A slight rant

Excuse me while I step onto my soapbox...

Why on earth do people pet dogs without asking?  And I am talking about any dog, not just service dogs.  In one week I had two people come up to my vested dog and just start petting (one person even had to reach around me to touch my dog in an elevator).  I tell the dog to leave it (which they did beautifully) and the person goes "oh am I not supposed to pet them?"  And I nicely explain "no, they are a service dog and they are working but it is good training for them to ignore people who just start petting them."  One of the people said "oh I didn't know I couldn't pet them" and another said "well if I had known they were in TRAINING I would have ignored them but their vest does not say in training."  Well people you should not go up to ANY dog, vested or not, and start petting them.  I don't care what breed they are or how cute and friendly they look.  The dog might not like to be petted, might have an ear infection and if you touch their ears might get unhappy, might not like women, men, people with hats etc, the list goes on.  Please just ask.  It is like me seeing your cute kid, whom I don't know, and running up and giving them a hug.  That would result in all sorts of drama (and probably a freaked out kid).  So do everyone a courtesy and just ask to pet before assuming your hand is allowed on my dog.

Thank you.  Stepping off of my soap box now.

 I would like to say there are some super awesome people out there too.  We went to dinner last night in a crowded restaurant.  As we walked in there were a couple kids with their parents in a small waiting area.  The kids get all excited about the dogs and the mom instantly goes "do not distract or pet that dog.  They are service dogs."  Then explained to her kids what service dogs were and why you do not pet them.  We had no issues, no kid tried to run over and the dogs didn't loose focus.  It was great!

And to end the post with probably one of my most favorite funny photos of Serena taken a couple days ago:

Completely blown away!

Since I made Ice's fundraising page public a week ago a lot of amazing things have happened!  In one week we have raised $2,060.  WOW!  The breakdown of that:

$780 from GoFundMe
$250 from check donations

AND a wonderful, fantastic, there aren't enough words to describe their generosity, donor has pledged to match any donation I get for Ice up to $7,500.  That means if I raise $7,500, they will donate $7,500 and Ice will be fully sponsored.

I can't thank the people who have already donated enough.  I am completely blown away by your support.

A couple questions and comments I hope to clear up that I have heard from various people:

Question: Do I have to donate by GoFundMe or can I give you a check?
Answer: You are more than welcome to donate by check! Please make it payable to "My Angel With Paws" and either give it to me or send me an email at SarahHTownsend@gmail.com and I will tell you where to send it.

Question: I want to donate but can only give a small amount and feel silly doing that
Answer: Please don't feel silly.  A small amount is fantastic.  The fact that you want to donate at all is fantastic.  Plus your donation will automatically be doubled by the matching donor!

Question: I want to hug and kiss Ice before I donate.
Answer: He comes to Illinois at the end of April and is available for hugging and kissing.  If you are currently in Florida you can hug and kiss him (and his brother and sisters) at the MAWP facility.

Question: Is there really a donor that will match my donation?  
Answer: Yes there is!  I am not making it up.  I haven't confirmed with them if they want their name public so I am keeping it private at the moment.

If you have any other questions about Ice, service dogs or donating please ask!

Ice: 6 weeks old

Meet Ice!

 My new puppy trainee has been assigned to me!  His name is Ice and he is currently 5 weeks old.  Chris will be flying at the end of April with him.  It is going to be a long month and a half waiting for him... 

In the mean time, help me raise a full sponsorship for him!  I am trying to raise $15,000 (how much one of these dogs is worth at the end of training) for My Angel With Paws.  As a puppy raiser, I pay for all my puppy's needs for the first year and a half of his life.  This includes spaying or neutering, food, toys and treats.  I view it as my way to give back to the world.  I am trying to raise $15,000 so Ice is fully sponsored.  I will still donate my time and money to raise him so the money from the sponsorship that is usually reserved for the puppy raiser will go directly to My Angel With Paws to help with other things such as food for the dogs in advanced training, puppy birthing costs and hip x-rays.

The other part of the sponsorship will go to help with the final training and placement of Ice with his forever partner.  

Go to my GoFundMe page where you can make a one time donation or a monthly donation.  It is fully tax deductible and will be so greatly appreciated!

Darby Update

Heard about Darby today!

Chris said she has been worried because he has had a hard time transferring to other people.  This is mostly my fault because I am super excited and cheerful and am really high energy when rewarding something the dogs do.  Darby was used to that and when he didn't get the super high energy he didn't want to work.  I need to learn from this and remember to tone down my praise especially when the dogs get closer to going into final training.

A man who suffered a stroke came to MAWP to meet another dog and it went well but for shits and giggles Chris brought out Darby to meet him too.  Darby went nuts barking at the guy and was super freaked out at first.  He even tried to crawl into Chris's lap to "hide" from him.  Not how you want an introduction to go. Then Darby tentatively sniffed the guy and all of a sudden was the guy's best friend.  Complete 180 from how he was.

