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Want to earn some really cool gifts and help me earn my free kit from my new summer catalog coming out soon. I'm looking for five awesome ladies to get up to $200.00 in order no later than 04.12.2013.  The products are Thirty One.  Please let me know if your interested in participating. You will get FREE, half price, and hostess Exclusives plus an extra $25.00 from me to spend.  Let me know ASAP so I can get you catalogs!!

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Are You Aware Of Autism Awareness Day...

The sixth annual World Autism Awareness Day is two days away. Every year, autism organizations around the world celebrate the day with unique fundraising and awareness-raising events. While I’m not a organization trying to raise funds for the event I’d like to help people become more aware of the disability so I’m asking anyone and everyone to wear blue tomorrow and if anyone asks you why your wearing blue just tell them it’s because it’s World Autism Awareness Day and make them aware of it.  All that I ask is you share this event so that we can make more people aware of this.  If your company is doing the March of Dimes blue jeans event please participate.

We would love to see your photos of you rocking blue this year to raise awareness.  Feel free to join our event via Facebook.

Best Regards,

Misherald “Missy” Brown

Mom of Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “Service Dog” Brown

Day 8: Not the clearest day but a good day

While today was not as good as yesterday, it was good to be able to get things done because people were willing to help to allow it to be done.  While it was still a little white here in Ohio another family sat with J and his sitter to ensure he was okay since the other half of the class was in session with the help of an iPad all was well.  Sherbert and I were able to go to a local park and track one of the trainers. We did good other than a little confusion because she couldn’t’ figure out who she was looking for we were on it once she figured out she was looking for the trainer she was so good I almost couldn’t keep up with her and ended up on my knees in the snow. No, there are no pictures of that moment: D!

 

Today we worked on some of the commands we already knew as well as getting our pups to kiss, which for the most part Sherbert has down pack, she has no problem giving J a kiss when he is upset.  The pups are all taught how to play dead and it’s quite interesting to see them in action Sherbert kind of does her in a funny mode she rolls half way then kind of looks at you like are you sure this is what you want lol.  Other than that today was an overview and reinforcement. J was a little more all over the place especially since he was use to his sitter he thought he could test the waters but was surprise to see we had reinforcements in place for him.

After the weird night we had I was feeling a little worn down but I was super impress with the Hampton Inn at Fairborn not only is the front desk team amazing but also they are courteous.  For some reason this morning, I simply could not get myself out of the bed I was up but totally out of place at around ten to nine I got a call from the front desk. They were concern because usually by eight I’ve already walked Sherbert not only were they concern but they had taken care of uncovering my car with snow and as I ran out the door to try and get to Xenia on time the front desk manager handed me a bag breakfast.  All I could do is smile and think I am truly blessed to be among people who truly care.

Not much to share today as I felt I was sort of in a daze. I was truly sleepy today. Nevertheless, I look forward to telling you all about tomorrow since it is a Mall day, which means tracking!

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald “Missy”, Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “SD” Brown

Day 7: One of our best days yet one of our busy days

Well it’s Monday the start of a new week and I must say it has been a very interesting start to my week.  Woke up to about two inches of snow and needless to say I groan.  I have not lived in a snow area since about 2002 when I was in the Army but overall it was not too bad the Ohio Department of Transportation was on their game and had cleared the highways and I was prepared to leave an hour ahead of class time. 

Realizing that we were still doing a track I was able to get out of it since my home never sees snow.  I was so happy to stay in because Sherbert was in play mode whenever we had to go outside and I was simply trying to get inside a warm area. While we were going over the basic obedience things that we have learned and making sure our pups were, falling through it was amazing to see Sherbert in action she was all over J licking and sniffing. At first I didn’t really pay it any attention because it’s nothing for her to come up to him and give him a kiss but when she really got intense and direct with it I turned to the trainer who had already tuned into them and had pointed it out to the class what we were seeing. That put me on alert because it was only the second time I had seen her do it the first time but I was not sure but this time I knew what I was looking for.   The funny thing was within a few minutes a family that had went tracking came back and their pup whose name is Fantasy suddenly jumps up and sniffs one of her kids and then proceeds to use her two front paws to crawl over me to get to Jonathan. Whom she proceeds to sniffs out which was simply her noticing the scent that Sherbert had already scented to.  Therefore, Jonathan’s sitter and I were on constant look out for anything funky from him.

