She will stay near us, and sit near us, but it’s usually a couple of feet away.  Even when she has the option to sit right beside us and snuggle she’s not really into it.  She will leave as soon as she can get away if we have coaxed her into it.  At night she sometimes sleeps on our bed and then she will get close to or on our legs, but often she leaves for her own bed.

So Kenzie and I have been practicing her laying on top of my legs.   I kind of have to man handle her into place, which she puts up with from me, but doesn’t really like.  So repositioning doesn’t work very well, she won’t tolerate it very many times. Usually she only stays as long as there are treats coming her way fairly regularly.  She has been getting better but still it’s a bit of work on my part to keep it happening.  One thing that has helped is doing it sitting sideways on the couch instead of on the floor or in bed.  With nothing beside us she has a tendency to move just enough to slide off, but on the couch I just position her head to feet in the same direction as mine and more on the leg that is by the back of the couch. She leans to the side, on the back of the couch that way and stays in place. Drawback - we have to kick V off the couch.  There's not enough room for all of us!

Today I thought – what if I give her something harder and chewy like raw hide, instead of smaller treats?  Except she doesn’t like rawhide enough to keep at it for long.  She DOES love these things that are kind of like bullysticks but they don’t smell and aren’t as expensive.  They are called wishbones and they are tendons or something.  And – ta dah!  Holding it in my hand gave me a good hour long heat and pressure and it definitely helped my muscles!

Now we just have to do it often enough to be able to keep her easily and without the treat.

And some random moments...Kenzie learning how to play with the kids who are interested and stay away from the kids who are scared.

 Kenzie waiting patiently in a down stay while we unload my scooter from the car and I get settled.

 Kenzie got a giant bunny at the West Coast Teams yard sale fundraiser.

...and the bunny....

 You would think I would be able to figure out how to delete this double, wouldn't you?

Cooperation! Doctors, service dogs and allergies

Wow! It has been a really long time since we've posted here.

Kenzie is now 1-1/2 years old. A lot of things have gotten much better in that time. Some new things hav, of course, come up. Kenzie's latest thing is ignoring commands when we are out. We will be stopped at the intersection in the perfect position for Kenzie to push the button to cross the road. When we give the command Kenzie starts looking around like she is saying "la la la I can't hear you".

However, since coming into my life Kenzie has generally been a rock star while doing public access.  This means going somewhere that dogs aren't generally allowed. I usually have one or two medical related appointments each week. Kenzie has come to 98% of them over the past year. It really is the thing she's best at in terms of being a service dog.

There is only one thing I wanted to write about today, so if you were worried this would be 3-months worth of news, never fear! What I wat to write about is the frustration of not being allowed to bring Kenzie. She is fine to be left home in her crate for up to four hours every once in a while. If it's not hot and sunny, she can stay in the car by herself for a while. But it's not ideal because she's supposed to be getting the experience of going everywhere with us. The more socialization and the more places she is familiar with while in training, the better she will do as a service animal.

The weirdest part is the type of place where we are most often denied entrance are doctors offices. The first experience was at a walk-in clinic. After waiting an hour to get in and being moved to an exam room, I was told that the Dr. couldn't see me with Kenzie there. The same walk-in clinic has a second location. I called ahead the next time I needed a walk-in clinic and was told they had discussed the situation and the doctor mentioned above had an extreme dog phobia. We were welcome at the first walk-in clinic when that Dr. was not working and welcome to the second walk-in clinic anytime. So we headed for the second walk-in clinic. That visit went smoothly.

The next time we came back to that second walk-in clinic was a different experience. Kenzie is chatty, she likes to make a little noise. Usually people just chuckle when she does this. This time apparently it was bothering the receptionist. After a while the receptionist "suggested" that since our appointment wouldn't be for 45 min., we could go for a walk. Since I didn't have my scooter and walking is difficult for me I responded politely by saying, "no thank you we are fine." Given my response the receptionist then told me to take her out for a walk. Normally I would have discussed this with him but this day I was not feeling up to it. So I took Kenzie out. When I returned the receptionist told me the waiting room was too crowded and we could not stay there.

