Last night was our last night at the library for the reading program as the next session won't be until the fall. Hope did her normal thing of rolling on her back getting a belly rub. Since it's Spring, no matter how much I brush her, she is shedding like crazy, it's just that time of the year. I was laughing as the first child to read to her was giving her a belly rub and holding the book with her other hand, she went to turn the page with the hand that was petting Hope, and then all of a sudden, there was gobs of black dog hair in the book and the poor little girls pants were covered with hair! Oops, I kinda apologized but she answered back that it was ok, she had a lint brush at home. She then brushed all the hair out of the book. Some things just don't matter. :-)
The second girl who read to Hope brought a book that she was reading on her own (rather than picking out a book from the table of books the library provides). It was what I thought a very advanced book with lots of hard words, I had to contain myself from busting out in laughter as she accidently thought the word "diamond" said "diarrhea"....haha, but it is not the handler's job to correct the child. Hope was enjoying her belly rub so much, she didn't notice the slight mistake made either....
Since this was the last night for a while, each dog was given a little gift bag containing dog cookies and a magnet with their picture (that was used on the bookmark given to each child). That was really nice...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Therapy Dog
Hope and I also volunteer in the WAGS (Wonderful Animals Giving Solace) program at Sutter Hospital in Roseville. We started doing this late last year after we received our Delta certification. The program is run by the Volunteer Coordinator for Sutter's Hospice program. In order to start volunteering, we had to complete four days of Hospice training, another evaluation, and vet check for Hope.
We are volunteering at Sutter's STAR (it stands for Sutter Transitional and Respiratory Services, I think) unit. We have been visiting patients who are essentially permanent hospital patients on respirators. It took a few times for Hope to get comfortable visiting these patients. I generally have her jump onto a chair next to the bed so that patient can reach her. At first, she was reluctant to jump on the chair. Now she jumps on the chair like its nothing. She seems to enjoy it too, her tail is wagging. If we can bring some joy to these people for only a small portion of their day, its all worth it. At some point, we will also visit the Oncology ward or may be called on to do a visit with a hospice patient.
We are volunteering at Sutter's STAR (it stands for Sutter Transitional and Respiratory Services, I think) unit. We have been visiting patients who are essentially permanent hospital patients on respirators. It took a few times for Hope to get comfortable visiting these patients. I generally have her jump onto a chair next to the bed so that patient can reach her. At first, she was reluctant to jump on the chair. Now she jumps on the chair like its nothing. She seems to enjoy it too, her tail is wagging. If we can bring some joy to these people for only a small portion of their day, its all worth it. At some point, we will also visit the Oncology ward or may be called on to do a visit with a hospice patient.
Reading Dogs
No, they don't read, but they do get read to...
Hope and her buddy Mason (another CCI release dog) were reading dogs in Roseville Library's "Tales to Tail" program that we joined this month. On each Tuesday night in April, we participated in a reading program where kids from the 1st to 5th grades sign up to read to the dogs for 25 minutes. We do two sessions a night. It's been really enjoyable and Hope seems to love it, its funny but she spends practically the whole hour on her back getting a belly rub from the kid that is reading to her. Parents are not allowed in the room, its just the child, dog, and the handler, so there is no pressure on the child, just the unconditional love from the dog. At the end of the session, the child is handed a bookmark with a picture of the dog they just read to. On the back the bookmark, it says, "Thanks for reading to me today, Hope" The kids seem to really love the bookmarks.
The library gave Mason and Hope their own special scarf and nametag. You can see the bookmark they made with Hope's picture by her foot. The hardest part about this whole thing? Trying to sit on the floor for an hour without my legs falling asleep, boy, do I feel old! I think I need to start taking yoga again...
Here's a link that explains a little more about the program: (there a cool little video clip on the page too): http://www.roseville.ca.us/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1034
Helper girl
One of the things Hope learned in Advanced Training was the "tug" command, where the dog has to grab something in their mouth and walk backwards; its mostly used for opening doors I think. I have a leash tied to many of my doors at home and have Hope open the door. I never thought she would be able to open the sliding door to the backyard as its kind of heavy, but this girl is determined and learned to open it. Now if only I can teach her to unlock the door, she could let herself out all on her own!
It actually came in handy yesterday, I was watching a friend's young puppy who I was carrying to take him outside (I didn't want him to pee on the floor as he had drank a lot of water and had just woken from a nap); since my hands were full, I gave Hope the "tug" command and she was able to open the door for me! My little helper...
It actually came in handy yesterday, I was watching a friend's young puppy who I was carrying to take him outside (I didn't want him to pee on the floor as he had drank a lot of water and had just woken from a nap); since my hands were full, I gave Hope the "tug" command and she was able to open the door for me! My little helper...
