Time to go to school, Rolo!!

As I mentioned earlier, Rolo has started his training for service work and his CGC title. The more I think about Rolo, the more excited I get about him. In less than 10 training sessions he has learned how to sit, down, stay, come and accept grooming while sitting. For such a young dog, it is just amazing. He has progressed so well that I am even starting some service dog training with him.

The biggest challenge that any training regime for a service dog is to keep it light and keep it fun. For him I am working in stages. His first stage is to come if I fall. I know that it may sound incredibly silly but it can be absolutely life saving both for him and for me. Say in this scenario that I trip and fall on a simple walk along a busy road. If I drop the leash I don't want him darting out into traffic, I want him by my side to help me if I need it. This is where the right breed choice will help. Hamiltonstovare are naturally more sensitive to their owners. I have never not heard of a Hamilton that did not have almost a sixth sense about them. So Rolo naturally has this nearly down. If I simulate a fall, he is there at my side without any hesitation.

The next issue is pressing on him. He is a trained show dog but he is a young dog. So he knows how to stand still but his patience for staying still isn't very high. Right now, I am taking things very slow with him regarding pressing on him and using him to help me off the ground. He has good days and he has bad days. On his good days, he will let me press up on him with very little fidgeting. On his bad days, he fidgets, looks and generally acts confused. On days like this, I really have to take it very slow and break it down. Once I do that, he is fine.

I am trying to figure out when a good first trip out for him would be. I don't want to stress him out by going to a place with food so maybe just a simple walk around the mall might be more his speed.

More to come with him and I will keep everybody updated.

Also, please stay tuned as the Hamiltonstovare Club of America will be holding another fundraiser very soon. The HCA needs help in raising funds to promote this amazing breed as well as training future Hamiltonstovare service dogs. 

Starting a new dog!!

That most difficult of moments has begun, time to phase Alice out temporarily and start working with Rolo. Alice will be on mummy duty hopefully late this year so she will not be able to help me.

Rolo is a very young dog and has just turned two years old. He still has a lot of puppy energy in him and that is always a struggle as his patience is extremely low. The issue with many balance dogs is that full training for a lot of the balance work cannot safely begin until the dog has reached full maturity. With Hamiltonstovare, they are a very slow maturing breed both physically and mentally. Rolo has finally reached that stage when he is physically able to handle the pressure and physical constraints that will be asked of him. He is not ready at all for the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test by a long-shot so the work for him will begin this week for his CGC.

The CGC is a multi-step test that consists of 10 tests and the dog must pass ALL of the test, just one failed test and they fail the entire CGC test. As a show dog he will be fine with several of the tests right off the bat, like accepting petting, greeting a stranger dog, walking in a crowd, reacting to a loud noise, and the 2 minute separation. His areas that he will struggle at are sit, sit and accept grooming, down, the 10 foot sit, stay, come.

With any new training learning the basics are always the best place to start. So our first thing is to teach him to sit, stay and down. At that time is when I will also start training him on standing still as I press on his shoulders and gradually apply body weight to push off of him.

I am really hoping that his training will focus his energy a bit more and make him more of an adult dog and less of a 70+ lbs lap dog/puppy.

Here's hoping I will have good new to report soon regarding his training. He is a true joy to live with most of the time and I hope he makes the transition into a service dog easily. He has already proven himself quite well in the show ring by quickly earning his UKC Champtionship and needs just one more successful pull for his UKC Weight Pull title. 

Food glorious Food!!!

I completely forgot to post about a HUGE milestone!!! Alice has gone to restaurants now!! Taking a scent hound to any place where food is served is a huge risk. Hamiltonstovare are highly food driven and if it is food, they want it and will try to find a way to eat it.

First when taking a service dog to a place with food, make sure to call first and make sure it is ok. Our first location was to Noodles and Company. Alice was amazing and I couldn't ask for anything better. We walked in after a long day of shopping and she did great. She laid down under the table and went to sleep. For a service dog, that's is exactly what you want.

Our next trip was to Red Robin, the phone call was the hardest part, the hostess didn't have a clue what I meant by "service dog". Finally after passing the phone around we got approval to come in. Alice was a bit unsure as she had to step up into the booth and she though that meant to hop right in the booth. After she was corrected she decided to play peak-a-boo with the waiters. After that she settled down and was just fine. She was so perfect that I think she freaked out a few patrons when we left.

Our most recent trip was to a new place called Uptown Alley. Alice was great, we were upstairs and then she just got to look down on people. For a Diva-Hound this was heaven. She lounged around and was perfect as usual.

