Why I love Puppy Class

Today was the 5th puppy class of my 6wk session that I teach. Of course I love puppy class for the puppy cuteness (like this young lab puppy I have in class who I just want to hug all day long! He's so freaking adorable!) but really I love puppy class for the massive changes you see from wk 1 to wk 6. This week, I really saw some major improvements and it was so cool!!

I have this one family that has been coming. They have a young 7month old bichon mix and 4 young boys in the family (all under the age of 12 or so), the father usually brings the kids, sometimes mom comes too.

When they started class 5 weeks ago, it was mayhem. The dog couldn't focus. The kids couldn't focus. Even dad had trouble focusing. But this week was magical! You can so see how hard they have been working at home!! Their dog did a down stay while they dropped the leash and walked all the way across the room (about 25') and then returned to the dog! I was VERY impressed! Even last week the dog couldn't come near to doing that. They have been practicing so much and working so hard. Their loose leash walking this week too was stellar. HUGE improvements. And this week we upped the distractions by my asking them to walk around the room as a class instead of just individually and they did awesome!! I was so proud of them!

This is why I teach classes. That is why I love my job. When it all comes together and you can just see that now they have a happier dog and a better relationship and how much they love working with their dog now and the kids are having such fun training their dog, the whole family is involved. It's just so freaking awesome!!

Long day

Today was a long day. Just exhausting.

Started with my biannual neuro appt. The appt was supposed to be 3 months ago, but then his schedule changed as he works at 2 offices and so my appt got pushed out from November to February. In Nov and Dec my migraines got significantly worse, so we've been doing 'telephone medicine' for a few months trying to straighten them out and by my appt today things have overall been going ok in that department.

The hospital were I go is about an hours drive there and then another hours drive home. My Gram usually drives me since that is way too much being on the road, especially the highway for me right now. We usually go to lunch at this terrific NY style deli after my appt and then treck home. Makes the round trip last about 4 hours, sometimes longer if traffic is bad or my dr is running late.

James by now knows his way around the hospital enough to get to the neuro department. And there is one nurse who works there, I never remember her name, but she always makes a point to say hi to James and me and likes to tell the staff, "Oh that's James, he's a regular!" I mean really we only now go there about 2-3 times a year, but still she remembers his name and everything. It's kind of nice.

So that is how I spent until about 2pm today.

Then around 5 James and I walked down to the car repair place to pick up Li's minivan that has been being worked on since Monday. It needed a lot of work on the transmission. But now it is safe to drive. Which is very good!

When I got to the shop though, no one was there and the door was locked! I got a little upset thinking, "I could have sworn they were open till 5:30 today! I was told "Come get the car at 5" It is 5, why is the door locked!?" But then I looked around and didn't even see Li's car nor any of their tow trucks, so I figured, "Maybe they took it for a test drive, or had to go pick up some one's car and they will be back soon." So James and I waited in the cold, and in about 15minutes the owner in the tow truck arrived. Yup he had been out on a call. And soon Li's minivan arrived, it had been at their other garage. And we were then on our way.

We then stopped at Coolen's to get dog food. 5 bags of Primal raw and a large bag of Pinnacle kibble. Oy. These dogs eat a lot! But they're so worth it!

Once I got home, I decided to look in Niche's mouth to check for infection. Then I got a nasty surprise. He has a good chunk of tooth left that apparently his swollen gum had been hiding on Wed. Damn it! So I rang the vet and he is now scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.

At about 7pm I then loaded James up again in Li's car and off we drove up to her work, on Rt 95, then Rt 3, in the dark to get Li her car and then go to dinner. Then Li had to drive me back home and then drive herself home again. James and I finally made it home a little after 9:30pm.

Now I am very tired, as is James. Hopefully we will sleep well tonight!

I love spreadsheets

Tonight my mother finally convinced me to start trying Weight Watchers. The main reason for this is that I tend to forget to eat and then get migraines because of it and I could also use to loose some weight. She thinks that if I start holding myself accountable on a daily basis and actually writing stuff down, then I will actually remember to eat on a regular basis thereby decreasing my migraines. She is probably correct since when I do have a system for keeping formal track of things I am very good about sticking to it in general and will get really strict with myself about keeping tabs on things. So she taught me the system and gave me a points book and now I can do it myself and since I don't want to go to the meetings or pay the money, it will work out ok for me.

