Currently, we are having a Yankee Candle fundraiser to help support the ADEPT program. In addition to this, for the next 4 days(!!!) instead of just 40% of the proceeds going to us, 50% of the proceeds will go to the ADEPT program. It would be truly amazing if you could support the program and help to train assistance dogs like Benji, Tory, Coco, Finley, Neeco, Ganther, Sully, and all of the other dogs!
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Happy Thanksgiving from Coco and I! We went to my uncle's house for Thanksgiving and Coco was super cuddly the whole time!
I know, I know, it's hard to read sometimes, especially when a cute dog is just ASKING you to pet them. However, just because they're "asking" for it, doesn't mean that you should do it. These dogs are in TRAINING, this means that they don't know everything that they're supposed to do, even when they are fully trained and placed with clients, they still will ask you to pet them; however, this doesn't mean that you should pet them. It distracts them from their job, which may be life-saving, especially when you're talking about a medical alert dog. These dogs alert their partners to changing body chemistry that they can smell or detect and can help to save their partners lives, however, if you're distracting the dog, the dog can't do it's job and it could have devastating consequences. It also makes it really hard to train the dog because even if someone pets the dog ONCE, they are reinforced for not paying attention to their handler (or partner) and they will keep trying this until they're reinforced again, which makes it really hard to train the dog to focus to the handler. I know, I know, they're really cute and JUST like your dog at home and you just miss them so much, but is your wish to pet this dog worth that person's life and health? I don't think so. Another way to think about it is that this dog does the same thing for someone with a disability as a wheelchair or diabetic meter. Would you go up to someone's wheelchair and start to stroke it and ask if you can take it for a spin down the hallway? Probably not, right? Only if you were REALLY close to that person would you do that. I want you to start thinking about service dogs in the same way, please, for the sake of the dogs and the clients, don't pet the dog. Even a quick little pet lets the dog know it's okay to seek attention from other people and not focus on their handler (which is a huge issue), so please look at the vest and read the "DO NOT PET" or "STOP." Thank you.
Another point on service dog etiquette, please treat them like you would a wheelchair or a hearing aid. If the dog barks in public, yes it's not normal, you can turn and look to make sure that the dog's partner is okay, but beyond that, PLEASE don't stare. It's already embarrassing enough that your dog barked in public, they don't need anymore attention. If you're concerned that the dog may be alerting to a medical issue, I can be 99% sure that it is not, most alerts done by these dogs are silent and not very noticeable by those around them because most clients don't want the alerts to draw anymore attention to them in public (I mean, they already have an assistance dog, how much more attention do they need). So if the dog makes noise, just glance, make sure that the person is alright and then go about your normal business. After class yesterday, we all headed caravan style over to the prison and we got to have Tory in our car on the way over! First, we went to go see Ross, the dog from last year's program at his new job! Then we went out to dinner with the prison program's director to get to know the program a little bit before actually going into the prison. Afterward, we went to a mansion. This house was huge and had a hot tub in their living room, so yeah, I'd say we were accommodated really well. We were there with one of PawPADs clients and her assistance dog. Maddie and I ended up sharing a California King Sized Bed topped with memory foam. We were in absolute comfort all night. The next morning, while we were eating breakfast, the clients dog came over and alerted me a couple times and then actually brought me the client's meter, so someone suggested to me to ask him "high" or "low" and he told me that I was high. So yeah, I was alerted by a diabetic alert for high blood sugar...that's a first.
Then we went to the prison, while we were there, the inmates showed us how they train their dogs in agility and how it impacts the training of the dogs in the ways that they need it (confidence, rear-end awareness, and other related things). Then we went over our Diabetic Alert Training with them because they mainly focus on PTSD assistance dogs, and they were super into it. Tory showed off a few of her tricks and the prisoners showed off a few of their tricks that they have taught their dogs. Then we had a little bit of time and they showed us some of the stuff that they train their dogs to do to help people with PTSD. It was honestly such a great and amazing experience to go in and see how they train their dogs! I had some really cool and interesting conversations with the inmates about how they train their dogs. After we were done with that, we went to their "restaurant" to have some of their food and it was absolutely delicious!! They gave me a huge oreo milkshake, I couldn't finish it. Then we headed home and went out for a recap dinner after we got home! Overall, it was such a great and amazing experience! |
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