I have been to this same walk-in clinic since and had no trouble again. I also discussed with the different receptionist a general outline of the difficulties before. I tried to make it clear that I wasn't trying to get the person in trouble or to have that situation addressed [since by then it was months later] but simply to have the clinic check that all receptionist know the policy regarding service animals that was established after my first one hour wait for is the doctor with the dog phobia.

New doctor's office! Every three weeks or so I see the same doctor. After months of bringing Kenzie with me with no problem, suddenly one day there was a problem. A second doctor was working that day and he did not want a dog brought to the practice. Initially my Dr. was going to abide by his wishes since she was new to this clinic. Before my next appointment, she changed her mind and we decided the best course was to make my appointments when the complaining doctor was not scheduled to be there. One of the weird things about the situation is that a client who is blind also brings a service dog to this same office, but apparently the complaining Dr. doesn't have a problem with that.  Somehow the other patients' allergies are selective.

And another doctor's office. Often I only see my family doctor once a year. Last year I brought Kenzie with me. This year when I called to make the appointment I was told I couldn't bring her with me because many of the patients have allergies. Since my income depends on the form I was asking her to fill out I thought it was best not to argue on this occasion least.

This seems to usually be the excuse or reason doctors offices give for not allowing Kenzie, that many patients have allergies. I am not sure how that is addressed. Maybe it will be my next post. What I do know is that once a dog is certified it is illegal to deny a person with a service dog entrance and treatment in any situation short of surgery. Since Kenzie is not certified I have no recourse other than discussion and education. If that fails it is usually referred to West Coast, the service dog training organization, and they try to discuss and educate. Because the goal is willing cooperation the discussion needs to be calm and friendly. Some days I'm just not up to that either because I'm not up to any conversation or because I'm not sure I can keep up calm and friendly.

Sometimes I choose not to go to the place refusing Kenzie entrance which is what I did at the first doctor's office. Part of this is logistics. I was there on my scooter without my car. Short of going home there was nowhere to leave her outside of the clinic. Sometimes I choose to leave Kenzie, which is what I did at my family doctors today.  If I don't know to leave her at home ahead of time, the car is an okay option unless it is hot and sunny out.

It does seem strange to me that the vast majority of doctors I have seen since having Kenzie with me have not been supportive. A service dog is to increase the independence and well-being of a person who may be their patient, a person who faces significant challenges as a result of their health. While they may not have objected if Kenzie was certified, how do they expect a dog to be trained to become certified if they are denied entrance?

This hasn't been a fun entry. So I'll at least leave on a positive note. I have had about six appointments at VGH since having Kenzie come into my life. Sometimes staff needed to check the answer to the question of bringing Kenzie but the answer has, in the end, always been positive. I guess in this way having a huge organization with well defined policies makes life a little bit easier than dealing with individuals running their own environment and being able to make their own rules.

The Night of the Sea Wench

Oddly enough, Sea Wench is the name of the natural flea control soap that we use on Kenzie.  Over the winter we have found fleas on her twice.  Some people use flea medication (oral or topical) all year round but usually in winter there aren’t that many fleas around.  To save money and extra chemicals on the dogs, West Coast doesn’t use the monthly topical flea medication in winter.  But Kenzie seemed to find them anyways.  Or maybe the fleas found her because she is extra sweet and tasty.  So on top of a random month of flea control chemicals Sharon gave us a bar of the natural soap that someone had donated.

It’s actually nice – this was bath #3 with it.  (Three baths over a number of months.)  It makes a nice lather and smells good.  Kenzie and our whole house smell like a sea wench for at least a week.  Like going into Escents or Sage but in a much milder, nicer way.  You notice the smell but you aren’t bombarded with it.

Anyway, after a bath Kenzie goes crazy.  She runs back and forth, jumps up onto the furniture and tries to play with us much more roughly than she usually does.  And since she is barking and jumping up on people a lot lately, she added that in too, for good measure.

This is where we found Kenzie once she wore herself out with craziness after the bath.  She isn't allowed up in the chairs.  We still haven't been able to figure out how she managed to get the foot of the chair up.