But because I am bad with actually the process of writing things down, as I tend to forget, but when it involves a computer I actually remember, tonight I wrote myself a little spread sheet to keep track. Oh boy do I love spread sheets! This thing now automatically calculates points used, weight lost, the week, how close I am to my goal and how many of the 'bonus points' I have left to use that week. All I have to do is write down what I actually ate, how much and how many points. Simple! (and yes I do already have a form for keeping track of my migraines. I did say I loved spreadsheets!)

And the thing is knowing me and my penchant for record keeping, I will actually do this. The question is will I get so tied down to it and near obsessive with it that I cause myself more issues in the long run. Hopefully not since otherwise this could be a really good thing.

So we will see if this works. The main goal is: Less Migraines! A really good bonus goal would be loosing a good chunk of weight.

My dogs were all unhinged!

No, not really, but that's the closest word I can come to at the moment. Last night the boys all had a chiropractor appointment and thank goodness! I scheduled the appt early last month as I had signed Niche up for an agility trial at the end of this month and wanted to make sure he was structurally ok for it and then Monty got his foot jammed in the back door jam and ripped out that toe nail which I knew was a bad thing for his pelvis and back and then James a few times has wiped out when getting the Cuz so I was fairly sure they were all in need of some help. Then to top it off with yesterday's face crunches and toothless grin for Mr Niche and James, yeah we were in trouble.

So off we went to see Dr Anne. Niche was up 1st. He had indeed lost both his head and pelvis. Drat. But not surprising. He needs to go back again to see Anne at least 2x to get all put back together.

Then was James, he was a mess too but not nearly as bad as Niche. He only needs to go back 1 more time.

And Monty yeah, he was slightly worse than James but not as bad as Niche, again 1 more visit.

So in a little over a week we are going back and then Niche is going back once more, hopefully no one else gets hurt and needs another appt.

Morning Playtime- The Saga Continues

Well this morning we successfully made it out the door with my coat, shoes, mittens and the all important Cuz in hand.

We also made it out the gate with minimal fuss and insanity to go into the big play yard.

We had a few good fetches and then tragedy struck.

I threw the Cuz, Niche and James reached it at the same time and neither gave. They collided face to face! I went, "Oh No!!" I had an image race through my head of teeth cracking and breaking.

My inner image was correct.

Niche ended up with the Cuz and retrieved it to hand covered in blood. Yuck!

I opened his mouth to find more blood and eventually located a blank space where a bottom incisor should have been. With more investigation I think the incisor actually cracked in half, splitting into the gum leaving a section still attached. What a mess!

I got the dogs inside, they of course could not understand why the game had been so short! And rang my vet. We now have an appt in about a half hour to find out the real status and if Niche will need surgery to yank any offending parts of ivory.

Ugh, what a mess! Maybe we should really think about nixing morning play time for a while. This seems to be getting dangerous!

Flying with your dog

Alrighty folks, I think it's time for a little chat and reminder about the laws regarding flying on an airplane with your dog.

Today during one of my lessons I had a student ask me, "Do you know anything about flying on an airplane with dogs?" I replied that yes I did know quite a lot about that topic as a person who has shipped dogs in cargo, traveled with dogs in carriers in cabin and traveled with a service dog, and a discussion ensued.

This particular woman has a dog that meets the weight requirements for being allowed to fly in a carrier in the cabin of an aircraft but he does not meet the size requirements as he has longer legs. He cannot even remotely come close to standing in a small carrier of that size and can barely turn around. She wanted to know if on a trip to Florida that she and her husband were planning I felt they would allow her dog in cabin. After traveling with Li and her corgi Clara a few times and knowing the hassles we ran into with a dog who did actually meet the requirements but was long in back as corgi's tend to be, I told her I doubted her dog would be allowed on and she would be turned away or forced to put him in cargo at the last minute.

