Carnivals

I had another perfect training chance tonight although it could have been any night between tonight and May 3 we decided to take it tonight. There is a small carnival near us. So we drove over, it's within walking distance but mom didn't want to agrevate her back, and walked around for a bit. The lady at the front tried to say "No dogs" and mom calmly explained that I am a service dog. She tried to stick to no dogs and mom said "This is a service dog and by law he is allowed to accompany me to any public place." She didn't say anything after that just took mom and dads tickets. Mom said I was great during all that and just stood calmly beside her. We were walking around and nothing phased me. You know how carnivals are....lots of bright, flashing lights, loud, sudden noises, screaming people, kids running around etc etc. Mom said I just acted like I have been to them every day of my life. She wound up doing more "people training" then dog training LOL. There was one guy that said I must bite simply because i'm an Australian Cattle Dog and his cousin has one and that dog bites all the time. Mom told him flat out that the dog must not have been trained properly then because she has never met an Australian Cattle Dog that bites. Everyone was commenting on how calm I was and of course the "Oh look at the cute dog" comments. There were so many people who either didn't know what a service dog is or didn't understand what a seizure alert dog is. Mom did get in some dog training once I had gotten a look around at everything and realized that some of the rides were moving fast. I started trying to chase after them and barking. At one ride I was even trying to jump up in the air after it as it past by over head. It was kind of cute but mom corrected me for it because that is not behaviour she wants. She did praise me and gave me treats for sitting and not barking. We walked around until I started alerting to mom.....she forgot flashing lights tend to trigger her seizures. So we headed out and came home.

Not much going on lately

Since the last time I posted not much has happened. Mom hurt her back on the 13th(before the problem we had with the jerk in the car) and by this week it was still bothering her so dad made her go to the doctor. I got to go with her so I could help her if I needed to. The doctor gave her a few prescriptions, did some x-rays and set her up for physical therapy. She has to go to the physical therapy two times a week. I didn't go with her for the very first one but I will be going with her from now on. She also set up a meeting with my "Aunt" Kelly to help me learn how to pick things up for her so she doesn't have to bend over and hurt her back more. She did find out that all the stuff that happened on the 13th did not set back my training any and is very happy about that. We are taking a bit of a break though because of how much pain her back is in and I might have pulled a muscle in one of my back legs last night so she has me taking it pretty easy right now so I can recover. I also haven't been paying attention during training times like I should be so "Aunt" Kelly told mom to take a break from any training for a few days and I get to be a puppy 24/7 pretty much.....except doing things for mom that I already know how to do. I can't wait to see "Aunt" Kelly again and learn some new stuff. This "old" stuff is getting kind of boring.

As if this morning wasn't enough

OMD. As if this morning wasn't enough mom decided to give me a training session at the park this afternoon. We were almost there and some jerk in a car hollered at me and scared me really bad. He got pulled over by the police and got a ticket HA HA. One of the police officers came over to see if me and mom were ok because I got scared so bad that I almost pulled mom off her feet. Then I didn't want to go back over to her but stood at the end of my leash shaking like crazy. Mom asked some people in the park to help out by coming from behind us hollering as we were walking slowly around in it. I kept getting scared and trying to run away but mom calmly encouraged me back to her side and continued walking. If I stayed beside her and calm I got clicked and treated. Once I finally calmed down and was ignoring them when they walked past hollering mom thanked them for their help and let me visit with them for a little bit of petting and then we did a 20 minute long training session working on lots of things. Mom said most of what we worked on I need to learn for the CGC Test that she wants me to take. She said that right now I wouldn't pass the test and that we are going to keep practicing lots and lots until I will be able to pass it. We worked on sit/stays, loose leash walking, leave it, left turns, right turns, u turns, watch mes, she mussed with my feet, lifted up my top lip to look at my teeth and then we walked the rest of the way down to meet dad at work and mom didn't put my head collar back on me. She was very proud of how I did after the scare I got and how I was able to start focusing on her again and stayed focused for a 20 minute long training session. Over all it was a long day. I'm really tired now so i'm off to bed.

Dr Appointments

OMD! This morning was real busy. Mom had 2 dr appointments in a row. The first one was with her new pysch dr. I went with her and she was very proud of how good I did. She was not, however, very impressed with the dr. She said the dr did not seem to want to be there, was talking in a very monotone voice which is hard for my mom to hear and when she didn't know or understand one of the meds my mom takes did not show any interest at all when mom tried to show it to her. I did alert once because moms' anxiety levels started going up so I alerted her and kept nudging her so she paid attention to me and calmed down. Then we got back in the truck and went to get mom and dad each a coffee. Mom realized she forgot her wallet, which has the cards she carries on her in case anyone gives her a hassle about bringing me into businesses so we had to swing back by the apartment on our way to her next dr appointment. I though she would drop me off at home but no she left me in the truck and brought me with her to her next dr appointment too. She was very proud of how good I did there too. The nurse that started the appointment asked her if i'm friendly and said that the dr is really scared of dogs. So mom set it up with dad that he would keep me in a corner of the room that was as far away from the exam table as possible to make the dr feel more comfortable but I would still be there if I needed to alert her. The dr came in and towards the end of the exam started commenting about how well behaved I was being and how cute I am. During the whole exam I just stood there beside or in front of dad and watched what was going on with mom. I did start to struggle against dad a little at first and mom pointed out that it was because he was holding the leash to tight. As soon as he loosened up his hold on the leash and gave me a little slack I settled right down. Mom is going to get an appointment with another dr to see about getting her seizures under control if they can or at least lessen the number she has and the severity of them. She is also going to get bloodwork done. I'm not sure if I will be allowed to go with her to get bloodwork done or not. She said she will probably leave me home since that is a more sterile environment but she is going to check with others who use service dogs and see what they do or what they think about whether or not I would be allowed for something like that. She isn't looking forward to that though because she can't eat or drink anything(other then water) for 12 hours prior to getting the bloodwork done and she is terrified of needles.

Appointment

Well today I went to my moms first therapy appointment with her. Her therapist told her to definately bring me to every appointment from now on including ones with her other doctor!!!! Mom said I did awesome and was very well behaved. I alerted when I needed to and helped mom calm down and even the therapist saw the change in mom. I can't wait to go to the next appointment. Mom said the meeting went good and that the therapist will hopefully be able to help her. The therapist is even going to have mom make sure dad is at some of the sessions so that they can work on their communacation more because with moms illnesses sometimes it's hard for them to understand each other and they wind up argueing which isn't good for either one of them or them as a couple.

My first Appointment

Mom had an appointment today and she took me with her! It was the first appointment she took me to with her and she was very proud of how good I did. I even alerted to her anxiety levels even though she said she was just a bit nervous I knew better. Then about half way through the appointment she had to have dad take me outside for a bit because I didn't get to fully potty before we left and so I had to tell mom I needed to go. Dad took me out and I went potty like a good boy and then we went back in and I checked on mom right away. Even the person she had the appointment with and everyone else who saw me was impressed with me. Mom said next time she won't be as nervous about bringing me with her but she will probably be at least a little nervous. Next week is going to be really busy because she has 2 appointments and she said she is bringing me to both of them. She has been having a really hard time with her anxiety and has been having a lot of bad seizures on top of it so she will definately need me with her. Tonight she is going to try and pick up a new brush for us dogs since she can't find the one she has and I need to be brushed out because i'm shedding. I'm still not too keen about getting brushed but mom has been working with me about it and i'm getting better about it.