New video Featuring Tanner and Me

I thought you, my dear readers, would this video featuring Tanner and I.
 

News: Health Watch: Service Dogs

Really well done story! Watch these dogs work and the variety of people interviewed!

Commentary: Through the Eyes of a Dog

Watch the video on PBS.org

I finally got a chance to watch this PBS Documentary, Though a Dog's Eyes (Watch the video on PBS.org.)This documentary really shows the team training and placement process that people applying to Canine Assistants in Atlanta, GA.

Any person, especially parents of young children, need to pay particular attention to the last 20 minutes of the video when one partnership a Aiden fails, and Chase and Conner's mom notes that "it is like having two more kids to take care of " and how difficult it is to find the time and energy to work with her children and the dogs.
Things to keep in mind if you are trying to decide if a service dog is an option for you or someone you love:

1. The way the dogs are raised and trained varies from program to program. This program does not use puppy raisers.

2. There is never a guarantee that there is a dog for you this time. The emphasis on the bond is something that you will hear time and time again.  It does happen that people will go home from team training without a dog and that matches after going how don't out .A person wanting to partner with a dog really has to put themselves out there emotionally and realize there is chance that it won't work this time.

3. Not all programs wait until team training to do a dog match. For instance, Summit, where I got matched with Shiloh, does what they call assessment visits where they pair clients with different dogs (each dog is at a different place in training) and the trainers ask questions about what the client likes, dislikes, and needs from each different dog. All the while they are making note of every thing from the way the client moves,interacts with each dog,and how each dog interacts with them.

4. Having other children and the difficulties that presents.

5. It is not uncommon for dogs placed with really young children to prefer to bond with the adult in the environment. It only makes sense from the dog's point of view because the adult is the person who really takes care of everything and knows what is going on.

6.Those first few nights in team training alone with your dog are great, confusing, tiring, and exciting because everyone is out of their element. I remember Shiloh and I coming back from out third day of team training and both sacking out a 3 o'clock in the  afternoon!

7.You must continue to work with your dog and be patient when you return home for them  to find their bearings,get comfortable and get up to speed.  

Commentary: Disagreement Over Service Dog

I saw this story today Disagreement Over Service Dogs and was so stuck by how uninformed the handler seemed to be about what the laws does and does not say about a person with disabilities right to be accompanied by a service dog that I would like to point out and discuss them one by one.

"During lunch one of the dogs started barking.  "He let out a big woof cause he had to go out and go potty," said Jonathan.  "The manager at that point came over and told us that we had to leave because Marriott had a no pet policy and it was disturbing the guests.  Buddy kind of looked at him and went grrrr."

First off, having your dog bark in public is disruptive. There are other more appropriate ways for handlers to communicate with their service dogs. If the dog barked to go out, why wasn't the handler on his way out the door before the manager even got to him. Why did the handler feel is was okay for the dog to "grrr" (which I took to mean growl at the manager? The DOJ Business Brief states:

"A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the animal is out of control and the animal's owner does not take effective action to control it (for example, a dog that barks repeatedly during a movie) or (2) the animal poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others." ( ADA Business BRIEF: Service Animals)

If this dog was having an off day, as can happen from time to time, why didn't the handler take the dog out to the car. As responsible partners of service dogs we need to recognize when our partners are overloaded, tired, bored, hungry, thirsty, or just feeling out of sorts and take steps to address each and every possible issue that may be causing our partners to behave in a fashion inappropriate for a service dog. A hotel lobby or restaurant is simply not an environment where a handler can afford to test the ignore it until they stop on their own training principle.

Secondly, having an ID card, vest, back pack, obvious disability or anything else to support that a person's claim a dog is a service dog as defined by the ADA (Service animal means any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling awheelchair, or fetching dropped items.) does not mean the dog can behave however it will with no repercussions for the handler. Service dog teams working in public do have rights and with those rights come the responsibility to ensure that while you are exercising your rights, you are also aware of where your rights end and those of others including business owners begin. See the Minimum Standards for Assistance Dogs in Public. 

As someone who has been working dogs in public for over 10 years, I know it is possibly for even the best dog to have an off day. The best way to handle these occasional slip ups is to apologize and engage the dog's training to get them back in line. If you can't quickly get your service dog under control or if the nature of the problem is such that the dog is creating a disturbance or mess, you should leave in all do speed (all the while apologizing and expressing concern for the situation and your dog). If the dog is ill and you need to go out, handlers should alert staff and inform them of their intent to return and clean it up as soon as they get their dog out. Even people who may need help cleaning up can carry  the necessary tools for a quick clean up. Lodging a complaint because someone calls you on a dog's misbehavior is not the way to go.

We met Temple Grandin last night!

Yesterday was a whirlwind day for Shiloh and me (though Tuesdays usually are since I work two jobs on Tuesday). After working from 9-7:30pm I drove back to the University of Oregon to hear Dr. Temple Grandin present "My Experiences with Autism and Animals"
The University was woefully mistaken on how many people in the Eugene Community would turn out to hear such and influential speaker, they ended up needing two overflow rooms where people watch via video feed. The only reason I got in the main room with getting there late was due the fact I had my own chair! (sometimes it is an advantage)
Dr. Grandin is known for her work in improving conditions and treatment of  live stock such as cows and pigs. Her genuine compassion for and insistence on the humane treatment of animals comes from her unique ability to "think in pictures" and see things from the animals point of view. Her latest book is Animals Make Us Human, which I am in the process of reading and will post a review soon. My take home points from last nights discussion (that I will embed video of as soon as the university posts it) were:

• Animals do indeed have feelings- there is research to support this. example prozac works on dogs the same way it does for humans
• You need to find out what is motivating an animal to do what it is doing before you can accurately assess and solve the problem
• Animals can be trained for just about any situation, but just because and animals is habituation to one thing doesn't mean something humans may view as less threatening will be perceived that way by the animal

I was also lucky enough to get to met Dr. Grandin for a second and get my book autographed!
Please enjoy a clip from the new HBO movie about Dr. Grandin and know she is very pleased with how her life is represented within it.

Trailer