Chris tried a brace harness on Darby for the first time and even had the guy walk Darby and use the brace.  She said it went really well.  Then afterwards the dogs were all running around loose and Darby came over and lay down at the guy's feet.  This is a biggie!  If a dog chooses to be by a person when they could be running around with their friends it is a very good sign.

If Darby is going to be placed with this guy he has to NEVER pull EVER.  Chris is going to work with Darby and see how it goes.  The man will come out again at some point and they will see if Darby still likes him.  This is not final in anyway but I am just super excited that Darby got to meet a possible person.  The man and his brother who came with him thought Darby was awesome.  I am completely biased but I agree ;-).

Having a dog in final training is a completely new experience for me and a huge learning experience.  Chris has the extremely tough job of getting dogs with all different skills and personalities.  Sometimes, depending on their puppy raiser, the dog will have certain gaps in their training.  With Chris handling Darby she can tell me what his gaps are and I can work really hard to make those gaps not happen with the next dog.  So far I know I need to work on bringing down my energy level, not using the leash so much to correct the dog (put the leash in my pocket and let my body language to the job instead of my arms), and making sure each puppy I have gets a super solid base in obedience.  The last one I have known and thought I did that with Darby but I feel I can make it even better after raising Darby from a puppy and seeing what he grew up to act like.

In other news... MY PUPPY HAS BEEN PICKED!  The MAWP server is down so they haven't been able to send me pictures but I will let you all know as soon as I get pictures and we make it 'official'.

Family Photo back in October

Jack comes to visit!

Tom went out of town this weekend and asked if I would watch Jack.  Of course I said yes!  It was great to have him again.  He is HUGE now.  Tom says he weighs 110 pounds (and he isn't fat).  He is twice the size of Serena.  That didn't stop them from having a great time together.  So cute how they fell right back into the old routine.  I would find them snuggling next to each other and sharing toys. Here are two of my favorite pics that I took today before taking Jack back to Body Fixx:

A new beginning

It is official! I will be getting a new puppy at the end of April. They were born January 28, 2013.  8 puppies, 2 boys and 6 girls.  I will be taking one of the boys.  I don't know which one yet but I am sure whichever one I get he will be awesome!

Here are the parents:

Eagle, the father, and his new family

Cleo and 7 of the puppies (the 8th hadn't been born yet)

Fun fact!  Cleo is one of the puppies Sarah and I drove down to Florida a little over 2 years ago.  Amazing how things come around full circle.  Here she is as a puppy:

The one all the way on the right is Cleo

Far right again

Sarah and Cleo

One of these was her, don't remember which one!

I have a name in mind but will officially announce it when I hear which male is mine.  This litter is the "I" litter so all puppies will be named with names starting with I.  

A slow goodbye...

Thursday night we arrived in Florida.  We arrived late so I got to spend one more night with Darby.  We cuddled in the morning and then went to My Angel With Paws to drop him off.  I was most worried about Darby being overwhelmed by all the other dogs because as much as I have tried, he has not had as many dog exposures as I would like.  He was a little shy but did great! Eventually he went into the kennel with the other advanced dogs that we just called in.  Instantly they were all best friends.

Later that afternoon I showed what Darby could do.  Chris goes through a list of things that eventually a service dog should know and asks if your puppy can do them and then we show how he does them.  Darby did spectacularly!  There are a few gaps in his training but over all he was fantastic.  There were a few things I wasn't 100% that he could do and oh boy did he prove me wrong.  One was a "Stand-stay."  I don't think I have ever had him stand and stay.  He stands and he stays but don't think I have done them together.  I was able to leave the room and he was still in a stand in the same spot when I came back!!

Saturday morning I came to join puppy class.  When I got there all the dogs were running around.  Darby ran over to me to say hi then quickly ran back to play.  He was having a blast and my heart stopped hurting just a little.  I did some of the class with Serena then asked if I could do some with Darby.  We were working on working in a small area with all the dogs off leash.  Darby has never been to a formal puppy class and he has never been around that many dogs and asked to stay in a heel, heck he has never worked off leash around dogs except Serena.  He did it and he did it great!  We even switched dogs with people and he worked off leash with other trainers while I was making all sorts of happy noises for the dog I was currently working with.

Serena also needs a shout out.  I asked if anyone would like to work with Serena while I worked with Darby and a husband of a woman with a service dog said he would like to.  He doesn't have very much training experience and admittedly said he didn't know what he was doing.  He was able to work Serena off leash all over the place and have her do all her commands.  She was teaching him and it was awesome!!

After puppy class I put Darby back in the kennel (it really is a bunch of runs attached to a large field and they can go where ever they please.  They are only put in crates at night).  I was hesitant to put Darby back in the kennel because if he didn't want to go my heart would be crushed.  We walked over there, I open the kennel gate and Darby went right on through and was like "HEY FRIENDS!!!!"  Oh did I feel better.  I will see him for the next couple of days then Tuesday night I will have to say goodbye for good.  He is having a blast, he is doing awesome and I can't wait to hear about him with his future person whoever that might be.