Less-Words Wednesday: Where Ya Been?!

It's been quite some time since I last posted (oops!) but that's not to say that nothing has happened since last November! Here's a brief synopsis of each month:

December:
Dash was very into Christmas, as you can see! His favorite gifts were a squeaky moose from Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave, and a HUGE bag of tennis balls from his cousins (my nephews) Case and Tyce. I don't know why I don't have a photo of the balls but trust me, by the end of the holidays, tennis balls were in every room of the house! 

January:

We rang in the new year with our family.  Dash loved waking up to his cousins!

Making sure nobody disturbed baby Tyce ... or two of his new tennis balls!

Dash and his favorite playmate, Case. Dash knows that Case is good for a game of fetch at any time! This may or may not account for tennis balls in every room of the house (bathrooms included!)

February:

This year Dash, my sister Julie and I spent our Valentines day with our Canine Companions for Independence family at the most moving graduation ceremony I've been to since I got Dash. Eighteen people were placed with their dogs - about half of which were children!

"Our graduation invites are here! Can we go?! Can we? Can we? Please!!!"

We are always thrilled to get a chance to visit with Dash's puppy raisers, Jim and Sandy. Dash most definitely remembers them and goes into full happy puppy mode whenever we see them!

March:

Unfortunately, along with so many others, I spent a good portion of February and March feeling pretty yucky. I was so thankful that Dash has such a mellow temperament and was more than happy to go into snuggle mode.

We did a lot of this!

See? Total snuggle mode!

Thankfully, I was able to recover in time to speak at the Making Miracles Happen fundraiser for Canine Companions! 

(Not the best sound quality, sorry!)

And last but not least, we celebrated Dash's birthday (and MLB Opening Day!) on March 31! The big 0-4!

A new squeaky toy from a co-worker. Believe me, the sad eyes are only because I stopped his play to get a picture! Kids these days...

April:

Hey, it's only April 2! But there's a lot on our calendar so stay tuned for more!

The History of Dash

Last Monday, Dash and I had the opportunity to speak to a local chapter of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. The GFWC is an international women's organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service and has partnered with Canine Companions for Independence in supporting the Wounded Veterans Initiative. This initiative places CCI assistance dogs with injured service men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Just like all of Canine Companions' dogs, they are given to the vets free of charge!

I really enjoyed meeting with the women of the General Federation of Women's Club and having the chance to speak on behalf of the North Central Region of Canine Companions for Independence.
Besides giving a demonstration of some of the ways Dash assists me on a daily basis and the four categories of dogs CCI offers, I also spent some time explaining the life cycle of a Canine Companions dog. I'd like to share about that life cycle again in this blog post - using Dash as an example, of course!


PUPPIES!
Along with all of Canine Companions for Independence's puppies, Dash was bred and born in California. CCI's breeding pool consists only of Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers, so all offspring are either purebred or a cross between the two. People often assume that Dash is a pure black lab, but I'll let you in on a secret - his mama was a black lab but his papa was yellow! In addition to that, he also has some golden retriever in his bloodline. That's right. Dash is a lab/golden cross!

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the poor quality of lots of the pics in this post. They are pictures of pictures from Dash's baby book that his puppy raisers gave me. Poor in quality, high in cuteness!)


PUPPY RAISERS!
At about 8 weeks of age the pups are taken to CCI Headquarters in Santa Rosa, California. From there, they are shipped all over the country to meet their respective puppy raisers! Puppy raisers are amazing people who are responsible for not only caring for their pups, but also for teaching them 30 commands and socializing them to as many sights, sounds, smells, textures, people, animals, and everything else there is as possible. Dash was raised by a wonderful couple named Jim and Sandy in Pennsylvania. Dash was not the first dog that Jim and Sandy raised - in fact, they recently turned in their seventh puppy, Montego, for Advanced Training!

Jim & Sandy with itty bitty baby Dash!

This is Dash in his first training cape. CCI dogs-in-training wear yellow capes/vests. 

In his big boy yellow vest. On the puppy raisers' list of things to introduce the dog to is a mascot. Check that off the list!

Once the pups-in-training are of age, they are turned in at the matriculation/graduation ceremony. More on that in a bit!

ADVANCED TRAINING!
After about 18 months of growing and learning with their puppy raisers, the dogs go to one of 5 regional CCI training facilities for advanced training, aka "doggy college"! Dash was sent to the North Central Region which is in Delaware, Ohio. In advanced training the dogs learn commands they would use as working dogs such and turning light switches on and off and pulling doors open. 

I know Dash is one of these, but I couldn't tell ya which one! (I could tell you which one he isn't, though!)

It is also at this time that some dogs may be dismissed from the program for any number of reasons such as health issues, fear, aggression, or just a lack of desire to work. In fact, about 60% of all the dogs are released from the program! These dogs are referred to as "change of career" dogs and either return to their puppy raiser family or a friend of the puppy raiser family who has a bond with the dog, or can go to someone on the long waiting list of people who would love to have one of these beautiful dogs. Once a dog is released from the program it becomes a typical pet - at least a typical pet who knows about 30 commands! I've noticed that many change of career dogs go on to be therapy dogs of some sort.
Advanced Training lasts for about 6 months, at which point the dog has the opportunity to be placed with its forever person in Team Training!