She then told me, "Well I got my doctor to write me a letter saying I needed him." I immediately asked her, "So you have a severe disabling mental condition then?" I know she doesn't, she knows she doesn't, she just did this very illegal thing to try to get her dog on the plan with her. I explained very very clearly to her how wrong this was and how it in the end harms people who legitimately need their dogs to assist them for a disabling condition every day.

Here is the thing. If you want a Service Dog, or if you want an Emotional Support Animal you still need to meet the legal definition of disability.

The legal definition states: A charging party has a "disability" for purposes of the ADA if she or he (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, (2) has a record of such an impairment, or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment.

A "major life activity" is defined as:

* Examples of major life activities listed in the Title I regulations include caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working.
* Other examples of major life activities include sitting, standing, lifting, and mental and emotional processes such as thinking, concentrating, and interacting with others.

Also part of the definition is "Substantially Limits." Here is the legal definition of that:

* An impairment is substantially limiting if it prohibits or significantly restricts an individual's ability to perform a major life activity as compared to the ability of the average person in the general population to perform the same activity.
* The determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity depends on the nature and severity of the impairment, the duration or expected duration of the impairment, and the permanent or long-term impact of the impairment.
* An impairment substantially limits an individual's ability to work if it prevents or significantly restricts the individual from performing a class of jobs or a broad range of jobs in various classes.
* Although very short-term, temporary restrictions generally are not substantially limiting, an impairment does not have to be permanent to rise to the level of a disability. Temporary impairments that take significantly longer than normal to heal, long-term impairments, or potentially long-term impairments of indefinite duration may be disabilities if they are severe.
* Chronic or episodic disorders that are substantially limiting when active or have a high likelihood of recurrence in substantially limiting forms may be disabilities.
* An individual who has two or more impairments that are not substantially limiting by themselves but that together substantially limit one or more major life activities has a disability.

The majority of people with a diagnosable mental illness or conditions are not legally disabled by their condition as it does not substantially limit a major life activity. Going on vacation is not a major life activity. Going on an airplane is not a major life activity. Being unable to think to leave your home so that you can walk out the door and go grocery shopping, the being unable to think because of your agoraphobia, that would be a major life activity.

That means that under the legal definition the majority of people with mental illnesses or conditions cannot legally be partnered with a Service Dog or have an Emotional Support Animal in housing or on an aircraft! It doesn't matter if you have a doctor's note or whatnot, if you are not legally disabled by your condition, you cannot have a service dog or emotional support dog. Period. End of story. Them's the law.

If you are having anxiety about the idea of putting your dog in cargo, I am very sorry as I know that is not enjoyable to be feeling, but it does not make you legally disabled by a mental illness or condition!

If you have a dog that you legally cannot take as a carry on pet in a carry on carrier in the aircraft cabin with you or as a service dog or emotional support dog, you do have options still.

Option 1: Leave you dog home. It's really that simple. Find a good kennel. Find a terrific pet sitter and leave your canine friend at home while you go on vacation. Trust me I am fairly sure that your dog will be absolutely fine while you are gone. Same as the majority of pets left in capable reliable pet care professionals hands are on a daily basis. When I go away, and have to fly, I leave my other dogs with my sister. I pay her a good sum of money and fill my fridge with food and she is willing to house sit for me. I then know my dogs are in good hands and well cared for and safe.

Option 2: Put your dog in cargo. Yes this is risky, but you can still do it if you really want to take your dog with you. There are things you can do to better ensure your pet is safe while in cargo. First talk it over with your vet. Make sure he or she feels your pet is emotionally and medically stable enough to be in a cargo hold for an extended period of time. Second put a note on the top of the carrier that you request the people who load the cargo radio the pilot of the plane when your dog is loaded. Then if you don't get a confirmation from the pilot that they have received the radio call, bother them until you get your confirmation. Third zip tie your dog's crate shut so that an airline employee cannot open the crate or the crate will not pop open accidentally possibly letting your dog to escape and get lost on the tarmac in a strange scary place.

Option 3: Drive. This really is an option if you absolutely are too terrified to put your dog in cargo or leave your dog home and you still want to go on your trip. Don't try to tell me, "Well we're only going for a week, it's ridiculous for us to spend all that time driving!" No it's not if you want to really take your dog with you. This is what tons of people I know do and what Li and I do. After our last flying trip with Clara in the sherpa bag that was way too stressful and Li being too scared to put her in cargo, we instead drive everywhere we want to go.

