Pretty picture of Inara

Figured it might be hot where you are...so here's a picture of my pretty sister, Inara, wallowing in the baby pool. (yes, she paid me to write that...)


~SDS

Self-trained and Program-trained

Here's a new picture of me. As you can see, I like to talk a lot. Mom took my picture in mid-sentence. I don't remember what I was saying, but I'm sure it was really amazing. I have very interesting conversations with mom and John.

I'm very quiet when I'm out in public however (unless we're doing a demo and Score is showing-off...darn puppy!) All of the stuff that I like to do at home, I refrain from doing out in public...sneezing in human faces, snorting into pillows when I roll around on the couch, and talking back to mom...I leave that all at home.

Being a self-trained Service Dog is really fun, but it is a lot of work. Mom and John had to work with me quite a bit on different skills and behaviors. They didn't have help to do this, they did it all on their own. This is all legal, because there is no national certification for Assistance Dogs. There is much debate on this topic...which we hear about all of the time, and everyone has their ideas. One of the problems with not having a national certification program is that people like to take their pets with them to restaurants or malls, or put "Service Dog" capes on them so they can fly in the airplane with them. People tell us this all of the time, thinking we'll think that they're clever or something.

John's first Service Dog was a big smooth collie named Charlie. I met Charlie a few times, he was nice, but he was really old, and not really interested in playing. Charlie retired when he got old, and laid around the house doing nothing. John said he retired him when he just refused to pick up stuff anymore. When he retired, Fidos made a video of all his pictures from his years of service...and played the song "Take This Job and Shove It". That summed up the Charlie that I knew.

Charlie was from Fidos For Freedom...trained by them and matched with John. He's what the industry calls a "Program Trained Dog". He was donated by a breeder, raised and trained by volunteers, and matched with John as a client when he was ready. John got another Fidos dog after Charlie retired, but he didn't work out due to temperament issues. He is now working at a different career (Search and Rescue). John didn't get another Fidos dog because nothing at the time was going to work for him. He started using me around the house, and then moved on to using me in public too. I just kinda fell into this job! I'm what's called a "Self-trained Service Dog"...as I was not trained with an organization. There are many people out there that train their own dogs to help with their disability. We are not alone!

I am a Fidos For Freedom Therapy Dog however. The Therapy program is for people who bring their pet dogs in to train in a group environment, and take their dogs to visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools, etc. John and I work as a Therapy Dog team, and often demo our Service Dog work too. I like having different hats!

~SDS

Party time!

We had a big party in the backyard today...an Ice Cream Social. Many of our friends showed up to eat homemade Frosty Paws (four-legged friends) and ice cream (two-legged friends). We ran around the yard and played...and dunked in the baby pool. It was so much fun! Mom took lots of pictures, but they're not uploaded yet...be patient!

I've got to go crash on the couch now...it was a LOOONGGG day!

~SDS

Feline Obedience

more cat pictures

Mom saw this, and said she had to post it. Even though she's trained OUR cat...she says it's not easy. She thought this would be perfect for my blog. (see that, one guest posting, and she starts taking over).

~SDS

New titles in the family!

Mom is the guest blogger for this post...I was too sick to pay much attention to anything this past weekend. (I'm fine now!)~SDS

Score earned his FD (Flyball Dog-20 points), FDX (Flyball Dog Excellent-100 points) and FDCh (Flyball Dog Champion-500 points) titles this weekend. He's now officially Herart's Makin' Trax FDCh.

Yea! Okay, here are the gory details (well, not gory, but gross)

Score was on the same team as Sawyer...I figured if Score was doing well, I'd pull Sawyer instead of pulling someone else's dog for my green (inexperienced) pup.

We did single dog racing on Friday night. We got out there, and did a recall. Score comes tearing to me! Then we do a few warm-up runs...he does fantastic...hits the box high, whips off and comes to me. Then we line up to run the actual races. (five races against one other dog in the other lane. We false start the first one, so he's ahead of the other dog (a big fluffy samoyed). I hold back so he's not false starting on the second run. The second run, he sees the dog going out, and stops and looks at me. "I can't go, there's a dog over there, and you're gonna yell at me!" The other dog comes back, he runs and does fine. Third race, same thing. So for the last two, I just let him false start (no times, but at least he succeeded!). His times...4.6, 4.8. We go celebrate that night...Peach Flips and Jell-O shots...

