Today was a blast! We started out at the training building and practiced new commands and got to see our seizure dogs in action! They put a "seizure shirt" (a shirt a kiddo had a seizure in) in a room and took one family at a time with their dog into the room and watched the dogs react! Sobe found the shirt and barked! This takes practice and continual training with the dogs... We'll be learning and practicing more about this later.
Then...Sobe received her service harness!! The harness we are starting with is all leather and has a sturdy handle on the top that will help Benjamin walk next to her. We didn't try this out today because Benjamin was exhausted, but we will get a video of it later! Benjamin can also be tethered to this harness. (more coming on this later too!) We are also going to purchase another harness that is a little more comfortable for Sobe when we won't use her for mobility. (Like the plane ride home!) Service animals are not required by law to wear vests or harnesses in public but 4 Paws does require it as an agency.
Our big adventure today was to the mall! Ben and I were both nervous... and I didn't even have to do anything except watch Benjamin. Ben did all the work with Sobe. It was actually really fun! I would say each family had their issues and things they need to work on and improve, but that's exactly why we're doing this! Peg, one of the trainers, walked around with us and gave us cues and helpful hints as we shopped, took the elevators, stairs etc.
Here's our new and definitely improved family:
The command for her to hit the button is "Hit it", and as she gets more comfortable with Ben and I as her handlers, we can give her the command and she will do it from a greater distance. We will be practicing this a bunch!!
Tonight, there was no dinner offered at Homewood suite so one of the families bought pizza for all of us! We had a blast! (There's a couple families missing):
I can not even tell you how much I love the families in our class!! Wonderful, lovely people!
After talking to everyone tonight I just want to offer some advice to future classes. 4 Paws requires you to bring at least two adults to the training for two weeks. However, if the two adults that are coming are both going to be equal handlers, like Ben and myself, I would HIGHLY suggest bringing another caregiver for your child especially if they're extremely dependent on you. Right now we have it set up where Ben is mainly participating in all the training and he will do the test at the end and I am trying to sit in on as much as possible. But Benjamin is a full time kiddo and it's super hard to try and care for him and not miss any of the training. Ben fills me in as much as he can, but Jeremy is a wealth of knowledge and I hate missing one thing he says!! So families, seriously consider this when planning your trip. I know it might be an added expense, but really, you only have these two weeks committed to just training and then we'll be thrown back into life and it's craziness. My parents are flying in tomorrow night and I can't wait for the help! Ben and I will be able to practice at night by ourselves and know that Benjamin is being cared for. Or like today, Benjamin didn't sleep very good last night and was exhausted... It would have been a good day to leave Benjamin at the hotel with grandma and grandpa! If your child is pretty much dependent on you all the time, it can be a little overwhelming to have the service dog and the child and try to put everything all together. You definitely need some practice time with just you and the service dog, so commands and corrections become second nature so when your child throws the tantrum of a life time - you're confident enough to manage your dog who will help you manage your child! I think some of us moms are going to take a night and hit the mall with our service dogs and no kiddos, and get some good practice time in!
Can't wait for tomorrow! Every day is such an adventure!!
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