For service dog owners/handlers please do not EVER feed your dog while at a restaurant. If your dog is working then it should not do any sort of pet behavior so slipping food is not a working behavior.

Our next visit will be to Cinebistro, so Dinner and a Movie!! 

More adventures

It has been a while since I posted and for that I am sorry. Alice and I have had many adventures around town. Several have been great and some not so great.

I do have bit of advise for parents that see a service dog. Do not allow your child to randomly come up to a service dog, smack them on the head and run away. This is the most common issue I have everywhere. There are many kinds of service dogs and those that are alert dogs could be seriously affected by that distraction. If you wish to pet, please ask us. Depending on the situation or if Alice has alerted recently, I will either say yes or no. Most of the time I will say yes.

I do have to give great praise to the Girl Scout Troops around the Richmond Metro area!! We had Alice out and you guys were GREAT! You guys asked politely and behaved in a manner befitting of nice future women in America. Each Girl Scout troop I encountered from the Daisies to Brownies to Juniors all asked to pet and then asked incredibly good questions. One Junior troop asked me this "What would you do without her in your life?" Whoa! Way to bring me nearly to tears girls. That is such a huge question that I could not give it the appropriate attention that it deserves.

If Alice was not a service dog for me then my visits to get my grocery shopping done would be filled with pain, pressure and anxiety if my feet would hold out. If I didn't have Alice as my service dog then my world would be very small and limited to 2 hours away from home. If I didn't have Alice then I really would not feel half as independent as I do now. Even when I am home, it is so comforting to know that if I fall, or if I need her help she will be there.

I also have an AMAZING announcement to make!!! Alice and I will be featured in the May issue of Sight and Scent Magazine for her service work. I will post more when it is published.

End of the Show Season

Well it is nearing the end of the year. For most people that means holidays, shopping, festival music and tv specials. Not for me, oh no. this time of year is the end of my dog show season.

Rolo had his debut just a few weeks ago. He did what I didn't even think he would do, his first time out he won a Reserve Best in Show. I guess he wants to live up to his housemate's reputation. Alice's first time out just won a Reserve Best in Show as well. Alice then beat him in the breed ring in the second show, which is fine with me.

We are now perparing for the last set of shows in Courtland, Va. Rolo will be entered in all 6 shows but Alice will only be shown twice then do two runs of lure coursing. Our goal is to have Rolo finish his title and to have Alice finish her lure coursing title and finish the year as the top Hamilton in the country.

In terms of my feet, shows are hard on my feet. I am glad that the formality of what I have to wear only applies to everything but my shoes. If I couldn't wear my shoes and my insoles then I probably wouldn't still be showing. So we are all prepping with training, packing and getting everything ready for next weekend.

The excitement between Michael and I is almost tangible and it makes the dogs quite hyper. So if the plan works then we might just have the first two Hamiltons invited to the UKC Premier show and Top Ten competition.

So I need to find my newest thing to help with my feet, the kitten likes to steal them. My mother bought me an ankle brace. I already had one so now I have one for each foot. Clubbies need to have a lot of ankle support as our ligaments and tendons are weaker than most people. My biggest issue in grinding ankle pain. Thankfully the braces worked quite well which is a godsend.

In regards to the previous post about the store involved, the issue is still ongoing and has not been dealt with. So I hope to deal with it soon.

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.

SHOPPING and politics

First I wish those affected by Hurricane Sandy all the best in their recovery. We had a lucky run in with Hurricane Sandy. We got a lot of much needed rain, hardly any wind and a very brief power outage (it did have terrible timing as I was in the shower) but other than that everything was business as usual.

