Working-K9: September 2010 Posts

Thursday, September 30, 2010
Puppy Raising

It is a wonderful experience to say the least. It isn't easy and it isn't for the faint of heart; but the experience is well worth it in the end.

When my humans friends and family first learned of her desire to volunteer time helping to teach our young pups to become service dog's everyone thought she was nuts but glad she found something to do that made her happy. After some time and much thought she decided to become more involved and actually raise a puppy to be a service dog for someone she doesn't know and may never meet.

At this point, everyone thought she lost her mind and kept asking "are you sure?" Which was often followed by the question "can you really afford it?". Truth be told even my human didn't know if she could burden of financial responsibilities of being a puppy raiser. Still, she was determined to try and give everything she had. I knew from personal experience that training the dog would come naturally to her.

Just as everyone else was concerned, so was my human. Not only would she be responsible for the health and well-being of a dog that did not belong to her, but she would be paying for food, medicine, veterinary care, all shots, and even grooming as my human cannot physically wash a dog herself. My human may act impulsively or seem as if she is acting impulsively but she does try to consider all aspects of the situation before jumping in. Plus she knew at some point she would have to get a puppy to train as my replacement as I neared retirement.

First with Preston although it was a short time with him, then with Atlantis she delighted in the joys of watching the puppies grow and learn. While everyone remained supportive of this undertaking many of them were naturally unsure as to whether or not she would be able to accomplish it. She will admit there were times when even she didn't think she could do it, but she has.

Apparently, there is nothing like the feeling of turning a crazy psycho puppy into a fairly well behaved and useful service dog. I say fairly well behaved because Atlantis still has some puppy in her, and like myself will take a little longer to mature. I don't know about all of you, but I am proud of my human are not only completing this task, but doing so alone. You see most people who volunteer for this type of service have the support of a spouse or significant other to help with all the care and training. In addition many live in a two income household.

Aside from the cost of raising a puppy, the physical toll is also quite taxing. Let's face it puppies have a lot of energy and are constantly getting in to something. Oddly enough my human says this is her favorite stage. On this one point I will concede that she is more than a little crazy.

Over the years my human has taken a lot of flak from people saying that she is being taken advantage of or that everyone expects too much from her. To all those people out there I will repeat what she has always said "I wanted to do it, I knew what I was getting myself into, and I'll probably do it again". That's right she is willing to do it again. She really is that crazy, or really enjoyed it that much. I'm saying is the latter, trust me on that one.

All that being said I'm very excited to announce that I will soon be a big sister. My time for retirement is fast approaching and my human has spent the last year preparing for my retirement. She has talked to breeders of many types of dogs and finally after months of actively searching she has found a puppy. My new little sister will be moving in sometime towards the end of October. My human and I are both very excited and anxiously await the puppy.

What is to become of Atlantis you may ask, it's time for her to go home. Her training is complete she just needs a little fine tuning in sometime to mature into the sweet young lady we know she can be. Now you're probably wondering if my human is going to continue volunteering her time to work with other service dogs. The answer is yes. While she can no longer puppy raise or puppy sit she can still attend classes and work with puppies in training and that's exactly what she plans to do. Most days will be spent training my little sister, and Thursday nights still be reserved for the AZ Goldens if they still want my human to help out.

In time, and if she is still physically able, she will likely become a puppy raiser once again so that she can again help another disabled person whom she may never meet. If you have the opportunity to volunteer your time to work with service dogs I sincerely hope you take it. It is unlike anything you will ever do is a very rewarding experience. Plus, as my human would say: "you get to play with puppies", what's better than that? Also keep in mind that many disabled people out there can not physically train their own dog for one reason or another. Without volunteers to help train dogs and groups to provide dogs many people would never know the benefit, joy or love a service dog can bring to ones life.

All that being said; I ask you to consider donating to my humans' friend Amber who is currently raising money to get a service dog. She can not train her own dog and is in need of a service dog to give her extra independence in her life. You can watch her video, read her story, and make a donation on her page at www.DogDreamTeam.com. Please share this link with others.

Tuesday, September 29, 2010
Oh what a month it has been

I haven't written much this month, frankly I just haven't had time. It seems like everyone is kind of falling apart this month. My human has been trying to get to a doctor for her back pain, but as usual, the insurance company is dragging its feet and not approving the appointments. That alone has been extremely frustrating for my human.