TEAM TRAINING!
Team Training is a two week time period where those people who have waited faithfully for their service dog come to one of the 5 training facilities to learn how to work with the dogs and be paired with the ideal dog for each person. I waited for three years before I got the call that I had a spot open for me in Team Training! In a future post (or series of posts), I will recap my time in TT.

Tamale was one of the dogs I worked with in our Team Training class.  Tamale ended up with a nice guy named Tom.

 Pay attention, Dash! 

Our class ended up with 3 black labs, 5 yellow, and 1 golden retriever! (Labs or lab-golden crosses, that is!)

GRADUATION/MATRICULATION!
The grand finale of Team Training is graduation day, which is also turn-in (matriculation) that I mentioned earlier.  This is such a special day! Each graduate gets to meet and have lunch with the person who raised their puppy, and then during the ceremony the puppy raisers hand the leash over to the new graduate. It is a powerful moment for all involved. Two dreams are fulfilled on graduation day: Puppy Raisers the dog they raised graduate, and the graduates get their wonderful service dogs!

This was the moment Jim & Sandy handed me Dash's leash at graduation!

This is Montego at his matriculation ceremony. Dash and I attended to cheer him on and cheer Jim & Sandy up as they said goodbye to this beautiful pup. As you can see, matriculating dogs get to wear a cape of honor for the event - out of the yellow but yet to have an official service dog vest!

LIFE!
This is the stage we are in now. Dash does life with me - accompanying me almost everywhere I go. My life is only better for having him - independence, confidence, and joy are but a few of the gifts Dash has helped me to gain.
My hope is that Dash will work until he is an old man dog. Each dog is different, but eventually service dogs retire into pet-dom. With monitoring, a Dash's retirement (hopefully) can be predicted, at which point I will reapply for a successor dog. Successor dogs are usually provided within about six months of application, because Canine Companions knows that once a person lives with a service dog, living without is a real challenge.

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Just a reminder, Dash and I are participating in this year's Canine Companions DogFest Walk 'n Roll, the signature national event of Canine Companions for Independence. If you are in the Cleveland area, join us on October 20th from 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm at Volunteer Park in Strongsville. Click here for details! If you would like to sponsor team Dash, click here!

Less-Words Wednesday: Hinckley Dog Paddle

Over the weekend Dash and I got to attend the Hinckley Dog Paddle and Pet-a-Palooza! Dash did not get to swim as he was on duty representing Canine Companions. What a blast!

So. Many. Dogs.

Seriously. So many.

According to Dash, this fancy lady didn't hold a candle to his girls from across the street!)

We got a chance to do a demo of some of Dash's commands and then I shared a testimony of how Dash has changed my life! (Note the treats - food avoidance is always impressive to demonstrate!) (Also note that Dash IS in there! Silly black dog!)

These are some of Dash's puppy friends - Ben (yellow) and Waldo (black). We have high hopes that these young fellas will one day sport the blue cape, signifying that they are official working dogs!

All snuggled up with Ben

Always the gentleman, Dash had a fine conversation with this little lady about his work in what he refers to as "the industry." Clearly, she was not impressed.

The Day that Dash Taught Math Class

Today Dash and I had the opportunity to speak to a high school math class about what it is like to have a disability and how a service dog can be such a life enhancer!

You may wonder why we were invited to a math class, of all things. Well, does this answer your question?

Probably not. So I'll explain! It just so happens that my best friend Emily is a teacher at the high school and her math class has been learning about the PythagoreanTheorem and as a real life example they used it to determine the proper length of wheelchair ramps! Pretty  clever, eh? The math lesson (including this fabulous illustration) lead to a conversation about disabilities and service dogs, which eventually lead to an invitation to visit!

Dash was on his best behavior, laying under a table while the students filed in and waiting patiently while I spoke about living with muscular dystrophy. Finally it was Dash's turn to show off!

Dash jumped up as soon as I called him over, giving me a snuggle and then handing me his leash which had been hanging off of him. While Dash sat next to me and the class had a chance to marvel at how handsome he is, I took a few minutes to explain a bit of working dog etiquette.  I stressed the importance of not distracting a service dog by petting it or offering it treats. Then Dash demonstrated picking up a pen and a credit card, and then doing an "up" on the table to do a mock store transaction. As the piece de resistance Dash flipped a light switch off. I was very proud of how well he did everything. He always does bit it can be nerve wracking with all those people watching (for me more than Dash, I think). 

The students asked some great questions about whether Dash would protect me if I was attacked (nope! I'm the leader in our relationship, ergo I am the protector!), to if he had to have his leash on at home (no way! He's basically a regular dog at home!). 

As class ended a few kids got to shake Dash's paw as they left. True to form, Dash tried to sneak a lick almost every time. Not ideal but overall he did a fantastic job today. We enjoyed our time and hope to have more chances to share with others soon!