I can't believe it has been almost 5 weeks since I have posted. My life has been very hectic and stressful. In addition to my normal issues of fighting my MS, working full time, going to doctors, teaching genealogy classes and training Willow. My life got crazier. My husband had surgery to remove some skin cancer on his back and we found out they didn't get it all the first time so he has to have another surgery on November 12th. My father got pneumonia again and nearly died and I found out his lung cancer is now stage 4. Our family is devastated. But enough of the sad stuff.
Here is some of what i have been doing with Willow since I lasted posted. We continue to work on our foundation behaviors (Sit, Stay, Down, Off, Come, potty on command, touch, leave it, loose leash walking, heel). Some days she is a star student and an absolute genius. Other days she looks at me like she has never heard the command before. It must be her age and the preteen or teenager in her. Overall she is getting a lot better. In fact last week I went to my local PetsMart and one of the people who came to talk to me there was their trainer. She was asking a lot of questions and of course wanted to know what I was doing for training. She asked if we could go into the training area and if she could see me work with her. Then she asked if she could work with her. She said she was extremely impressed because most 4 1/2 month old dogs do not respond as well or as quickly as Willow does. That makes me feel good because that morning was a particularly difficult training session. It was like Willow had forgotten everything she ever knew. She did better in the afternoon.
We have also been working on public access. I have been picking smaller places that are less busy for the most part. We have gone to two places that she doesn't want to go into so I don't make her. They are Quizno's and Papa Murphy's. The places she has really liked going into are of course PetsMart and PetCo, the local health food store, Taco Time, Subway, Maverick, Home Depot, Walmart, and the doctors office. When we do the public access I have been setting a timer so that I stay in no longer than 5-10 min at a time. She is getting so much better when we are in these places. She will actually sit quietly beside me part of the time and also walk with a loose leash part of the time.
I am hoping to have a friend tape us training a couple of times so that I can post to this blog.
Halloween was a real eye opener. When the first kids came my husband had a hold of her leash. She doesn't listen to him very well so she nearly pulled his arm off trying to get to the door. He wanted me to put her in her crate for the night but I wanted to see if she would do better for me. So when the next batch of kids came by I had her leash (short leash). She pulled a bunch but not enough to turn my hand red so for her not bad. She got excited to answer the door every time the doorbell rang or someone knocked. She had no fear of the costumes. She and the kids and their parents had a great time saying hi. I was also impressed that she didn't try to jump on any of the kids or adults. She did remarkably well.
I will post pictures in the next post.
Till next time my friends...
Showing posts with label Multiple Sclerosis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Multiple Sclerosis. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Welcome to my training journal for Willow
My name is Jacqui and I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Here is a link to the National MS Society. You can find lot's of good information here about MS.
My MS affects me in many ways. The major effect is on my balance. I feel like I am walking on a small ship most of the time and in the last 6 months I have begun to have a real problem with drop foot on my left side.
Another way that MS affects me is that it sorely tries my patience! I have never been overly patient and now I am having to learn to be patient with myself. I absolutely hate it when I stumble, fall, trip over my words and when my thoughts just won't work well together. I have never had these problems before and often I find myself saying "Why ME?"
While researching treatments and ways to slow my MS progression and ways to keep from having to use a cane and walker all the time I came across articles that talked about Service Dogs for MS patients.
When I saw my doctor I asked her about it and she said a balance/mobility service dog could very well keep me out of a walker and/or wheelchair full-time for a couple of more years. I absolutely adore dogs so I thought this would be a very good idea. I immediately began researching where to get a dog and the costs involved. That was very depressing. Because I am a large woman the agencies that give out dogs for free would not consider me for a mobility dog. Mostly because most of them use Labs and Golden's which would be too small. The agencies that would consider me wanted $30,000-$50,000. Way more money than I have and way more money than I would be able to raise.
So I began to look for an adult dog at local shelters and online trying to find one that was the correct size, temperament and personality to be a service dog. That's when I received another rude awakening. Many of the rescues would not even consider me for their dogs because I wanted a dog to be a service dog and they felt that dogs should never have to work. Rescues have had enough problems and needed to live a life of leisure and not have to work. The ones that would consider me had dogs with so many problems I didn't feel like they could ever be a good service dog.
That brought me to the next phase of my search. I finally decided to look for a puppy so that I could get the breed that I knew would work for me size and temperament wise. I put this off for a long time because I have absolutely no experience with puppies and I have never done the potty training thing. I knew I would have to have a great trainer to work with. The breed I chose is the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. I got Willow on August 30th and she is beautiful. She is currently 13 weeks old and her birthday was June 10, 2014. No she isn't named after the movie. Willow is just a name I like and the name of my favorite tree. The breeder I got her from is Blue Hill Swissy's. To find out more about the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (GSM Dog or Swissy) go to the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America they have a lot of wonderful information on the breed.
The purpose of this blog is to journal my successes and failures with training Willow. I will have help along the way. I am working with a wonderful trainer, Laurie of Side by Side Dog Training. She is a local trainer in the Salt Lake City area.
Welcome to my journey!
My MS affects me in many ways. The major effect is on my balance. I feel like I am walking on a small ship most of the time and in the last 6 months I have begun to have a real problem with drop foot on my left side.
Another way that MS affects me is that it sorely tries my patience! I have never been overly patient and now I am having to learn to be patient with myself. I absolutely hate it when I stumble, fall, trip over my words and when my thoughts just won't work well together. I have never had these problems before and often I find myself saying "Why ME?"
While researching treatments and ways to slow my MS progression and ways to keep from having to use a cane and walker all the time I came across articles that talked about Service Dogs for MS patients.
When I saw my doctor I asked her about it and she said a balance/mobility service dog could very well keep me out of a walker and/or wheelchair full-time for a couple of more years. I absolutely adore dogs so I thought this would be a very good idea. I immediately began researching where to get a dog and the costs involved. That was very depressing. Because I am a large woman the agencies that give out dogs for free would not consider me for a mobility dog. Mostly because most of them use Labs and Golden's which would be too small. The agencies that would consider me wanted $30,000-$50,000. Way more money than I have and way more money than I would be able to raise.
So I began to look for an adult dog at local shelters and online trying to find one that was the correct size, temperament and personality to be a service dog. That's when I received another rude awakening. Many of the rescues would not even consider me for their dogs because I wanted a dog to be a service dog and they felt that dogs should never have to work. Rescues have had enough problems and needed to live a life of leisure and not have to work. The ones that would consider me had dogs with so many problems I didn't feel like they could ever be a good service dog.
That brought me to the next phase of my search. I finally decided to look for a puppy so that I could get the breed that I knew would work for me size and temperament wise. I put this off for a long time because I have absolutely no experience with puppies and I have never done the potty training thing. I knew I would have to have a great trainer to work with. The breed I chose is the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. I got Willow on August 30th and she is beautiful. She is currently 13 weeks old and her birthday was June 10, 2014. No she isn't named after the movie. Willow is just a name I like and the name of my favorite tree. The breeder I got her from is Blue Hill Swissy's. To find out more about the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog (GSM Dog or Swissy) go to the Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Club of America they have a lot of wonderful information on the breed.
The purpose of this blog is to journal my successes and failures with training Willow. I will have help along the way. I am working with a wonderful trainer, Laurie of Side by Side Dog Training. She is a local trainer in the Salt Lake City area.
Welcome to my journey!
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