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+---- Thread: Proud new Family Member.... (/thread-2026.html)
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - BarEdul - 05-18-2011
I am working on owner training him. There are folks who OFFICIALLY Train them however when you check into it there are no official government agencies who certify them. There are many standards for them and you can chase your wagging tail every where as too what they need to know and have them capable of doing but it comes down to what the ADA says and what your state law says. Technically right now HE is an ODT (Owner Dog Trainer) SDT Service dog Trainee. or Service dog in training.
The laws in some states are very specific and in others very non specific. PA can be very vague and you have to HUNT to find the exact statutes.
The only command I am having problems with Stubborn pants with is Lay. Seems it's beyond his comprehension. So we are working on that very hard.
Lay is very important as he has to LAY everywhere when we stop for a time. Resting quietly is another command his puppy mind isn't ready for so we are at a waiting stage till he calms down a bit. DONT get me wrong he is not a hyper dog never has been and when he is working he is all business seems he knows he is protecting mom and gets even more serious than normal. LkTraz was amazed by this behavior on his part.
He has even conquered his car sickness for me. Rufus sits beside my counsol and faces back wards. He can ride for 1-3 hours now and does very well on all kinds of roads. I have had him to a hospital on and off elevators and a bus. He did very well loading and unloading on all the objects just like HEY I was born for this.
I bought him a working vest off EBAY.. can you believe you buy this stuff on EBAY? I was shocked there is no monitoring system for the supplies.
Rufus is now my little guardian angel as during the time of the month My sugars can drop as low as 40-66 and while I am driving that is very dangerous. I get very sleepy and start dropping off and not realizing it. One morning I was driving my daughter to school I had rushed from the house without checking my sugar and had not eaten I thought I would "be okay" but I decided to take Rufus with me for the ride. Good thing. When I got just a little ways from the school Rufus who always remains silent looked at me tried to crawl in my lap licked me then began to whimper then bark. I was shocked I said.. " I am still sleepy from bed boy. I am fine." He barked some more. I said "Okay Okay.. I will check it at the school!" I got to the school house and my sugar was 66. I had to eat right away as once I get to 66 it is nothing for me to do a 20 point drop and go into seizure like tremors and not be able to move!
Around the house if I am not doing well on any particular day he will not stand down or relax till LKTRAZ gets home Rufus worries about both me and Marypat. Rufus has gone to her looked her straight in the face and barked forcing me to wake her up and check her out and she was actually sick at the time.
He's smart and he worries.. so I worry about him LOL..
One thing you have to be sure of with a SDT is that you get the ALL I mean every fricking shot you can think of especially kennel cough as they will be running into other doggies and that means contact to strange viruses. I was amazed when my vet told me that if you even go to a groomer you need that shot as the virus is very contagious... or bacteria which ever kennel cough is.
another thing is that people are prejudice against big dogs being service dogs... Which is idiotitic. Apparently if they are big they must be brain damaged or something sigh.. or if they aren't a golden they they can't be sensitive. I actually went to a site that said. "All service dogs are golden retrievers or Labs." I about spit nails.
There is so much to know and I could keep talking if you have questions I can fill you in.
Oh to get a charity dog you must be insulin dependant.. to pay for one your pocket book has to have money in excess of 20,000 in it approximately and then you have to watch out for scammers as Diabetes sugar sensing dogs are hard to train to do the work.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - Twitchin Kitten - 05-18-2011
Hasn't the national organization for blind dogs branched out to service dogs? I forget the 'official' name of the org but I KNOW they use GSD's for blind dogs as a preference and then whatever people donate. I see a lot of people around here that foster puppies until they are ready to go into full training. Socialization is very important for these dogs prior to training.
I know there is some kind of 'official' certification too, and I think the dogs themselves should be registered as a service dog. I have a friend who may know where to send you if you want to make it official. I shall contact her.
As for kennel cough.... it's a killer. If you keep more than one dog in your house, you should vaccinate for it. My vet always told me this and it is highly contagious and near impossible to treat if one dog starts with it. It can run like wildfire through a kennel and any breeder you buy a dog from you should check vaccination certs that the kennel and it's dogs are and have been vaccinated for it. It's right up there with Parvovirus on the bad shit list.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - BarEdul - 05-18-2011
Yepper on the bad list shit and no on the certification. I can get a cert here in Pa for 10 dollars I found an organization that will do it. However his training is far from complete and he has to be of "age" he is far from old enough. He may never be ready for cert as he has to wait quietly when getting out of the van and he likes to circle me. I think that may come with age though so that's a matter of working him and seeing how it goes. Some places will "cert" him for as much as $2000.00 with just a video tape.
He is a diabetes alert dog and has to perform another task I think, so I have my additional training cut out for me yet. As the other ODT's told me it will take time to get him fully trained. There are tons of stimuli I have to expose him to like kids on skate boards, bikes and other things... However I am not saying no to you checking into information about it any additional information you can come up with is always helpful.. I appreciate all the info I get fed on the subject cause it keeps me up to date.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - Twitchin Kitten - 05-18-2011
I came across this today waiting for my friend to reply: http://www.affluent.net/sara/sara1.htm
Hopefully it helps you and Rufus
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - BarEdul - 05-19-2011
You know what this will work fine for the those out there who know nothing about certification. It's perfect and will help me right along. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. and I love the smiley!
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - Twitchin Kitten - 05-19-2011
I didn't spend too much time on the site but there should be training tips and what not there. A phone call to them will also get you on your way with where to get the hands on help in your area I'm sure.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - BarEdul - 05-23-2011
I have a training guideline. I joined this forum http://www.dogforums.com its fun you should come on over. You would like the people very much very dog health related and into doing things the right way. another one is http://www.dogster.com They are also a great deal of interesting people there. I get in infrequently but enjoy the articles and folks there.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - Twitchin Kitten - 05-23-2011
Ah, I belong to catster and dogster since their inception. I rarely go over there now though.
Thanks for the links - if I ever have five minutes to myself I'll play around.
check out www.petwebsite.com - I belong to that for ages and a day and they are pretty good too. Another site I hardly visit anymore though. Many of my original members here are from there.
RE: Proud new Family Member.... - BarEdul - 05-24-2011
Hey Rufus is doing great there is a new 6 month old pic of him in my gallery. He is now 24 inches long and has a girth of 27 inches. He's a growing boy.