I'm still not really planning on running him a lot...just some warm-ups, maybe a few runs if Sawyer is tired. This is more just practice for him...I don't think he's truly ready yet.

Flash forward to Saturday morning. (me with a headache) Sawyer goes out with me and the others to potty that morning at the motel. He won't go. I take him back in, and tell John that he hasn't gone yet. John takes him into the building at the site, and I take him later and put him in his crate. Forgetting that he didn't potty earlier, neither one of us potties him again. A while later, we're all in the crating area trying to figure out what smells. The puppy is fine, everyone is fine...but Sawyer, who has done the poop dance in his crate. Smeared it everywhere.

We run Sawyer in the first race, and he's spitting out treats and not acting like himself. I tell my teammates that I'm gonna bring Score out for the next race in case Sawyer needs relief. Sawyer proceeds to have diarrhea in his car crate during the wait. (shoving the old throw-away blanket out of the way to poop directly on the crate pan).

Next race out, we bring Score out...and Sawyer. A teammate holds Sawyer on the sidelines, while I warm up Score. He does beautifully in the warm-ups...so I put him on the line-up. He runs with a bit of hesitation...checking out the small toy poodle in the other lane. The boxloader reported that he was keeping one eye on the other dog. He runs two really well, and then the third race...he decides to cross over to say hi to that cute little poodle. We lose that one, and Sawyer comes in. (and proceeds to run okay...only okay)

The next race out, I try him again...we go in and run well for the first two, and lose the third because Score gets excited and craps in the lane. Yes, my day was really crappy. Sawyer then has liquid poo in his crate, and lays in it. He gets hosed off twice in one day.

By the end of Saturday, he was looking good, and we were taking Sawyer out on the lanes too, just in case. We go to our motel that night, he crashes on the bed, while the humans all meet in a teammate's room for Peach Flips (yes, we came with a blender)...jell-o shots and vodka shots.

Sunday...gonna be a good day, no headache, no diarrhea from Sawyer.

Score goes in the lane first race, and just does wonderful. No pooping, no crossing...the report from the boxloader is that he's looking at the other dog, but more to gauge where they are. He's racing! His best time for the weekend? 4.6...but he mananges a couple of 4.7s, 4.8s and the like. Nothing much over 5, once he hit his stride. I was slowly backing him up (starting at 10-15 feet)...to give him room to get up to speed. Passes were still a bit wide 4-5 feet...so he's just gonna get faster.

His box turn? High, fast and tight. Beautiful...he actually kicked his boxloader in the crotch at one time...turning off that box. Kept it high all weekend...kicked some ass with that turn.

So it all worked out perfectly, Score got to run and earn titles, Sawyer got to sit out and be sick (lovely)...and everyone was happy. Oh yeah, and I kept asking the photographer...to see if he could get some pics. He was always up racing when we were up. *pout* But by the end of the weekend, he came up and told me that he did manage to get some of Score...so I had to give him a big hug...I was so happy! Once they go up on his site, I'll be sharing them!

TheRedQueen aka Service Dog Sawyer's Mom

Wish us luck!

We're headed to York, PA for a flyball tournament this weekend! I'm chasing down my next flyball title...Flyball Master Champion (15,000 points). Hopefully I'll get it this year!

Score is making his debut this weekend...hopefully the little brother won't embarrass me!

Gotta go make sure mom packs all our treats!
~SDS

More stuff we love...

If you have fast eaters...mom says you should get this bowl. I don't know why, but she laughs every time she feeds Score now.

Break-fast Bowl

I tried it, but mom didn't laugh as much. She keeps saying something about his big fat muzzle in the bowl. I don't know what she finds so funny. Moms are weird.

~SDS