They are getting better every day!

We have been working on a few different cues with Sky.  Ryan "parks" his wheelchair outside of the classroom and then he walks into the classroom with his crutches.  He is not able to carry his backpack with him so he relies on others to do it for him.  We have been working with Sky to drag his backpack.  It's a work in progress, but she will drag it all around our house to him.  We are planning on doing a practice session at school soon.  I have tried to capture a few pictures, but the dark back pack and the black dog do not make for real great photos!  I also can not figure out how to make them look "nice' in the blog, but you get the idea!



This is why I can never find my running shoes!



Snuggling on the couch

She is super at picking things up for Ryan.  Most times as soon as something drops she will pick it up for him before  Ryan gives her a the cue.  Sometimes she gets over zealous and will start picking things up that are scattered all over our floor (usually Mark's socks or shoes!).

The other thing we have been working on is her carrying things to other people.  She will carry a paper to me that Ryan gives her and vice versa.  We hope to eventually incorporate this into the school setting.  We have also used it when Ryan wants something. I will give it to Sky and she takes it to him. 

One of the next things we want to work on is how to have her get his library books up to the check out counter.  We haven't figured out exactly how we are going to do it yet.  We have toyed around with her carrying them in her mouth (she is not real slobbery, but probably not the greatest idea!),putting them in his backpack and having her drag the backpack up to the checkout or even carrying a small tote. 

Ryan is very much looking forward to bringing her to school.  He is getting very impatient.  If all goes well, we hope to have the meeting with the kids in the class next Thursday.  We will slowly bring her in a little bit at a time & increase it as they tolerate it.  He is so much looking forward to it!
 

My Life: Changed

This is Ryan. I have a few words to say: This dog has changed my life. Taking care of and handling a Service Dog is a big responsibility. But, I have to say Sky is a big help!!   

Some firsts!!

Sharing a moment

Sky holding the door for Ryan

Ryan and Sky waiting for the bus





Today was the first day of school. Ryan did not take Sky. We still have to get some things finalized before he starts to bring her. Ryan wasn't sure how he was going to stand being away from her for 6 hours. If her wagging tail was any indication, she was happy to see him when he got off the bus.

Ryan has been working with her on some of her more advanced cues and she is making great progress. Today she opened the back door for him for the first time! It's hard to see on the picture,but she is holding a strap that is attached to the door to open it for Ryan.

The other picture is just too darn cute.

They passed!!! (A bit belated news!)

Ryan and Sky passed their public access test one week ago today! They are now an official working service dog team! They both did super! I could not have been prouder of both of them. They surprised me (happily) on how well they did on a few "shaky" items.

The public access test is a standardized test that ensures the team is safe and capable of being in public. They will have to take it again in 6 months and then annually, thereafter.

It feels so good to be finished with Team Training. Even thought it was a great experience, it was both emotionally and mentally exhausting. I am so thankful that Ryan did not have to go through training during school.

The trainer is coming back to our house today to work on some things and we will also have a liaison that will be contacting us weekly.

Maybe next week Sky will go to school!

We had a good weekend!

We had a productive weekend! Sky really made some great strides at home with some of her more difficult cues. She seems to be settling in to our routine (i.e. chaos).

One of the things we worked on is her bringing Ryan's crutches to him. She's starting to get pretty good at it. We are still minimizing distractions and setting her up for success by putting the crutches at a place that is easy for her to maneuver them. As she continues to get better, we will add in distractions and make it more real life.

Ryan and Sky also made great progress with walking with the leash (vs. the wheelchair).

She is a champ at retrieving objects. We tried to simulate all the things he could drop in school such as his pencil, marker caps, papers, etc. She is great with it! We had a slight technical difficulty. When she picked up Ryan's baritone lesson book she stepped on it and tore the pages while she was lifting it up! Oops! Apparently,you can make some type of strap on it to help her lift it up. I think we may need to do that!

We also worked on opening doors. We took a short field trip to the mall. I can't get over how well she does at the mall. That's a good thing, because Ryan is so distracted by all the "sights" that he doesn't always watch her closely. I really need to get him out more!

The bathroom.....again

I never realized how much our lives revolved around the bathroom! I'm not sure this is a good thing.

I have a funny/sad story about our bathroom experience at the mall today. The SSD trainer had to leave early to go to NYC with the other Team in Training. We were given the green light to continue shopping/walking at the mall. They were actually trusting us on our own!

We were in Game Stop looking at video games when nature called for Ryan. So off we go in search of a bathroom. We found one and proceeded to the "handicap" bathroom. Proper procedure for using a public bathroom in a wheelchair with a service dog is to have them walk backwards into the stall & sit between the wall and toilet. Ryan then follows in his wheelchair. The problem with the "handicap" bathroom was that the stall was so small that after he drove his chair "in", he was not able to close the door behind him. (I guess, if you use a wheelchair you don't need privacy to go to the bathroom such as a closed door. Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

The stall looks like this - Sky is scrunched into the corner against the wall, Ryan is trying to stand at the toilet with his chair pushing at the back of his legs & the door is hanging open. I am wedged in there, too, trying to keep the door somewhat closed.

So Ryan is trying to go to the bathroom, Sky keeps resting her head on the rim of the toilet bowl (gross, I know) and then she would look up at Ryan and each time she removed her head the toilet would flush. She did this 5 or 6 times. We finally figured out she was asking "permission" to get a drink from the toilet. (The way they train the dogs to ask permission is to put their head on the object. For instance, if she wants to go up on the couch she would rest her head on the couch and not get up on it until she was given the ok.)

Ryan and I started laughing our heads off - partially because of Sky and partially because of how ridiculous the whole situation was. I'm not sure where she picked up this habit, but she will sneak drinks out of the toilet if we don't stop her.

Needless to say, we did not have a "productive" bathroom break!

School Day

Sky retrieving a pencil for Ryan

Today we went to school! Ryan was not all that excited to go back to school. The SSD trainer met us,the teacher, the aide and a few other people at the school. We did some problem solving and made a few tentative plans. The doors are so heavy and counter-weighted, I'm not sure Sky will be able to open them. That was a bit of a bummer. The school was built some time ago, so it is not very handicap friendly.

But, as you can see in the picture she is doing great retrieving objects for him. We are going to slowly introduce Sky into school. It's going to take some creativity and a bit of trial and error, but I'm sure they will be successful.

Ryan and Sky did great walking in the hallways and going through doors. They have really seemed to figure out how to walk together when Ryan is in his wheelchair. Now the next thing is to work on walking Sky with his crutches.

Ryan also did well letting other people pet Sky. It is proper service dog etiquette to talk to the person and ask permission to pet the dog. The person can say yes or no depending on what is going on. At first Ryan was saying, "Yes, but let me get her into a proper position before you pet her". That was not working well, because Ryan is so soft spoken that all they heard was "yes" and then his voice trailed off. So we were having a lot of "out of control tail wagging dog" going on as the person petted her.

We found it works better if Ryan says "Wait" and holds his hand up. That stops the person and then he can say "yes, but let me get her into position". He will then put Sky in a sit and have her stay and then tell the person it is OK to pet her. She sits there watching Ryan as the person pets her.

We also came back to the house and put some tugs on our doors to start working with Sky opening doors at home.

Tomorrow we go to a different mall to do some more practicing. Next week we go to the Hershey Zoo and Chocolate World. It should be fun considering it is tourist season! :-)

The other team in training went to the mall to get pedicures today while we were at the school. Kara, Sky's trainer and I never had a pedicure. We suggested to Ryan about taking Sky for one next week, but Ryan vetoed it. Go figure!!