Jonathan had one of the best days ever.  It is not often that we go one issue per an hour whether it is a meltdown or an argument (yes I sometimes argue with a seven year old) but it was amazing to realize we had went six whole hours without any issues. Jonathan sat and colored, played with Sherbert, and play with phones and iPads.  Can we say I was totally in awe with him because it is not often that it happens with me present.  Cannot wait for tomorrow to see if we have the same performance.

As we are driving back to the hotel I began, to realize I needed to go to Wal-Mart but I was hesitant because of so many factors and one was simply we do not often get a day without meltdowns and I was still waiting on the seizure that the dogs alerted to.  When I arrived to the hotel I was glad to see I had not stopped I looked in the backseat low and behold both of them were knocked out and lying on top of one another.  After a little negotiations with the front desk I was able to leave my car parked near the front door of the hotel (I was so happy did not want to have to fight with the whole uncovering the car from under snow tomorrow). Within minutes the two were in play mode and somehow or another Sherbert had gotten up on the desk to dig through my bags for her tennis balls. 

Do mind you the trainer just had told us stories about dogs going through the stuff and jumping on things to get tennis balls so I wasn’t really surprise but I was just glad she hadn’t break anything. I was nice and allowed them to play with their tennis ball for a few minutes before taking it the thing squeaked and Sherbert was getting bouncy. Sherbert seemed to be intent on being near Jonathan and I started noticing her go into sniff mode so I grabbed J quickly and sat him on the bed and within minutes he was in tremor mode. The funny thing was when I looked at the time I realized that Sherbert and Fantasy had alerted us eight hours ahead of time and Sherbert had picked up the spike within seconds of the seizure finally breaking through.   

My night is finish I got a snoring puppy and a knocked out boy. I am enjoying Revival with my home church and I can already see it is going to be an early night because these two have had a big day.

~Truly blessed,

Misherald “Missy”, Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “SD” Brown

Day 6: Meltdowns, Snow, & Countdown

Woke up to Sherbert doing her I have to go whine, which set me in motion because I really was not looking forward to cleaning her cage.  My morning was a rocky start not only where we late getting to the faculty which led to me feeling off kilter because I had to reroute myself and get over to the class site once I got there and got my bearings I felt better and was able to focus on what we were doing.  I have to say Sherbert was on her game this morning.  We did one track but she was on top of the footsteps that Jonathan and his friend took this morning going right to them and having that look on her face like so mom, I found him where are my dogs (hotdogs) and my tennis ball.

The DeZarn girls and Sherbert

Today was a little awkward for me because I was in a transition mode due to circumstances Jonathan’s sitter had to return home and it meant I was handling Jonathan & Sherbert. Can we say busy bodies but I am happy that the families here have bonded because I had some moms & dads stepping in to help when necessary at one point we had grandparents involved with the chaos of the kids. We began to work on behavior disruption today which includes lap as well as over which can be a large help when Jonathan is in meltdown mode or coming out of seizure mode because it’s deep pressure. 

So here is the fun part of it all or at least now that I look back over the day I think that but it was no funny or laughing matter while it was going on. We were back in the mall today and we were doing inside tracking and tethering. Now remember yesterday when I wrote about the chaos that J caused in the stores with tethering. Well today was no different Mister Brown went for ham and just cut a fool  at first I attempted to ignore it and act like nothing was going on but that lasted all of about thirty minutes because I could feel the tension headache forming behind my eyes and I can only imagine the scene we were causing.  Sooo I untethered them and that still did not satisfy him so we went through a three-hour period of an upset and temper tantrum child and a dog who did not know whether to stay by Mom’s side or to try to console his boy because his boy was simply in fight or flight mode. After a few moms stepped in and attempted to help me we finally got an idea on how to pull off a tracking situation in the mall and JcPenny’s of all places but it worked out because we made it as fun as possible.