So, yes, Kenzie is a teenaged tyrant at the moment.  It feels like 2 months ago she was doing so much better.  After the weiner therapy things were great.  And then they got not so great with not coming on command or leaving things alone on command (especially people) and barking and barking.  Sharon and Ryan said she’s a teenager, rebelling, testing boundaries and trying out her power.

And now she’s ratcheted it up again, and she’s even more of a teenager and even more frustrating.  The barking has increased.  She is even barking at us, for instance to tell us she wants to play, or that she’s brought the ball back but she’s not picking it up again to put it in my hand.  ‘The balls right there by your feet!  You pick it up!’ is what she seems to be saying.

And jumping up on other people and us all the time.

And being VERY slow to obey commands.

It’s quite frustrating.  We’ve actually conceded now and we don’t usually let her off  leash anymore except for at Spanish Banks…..

March 4 was her first birthday and it seems like every other dog her age with any training behaves better than she does.  She’s still much better in her assistance role than she is at just general obedience.

Didi, Maverick and Kenzie on their first birthday

Kenzie and Didi manged the posing better with Maverick to keep them seperated.

BUT

Skip a week or two in writing the blog and it ALL changes!  I won’t say it’s a trend because if I did that would jinx everything but let’s just say things aren’t so bad anymore.  Although V is still having difficulties with Kenz.  Ryan chatted with us for about an hour after class trying to figure out what the problems are and what V should do differently.

We have had some frustration with being kicked out of places, and not because of Kenzie’s behaviour.  At a restaurant we used to go to WITH Kenzie, but the manager had a complaint from a customer that led to some health board interaction.  He is now convinced that only blind people use service dogs and any other dog is just ‘for living’.  Those are his words, whatever it means.  He’s not saying he doesn’t want a service dog in training there, which he does have every right to say, but that he won’t let service animals in unless the animal is guiding a blind person.  Apparently the health inspector has called him back to clarify (and then he still told us we can’t come in) and gone to visit him (and he STILL told us we can’t come in.) ARGH!  It wouldn’t be so irritating if it weren’t good food!

Veronica tried to enter a gas station and before she was through the door or could say a word she was being yelled at by, not one, but two people!  When she started to explain she was cut off with ‘I don’t care about your bulls**t story!’  Literally, he swore at her!   How many dogs could people possibly be trying to bring into a gas station convenience store to make him that mad about it?! Most of his customer drive there. They aren’t going to get their dogs out of the car just to go into the convenience store. So that complaint will be going to head office.

And places that are good to us? Those I am willing to name!  White Spot (3 different locations)– not exactly exciting food – but always reliable about welcoming service animals so far!  Also The Rhizome on E. Broadway, East is East on Main, Sushiyama on E. Broadway, Thai Terrace on W. Broadway, Blue Moon/Flying Swan Café on W 4^th, Nando’s on Cornwall, Booster Juice on Cornwall, Bubbletea at PearlFever (UBC) and Bubbleworld (Robson)…where else have we been welcomed? Jericho Pharmacy(W4th), Pharmasave(W4th), London Drugs (W Broadway),  IGA(W 4^th) (W Broadway), liquor store (Main), library (Macdonald), Blenz (W Broadway) bakery at Alma and W10th, Coe Lumber (W Broadway) Windsor Plywood (Fir), City Square Shopping Centre (Cambie at 10^th) and so many doctors offices and medical appointments.  I am sure there are more.  We’ve also been to VGH and the airport.  Kenzie gets around. Value Village(Burnaby), Salvation Army(W. Broadway), SPCA(W. Broadway), Safeways, No Frills(W 4^th), Whole Foods on Cambie and W 4th, Choices (Kits)…

One day I will send them thank you cards.  Or at least to the ones we visit regularly.  Especially the ones with doggie biscuits. 

Oh yes!  Victory is ours!  Kenzie is tall enough to turn the light switches on and off at our house now!  And I’ve started getting her to lie down under my desk when I do computer work and she is a ROCK STAR!

