What a roller coaster of emotions lately! We were so excited that Ryan had a chance to Meet the Dogs and then even more excited when he got matched. Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago we got the news that "Journey" was not going to be able to placed as a full working service dog. She was doing great with learning her tasks to help Ryan, but had developed some aggression towards other dogs since she went into Advanced Training. I guess, it happens to some dogs and may not show up until they are older. Advanced Training is a very intense time for the dogs so sometimes they may develop quirks. To the credit of the agency, they decided it would not be safe to have her in public as a working service dog.
It was difficult because the night before we had the opportunity to meet Journey's puppy raiser and he was telling us all the things she liked to do and what a wonderful dog she was. He was actually getting emotional about having to give her up because she was so special. We were so surprised to get the news the next day.
So, at this point we are back to waiting to be invited to "Meet the Dogs" again. There is tentatively one scheduled in January, but Ryan has not been invited. It depends on if there would be a dog that might be capable of being trained to meet the needs of Ryan. If he would be invited and IF he would be matched, he would begin Team Training in June with his new service dog.
As disappointing as it has been, with some time we have been able to see the silver lining in all of it. June would be much easier for Ryan in terms of not having to miss school for 2 1/2 weeks. It would also give him the summer to become comfortable with working with his dog before going back to school. It would also give him 6 more months of maturity - which is a lot of time when you are a kid!
Ryan is disappointed, but he is smart enough to know that it would not have worked with Journey. I think he also is relieved not to have to worry about keeping up with school. He doesn't seem to want to get his hopes up about getting invited to Meet the Dogs in January.
Through, it all we continue to be amazed at how much work, time, and effort goes into training a service dog. There are so many variables that need to fall into place in order to have a successful working service dog team.
We wish you all a joyous Holiday Season! Maybe we will have some good news to share (again) soon!
