Service
Dogs make quite a difference in the lives of their owners/handlers. They’re
not considered companionship dogs, although they definitely provide that by
nature of their proximity. They’re specifically trained to do things to assist
their owners with their disabilities, whether those disabilities are obvious or
hidden. And by law, they’re allowed everywhere in public that their owner is
allowed. Service Dogs can be large, medium or small, can be a variety of breeds
and are trained for a multitude of tasks—which ones depending on their owner’s
needs. When you come across a service dog in public, do not approach the dog
because they’re probably working. However, you can ask the owner if it’s okay.
Sometimes it is, but most of the time it won’t be. Please don’t feel bad if the
owner says no—it’s not personal, it’s because the dog needs to stay focused on
his/her job. The following is the story about my health situation and service
dog, Keiko Dakota.
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
I was
disabled in late 2006 with severe natural rubber latex allergy, aka NRLA
(anaphylaxis) and severe multiple chemical sensitivities (aka MCS),
complicated by chronic lyme disease in 2007 and becoming mostly home-bound by
2008 (including no longer being able to go to church). My life took a drastic
turn for the worse in early 2009 (when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it
did, drastically so). In the space of one week, I almost died twice. My life
became one of severe isolation, made even harder to bear when some loved ones
(family & friends) just didn’t “get it”. I have to avoid latex, doing
thorough homework on anything we bring into the house - from food,
medications/supplements to everyday household products. Fragrances are taboo,
as are most chemicals (ie cleaning products, personal care products, many craft
supplies, etc, etc, ETC!). My worst ‘enemies’ are latex, petroleum, exhaust,
wood smoke and fabric softeners (and fresh cut grass, a latex-cross-reactive).
But that doesn’t minimize the need to avoid them all. For NRLA, the ONLY
treatment is avoidance (it’s an allergy that anyone can develop at anytime and
gets worse with each exposure). For MCS, the 1st treatment is avoidance. In
addition to NRLA & MCS, I’m also hearing impaired. The chronic lyme was
eradicated in 2010 (or remission that has not resurfaced, as there is no test
that can prove you no longer have it). Most notably, the severity of my
reactions and recovery time has improved since working on building my immune
system (repairing the gut) and focusing on supporting the liver’s functions in
detoxification though the use of homeopathic remedies & nutritional
therapy.
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
In 2011,
after two years of thinking how helpful it would be to have a service dog, the
opportunity came that we were able to purchase our schipperke, Keiko Dakota.
Schipperke’s are considered the hardiest of small breeds and are extremely
intelligent! They originated in Belgium and were used on barges as guard dogs
and rodent hunter-terminators. We had a Schipperke when our boys were growing
up who died when she was only 9yrs old. Fifteen years later, when I was able to
get a dog to train to be my service dog, the Schipperke was the only breed I
considered and my plan was to train her myself.
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
Before we
picked her up (had to drive out-of-state), we spent a lot of time on naming her
and ended up with “Keiko” (Japanese for blessing) “Dakota”
(Native American for friend)... at that time we lived in Dakota County, with
many Indian populations—including the Dakota tribe). She promptly wove herself
into our hearts. We went through a pretty rough spell during her 1st week with
us—she came to us sick from the breeder and we almost lost her on the 2nd night
(found out she was the ‘runt’ of the liter after we drove almost 3 hrs to get
her). After she almost died and subsequent vet visits, the breeder offered to
take her back for a refund, but there was absolutely no way we were going to
put her back in that environment (turns out the breeder was operating a nasty
puppy mill). Thankfully, Keiko survived and is thriving through TONS of love
and a healthy diet of homemade food (she was also allergic to the food the
breeder had abruptly weaned her to, and the safe food we found and had her on
for 2-3 yrs changed ownership and became quite inconsistent in quality (made
her sick, or she’d refuse to eat it), so we went the homemade route). There are
times when I’ve said she eats better than me—and she does!
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
I was, and
still am, Keiko’s trainer. From the time she came to us at 7 1/2 weeks old, I
began with ‘basic’ training (the usual potty-training, sit-stay-come-heel and
‘to your mat’) using mostly the clicker method. Then, as soon as she had a good
concept of the basics, I began her training as my service dog. After only a
couple of training sessions for bringing me my emergency meds pouch (had 1 on
every level of the house, 2 on the main floor), she recognized one day that I
was in trouble (bad reaction that was steadily going downhill - progressing
from systemic to anaphylaxis) and brought me my pouch. I could hardly move from
the reactions taking place in my body and my thinking process was kaput, but
scolded her because I thought she was playing & just wanted treats. She
persisted and kept getting it and bringing it to me, several times. Later that
day, it finally dawned on me that she might know something I didn’t, so I
accepted it, thanked her and used my Epi-Pen -- WOW!! she was right - I needed
to use my epi-pen but hadn’t realized it (a frequent/common occurrence with
anaphylaxis when it’s not affecting the airway). She was about 3 months old at
the time. There was one time she stopped me from going into a store... turned
out there were latex balloons present, but she’s never been specifically
trained to recognize latex (too dangerous)!! Over the years (she’s now 5 1/2 yrs
old), she’s come to my rescue countless times—including some very serious
events: I’m literally STILL ALIVE today because of my service dog’s
actions!!
