Everyone copes with bad pain flare days in their own way. My go-to coping method is to make hot cocoa, curl up in bed with Robbie, and watch FRIENDS or another beloved comedy. If I could, I'd stay in bed all day. While I'm sure Robbie would love that plan, it doesn't allow for potty breaks, exercise, playtime, or mental stimulation of any kind - all of which is important when you work with a service dog. Especially a service dog who is part wild animal (ahem, Malinois). So, my bad days get revised a bit. Curled up in bed with the dog still takes up most of the day. Potty breaks get done by gritting my teeth and hoping he goes fast. Exercise gets done courtesy of our lovely treadmill, and playtime gets worked in around bedtime, usually followed by an antler chew. That leaves mental stimulation, and my favorite way of tackling it - "work for your dinner."
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Before I begin this post, I understand that this is a controversial topic among dog trainers. I was instructed to use the forced retrieve method with Robbie by our trainer, & was told that either we did it his way or he would drop us as clients. Since being taught by him, I have played around the the method to make it work best for me & Robbie, because I never liked the forced retrieve. I did it at the time because I couldn't find another way to teach Robbie. Some may disagree with my methods, and that is just fine. I will include video links to alternate methods of teaching take, hold, and give, as well as a video of Robbie performing these commands. Types of Retrieve & Robbie's Inclinations to ItThere are two types of retrieve:
*For the purpose of this post my fiancé, who helped me write this post, will provide his concerns and frustrations for the “inside the home” viewpoint, but his thoughts and our eventual plan could be applied to anyone who lives with you and helps you out frequently.* A service dog will change the life of their new handler, and the lives of everyone close to the handler. You may be thinking, well that’s silly — the dog is for the handler, and only their life will change. It’s a reasonable thought. It’s a perfectly understandable thought. It’s exactly what we thought. And we were wrong. The focus of this post will be on how living with a service dog directly changes the life of our spouses, partners, and in some cases, parents. Just as you can’t throw a pebble into a pond without it making ripples, you cannot make the decision to get a service dog without realizing (and accepting) that your decision will impact others. I am in no way trying to discourage anyone from getting a service dog for their CRPS if they truly believe a service dog will be beneficial, but I do want to give a voice to our spouses/partners/parents because they will be a part of your service dog team, even if they don’t realize it yet.
What does it mean to desensitize/socialize your service dog to something? Basically, this means to expose your dog to various sight, sounds, and smells in a positive manner so that they do not develop an aversion or fear to it. This is very important for service dogs because they need to be able to keep their focus even when sirens are blaring, kids are running past, or the floor moves beneath them as an elevator climbs the levels. Service dogs get exposed to a wide variety of stimulations throughout a single day of public access work, and their job could easily be overwhelming if they are not properly trained to work in strange environments, such as a supermarket. Just another reason why not every dog has what it takes to be a service dog — some dogs can’t handle the over-stimulation, which is understandable. In particular, I have come to realize that there are certain things a country service dog needs to be socialized to in the city that they would never experience at home, and vice versa for city dogs. Most of the advice articles you find on socializing your service dog seems to be geared towards city handlers, which is great, but it almost seems to make the conclusion that people in rural areas don’t have service dogs, which is definitely not true! In this post, I will give a breakdown of 5 things city people should desensitize their dog to that occur in the country, 5 things country handlers should expose their service dog to while in the city, and why for each. This is not a complete list, there are many more things to expose your dog to, but hopefully these five will get you started. I will also talk about Robbie's experiences in the city versus the country, why socialization has been difficult for us to do, and anything we continue to work on regarding socialization.
One of the best things about training an animal is when they love their job and get excited doing various exercises. Robbie's favorite task (so far) is opening doors. This post will cover why I need Robbie's help with doors, the four ways Robbie can open a door, and include videos of us working on these commands. Why Do I Need Help Opening Doors?CRPS can be very unpredictable. Flares get started from known triggers, like lifting a heavy object, or they can rise up for no reason at all. Turning door knobs and pushing on heavy doors are two known triggers for me. Opening a door doesn't guarantee a flare will be triggered, but we know it is always a possibility. For that reason, we wanted to teach Robbie to help me open doors in the hope that his help would prevent possible flares. Unfortunately, there will be some doors in public that Robbie can't help with, like big, heavy entrance doors, but he can assist me with most public doors and all home doors, which is good enough.
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My Name is Sally...I have a condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. This blog is about my journey training Robbie, a dog who helped me regain independence, confidence, and achieve the impossible in the face of my disability. It continues on with the training of Austin, Robbie's successor. Check Out... - "More than a Dog" was published on a site called The Mighty Categories
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