Option 4: Stay home. Just cancel your trip and don't go. If options 1-3 just aren't ok with you then your only other option is to stay home.

It is not an option for you to fake that you are disabled and need your dog as a service dog or emotional support animal just so you can take him or her in the airplane cabin so you can go on a trip. Faking a disability and a service dog or emotional support animal is illegal and has serious legal repercussions. You are also making it incredibly more difficult for all legal service dog teams to gain access to places they need on a daily basis. These people, myself included, depend on their dogs for assistance with daily tasks that the majority of the human population takes for granted. You taking your dog somewhere just because you feel bad leaving him or her home, or it makes you feel better bringing your pet, is breaking the law and setting the real teams up for more access disputes, hassle and discrimination. Just don't do it.

(just to note, my student was very understanding once I explained the law to her and she was very emphatic that she would, "Rip up that doctor's letter!" As she doesn't want to hurt the legit people who need these working dogs. She just didn't know better as people had told her it was ok. It's not ok. She was very nice once I got her on the right track. Hopefully she will even educate her doctor so the next time he or she gets someone asking for such a note, he or she will know the correct laws and what is legal.)

16 days!

Today as most of you have probably realized is Februray 1st. That means 16 days until puppies are due!!! (hopefully that is, hopefully Arrow won't whelp early or too late as that can be very dangerous for mom and puppies)


Tonight I get to chat with the breeder on the phone for the 1st time. I have talked with her co-breeder twice now on the phone and talked in e-mail quite extensively with Judy, but this will be the 1st phone call.


Hopefully it will go well!

He Barked Himself Hoarse!

Lately the second I open the closet door to get my shoes, coat and mittens for morning playtime in the yard my house erupts in insanity. Rugs go flying. Barking starts as if they were possesed lunatics. Niche starts litereally bouncing off the walls. James begins racing from the closet to the outside door trying to grab my mittens out of my hands enroute. Monty just barks and barks and barks.

This has got to stop!!! It's driving me nuts! Bad trainer for letting it go on so long.

So this morning we started a training plan to eliminate the obnoxious demanding behaviors.

I open the closet door, I put on my shoes, I pick up my mittens. The insanity starts.

I immideately close the closet door trying to figure out what is the magic button that sets them off and will in the end cue to them that "I ain't playing this game no more!"

Closing the closet door doesn't work. So I start to walk back to my computer chair. Usually they know if I am at my computer I am working and not going to play with them. I get back to my computer. Insanity is still happening. I sit down at my chair. Yup still going on. I turn the chair so I am facing my computer. Yup still barking and bouncing. I put the mittens on the desk and open the keyboard tray. Ah that is the magic button. Barking is still happening but I can tell they are starting to get confused. "Why isn's she taking us out to play? She got her stuff, let's go! Why is she back at that stupid machine??"

So I open a I.E. window and start pretending I am noodling on the net. They are still screaming at me. This goes on for 15 minutes. Gradually the barking is getting less for Niche and Monty. James is still screaming but starting to go hoarse. He is being demanding! "I wanna go play! Get the Cuz! Take me out! Get off that machine!" Sorry pal, gotta change your attitude and behavior before I am getting up.

Slowly the barking goes to high pitched whining. Still not good enough, but better.

Finally silence.

I start to turn my chair around and barking starts again. Oops, sorry guys Wong Decision! Swing the chair back around to the computer. Start typing again.

Gradually the barking stops once more. Swing the chair around again. Barking starts. Sorry boys, Wrong Choice! Swing it back. Repeat about 5 times.

Eventually there is silence when I swing the chair. Good Dogs!

I start the next step, actually standing up. barking ensues. Niche starts getting frantic. Sit back down, turn the chair back to the computer start typing.

This time less repetitions until I can stand up.

Finally I can make it all the way across the house and begin to open the back door. By this time the dogs are all being VERY careful to not open their mouths. Then Niche blows it! One bark!

Shut the door, walk all the way back to the computer, sit down, start typing again.