In the morning when I am getting ready for work, I have her open and close my closet door. She also likes the "push" command to close my bathroom drawers. Sometimes I even have her help me remove the dog towels from the dryer using the "tug" command. In the morning if I forget to let her push one of my drawers closed, she looks at me like, "I wanted to do that!"
She also loves picking up her food bowl before meals. Sure saves me from bending over, might come in handy in my old age....I'll have to get a video of that someday.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Picking up after herself
Last year, Hope celebrated her 2nd birthday a few weeks after she was released. I let the dogs enjoy Frosty Paws to celebrate her birthday. Here she is showing off the "get" and "hold" command she learned in Advanced Training to pick up the Frosty Paw container and drop it in the garbage can. It's cool to see what she learned during the 5 months she was gone (I love the little tail wag at the end).
Delta Dog
Once I made the decision that I was going to keep Hope, I decided that Hope still had a lot to offer and would enjoy working again, this time as a therapy dog. I attended a one-day workshop in San Mateo for Delta Society and signed us up to take our certification test in April, 2007.
Hope and I drove to San Mateo for our test. Lots of driving for a test that probably only took about 30 minutes or so. I was a little concerned about how Hope would do as we were testing at the San Mateo Humane Society on a hospital-type floor similar to the floors she was having trouble with in Advanced Training. But she did great! In fact, she did better than I did. On each of the tests, they score the handler and the dog separately, the team then gets scored based on the lowest score whether handler or dog. Well, in most cases, Hope outscored me. I do have to admit I still have lots of test phobia, so I was very nervous. I'm glad Hope did well despite my nervousness!
After you are done, you wait outside while they tally up your score and you are told whether you passed or not. Yay, we passed...in fact, the lady said we did really well and that Hope seemed very comfortable. After passing the test, we had to fill out an application packet which included getting a vet exam for Hope, a written test, etc. Our certification will last for two years.
Hope and I drove to San Mateo for our test. Lots of driving for a test that probably only took about 30 minutes or so. I was a little concerned about how Hope would do as we were testing at the San Mateo Humane Society on a hospital-type floor similar to the floors she was having trouble with in Advanced Training. But she did great! In fact, she did better than I did. On each of the tests, they score the handler and the dog separately, the team then gets scored based on the lowest score whether handler or dog. Well, in most cases, Hope outscored me. I do have to admit I still have lots of test phobia, so I was very nervous. I'm glad Hope did well despite my nervousness!
After you are done, you wait outside while they tally up your score and you are told whether you passed or not. Yay, we passed...in fact, the lady said we did really well and that Hope seemed very comfortable. After passing the test, we had to fill out an application packet which included getting a vet exam for Hope, a written test, etc. Our certification will last for two years.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
She's a Keeper!
Hope came home in February, 2007.
Physically, she had changed a lot. I would say that even though it was shortest time (5 months) that I had seen any of my dogs from when they turned in, Hope had changed the most (Marisa was gone 6 months, Rolie was gone 8 months). She had finally grown into that big head of hers! Her chest had totally filled out and she just looked so much more mature. I may be biased, but I think she is a beautiful girl!
Hope had developed some behaviors that I was concerned about while she was gone. Even as a puppy she was always a rough player, but when she came home, she was even more rough and I would say bordering on aggressive. She was also forging (ie, pulling forward on leash). I worked with her for the next several weeks on these issues as I was concerned about keeping a dog with this type of behavior because of the impact she could have on my CCI pups. After a few weeks of diligently working with her on these things, she showed signs of improvement and these behaviors improved. Maybe the behaviors surfaced due to the stress she was under while in Advanced Training. In any case, things got better with her over time. She will probably always play rough, but at least she doesn't act like the angry dog I saw when she came home.
My other concern was for how she would adjust to being at home all day. Luckily, she had Molly to hang out with. I could see how their relationship just blossomed, they played together a lot (something Molly normally didn't do, she didn't like the "bratty" CCI pups). Hope also was a nice bridge for Molly, since she played with the CCI pups, this was nice for Molly as she didn't have to deal with the bothersome puppies anymore as they would play with Hope.
With each day that passed, things became clearer and clearer. Hope was home and she was meant to be mine. A few months later, I made it official (in my mind anyway), I was keeping her.
Physically, she had changed a lot. I would say that even though it was shortest time (5 months) that I had seen any of my dogs from when they turned in, Hope had changed the most (Marisa was gone 6 months, Rolie was gone 8 months). She had finally grown into that big head of hers! Her chest had totally filled out and she just looked so much more mature. I may be biased, but I think she is a beautiful girl!
