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Honesty about life with a service dog is my policy, so here goes.
A few months ago, I asked a family member if she could ask her pastor & congregation for permission for my service dog and my friend's therapy dog to attend church one Sunday, for socialization and an extension of training to be okay with being bored. Neither myself or my friend are religious, but we do what we need to for the purpose of further our dogs' educations, and being only a Therapy Dog, her team was running out of challenging places to train. For us, though, here's the kicker... I, a disabled individual, asked for permission to go to a place where I have to be invited in purely because I need a service dog to function, only to listen to a Thanksgiving "thankful" themed sermon where the primary take-home message was, "We should feel blessed and thankful because we're NOT DISABLED." Wait. What? WHAT? I really wish I was kidding. Or being dramatic. There was no reading between the lines. There was no mistake. There was no metaphor. At the start of the service, my family member had me stand up before the congregation, introduce myself, talk about why we were there. I got "we're happy to have you here" multiple times, even by the pastor himself, and "please come back." I had a large service dog beside me. I introduced myself as having a disability. I explained my disability. I thanked them for allowing us to be there. And then, sitting in a cramped pew, rapidly approaching a 10/10 from the uncomfortable seating, loud music, and hard flooring, I got to listen to their honest, and absolutely ignorant views of people with disabilities. People to be pitied. People to celebrate when they're happy, because "good for them!" People who aren't as beautiful when you realize they only have one foot. People who can't possibly figure out how to enjoy the company of other people because they themselves are deaf, ergo won't be able to participate. People to judge. People to use as a example for why your life is much better. Because you aren't disabled. Your life is blessed. You can be grateful for your woes and struggles, because Hey, You have two feet. You can see. You can hear. Never mind the woman with a severe disability, sitting up front, with a service dog at her feet, who you invited to hear your ignorance spouted as gratitude. All around me, I heard murmurs of agreement with the pastor's words. People were nodding, smiling at each point. They were oblivious to their own ignorance. It took an enormous amount of self-control to say nothing. My friend and I both reached down to interact with our working dogs, for comfort, and grounding. Up until then, it wasn't too bad. In that moment, I felt sick. You can't look at people the same way after you've heard a diatribe like that, revealing their beliefs. Each time someone approached us after, all I could think was, "Do they feel blessed they aren't me?" How can they believe their God gives people disabilities because he knows they can handle it and because he - according to scripture - favors the weak, and in the same breath, thank God for not giving them that life and allowing them to truly be blessed? I'm not sure it was worth it for the dogs. I know I could have done without being made to feel small, worthless, and something to be pitied. *disclaimer: I am not painting all Christians by what happened, but it does explain a few past experiences if they shared the same belief
Brainstorming TimeFiguring out ways to train an animal, how to problem solve training blocks, and thinking through what an animal's capabilities are and how they might be wielded to work within our world and our needs is something that both comes naturally to me and that I continue to work on, build, and learn more. It's not a way of looking at the world that's natural to most people though, and it can make it harder for a person to think through what their life is like, what's hard for them, and link it back to how a service dog might could help. Assisting people in determining tasks they may need from a service dog is a consult I offer through my business, Disabled Advantage, because it is a crucial step in planning the outline for your service dog's training. For this year's CRPS November Awareness month posts on social media, I wanted to share 30 aspects of CRPS life and link them to specific task work a service dog could be trained to perform, to help people begin to think like a trainer, see the possibilities, and start to brainstorm for their own teams. \ *The tasks listed are a mix of tasks from my team, other teams, and what could be possible based on a dog's capabilities*
A service dog team is made up of two components, dog and handler. Sometimes, an additional person, but for simplicity's sake, let's stick to one dog, one handler. Often, people zero in on the dog's training, the dog's skill set, the dog's capabilities, and the dog's temperament/drive, and assume the handler is simply along for the ride. It's my belief, that that miscalculation might just be why so many teams struggle to overcome challenges they face in the real world or never make it to the upper stages of training. For service dog training to be successful, we need to consider the dog's training, the dog's skill set, the dog's capabilities, the dog's temperament/drive AND the handler's training, the handler's skill set, the handler's capabilities, and the handler's temperament/drive. There must be balance. We're called "handler" for a reason. We're the tiller, our service dog is the boat keeping us afloat.
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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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