Rolo recently had his first two trips out. His first outing was to Short Pump Towne Center in the West End of Richmond, Va. He was absolutely great and took everything in his stride. He went into a few stores and behaved like a true gentleman. After that we went to Barnes and Noble, we have had some issues with them in the past but never this particular location. He did GREAT!! There is something about books that Hamiltonstovare just love, and I mean love to destroy. So taking either Alice and Rolo to a book store was a challenge.
Rolo has been known to carry around random books around the house. Alice is worse and has destroyed at least 10 books by shredding them into tiny little pieces. Rolo dealt with the temptation very well and just laid down. He is still learning some of the fine tuning tricks but he will get there.
The last time he went out was to a dog friendly mall called Stony Point Fashion Park. Rolo has been to Stony Point numerous times but never in a service dog harness. He was very distracted by all of the other dog smells and had to be corrected several times for pulling. Hamiltonstovare are a scent hound so making sure to guide the nose away from interesting smells is always going to be a challenge.
Our main mission that day was to work on his control and dealing with distractions. He still needs work on that. The first place we went to (after Three Dog Bakery, of course) was to Pecan Jacks Candy Shop. The owner of the store adores it when service animals come in and Rolo just loved the attention. His weakness is stuffed animals and the store had a few around. So he was extremely distracted by all of the stuffed animals. We then went to Brookstone and I fell in love with a foot massager (clubbies, that is our weakness right ;) ). Rolo was then a perfect gentleman and we had a wonderful discussion with several of the store associates who asked great questions regarding service dogs and what they can do. We even touched on a subject regarding training dogs for other people.
The Hamiltonstovare Club of America will train a service dog for another person, however, we have very strict requirements. The HCA will import the dog, train the dog, and maintain all general health and well-being for the dog while it is in training. If you go through the process with the HCA you agree to go to the trainers home for a minimum of 2 weeks to get to know the dog, learn the commands, and generally get a crash course in what to do and what not to do with a Hamiltonstovare. Any breeder that allows a dog to go into the HCA training program reserves the right to refuse that dog to go to any owner based on dog experience, background/credit check, and lifestyle questions. So even though you are getting a service dog trained by the HCA, it will be owned by the breeder until the breeder agrees to let the dog live with you. That also means that you must adhere to the breeder's ownership contract, including all spay/neuter, breeding and showing requirements. All of those will be mentioned prior to matching dog with owner. The new owner will pay for their trip to the trainer's home but nothing else, unless they wish to donate to the Hamiltonstovare Club of America.
The last thing I wish to mention is a very negative thing that happened to myself and Rolo while we were at Stony Point. We were on our way to a store that makes custom stuffed animals, as I am still on a mission to get him to no respond to distractions. As we were walking that way a patron walked passed me and said the following phrase to his family "She doesn't need that service dog...." To say I was offended is putting is mildly. I get something along these lines every so often, either by random people or by employees in stores. I cannot express how hurtful that is to me for some person to judge another person for no reason. I was born with a congenital deformity that has shaped every aspect of my life. Yes, outwardly I look and act normal, inside I live in chronic pain and fear. My world consists of things that require my feet and things that don't. Unless you do that every day of your life, don't judge me. Unless you weigh the merits of double below the knee amputation and double ankle fusion by the time you are forty, do not judge me. When something like that happens I visualize taking my orthotics out and slapping the person really hard in the face. Is it healthy to do that, probably not, but it is healthier that actually punching ignorant people.
This is the reason why I started blogging, to promote awareness of people who have and need service animals but outwardly they are just normal human beings. Don't judge us and we won't judge you.
With that said, the Hamiltonstovare Club of America is in desperate need of funds to keep the club going so that we may help others and even Hamiltons in need.
Please donate to the HCA!! Hamiltonstovare Club of America Fundraiser
Rolo has been known to carry around random books around the house. Alice is worse and has destroyed at least 10 books by shredding them into tiny little pieces. Rolo dealt with the temptation very well and just laid down. He is still learning some of the fine tuning tricks but he will get there.
The last time he went out was to a dog friendly mall called Stony Point Fashion Park. Rolo has been to Stony Point numerous times but never in a service dog harness. He was very distracted by all of the other dog smells and had to be corrected several times for pulling. Hamiltonstovare are a scent hound so making sure to guide the nose away from interesting smells is always going to be a challenge.
Our main mission that day was to work on his control and dealing with distractions. He still needs work on that. The first place we went to (after Three Dog Bakery, of course) was to Pecan Jacks Candy Shop. The owner of the store adores it when service animals come in and Rolo just loved the attention. His weakness is stuffed animals and the store had a few around. So he was extremely distracted by all of the stuffed animals. We then went to Brookstone and I fell in love with a foot massager (clubbies, that is our weakness right ;) ). Rolo was then a perfect gentleman and we had a wonderful discussion with several of the store associates who asked great questions regarding service dogs and what they can do. We even touched on a subject regarding training dogs for other people.
The Hamiltonstovare Club of America will train a service dog for another person, however, we have very strict requirements. The HCA will import the dog, train the dog, and maintain all general health and well-being for the dog while it is in training. If you go through the process with the HCA you agree to go to the trainers home for a minimum of 2 weeks to get to know the dog, learn the commands, and generally get a crash course in what to do and what not to do with a Hamiltonstovare. Any breeder that allows a dog to go into the HCA training program reserves the right to refuse that dog to go to any owner based on dog experience, background/credit check, and lifestyle questions. So even though you are getting a service dog trained by the HCA, it will be owned by the breeder until the breeder agrees to let the dog live with you. That also means that you must adhere to the breeder's ownership contract, including all spay/neuter, breeding and showing requirements. All of those will be mentioned prior to matching dog with owner. The new owner will pay for their trip to the trainer's home but nothing else, unless they wish to donate to the Hamiltonstovare Club of America.
The last thing I wish to mention is a very negative thing that happened to myself and Rolo while we were at Stony Point. We were on our way to a store that makes custom stuffed animals, as I am still on a mission to get him to no respond to distractions. As we were walking that way a patron walked passed me and said the following phrase to his family "She doesn't need that service dog...." To say I was offended is putting is mildly. I get something along these lines every so often, either by random people or by employees in stores. I cannot express how hurtful that is to me for some person to judge another person for no reason. I was born with a congenital deformity that has shaped every aspect of my life. Yes, outwardly I look and act normal, inside I live in chronic pain and fear. My world consists of things that require my feet and things that don't. Unless you do that every day of your life, don't judge me. Unless you weigh the merits of double below the knee amputation and double ankle fusion by the time you are forty, do not judge me. When something like that happens I visualize taking my orthotics out and slapping the person really hard in the face. Is it healthy to do that, probably not, but it is healthier that actually punching ignorant people.
This is the reason why I started blogging, to promote awareness of people who have and need service animals but outwardly they are just normal human beings. Don't judge us and we won't judge you.
With that said, the Hamiltonstovare Club of America is in desperate need of funds to keep the club going so that we may help others and even Hamiltons in need.
Please donate to the HCA!! Hamiltonstovare Club of America Fundraiser
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