And since I forgot to post this another few weeks have passed.  Kenzie was GREAT, so good for a few weeks but now she’s back to being a bit of a hooligan.  Still really good and capable with assistance tasks.  Still a bit of a handful with puppy out-of-control excitement and barking.

And sadly, since so much time has passed, she no longer smells like a Sea Wench.

Kenzie picking up coins!  I was worried about how to teach her this so I had never tried but one day it just happened and she is awesome at it!

Freedom Running and Weiner Therapy

I suggested V should write this entry but no dice.  So I get to relay what is really her story instead.  According to Sharon and Ryan’s analysis of this incident Kenzie suddenly realized that she could run.  Like really run!  And that there was no way Veronica was going to catch her.  And from then on her little doggie brain (about the size of a plum!)  was fixed on ‘Isn’t this great! The wind in my hair…Oh look at that!  And what about this?  Ooo – what’s that down the block?’ and not responding at all to Veronica’s frantic calls.  V was so worried she thought she was going to cry.

Here’s the long version and consequences.

We take Kenzie to off leash parks.  Off leash isn’t supported by West Coast for service dogs in training.  Service animals have to be about PEOPLE and especially their person.  Their person should be the most fun thing around and the source of all playing.  Because we just can’t compete with dog play.

However!  Some people still choose to do this and if your foster pup gets hurt, by another dog or by a vehicle, YOU have taken this risk and you are responsible for the vet bills.  Or in this case US.  We would be responsible financially if Kenzie got hurt, let alone all of the emotional responsibility.  All the other vet bills are covered by West Coast but potential off leash injuries fall into an ‘at your own risk’ category.

So why did we decide to go to off leash areas anyway?  Convenience.  There is an off leash park 1 block from our house and it would be cruel and unusual punishment for Kenzie to go the closest park and watch all of the other dogs frolic.  Plus Kenzie, as we’ve mentioned, is a barker, and one of the most often repeated advice on controlling barking is wear the dog out, physically and mentally.  The off leash park provides much more exercise for Kenzie, with much less exercise required of us.  And so far Kenzie seems adequately people identified.  We think.  We hope.

So here’s the story.  Veronica and Kenzie are in the park a block from our house.  Kenzie starts running with her long body stretched right out and the ground rushing by, and just keeps going.  Until she stops to bark at a dog outside the fence and then runs again before Veronica can get to her.  Veronica is calling and calling, trying the stern voice and the fun voice.  Sometimes Kenzie will come towards her, but never close enough to grab.  Then it got worse and the danger ratcheted up.  Kenzie went out of the park, across the quiet-ish side street and down the block towards home.  Biggest scare – we live on the other side of a main-ish road, 2 lanes in each direction.  Cars often don’t stop for people crossing, me in my scooter or people with baby strollers, let alone a dog traveling at high speeds. Veronica was ready to cry, desperate, increasingly scared and shaking with anger.  Once Kenzie was retrieved before crossing the main road and marched back home, I heard them come in and I could tell right away from V’s voice that she was very very angry.

The kind of ironic part is I actually thought ‘Oh good, it is a bit muc,h but finally Veronica is being stern with Kenzie’ because she’s often uses a soft, quiet, requesting voice for her commands.  (They are called commands not requests, after all.)

So after some venting from V I eventually convinced her to call to Sharon and Ryan.  And this was their take.  Kenzie is 10 months old, in the teenager stage.  Suddenly she realized ‘Hey!  I am a BIG dog.  I can run and there’s no way she can catch me!  NOBODY can catch me!  Wow this is so much fun!  Watch me run! Watch me run!  Hey check that out! Run, run, run.  Running is fun.  Running is awesome.  I am so awesome.  Is anyone catching this?  Check me out!’  And in her excitement at the discovery she essentially could not hear Veronica freaking out over her disobedience and her safety.  Yesh.  Teenagers.

