Last week, Belle and I doggedly manned the Helping Paws table for the Federal Campaign at the Bishop Whipple Federal Building. For three hours (we were a popular table) I answered questions, listened to dog stories (everyone has one), and Belle showed off her awesome skills. The Federal Campaign is the employee fundraising campaign for federal employees. Helping Paws was just one of many organizations that were invited to strut their stuff, hand out brochures and hopefully, convince those that stopped by our booths to put our federal campaign number on their list of organizations they want to support with their employee charitable deduction.
Belle was a terrific ambassador. Her polite greetings were so well done, the woman at the booth next to us just had to take Belle's picture. The picture above was taken while Belle greeted a K9 officer (thank-you, Paula!). She even gave him a snuggle when I gave her permission to do so.
To all who stopped by that day and signed our dance card, thank-you!
Yesterday was move-in day for my college student. With our arms laden with stuff, and Belle at my side we waited patiently for the very slow elevator in her high rise apartment complex to arrive. Belle, dressed in her pack, put on an awesome display of her best skills based on my voice cues alone as we navigated the crowds of students, parents and gear. As always, her amazing performance captivated those around us.
In situations like this one, Belle and I have a lot of informal opportunities for educating the public on her purpose and her role as a demonstration dog for Helping Paws. Yesterday, we also had a chance to address an issue that is a growing concern for accredited assistance dog training programs; the proclivity of vendors and customers that believe that the presence of the pack and a "registration card" is all that is required for a dog to be granted public access. Googling *service dog vests* results in over 188,000 links - most of which are to vendors that sell the packs.
This is what the first of these vendors had to say about assistance dog public access requirements:
Getting Started is Easy:
We simply require that a Service Dog is registered. Our company requires that you supply:
A doctor's request that this individual has a medical need for a “Service Dog”.
A Veterinarian's signed statement that your service dog is not considered to be vicious or in any way a threat to the general public.
Proof of the shots and vaccinations, etc. that are required to keep the dog in good health.
Simply click on the link below, follow the prompts, and submit the completed forms to us with your payment of $49.95 + 1.50 S/H. Your custom created ID Card Package will be sent out within three (3) business days.
Why is this a problem? The answer lies in what is NOT required in the list above. The training required for a dog to meet the exceptionally high standards essential for dogs working in public places.
A fully trained assistance dog trained through an accredited training program has spent up to three years of increasingly complex training and passed a series of public access tests before they are matched with a partner. They are taught a level of attention skills that are critical to tuning out the sights, smells, and sounds that would distract a family pet or even a dog that had completed basic obedience classes. In addition to phenomenal attention skills, the dogs are taught a wide variety of skills that meet their human partner's every day needs, but also just as important, skills that keep their human partner, themselves, and the general public safe. Once placed with their partners, the dog and their partner are required to retake the public access tests at pre-determined intervals to ensure both dog and partner continue to meet the highest standard of public partnership.
The general public has enough trouble understanding what the access laws allow. Our graduates are challenged too often when they work with their dogs in the ordinary course of their everyday lives. And so, with my arms laden with boxes, having waited a painful amount of time for that elevator, I spent several more minutes explaining to the student who remarked to her friend upon disembarking from the elevator, "oh sweet, a service dog. My boyfriend just bought a pack on line for his puppy and now he can take the puppy with him everywhere" why that statement not only wasn't true, but how harmful that perception could be to those who require these invaluable dogs and have waited and worked hard to meet and complete the highest standards of accredited assistance dog programs.
With any luck, our conversation will be the one lesson she and her friend will retain and pass on to their friends and fellow students. And they didn't even have to hit up their parents to pay for it.
There's a reason why puppies are so adorable. Our foster homes are discovering that reason as they struggle with the lack of sleep, the mess, and the expense of pups with intestinal issues.
For some reason, there's always a stage with just about every pup where food just starts to go right through them. Whether it has to do with the fact that dogs in general (and retrievers in particular) have rather indiscriminate tastes and will eat almost anything they can swallow, just part of the maturation of their immune systems or something else entirely is hard to say. It just is. And "it" is a mess.
I wish I could do more to help other than meager words (CAUTION: This advice is not meant to counter anything your vet tells you to do), but for what it's worth...
