9/11 - Dog Heros

I wasn't even borned yet and mom was only 12 when it happened. She didn't even know it happened cause she was hiking with a group up the mountain. But when the got back her mom was crying and stuffs and they didn't even know what  had happened. All she knowed was somethin bad had happened and it filled her with lots of scaredness. And then they saw all the pictures in the paper and on the internet, and she was super scared. Especially cause those metal birds stopped flying around for a while.

Mom said there was a lots of brave people and service dogs (sorta like me cept they did a different job) and here is a video about them.

Oh you might wanna get your tissues out too!




More Canine Heros

Service Dogs At Work

DEAR ABBY: I am 18, disabled, and work with a service dog. I would like to offer people a few tips on interacting with service dog owners. Perhaps it will lessen some of the daily frustrations all handlers deal with:

1. Not all service dogs are big dogs. I know several Chihuahuas who save their owners' lives every day with their medical alert tasks.

2. Not all disabilities are visible. Please don't ask, "What's wrong with you?" or, "What's your problem?"

3. There are many kinds of service dogs, not just guide dogs. Medical alert dogs help people with everything from epilepsy to diabetes to panic attacks. There are also autism service dogs, mobility dogs and hearing dogs.

4. Please do not pet my dog without asking me first. My dog wears a patch that says, "Do Not Pet." It's there for a reason. Abby, I can't count the number of people who read her patch out loud, then reach out to pet her anyway. Please do not take it personally if we say no.

5. If a dog's handler seems ill, it's OK - even preferable - to ask if we are all right. I once had an episode and no less than two dozen people walked right past me while I sat on the floor. Had I been diabetic, I could have died because no one stopped - including two store managers. - HOPING TO HELP IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR HOPING TO HELP: Thank you for an important letter. What many people fail to understand is that when an assistance dog is out in public, the animal is working and should not be distracted from its task - which is ensuring the well-being of its owner.

Your last tip was the most important of all. Folks, I shouldn't have to tell you that if you see someone who appears to be in trouble, it takes only a moment to do the right thing and make sure the person gets the help he or she needs. And that includes calling 9 1 1 if it's merited.

--As seen in an email

Graduation Time

Its time for the 3rd Wilderwood Graduation: September 9-16th. Ben & Daniel will be graduating with their autistic children and their families.

Graduations are always extremely busy/happy/emotional/stressful times, as its a huge adjustment for the kids, dogs and parents.

The kids because they are in a new environment some for the first time in years; for the dogs because all of the sudden their trusted and esteemed people are not paying them any attention, the parents as they learn to work with the dog and child team.

Its an extremely intense 8 days, but so worth it in the end..

I can't wait to meet a new set of friends. I am going to miss both dogs terribly, but Ben more so. He's "my" baby that I brought into the org, and trained for the most part myself. But he's going to do great I just know it!!

A bit thank you to his family for giving him to Wilderwood!

What are Autism Service Dogs?

Lately there have been several service dogs in the news lately. Specifically Autism Service Dogs.

Autism service dogs are not widely known, and so appearance of them is causing some concern with people.

Here is a little bit more, about what exactly autism service dogs do:

Assistance and Searching, and Alert: Our goal, is reduce the child's anxiety in public, and allow them and their family, more access to a normal life. To increase the safety and remove the stress from their family, to know there child will be accounted for, by having a means to find the child should he decided to run away, try to interrupt escaping behaviors by nuzzling, or barking to alert the parent of the child's attempt to leave. The dogs also are trained to retrieve the child if they run away, by knocking them down, and holding them in one location until the parent arrives.

Increase Verbalization: To help the child to increase their verbal skills, the dog maintains eye contact when its attempting to speak, and respond to the commands. Our dogs are trained to pick out anything they understand and offer a behavior, which encourages the child to keep speaking.

Physical Behaviors: Slapping their faces, banging their head.....the dog is trained to nuzzle in and interrupt those behaviors so the dog, starts petting the dog, which as you know is a very calming act. Now they are no longer harming themselves but are hanging onto their dog.

Socialization: The child appears and is physically normal, so when they do odd behaviors, they are judged harshly by the public,(believe me I've been there) and people will be very rude to the child or the parent, and its not the parent or the child's fault. The dog is a very clear sign that there is a disorder. With children of the same age, the dog is a fun thing to play with so, kids who wouldn't play with the child before, would come over and interact with the child, when they otherwise wouldn't.

Each dog is trained for their individual clients need, as autism is such a broad disorder.

This list is just a small general overview of how these dogs help their clients. Parent's have been able to get their first night's sleep in YEARS, because they know the dog will alert them to any escaping or safety alert behaviors.

Families who haven't been out together in public, are able to go camping, and on trips with their child because of these dogs.

Children who have been pretty much home bound since they were toddlers are now able to partake in normal activities.

I could go on and on about the difference these dogs make, but you know. Anyone with a service dog/a service dog in training/even just a pet, KNOWS The impact a dog has on your life.

I can't imagine denying these kids that same chance.

End of Graduation

The last four day of graduation,were a continuation of the families exposure to new things with their families. Saturday we threw a Bar-B-Q, for our volunteers, food, fun, just a relaxing day for the dogs and families. We had a pool for the dogs, and Texas loved it!! I was shocked!

Sunday - We took them too the Mall, to practice their public access test. They are required to take this test, in order to be a team in public. My group could have passed their test right than and there, but they had to wait until Tuesday to do that. :(

Monday - We took them out for a night on the town, allowing them to work in a downtown setting.

Tuesday - the Big Test day, After the test Veda's "parents" were treated to massages (the other family turned it down)I dropped Ben off at his sitters, and Deanna and I got to watch "R" & Veda. They did so well, while we waited!

Later on that night, I held puppy class, raced home packed, said good-bye to my dogs, and then went to my friends house, and left for Florida!

......More on that later

Graduation 1 & 2

Graduation is going really well! Veda and Xerxes are starting the long process of bonding with their new families.

Veda is with a family, who child is has higher functioning autism, meaning he can talk, and do most things normal kids can do. He loves his new buddy very much!

Xerxes new friend, is on the other end of the autism spectrum, and can't speak or communicate much, but already his parents are seeing improvements in his behavior!

Day 1
We introduce everyone, get all paperwork taken care of, and go over the basic of how we introduce the dogs to everyone.

Then a staff member will bring the dogs in, and let them run around and interact with the kids. Chaos!!

We staff members are not allowed to interact much with the dogs, because (as I'm sure you can see) it would be very confusing for them.

Once we kind of get things settled back down, our President commences the lectures, and then its lunch time!! This graduation, we had lunch delivered, instead of taking the group out on the first day.

After lunch some trainers took the parents, and worked on their leash handling skills, while others of us, were in charge of helping the other parent monitor the kids.

It was around the high 80's and HUMID like you wouldn't believe. So we cut that days session short, and sent families and dogs back to their homes/hotel.

Today

I got to skip the lecture this morning, so when I arrived they were already heading out for lunch. One of the families hadn't been able to take their child out for several years, and were quite nervous about going to a sit down restaurant.

So this was going to be an adventure. And did have some success!!

But it was in Target where this family had the greatest success...only on the 2nd day we were able to go into the store, walk through it, and not have a major meltdown at all!

I was close to tears, watching Mom tell Xerxes how she didn't know how they'd gotten along without him.

After that we took the dogs and kids to the park, to let them run off some steam, barely leaving before a severe thunderstorm hit.

I am so proud of Veda, he has come a long way since arriving at my home in April, I'm sure he'll be a major benefit to this family.

That's my boy!!! :D

Erin