And Ryan and Sharon’s recommendation?  Weiner therapy combined with NO off-leash time for 2 weeks.   Veronica would take Kenzie to the park with a 30” leash and call her to come, only giving the hot dog pieces for coming right to her.  The usual not-quite-so-good treats for other things were still used.  I would take Kenz for a ‘jog’ with my scooter to get her some extra exercise.  After 2 weeks try some off leash time, still with the wieners for rewards.  If she doesn’t come right to you, right away, every time she is called, then another week of weiner therapy and no off-leash.  I also use wieners in the house for the same training.

Weird side effects?  First, carrying around damp, smelly, perishable food.  Not the same as the regular treats in your pocket.  All dogs love you.  It’s likem they can smell the wieners a block away.  Second (and so much more bizarre) is feeling like I am reading a porn script.  Think about it a minute and I am sure you can figure it out yourself: encouraging, praising talk about coming and wieners.

Besides recall, we have been working on:

• More consistency with heel and side and no pulling
• No mouthing or chewing on people or their clothes (except when you are told to tug!)
• ‘Brace’ – stand-stay and supporting a bit of weight from a hand between the shoulder blades
• Stairs – staying beside your person and supporting a bit of weight for balance
• Following the commands to sitting and laying down away from your person – I call it ‘stay - sit there’
• Assistance with clothing removal – tug on socks and sleeves (kenz always passes me the socks after she pulls them off where as I would just drop them on the floor myself) Coming soon – zippers!
• Opening and closing the fridge and other door with a rope over the handle

And all the other stuff she normally does or we normally work on : quiet, sit, stand, stay, down, off, lap, visit, retrieve (and so on and so on.)  Sitting automatically when we stop, getting on to the sidewalk as soon as possible when getting in and out of the car, etc. 

Some of the skills we teach, I don’t actually need help with that thing.  Instead of teaching it and then not using it unless we are training, I have been trying really hard to remember to ask her to help as often as possible in real life.  Presumably whatever person she is eventually paired with, they will need her to help all the time, so she might as well get used to the constant requests.  Plus, I think she likes helping.

In Other News

Our son Cameron came home from university permanently.  He decided to throw in the towel in the middle of his second year of engineering at Carleton University in Ottawa.  Since Cameron proved how spectacularly he can goof off last summer – he worked 19 days in 4 months – there are some requirements of him to live with us again as an adult who is not attending school.  (The biggest requirement being getting a job and paying rent but that’s not relevant here.)  One is waking up by noon or being woken up.  Which brings me to an awesome training opportunity!  I call it ‘Wake up!’  After a warning,  Kenzie and I go to Cam’s room and Kenzie proceeds to pull all of the covers off of his bed with my encouragement.  If that doesn’t do the trick entirely then there is ‘tough love’ – Cam gets face licking and being ‘investigated’ with a cold nose and a wagging tail.  Cam loves it, let me tell you!

Actually since we usually do get to the love session at the end, Cam does eventually look like he is enjoying it.  Cameron decided as a preschooler, after regular exposure to a large dog, that dogs are annoying – they knock you over and take your food.  Sure the playtime is fun, but walks in bad weather and picking up poop?  He is an avowed cat person.  But I think Kenzie is winning him over.  He seems to appreciate the unconditional love, exuberant welcome homes and the general excitement Kenzie expresses at discovering his presence.

So far we (Cameron and I) have been too busy to get to this but I am looking forward to other training things that are just easier done with extra people – alerts for phone calls, knocks on the door and kitchen timers.  It’s way easier with someone who will react with praise when Kenz alerts.  For training alert to a knock on the door – you need someone to knock!  And since you have to repeat it a bunch of time to get the behaviour and then another 3 times to make sure it sinks in to their brain, it is all way easier with someone on the other end co-operating rather than, say, trying to wash the dishes.  These are things we are undertaking even though they are mostly for hearing impaired people.  It’s not so much for the person Kenz will be matched with as it is for us – Veronica has hearing loss in both ears and even with her hearing aids she still can’t hear most of the above things unless she is in the same room.  And these alerts (as well as wake up) could be useful for a person with depression, for instance.