As America nears a big presidential election next week I do wish to mention politics briefly. I am a democrat and will be voting a completely democratic ticket, with that said, if you do not wish to read about my political beliefs please skip to the next paragraph. The reason for that decision is I truly believe that regulated healthcare is the way to go. As someone with a preexisting condition, I am very grateful for the fact that I do not have to worry about not being eligible for coverage if I have to resort to health insurance outside of my employer. No law is perfect, and it does not stop the health insurance companies from jacking up the premiums for your preexisting condition. Is that right? No but health insurance is a business. If somebody has type 2 diabetes then it will cost the insurance company much more than somebody without. I get it, but for certain cases I do wish that was not the case. I wish that is was illegal for insurance companies to jack up premiums for congenital conditions no matter what the age of the insured. I am also voting democrat because I truly believe that no government has the right to take away anybody's basic rights for any reason. I firmly believe in a separation of church and state. Religion has no place in politics or government, if your faith dictates your social beliefs, that's fine but do not assume that those beliefs are best for everybody in a country. When the founding fathers created the United States they wished for it to be a country of enlightenment that promotes education, equality, and progression. They created a government that would not be like England in the 1700's where the church was controlled by the state, where there was taxation without representation, and where it seemed like small minded people were dragging the country down. Thankfully, modern England is not like that. The United States currently may try and turn toward 1700's England if they aren't careful. I also am a fan of a socialist democracy, it works, it really does. Look at Germany, yes they have high taxes but it is a fair tax rate where you get health care, higher education, wonderful infrastructure, amazing unemployment and medical leave (including 3 year maternity leave and 1 year paternity leave) all paid for with those taxes. I think that people truly concerned about having a free and enlightened society only have one choice in this election and it is a straight democratic ticket the whole way.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program, I hope everybody had a great Halloween and if you have children that they didn't drive you too crazy with sugar highs and such. Last night we ventured to our local dog friendly mall, Stony Point Fashion Park, both Alice and Rolo loved their Halloween treats at Three Dog Bakery. Rolo is slowly but surely learning how to behave. Every so often I see the potential there to be a good service dog for me when Alice retires. I do have a little story to tell about a visit just the day before at a very un-dog friendly mall, Chesterfield Towne Center. It is a strict service dog only mall, which is fine. Alice was in full harness and ready for anything. We went into one of my favorite stores first, and what a nightmare. We were followed by an associate (turned out to be the General Manager), then were whispered about and gawked at by the same associate and another associate (turns out to be the Assistant Manager). Then when I called the store to complain, the manager denied the whole thing, did not apologize or anything. I am not saying the store as there is currently a pending issue going on with their corporate office. So it is being dealt with. On a much brighter note we went to numerous other stores where Alice and I were welcomed with open arms, which was wonderful.

To all store owners, managers, associates, etc here is what you should do with a service dog team in your store:
1. Ignore them and treat them like any other customer
2. If you are curious, ask questions to the service dog team
3. Ask to pet
4. Allow us to continue on our way

Here is what you should not do and why:
1. NEVER follow us unless we give you a reason to suspect anything suspicious
- following is very distracting to some dogs and especially the handler
2. Don't stare
- some dogs think it is a threat and may become cautious thus effecting their job
3. Don't whisper
- some ESA (Emotional Support Animal) teams could react badly, especially PTSD
4. Ask as little medical questions as possible
- you wouldn't want people asking about your personal medical information so don't ask us, some service dogs have a specific ID that gives all the information you need, ask for that instead

For those of you who have already donated to the HCA Service Dog Fundraiser, I thank you. If you have not, please do. The HCA is dedicated to helping service dog teams with training and all costs of obtaining a service dog, so every little bit helps. Thanks,


 

Grocery shopping!!

Saturday was grocery shopping day. Alice was on duty as doing full grocery shopping session are very hard on my feet and ankles. Michael was head cart pusher while Alice and I grabbed stuff off the shelves.

I live in a small town outside of Richmond and I must admit that my town is very progressive in terms of service dogs. The grocery store I go to is great. We got some curious kids and people but nothing too bad. It also helps that Alice has that "country girl" look to her being a hound. It is always nice to have a roughest of back-woods type just beam at Alice.

I usually get asked what Alice does to help me and the first answer I have is shopping. The physical act of squatting down to a low shelf is incredibly painful and borderline dangerous to me. Alice gets in front of me and I can push off and balance on her. Her pain notification thing was rather amusing on saturday, we walked in the store and she alerted quickly twice then looked at me with an expression that clearly said "Uh mum, what are you doing? You are already in pain...."

While out the real indicator of her training is how she is on lead, it is nearly dragging the floor. When you train your own service dog that should be your goal. You should be able to be confident that if you drop the lead that your dog will not run, no matter what. I think I can firmly say that except if there is a rabbit nearby but where would I be where I rabbit walks by if it isn't my own yard? Tension on the lead means tension going straight to the dog. If you are nervous about taking your dog out as a service dog then chew some gum or breath mint. Nervousness is transmitted directly from handler to dog from the lead and your breath. Mask it the best way you can. For me it is very important that I am completely at ease as Alice is very in-tune to me. She can sense when I am nervous, stressed, tired, irritated, need cheering up, etc.

Another good piece of advise is work on subtle word commands. Alice knows step, stand, hold, steady, feet, check and head up.

Step - take a step to an indicated place
Stand - stand still in a show stack
Hold - hold in a certain position
Steady - brace and don't move
Feet - lift feet up to a counter
Check - Alice will do a pain check
Head up - lift head off the floor (very important command for scent hounds)

As always if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Also, if you haven't contributed to the HCA's Service Dog Drive please do so, no amount is too small.