Then to top it off, everyone else in her family decided to fall apart. An uncle was rushed to hospital with a brain aneurysm, turned out to have two. Three surgeries and a week or so later he's proving unstoppable and doing fantastic. One of her aunts became very ill, and was almost hospitalized, but she is doing better now. Still have no idea what she was sick with. Another aunt fell down at work and thankfully did not break her newly replaced hip. A great uncle was in the hospital for surgery on his leg. A great aunt is out of the hospital but is still on IV antibiotics for a raging infection that seems uncontrollable. Several cousins have been ill, thankfully mostly minor illnesses. Oh and let's not forget it's allergy season here in Arizona and my human can not breath; and my nose is dripping all the time.

It may seem like we have not been doing much, but the reality is we seem to be constantly on the run. The doctors this month have taken the majority of my human's time, and still a dentist appointment to come very shortly. Everyone knows how much my human just loves going to the dentist. *laugh*

When we weren't waiting in the waiting rooms we were helping a friend try to find a house or apartment so he could move to Phoenix from California. We zigged and zagged all over the valley looking at places within his budget. Some progress is being made in that area at least. He should be living in the valley by the end of October if all goes well and the apartment complex doesn't find any problems during the credit check.

A different friend lost his service dog recently, to a sudden and acute illness. So my human has been lending her ear in his time of need and helping him find another dog to train as a service dog. Some progress was made there too. He adopted a dog from the pound and is the process of nursing her back to health. She's very much under weight but otherwise very healthy.

Oodles of stress and work. Yes work too, I can't talk about the work much but I can say that nearly all her clients needed large scale updates done to their websites at the same time. See, like I said, kind of a crazy month.

Thursday, September 09, 2010
Service Dog Awareness Day

As in years past, my human once again attendant service dog awareness day. This year, the Diamondbacks played the San Francisco Giants. Unlike previous years I did not attend this year. My valley fever and sore joints prevented me from attending the game so I sent Atlantis in my stead.

She still young and overly enthusiastic about things and I knew this game was going to be a lot for her, but I think she did very well. Her enthusiasm did have to be constrained slightly and she was forced to wear a gentle leader for a while, but even that she handled without too much fuss.

Unlike other years my human decided not to drive to the ballpark this time. She and several of the other volunteers with the Arizona Goldens use the light rail to get downtown. The light rail isn't the quickest mode of transit but it is a lot cheaper than paying for parking.

Because so many of the volunteers were traveling together we also had Ella spent the previous night with Atlantis and I. Once the group got together at the rail station my human handed Ella over to another handler. Edison was also in the group, he is a son of Ella�s and half-brother to Atlantis. The group left extra early so they would have time to eat a meal before heading into the ballpark.

At the designated time and location the entire group got together and headed into the ballpark to set up the booth. This year there was even a short tour of the locker rooms in the lower level of the ballpark. Once back from the tour the real work started.

The crowds filed in, players took their places, and my human and Atlantis got to work talking to the crowds about service dogs and the organization. They passed out many flyers and met some really awesome people. Now this is the main reason I did not go; my human and Atlantis made several laps around the ballpark meeting and greeting the spectators. As a lot of walking and a lot of navigating through the crowds, even Atlantis was getting tired before the day was out. For a short time my human switch dogs with another handler so Atlantis could rest at the booth while being petted as my human made another lap around the complex.

Amber was at the event, raising money for her service dog and collecting donations entire time. She even followed my human and Atlantis around on a few of their outings and managed to get quite a few donations from all of the wonderfully generous people in attendance. She still has a long ways to go, but she is making remarkable progress in a short period of time.

The game ended in the 11th inning with the Giants winning. As usual my human missed the entire game but heard it was a great game, and my human agrees, it was a great day. She even bought one of those ginormous hotdogs and didn't bring any home to share with me. Naturally I expressed my disappointment by first smelling the hot dog on her when she got home, then promptly sneezing and covering her shirt with doggy snot. That'll teach her.

Atlantis was very tired when she got home, and quickly passed out in the corner. My human on the other hand, was still wired from the days events and used the energy to get some work done before going to bed.

If I'm strong enough to go next year I would like to, but it's not staying home and lounging on the sofa in the comfortable air conditioning isn't all that bad either.