James says, "I quit." Starts chewing a nylabone. Niche says, "I am confused." Stops hyperventilating and calms down staring at me from afar. Monty says, "This is weird." Sits down staring out the front window.

NOW we are ready to go out and play! GOOD DOGS!!

People are Weird

Today I had 2 instances of weird people.

Weird person #1. I am sitting in my acupuncturists office waiting for him to come and get me for my appt. He is running slightly behind but I was a little early so that's ok. Over the course of about 10 minutes this lady in a white lab coat walks past me about 15 times. I don't know who she is, she doesn't mean anything to me, she doesn't say anything to me, so I ignore her. I talk to the receptionist as she is nice and I like her.

After a bit this woman in a black outdoor coat comes out and opens the exit door which is right near where James and I are sitting. She opens the door and exits half way then stands there staring at me intently. About a minute goes by, I realize she is standing there staring at me so I glance in her direction puzzled.

She then tells me bluntly, "I just realized you are not blind." Ok, that's fine, I'm not blind nor do I pretend to be. She continues to stand there staring at me. Another few minutes go by until I finally say, "Am I supposed to know who you are, because I don't." She gets rather flustered, tells me she guesses I don't know who she is but she just wanted to tell me that she realized I was not blind. And then she leaves.

Right after she leaves, my practitioner comes to get me and before I leave the waiting room, I ask the receptionist, "Who was that and I was I really supposed to know her because I don't." She tells me it is a woman who works there and that, "She is kind of flaky."

I'm rather unnerved by this point and starting to get pretty stressed about it. I cannot recognize people by sight alone. I need to have met someone many, many times and heard their voice and learned their walk and gotten a firm grasp of what clothing they normally wear before I can recognize someone consistently. If I know someone in one situation, there is a high chance if I met them in the grocery store or another unfamiliar situation I would consider them a stranger and not know them until they made a point to tell me who they were and how I have known them in other situations. People who don't know this about me think I can be very rude, but it is part of my disability.

So my practitioner treats me and while I am waiting for him to come back in to finish my treatment I am thinking about this. Finally by process of deduction based on who was in the office when and who I know and process of elimination I figure out that this woman in the black outdoor coat was probably the same woman who walked past us 15 times in the white lab coat. I decide that I need to say something to my practitioner as this has really upset me and stressed me out as I found this woman's behavior very unprofessional and if she works there there is a chance I will meet her again and I don't want this to ever happen again.

I tell my practitioner and I tell him about my disability related problems recognizing people. Apparently this woman has done similar things to other people and he tells me that yes it is very unprofessional and he will have someone talk to her.

So that is weird person #1.

Weird person #2 was in the grocery store. One of my most favorite placers. Riiiggghhhttt.

After teaching tonight I stopped at the grocery store with James. As we are in the freezer section this 45-50 year old man and his wife are on the other side of the area with their carriage. I think nothing of it until the man RUNS at James and I and reaches out to tap James on the nose! His wife, grabs his arm and says, "You can't do that!" as she pulls him away. I wanted to yell when he did it going, "Are you stupid!?" 1st he totally invaded my space by RUNNING at us like he did and then he reaches out to touch a dog he doesn't even know at all! James of course was fine, but I was having a rather off day by that point and got more upset by it than I probably should have. I do not think the man had any kind of mental illness or other disability as when we were standing behind the couple in the check out like he was acting perfectly normal and engaged with the world but of course he may have which is why he acted so inappropriately. But still why do people feel it is ok to so blatantly invade my and my dog's space?! I don't try to pet them! Don't pet me or my dog!

So those were my 2 "People are Weird" instances for today. Quite enough if you ask me. I am now very tired things like this stress me out and exhaust me. Being partnered with a service dog is certainly not for the faint of heart!

Dogs Change Lives

Susquehanna Service Dogs is sponsoring this contest to honor the many ways in which dogs change our lives every day. The website for the contest is: http://www.dogschangelives.org/

I submitted a story to show what autism service dogs can do for adults on the spectrum. If you don't want to submit a story of your own, please vote for James!

There are some nice stories over there. I just submitted mine this afternoon so I don't think it is live yet.

Go on over and have a looksy. Voting is the 1st week of March.