Make buckets of white rice - store it in single serving portions in the freezer;
Keep cans of pumpkin (not pie pumpkin - just pumpkin) in your cupboard and mix with the rice. My vet recommended this as a natural form of fiber. I can't promise it will work for what ails all dogs, but it works well with my dogs. Better yet, it's cheap and it can't hurt them;
The solution to pollution is dilution. Buy the best hose sprayer you can find and flush each poo puddle immediately;
Buy a bag of barn lime at Fleet Farm and treat your yard. It won't hurt your pets, it's a great natural fertilizer, and it will actually kill giardia - a bug that often causes doggie di-di, but is also hard to culture from stool samples.
Keep your dog as far as possible from lakes, ponds, golf courses or other goose poop collection sites (see above about indiscriminate tastes). Goose poop is laden with giardia.
Finally, find ways to laugh at it. It won't stop the flow, but it does help to cope. Check out this link to see what helped me get through it with my second dog.
For those of you that love puppy fixes, there are some awesome blogs recently begun by foster homes from the newest litter to begin their training for Helping Paws.
Pawl's Paws - About Dempsey, the bruiser of the bunch (size wise that is). Check out the video of this little one already "getting dressed" in his pack!
(Dempsey's photo used by permission)
Four Paws To Serve - The story of a service dog named Izzo. This little one is already melting hearts in her new hometown. (Izzo's photo used by permission)
In addition to the great pictures, videos and stories in these blogs is the fact that each foster home has a unique perspective; Dempsey is fostered by a first time foster home, Izzo's foster parents are a first time foster home but are also the parents of one of our Helping Paws graduate pairs, and finally, Boston is the third dog trained and fostered for Helping Paws by one of our most dedicated volunteers and a board member to boot.
Each blog is wonderful. I know from experience how encouraging the on-line community can be in supporting our foster homes in their quest. Your comments and fellowship will mean the world to them as they tell their stories over the next few years.
In an e-mail this week, our HP instructor for the Monday class gave an excellent explanation of the difference between click and treat and luring the puppy to perform a certain cue. Her point was primarily that treats as a lure are short-term solution that ultimately inhibits our long term goal of encouraging our dogs to offer behaviors to solve problems to earn their reward. In short, to learn how to learn.
Those of you that have read my previous posts know that this topic is near and dear to my heart as well - particularly as it translates to raising our human children. Yesterday's op-ed piece on raising our collective I.Q.'s by Pulitzer Prize winning editorialist, Nicholas D. Kristof illustrates the applicability of the Helping Paws method for all - human or other. Mr. Kristof summarizes the research of Professor Nisbett on how to raise how collective I.Q.'s as follows:
Professor Nisbett provides suggestions for transforming your own urchins into geniuses — praise effort more than achievement, teach delayed gratification, limit reprimands and use praise to stimulate curiosity — but focuses on how to raise America’s collective I.Q. That’s important, because while I.Q. doesn’t measure pure intellect — we’re not certain exactly what it does measure — differences do matter, and a higher I.Q. correlates to greater success in life.
I do disagree with Kristof's conclusion that more intensive early-childhood education programs are the answer as long as the focus of that intent remains on the child. To be truly successful, the intensive education must be directed on the most important teacher any child will ever have - its' parent.
Belle and I are pleased to announce that Belle successfully completed her public access test yesterday. The test was held at Southdale Mall and is intended to "ensure that dogs who have public access are stable, well-behaved, and unobtrusive to the public". This test is a requirement for all service dogs placed by Helping Paws dogs regardless of whether they are placed with a client or are part of a demonstration team. Belle and I thank all the Helping Paws examiners and volunteers who participated in yesterday's test.
A friend of mine sent me a link about the life of a woman, Pagey Elliott who meant the world to the world of golden retriever lovers. She died recently at the age of 96.
She is credited with being one of the first to bring golden retrievers to the U.S. She bred them - raising 50 litters over the course of her lifetime. But more importantly, she was a mentor and an educator for breeders all over the world. Her work is reflected in the breeding program at Helping Paws.
We can all take a page from Pagey's life. What it means to love and learn and share what's been learned with all that are willing to listen. To find what we are passionate about and to give ourselves up to the quest of giving back or passing on the great knowledge we accumulate as a result of our curiosity. Her golden years are over now, but they will continue to gleam in hearts and minds and coats of those she leaves behind.
"A few proviso's, quid pro quo's,...." Genie, Aladdin - 1994
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly those of the blog author. The contents of this blog have not been reviewed or approved by Helping Paws, Inc.
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