Hope had developed some behaviors that I was concerned about while she was gone. Even as a puppy she was always a rough player, but when she came home, she was even more rough and I would say bordering on aggressive. She was also forging (ie, pulling forward on leash). I worked with her for the next several weeks on these issues as I was concerned about keeping a dog with this type of behavior because of the impact she could have on my CCI pups. After a few weeks of diligently working with her on these things, she showed signs of improvement and these behaviors improved. Maybe the behaviors surfaced due to the stress she was under while in Advanced Training. In any case, things got better with her over time. She will probably always play rough, but at least she doesn't act like the angry dog I saw when she came home.
My other concern was for how she would adjust to being at home all day. Luckily, she had Molly to hang out with. I could see how their relationship just blossomed, they played together a lot (something Molly normally didn't do, she didn't like the "bratty" CCI pups). Hope also was a nice bridge for Molly, since she played with the CCI pups, this was nice for Molly as she didn't have to deal with the bothersome puppies anymore as they would play with Hope.
With each day that passed, things became clearer and clearer. Hope was home and she was meant to be mine. A few months later, I made it official (in my mind anyway), I was keeping her.
Fate or "Fortune"
When I received the call about Hope's release, I was just about to go out of town to visit a friend in Oceanside for the weekend. I felt awful to leave her there longer, but I asked if CCI could keep her there until I got back from vacation. I just didn't want to bring her home for a few days, then leave her with someone else even if it was only a weekend. Thankfully, CCI didn't have a problem keeping her until the next week.
As disappointed as I was, I still managed to have a good time in Oceanside. My friend and I went out to lunch one of those days at a Chinese restaurant. Of course, as is customary in a Chinese restaurant, we were given a plate that contained two fortune cookies. My friend grabbed one of them and handed me the plate to take the second one. I couldn't believe it, this is what the fortune revealed...
The words on the front of the fortune said,
"Hope is the most precious treasure to a person."
On the back of the fortune was the following Learn Chinese lesson:
"Miss You", Xiang-nian ni, and the expression written in Chinese.
I got all teary-eyed, was this a sign telling me what I was supposed to do with Hope? It was totally fate that I received that fortune...my friend could have easily gotten "my" fortune cookie but she picked up the other cookie from the plate...that fortune was meant to be mine that day. Can you hear that Twilight Zone music in your head? ;-)
The fortune lives on my refrigerator as a reminder of how fortunate I am to have Hope back in my life...
As disappointed as I was, I still managed to have a good time in Oceanside. My friend and I went out to lunch one of those days at a Chinese restaurant. Of course, as is customary in a Chinese restaurant, we were given a plate that contained two fortune cookies. My friend grabbed one of them and handed me the plate to take the second one. I couldn't believe it, this is what the fortune revealed...
The words on the front of the fortune said,
"Hope is the most precious treasure to a person."
On the back of the fortune was the following Learn Chinese lesson:
"Miss You", Xiang-nian ni, and the expression written in Chinese.
I got all teary-eyed, was this a sign telling me what I was supposed to do with Hope? It was totally fate that I received that fortune...my friend could have easily gotten "my" fortune cookie but she picked up the other cookie from the plate...that fortune was meant to be mine that day. Can you hear that Twilight Zone music in your head? ;-)
The fortune lives on my refrigerator as a reminder of how fortunate I am to have Hope back in my life...
The "Call"
I have had the good fortune of having the first two dogs I raised, Marisa and Rolie, graduate so when Hope was released, it was the first time I had to ever experience the "call" from CCI telling me my dog was released from the program. The NW puppy program manager first called me on my work phone, but I happened to be on a teleconference, so I just saw my red message light blinking and didn't think anything of it. Of course, when I then heard my cell phone ring and saw the number was a Santa Rosa number, I knew immediately this was it, the call that Hope was being released from the program. They never tell you your dog is released when they leave a message, only to call back as soon as possible, but you know what it is...
It was no surprise to me that Hope was being released as her prior reports had shown the surface issues, I just had hopes that her trainer could work her through it. But, it was not to be. Of course, when I returned the call to CCI, they confirmed it, she was being released.
After I hung up, I immediately burst into tears, the dream of her graduating was over. But in another sense, I also felt a big sense of relief. Hope's first report was just awful and didn't sound like her at all, the 2nd report was a complete turnaround and her training seemed to be going well, the 3rd month was when the surface issues started and continued into the 4th report. The sense of relief I felt was knowing that she no longer had to endure the rigors of the training environment anymore, she was probably very stressed from having to live in the kennels and living the life of a training dog, an environment where she just was not happy. It stressed me out that she was not happy, so she needed to come home, whereever that might be.
I knew I would bring her home, but at that point, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her, keep her or try to place her with someone else. Most of all, she just needed to come home to a familiar place and chill out for a bit.
There was a lot for me to consider if I were to keep her and that's why the decision was not easy for me or something I could make a decision on with any certainty:
1. Would Hope adjust to being home all day as she was used to going to work with me everyday, especially since my current CCI pup would be going to work with me, would she handle that?
