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Service Dog

He’s Back!

Talos_head_lipsJust for a short visit, but Talos is back nonetheless. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, I was giddy with anticipation. The first night he was here, I couldn't get to sleep because I couldn't stop smiling. 

He's here while his partner has surgery at Johns Hopkins. While he's here, we're also going to work on cleaning up a few behaviors that have just started to deteriorate: his "get it" behavior is slipping, and he reportedly is quite noisy sometimes when Kathy leaves him in a down-stay. 

We've been working on those behaviors both at home and out in public — yesterday he attended a meeting with me and I'm proud to report that those who didn't see him weren't even aware a dog was in the same room! Yay T!

Today we were at a taping of Chamber TV in Frederick and he was quiet as a church mouse — even through the applause! He kept his chin (and drool) off the buffet table and out of my plate of (very delicious) lunch. 

We're heading to the hospital tomorrow so Talos and Kathy can visit — and maybe even get her up and walking, we'll see — so another full day ahead for the Big Lug.

For us as puppyraisers, there's nothing more satisfying than having the chance to spend some time with the puppy we raised. Talos was but a wee pup when we brought him into our home Memorial Day weekend 2009. Now at 2 1/2 years old, he's filled out, he's working beautifully, and he and Kathy are genuinely happy together. Makes my heart happy.

We'll enjoy Talos all the way til Thanksgiving Eve, when he and Kathy will head back home together. It's only a short visit, but man-o-man, does it make me happy! 

Caysun will be back with us on Tuesday, meaning she'll have the chance to spend a day (and night) with Talos. I'm looking forward to seeing her reaction to the very large, very tall, very playful Talos!

Caysun: Under the Knife

IMG_6337As I write this, our little Caysun is undergoing JPS surgery and getting spayed at the same time. What is JPS? Here's how a vet explains it: 

Juvenile pubic symphysiodesis (JPS) surgery is a prophylactic procedure performed in puppies 10 to 20 weeks of age that have been diagnosed with hip dysplasia.

That's a fancy way of saying it's an operation that should help Caysun avoid hip dysplasia later in life. When she had her hips evaluated a few weeks ago, her "score" was not great. Not terrible, though, which makes her a great candidate for this JPS surgery. As I was researching JPS surgery, I found a great website that explains PennHIP and JPS clearly for us regular folks (meaning: those of us without a DVM behind our name). 

Because hip dysplasia can be passed onto future generations, spaying (or neutering) is strongly encouraged at the same time as the JPS surgery. So while Caysun's under anasthesia for the JPS surgery, they'll go ahead and spay her as well. No need for more dogs with dysplasia! Especially service dogs who need to be as healthy for as long as possible. 

Service Dogs of Virginia is having the surgery done in Roanoke, VA. I dropped Caysun off with SDV last Saturday — I won't know any details about how she's doing until I get a call from SDV. Keep your fingers crossed for an easy and uncomplicated day for little Caysun. I'm hoping to pick her up and bring her back home from SDV on Sunday.

Transitions

Roo - head shotWe've been raising service dogs since 2001. That handsome dog on the left is the very first dog we raised: Rocky. He died earlier this year, sadly. He was loved by two families: ours and the family who needed him as a service dog. It was quite a life. 

We turned Ike in yesterday to Hero Dogs. He's now onto the second leg of his journey in becoming a service dog. He'll stay with Hero Dogs for another six months or so, receiving advanced training, then he'll go onto be paired with a service man or woman who needs Ike's assistance. 

At each turn-in, I think a lot about the dog, naturally. I wonder if we're doing right by the dogs. They didn't sign up to become service dogs. They don't know that when we leave them at the agency, their life changes immediately. It's not like we tell them as puppies "This is just temporary. Don't get used to it. There are big changes for you, buddy."

My husband tried to console me with the thought that NO DOG chooses his home, his people, his environment. Neither do horses. Or cows. Or any animal, really. And he's right. Of course he's right. Transitions are just tough, no matter how you frame them. 