Puppy Raising Stumbling Blocks

We’ve been asked to leave public access areas twice in the last week.  One was a medical clinic where we’ve had trouble before (a doctor with extreme dog phobias) but it that issue was resolved.  This time in the waiting room Kenz was being vocal, not barking or full out whining, just vocalizing.  She wasn’t being louder than a child playing and talking to their adult.  We were asked to go for a walk and then told the waiting room was too crowded for her to be in when we came back.  Not feeling at my most diplomatic that day (and exhausted) I chose to not challenge him.  It was just the receptionist and a different one from the last time there was an issue there  My son was the one seeing a dr, not me, so he just stayed and waited.

And last night we wanted to eat at a restaurant that we visited before with Kenzie without a problem.  Apparently, after our last visit, the manager had complaints and a visit from the health inspector about letting a dog in.  And now the restaurant manager swears up and down that what the health inspector said was there are only service dogs for blind people, all other claims are just service dogs for ‘life’ and they are not allowed in restaurant.  He is convinced he will lose his business license if he lets these ‘life’ service dogs come in.  He and I did discuss, I showed him Kenzie’s government ID and I tried to call the health inspector and the city. (The health inspector was gone for the day, and the city wasn’t helpful.)  I got names and phone numbers so Sharon and Ryan can call the inspector and the restaurant guy back to clear it up.  But he was convinced that that was what the health inspector had said and he would lose his license so we left and went to White Spot.  Always welcome at White Spot.  Not always what I want to eat but always okay with the puppy.

?%$#  Puppy Raisers Say

Last night at puppy class I couldn’t remember any Kenzie stuff, (although evidence now points to the contrary.)  So I decided to survey the puppy raisers to have something to write about.  The questions: What is the best thing about being a puppy raiser?  What is the worst or hardest thing? 

(Puppy raisers, please, forgive me if the names are wrong or my transcribed scribbles on an envelope do not accurately reflect what you said.  Feel free to correct me in the comments!)

Michael and Raina are fostering Bravo.  Bravo is enormous.  Michael’s answers:  He enjoys volunteering and thinks the end result (a service dog that will significantly improve someone’s life) are the best things.  The hardest part is puppy behaviour.  It is hard, constant work.

Ron and Terri foster Wrigley.  The love you give and receive is the best thing but it’s also great that ‘it will make someone’s life really cool’.  The negative is that they have raised 6 human children and were happily finished with child rearing, but now Wrigley is very much like another child to raise.  It’s a lot of work.  In the day-to-day demands at this point it’s essentially like raising another child.

Diana is our friend who welcomed Niko into her home.  Jigsy, Diana’s wonderfully trained and mellow older dog, is not always so sure about the welcome.  Niko has been with them for a month.  One of the positives for Diana is learning a lot more about training even though she had previously trained Jigsy.  Another is the effect that Niko will have on someone’s life.  And the drawbacks?  Puppy care is constant!  Turn your back for 10 seconds and he’s into something.  Since Diana has Jigsy too it is extra work to manage both dogs.  Diana raised Jigs since Jigs was 10-weeks old so she thought she knew what she was getting into.  But Niko is much more of a handful than Jigs ever was.  Niko tries to get and eat human food or anything else he can get his teeth into, irritates Jigs, barks in their apartment… 

(The people fostering Bailey slipped away before I could ask them.)

The puppies were separated so I don’t know about their class.  Bigger dogs had an obstacle course with:

• figure 8s,
• stopping, sitting and starting
• circles
• slalom
• avoiding a bowl of cheesies on the floor in the middle of it all
• jump
• back up
• down-stay and sit-stay
• and a long down-stay at the end. 

All of this with the other dogs watching and the puppy class going on to one side. 

The big dogs who were watching and waiting their turn were on a down-stay.  They were intentionally distracted by people coming to pet them.  The distraction people offered treats but the dogs’ own person said ‘leave it’.  There were some big puddles of drool under the labs from that one, I tell you.

After everyone went through it we were let loose to practice on whatever obstacles were the hardest for our dogs, plus a few new ones added in that are service dog specific, like the easy button and light switches.

One of the yellow lab pups made it across the room to the bowl of cheesies.  Again, the cheesies were both a distraction and a source of inspiration for drooling. There was a lot of drooling all around in this class.