2. This would mean I would have 3 dogs (Molly, Hope, and Zucchini) so could I handle it all on my own and give each dog the attention they each deserved? Lots more dog hair, more poop to pick up, dogs to groom, etc.
3. Could I afford having 3 dogs?
It was no surprise to me that Hope was being released as her prior reports had shown the surface issues, I just had hopes that her trainer could work her through it. But, it was not to be. Of course, when I returned the call to CCI, they confirmed it, she was being released.
After I hung up, I immediately burst into tears, the dream of her graduating was over. But in another sense, I also felt a big sense of relief. Hope's first report was just awful and didn't sound like her at all, the 2nd report was a complete turnaround and her training seemed to be going well, the 3rd month was when the surface issues started and continued into the 4th report. The sense of relief I felt was knowing that she no longer had to endure the rigors of the training environment anymore, she was probably very stressed from having to live in the kennels and living the life of a training dog, an environment where she just was not happy. It stressed me out that she was not happy, so she needed to come home, whereever that might be.
I knew I would bring her home, but at that point, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her, keep her or try to place her with someone else. Most of all, she just needed to come home to a familiar place and chill out for a bit.
There was a lot for me to consider if I were to keep her and that's why the decision was not easy for me or something I could make a decision on with any certainty:
1. Would Hope adjust to being home all day as she was used to going to work with me everyday, especially since my current CCI pup would be going to work with me, would she handle that?
2. This would mean I would have 3 dogs (Molly, Hope, and Zucchini) so could I handle it all on my own and give each dog the attention they each deserved? Lots more dog hair, more poop to pick up, dogs to groom, etc.
3. Could I afford having 3 dogs?
Friday, April 25, 2008
Welcome to Hope's Blog!
The other day somebody asked me why I didn't have a blog for Hope. Heck, I don't know, why not? So, here you go Hope, this one's for you!
Hope is the 3rd puppy I received from Canine Companions for Independence to raise. She was born on March 19, 2005. She just turned 3 years old in March, wow time flies. After five months in Advanced Training, she was released from the program for surface issues (ie, not wanting to walk on different surfaces, shiny floors, etc.) not a very useful trait for a Service Dog.
For a long time, I was so disappointed that she didn't graduate as she has a very strong work ethic and her skills were so good, especially since I never saw any things she was released for several months. Well, a few months ago, she showed some issues walking into an elevator at a hospital where we do pet therapy. It made me realize that her release was for a reason...
I also believe she came home for a bigger reason...to be my "forever" dog since it was only a matter of time before I had to say goodbye to my best buddy Molly, my golden retriever who was dying from cancer. It made me feel good that Hope and Molly got to be buddies after she was released and that she kept Molly company during her last days while I was at work. We said goodbye to Molly in December, 2007 and I was so worried about how Hope would adjust to life without Molly, but she seems to have adjusted just fine.
Hope has become a great pal to my 4th pup, Zuleika (aka Zucchini). In some ways, I think she will be a little lonely without her playmate when Zuleika turns in next month. But, we will be getting another puppy, so she will have another pup to play with. Hope will never take the place of Molly who was the true alpha dog and a great puppy raiser who put all my pups in their place, but I hope she will be a good influence on puppy #5, who we found out this week is named Nick.
That's it for now...more later...
Hope is the 3rd puppy I received from Canine Companions for Independence to raise. She was born on March 19, 2005. She just turned 3 years old in March, wow time flies. After five months in Advanced Training, she was released from the program for surface issues (ie, not wanting to walk on different surfaces, shiny floors, etc.) not a very useful trait for a Service Dog.
For a long time, I was so disappointed that she didn't graduate as she has a very strong work ethic and her skills were so good, especially since I never saw any things she was released for several months. Well, a few months ago, she showed some issues walking into an elevator at a hospital where we do pet therapy. It made me realize that her release was for a reason...
I also believe she came home for a bigger reason...to be my "forever" dog since it was only a matter of time before I had to say goodbye to my best buddy Molly, my golden retriever who was dying from cancer. It made me feel good that Hope and Molly got to be buddies after she was released and that she kept Molly company during her last days while I was at work. We said goodbye to Molly in December, 2007 and I was so worried about how Hope would adjust to life without Molly, but she seems to have adjusted just fine.
Hope has become a great pal to my 4th pup, Zuleika (aka Zucchini). In some ways, I think she will be a little lonely without her playmate when Zuleika turns in next month. But, we will be getting another puppy, so she will have another pup to play with. Hope will never take the place of Molly who was the true alpha dog and a great puppy raiser who put all my pups in their place, but I hope she will be a good influence on puppy #5, who we found out this week is named Nick.
That's it for now...more later...
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