Waiting for the Day

Most days I spend at least part of my time researching information about service dogs, organizations, providers and trainers.  A natural part of this research is reading news articles and online stories about people with service dogs and their experiences in public.

I’m waiting for the day when service dogs are not news.  A time when most people know about service dogs, they see them often as they go about their errands, at social gatherings, in restaurants.  For there to be as much shock and surprise about people being unaware of the rights of people with service dogs as there might be for someone to say, “Starbucks? … What’s that?”.

There is so much contradictory and mis-information in cyber world about service dogs, particularly about service dogs for people whose disabilities are not readily apparent to others (like diabetes, seizures, post traumatic stress, to name a few). 

A recent online news story shared the experience of a young teenager in Alabama with a seizure disorder who was struggling with businesses in his area allowing him access with his new seizure assistance dog.  Read the news article here).  Several local business owners said they were unaware about access laws under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  The article called service dogs a “novelty”.  Really?  A novelty?  I know that many people are unaware about service dogs for people who have “invisible disabilities”—after all it’s part of my job to help raise awareness around this issue.  But a novelty?  Hmm. 

Although there is no truly reliable resource for statistics about how many people in the U.S. use a service dog to increase their independence and enhance their quality of life; some reports note there are approximately 15,000 people plus another 10,000 guide dogs for the blind throughout the US and Canada.  Personally, I think that number is low.  There are literally hundreds of organizations providing service dogs annually.  The number of service dog teams will continue to grow and one day – hopefully soon – service dogs will no longer be a novelty.  And business owners will no longer be in the dark about their obligations to allow access.

For more information about service dogs and their use for people with invisible disabilities, please visit our website at www.ServiceDog411.com. 

Lifting Spirits – One Wag at a Time

On her first morning in her new home at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, Kiyla woke up each of the residents in her care, letting them know she’d be there all day just for the petting and love.  Lots of naps, ear and tummy rubs, big sighs of contentment. 

The residents, who having been waiting on Kiyla’s arrival for almost two months, will experience her almost constant tail wagging and a bright happy face telling them they’re perfect and oh-so loved.  They might not recognize it, but they’ll also experience an increased sense of well-being, lower blood pressure, less stress, loneliness, boredom and overall depression.

And, that’s just the residents.  The staff will also benefit from having Kiyla around.  Residents who are less depressed and more engaged in life make their job easier.  But it’s not just that … it can be difficult working every day in the home-like setting of the memory support “neighborhood” at VMRC where residents spend most of their time in the common area/living room.  Everyone becomes like family.  And, in the past two weeks they’ve experienced the death of ten residents.  Ms. Kiyla, just by hanging around, will provide a bright spot of hope to everyone on the floor.

Kiyla started her journey to VMRC as a homeless gal at Richmond Animal League.  Yanked from death row by RAL and through the combined efforts of Service Dog 411, dog trainer Dee Bogetti and RAL’s Sarah Clinton, Kiyla now has the best job ever … making people feel good.  After meeting all the residents and staff at yesterday’s homecoming … Ms. Kiyla was headed over to Human Resources to pick up her ID badge as the newest member of the team.

You can view Kiyla's training progress on Sarah's blog.

If you would like more information about service or therapy dogs and how they might benefit you or a loved one, please contact sue@servicedog411.com or visit our website.

Did You Hear That?

The knock on the door, the ring of the fire alarm, the car horn urging you to get out of the way.  All things most of us take for granted.  Unless you’re hearing impaired.  And then, these sounds are either muted or silent.  It’s scary knowing that you won’t have a “heads up” that something bad might be going down.

Enter Winston.  He’s 55 pounds of pure gooberish love.  And energy.  Until recently Winston resided at Richmond Animal League and before that who knows where he lived.  Now he resides with his new best girl, Becca.  And he’s going to learn to hear for her.  Yep, Winston is in training to be a hearing service dog.  He’ll alert her to that car horn, or alarm, or just the sound of someone saying her name when she’s walking away.  Oh, Becca, did you hear that?  With Winston’s help, now she can.

Winston has quite a bit of training to do … in fact he’s starting from scratch.  But he’s a quick study and it won’t be too long before he’ll be telling Becca, “hey, someone’s at the door”!

Winston and Becca are another Service Dog 411 success story.  To find your own success story, visit www.ServiceDog411.com today.  Your new best friend could be just around the corner.  Special thanks to Dee Bogetti, service dog trainer extraordinaire and Sarah Clinton, Community Manager at RAL for their assistance in helping Winston find his new calling.  Get it?  Calling?