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
She is not
just “a” dog—she’s my “service” dog, my LIFELINE at home and in the world
around me. If someone threatens or attacks her, they’re doing it to me
personally, and I will respond defensively on her behalf (like a tigress for
her cubs, just like I did for my children when they were growing up, just like
I will for my grand-kids or any small children who are in harms way). If Keiko
were to be injured, permanently maimed or even killed, I would no longer have a
functioning service dog and my life would drastically go backwards. It would
also be heartbreaking, as any loving dog owner (service dog or not) who has
lost one would agree. I use every available opportunity to help educate
children on how to be kind & gentle to animals—adults should already know,
but some don’t. Even if she wasn’t a service dog, you can’t treat a small dog
the way you would a big dog (think 11 pound dog versus 60+ pounds). For
example, rough-house-like shoving or pulling a dog -- huge difference between
doing that with a german shepherd or great dane versus a mini-poodle, chihuahua
or small schipperke. The shove you’d do with a large dog could seriously injure
a small one—common sense for most people.
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
Like all
service dogs are trained for their handlers, Keiko has been trained to be with
me at all times (exception in following paragraph) with her primary task being
to bring me my rescue meds when I’m having a bad reaction (with or without
prompting). She’s also trained to alert me when people come to the door or
something’s not right outside (I do let her bark at squirrels too (it’s a dog
thing, but even more so for her breed). She can “tree” them, but she’s not
allowed to leave the property to chase them). Schipperke’s are great guard dogs
& barkers, so it was easy to encourage her natural trait—the training is
ongoing for her to understand if it’s okay with me, it’s okay for her. If
someone comes in the house, unannounced, she’ll be in guard mode; and with
those she knows, it can sometimes take her a bit to warm up to them (with the
exception of my parents & youngest son, who she greets immediately just
like she does my husband—they’ve been here more frequently than anyone
else—plus we lived with my folks for 3 weeks when we 1st moved back here).
We’ve had several new neighbors arrive since moving to our current home, so
she’s currently “in training” for recognizing those who ‘belong’ (that’s okay
Keiko, that’s their house, they belong, it’s okay). But, if you truly do not
belong, beware! Schipperke on Duty!! She will fetch things for me and put them
“in my hands” when needed (sometimes my hips pop out and affect my mobility,
residual nerve issues from a serious injury in 2014, or other times there can
be inflammation from a bad reaction that affects my joints that affect my
mobility). The schipperke breed are fantastic “pullers”, which has been a
challenge in training her to ‘walk with’, but a tremendous asset when I’m in a
situation where there’s been a bad exposure and I need to escape... fast! If
I’m shopping and turn to get something and move even a couple feet away, she
will pull the cart trying to get back next to me (currently “in-training” at
Meijer’s where I’ve been able to shop by myself a few times since mid-2016—the
egg frig has been a challenge... having to place the cart far enough away to
get the door open and stay away long enough to check the eggs for damage—this
puts her too close to the wheels (AND the cart between her & me) which
stresses her out—haven’t done it enough to figure out what will work best in
that situation yet). She will also “fetch” Daddy, when he’s home and I’m in
another part of the house and need help. If we go someplace together and we get
separated, Keiko helps me “find” Daddy :-)
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
She’s my
constant companion, only now with ‘play-breaks’ when the grand-kids come
over—not only for the extra needed exercise, but also as part of her training.
When we got her, we lived far from family. So, due to the forced isolation that
NRLA & MCS naturally brings, she had not been socialized around kids when
she was a puppy and young dog, with the exception of brief occasional exposure
to our neighbor’s young grand-kids. Since we moved closer to family almost 2
1/2 years ago, she’s been getting that much needed socialization with young
kids which makes for a friendlier & safer experience when I leave the the
house (less stressful for both of us)—whether accompanied by my husband or by
myself (2016 was very memorable as it included three very big milestones for
me... all for the 1st time in 8 years—driving, going out by myself, and going
grocery shopping all by myself). However, most ‘rough housing’ is not allowed
because it goes against her training and forces us to have to go through
‘re-training’ sessions. Hands rough-housing around her face is 100% taboo.
She’s been trained “no teeth” for the sake of babies & small children, and
if a finger makes its way into her mouth she’ll turn her head away. But, dogs
have natural instincts and if you get too rough with them, teeth can connect
accidentally, and sometimes on purpose (dog’s natural defense mechanism). When
using her toys to play with her, caution needs to be maintained to keep hands
clear. Balls are not always a good idea, because in going for a ball that’s in
motion, she may not be able to reverse direction quickly enough if fingers get
in the way. Keiko has nipped a few times (when fingers got too close in rough or
ball play, or someone kicks at a ball she’s going after), but no broken skin.
However, she did “bite” our neighbor one time, very understandably in defense
& fright—the day the EMS came and took me away by ambulance and our
neighbor came to let her outside to do her business—but found her hiding behind
the toilet and tried to pull her out. To this day, she does NOT like uniforms
of ANY kind! (so she’s quite noisy when delivery people come).
♥~♥*♥~~♥*♥~♥
It’s truly a
wonder, the difference a service dog can make in the lives of those who are
disabled—regardless of the type of disability. Please don’t judge a book by its
cover... service dogs come in all shapes & sizes, and a person’s
disabilities may be visible or hidden (mine are only ‘visible’ if I’m having a
bad reaction). I truly hope my story helps to give others a better
understanding of living with disabilities and about service dogs (noting that
many service dogs have more strict regimes, ie police, fire & military
dogs!).
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Isaiah 40:31