It's a grand job, really, being a service dog. I think it's a much better life than the average pet dog has, to be honest. The service dog has a purpose. He's mentally stimulated every single day. He's more than loved, he's needed. He gets to go everywhere with his person. And that's pretty darn cool. 

But of course, I'm a little melancholy around turn-in time. It makes me want to invent a way to communicate with Caysun so I can tell her that we've got big things planned for her. That in another year, she, too, will move on from our house (and from our dogs) to a brand new life. 

But because I will fail in my quest to invent a new dog-human communication device, I will simply raise Caysun the best I can: give her lots of love, teach her to be flexible, and to enjoy change. 


IMG_6002Ike (left) excels at flexibility. That dog is happy anywhere there are people. Or dogs. Or birds. Or wind. Or food. Or…whatever. He'll be happy wherever he lands, as long as there's a friendly hand to pet him. 

We bid Ike farewell yesterday. We'll see him again – we've been invited to stop by Hero Dogs whenever we need an "Ikey fix." Which makes us feel good and soothes the sting of turn-in just a little bit. 

Like every other service dog we've raised, seeing Ike with his new partner will be the medicine that will cure this melancholy. Rock on, Ikey! We'll see you soon, Boggy Doggy!

Ike Goes to College

IMG_6400Sunday is turn-in day for Ikey. It's a day with mixed feelings. We're awfully proud of Ike and his accomplishments thus far – he's a smart boy with lots of potential. It can be a bummer of a day – we're losing Ikey! Life with Ikey as we know it will be over. Even when (if) he can visit us after he's paired with his person, it's never the same. He'll be a visitor, he'll be someone else's dog. 

Which is ok, of course. It's what we signed up for, isn't it? 

This turn-in will be a little different, though, as my husband will be the one missing Ikey the most. I like Ike, for sure. But my husband found something extra in Ike. I found Ike to be, more often than not, annoying. This dog is 200% Labrador. He's 0-60 in 0.03 seconds. There's no in-between for Ike. If something's going on, he's not just in the middle of it, he's instigating it. 

When the dogs line up at the door to go outside, Ike pushes his way to the front. There could be a dragon in the backyard, but by god, Ike's going to get out there and get eaten first.

It took Ike forever to learn that Tango's tennis ball was Tango's. Ike was free to get any other tennis ball anywhere in the house or in the yard, as long as it wasn't the one Tango was playing with. If Tango had it, Ike wanted it. Ike would body-slam Tango, hard, when going for the ball. Ike doesn't do things halfway, even chasing a tennis ball. He was going to be first to get it, no matter if he had to push the polite senior dog outta the way to do it. The dog drove me a little crazy, I'm not afraid to admit. 

The most egregious lapse of dog-dog manners happened earlier this week. The UPS truck was in the driveway and all the dogs were at the door, waiting for me to let them out. The UPS guy always tosses dog treats over the fence if he sees the dogs, therefore, everyone's in a hurry to get out. I let them out and, of course, Ike's leading the group. In his excitement, he jumps on Lily, our almost 11-year old little black Labrador, and I hear her cry out. I jumped out onto the porch to find Lily upside down with Ike using her belly as traction to get to the fence faster. I shouted his name and the look he had on his face as I caught him mid-stride showed nothing but "Yahoo!" Not cool, Ike, not cool at all. 

He's been a terrific puppy sitter, playmate, and raiser for little Caysun, though. As much as he's annoyed me with my other dogs, he's been a complete gem with her. He allows her to abuse him to the same degree that he abuses the older dogs here in the house. It's really quite charming as he self-handicaps and lets her beat him most of the time. 

One more dog will be on his way to greatness tomorrow. This time it's Ike. His transition will be an easy one, I think, as Ike gets along anywhere with anyone at anytime. He doesn't know what the word "stranger" means. 

Yes, even though he annoys me sometimes, there will probably be tears at turn-in. It's not really  the end of an era, but it feels like it everytime we turn another dog in. 

Ike Goes to College

IMG_6400Sunday is turn-in day for Ikey. It's a day with mixed feelings. We're awfully proud of Ike and his accomplishments thus far – he's a smart boy with lots of potential. It can be a bummer of a day – we're losing Ikey! Life with Ikey as we know it will be over. Even when (if) he can visit us after he's paired with his person, it's never the same. He'll be a visitor, he'll be someone else's dog. 

Which is ok, of course. It's what we signed up for, isn't it? 

This turn-in will be a little different, though, as my husband will be the one missing Ikey the most. I like Ike, for sure. But my husband found something extra in Ike. I found Ike to be, more often than not, annoying. This dog is 200% Labrador. He's 0-60 in 0.03 seconds. There's no in-between for Ike. If something's going on, he's not just in the middle of it, he's instigating it. 

When the dogs line up at the door to go outside, Ike pushes his way to the front. There could be a dragon in the backyard, but by god, Ike's going to get out there and get eaten first.

It took Ike forever to learn that Tango's tennis ball was Tango's. Ike was free to get any other tennis ball anywhere in the house or in the yard, as long as it wasn't the one Tango was playing with. If Tango had it, Ike wanted it. Ike would body-slam Tango, hard, when going for the ball. Ike doesn't do things halfway, even chasing a tennis ball. He was going to be first to get it, no matter if he had to push the polite senior dog outta the way to do it. The dog drove me a little crazy, I'm not afraid to admit. 

The most egregious lapse of dog-dog manners happened earlier this week. The UPS truck was in the driveway and all the dogs were at the door, waiting for me to let them out. The UPS guy always tosses dog treats over the fence if he sees the dogs, therefore, everyone's in a hurry to get out. I let them out and, of course, Ike's leading the group. In his excitement, he jumps on Lily, our almost 11-year old little black Labrador, and I hear her cry out. I jumped out onto the porch to find Lily upside down with Ike using her belly as traction to get to the fence faster. I shouted his name and the look he had on his face as I caught him mid-stride showed nothing but "Yahoo!" Not cool, Ike, not cool at all. 

He's been a terrific puppy sitter, playmate, and raiser for little Caysun, though. As much as he's annoyed me with my other dogs, he's been a complete gem with her. He allows her to abuse him to the same degree that he abuses the older dogs here in the house. It's really quite charming as he self-handicaps and lets her beat him most of the time. 

One more dog will be on his way to greatness tomorrow. This time it's Ike. His transition will be an easy one, I think, as Ike gets along anywhere with anyone at anytime. He doesn't know what the word "stranger" means. 

Yes, even though he annoys me sometimes, there will probably be tears at turn-in. It's not really  the end of an era, but it feels like it everytime we turn another dog in. 

Caysun-less

IMG_6537I just spent 6+ hours on the road (round trip to Charlottesville, VA) to drop my little Caysun off at Service Dogs of Virginia.

Let me rephrase that: …to drop Service Dogs of Virginia's (SDV) Caysun off… She's not my puppy, she's not my puppy, she's not my puppy, she's not….

Oh, it's tough. She'll only be there for a week. SDV is taking the whole lot of puppies (Caysun, Gorgonzola, Brie, and Colby) to get x-rays of their hips (PennHIP to be exact). It's important that service dogs be healthy — PennHIP can find hip displasia problems early enough to be corrected.

Anyway, we'll be Caysun-less ALL WEEK. I'm not sure I can bear it! This is exactly when I know whether a puppy will be hard to give up. Yes, Caysun will be hard to give up. 

Talos, the Great Dane, was the last service dog I had BIG feelings for. And he was just about impossible to give up. (The same feelings I have for Caysun at 15 weeks, I had for Talos before he even arrived. Yes, it was THAT bad.) I didn't get attached to Teddy, the Golden pup, the pup after Talos, and while I will cry when Ike gets turned in (next weekend!) I'll be ok. 

Oooh, but Caysun? Hmmm…I think she's going to be trouble. In more ways than one. ;) 

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