J & Sherbert in play mode

Once back at the hotel I was hoping for a quiet moment I was even willing to let J take a quick nap for a quiet moment but he had other plans so I let Sherbert and him play for a little while to see who would tired down first. Let us just say as I write this blog he is up making noise and knocking on the wall.  Here is hope that the night manager does not call up here tonight for his mayhem…

Cannot wait to share with you tomorrow’s adventure we are official on countdown until time to go home T minus 5 days…

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald “Missy”, Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “SD” Brown

Day 5 of Training @ 4 Paws & Tethering in Public

Today was one for the history books.  We are in the mix of the class and a lot is being added in from tracking more often and understanding exactly what are pups are informing of us of too tethering.  Now if you don’t know what tethering is for some this is a great situation the child and the dog are connected with two separate collars, 2 d-rings, and mom has a leash as well as the child while the dog remains in it’s working harness.  Now for me I was already a little leery but I knew it was a necessity because my child has gotten clever with disappearance acts so of course I knew I had my work cut out for me.

After class everyone was talking about this public appearance that we were supposed to make and of course me being me I’m oblivious to what they are talking about so I start asking and once I realize it’s a way to get 4 Paws a donation of five thousand for their building fund I was determine to be there.  I decided to do some public access work as well as tethering well let’s say this Jonathan was good until he realized exactly what all the straps meant.  Tethering is a method to be able to have your service animal used as an anchor of sorts basically the child has a hard time getting away because now they have an actually live animal using its weight to keep them within their boundaries. 

Sherbert rocked it no matter what Jonathan did Sherbert held her position we even changed how we were tether and she kept her boy within her boundaries however this was not the end for us.  Once Jonathan got to the point of okay this is not working, he began to scream and holler.  Now honestly I am use to this and often this is what will cause me to leave a store because it is hard to shop and focus on what I am doing but I do not want to disturb other people with his screaming.  If I have to go shopping and decided to take him I have a list and I do not deviate I make it quick and painless. Today was one of those days where I wanted to test the limits so we walked this outside mall going into Old Navy as well as Sephora tethered and I am thankful for people who do not stare but instead actually initiate to try to help or just simply ignore it.  Today I got help random sales personnel would come and interact with him and his girl to give me time to be able to turn back to my sales associate to make proper selections.  I went to reward Sherbert and realize Opps! Mom only had doggie food which wasn’t going to be worthwhile reward for all that she had went through so that meant a trip to Pet smart which has somehow become one of my favorite stores.

With new information in hand and a dog that had just preformed stellar I wanted to get my girl some goodies.  Walking into the store I was determine to keep her within the no grain just like her food.  As well, as use them to help her be a healthy dog.  When I saw the word sale and discount, I probably went crazy but I also was happy to see it was things I could use.  I began to search the display for some goodies for her but Jonathan had other ideas and Sherbert had her own ideas, which lead to dog, mom and child being wrapped around a pole with straps all over it looked like I had a wrapping game going on.  Once again a sales associate stepped in and began to help not only did her and I discuss different things on how to keep teeth healthy but also how to keep her coat shining but she also made some suggestions to make tethering more rewarding for Sherbert.  So yeah, we went stir crazy and ended up with five bags of treats. However, Jonathan does not like to see red collars and straps it flips him out because he knows what is coming.

Overall Sherbert did her thing! She knows what to do without me having to prompt or indicate it her to do it.  It was so funny today because I was attempting to give her commands and realized that she was trained so good that she kind of knew what she needed to do.  So after a few minutes of watching her I realize that in a sit mode if Jonathan went to try and pull it would basically have her sliding so I kind of let her do her own thing and paid close attention to her actions.  It is amazing how quick she is to calm Jonathan down once tethering is done and how he quickly forgets that, he is mad at her.  I think we have a great team going if we can now just get the little boy on board all will really be well.

  

Stay tuned we will be posting a whole lot more about our 4 Paws training as well as what’s like becoming a full blown dog owner as well as service dog handler I’m sure I’m going to experience a few ups and downs as well as some interesting moments.

~Truly blessed,

Misherald “MB”, Jonathan “JB” & Sherbert “SD” Brown

Day 4 of Training and Oh what a weird day it was

Today was a big day for us.  While my mood was running hot and cold, I would have to say my energy was off the rocker. Today was a tracking day and the coolest thing was it was not as cold and I was extremely happy for that.  Tracking today for us was a little different we allowed J to track in his wheelchair which meant he had to be on pavement because of how Sherbert looks for her boy’s body scent she tended to go towards the grassy area to try and regain the scent and know she’s on her proper trail. I was great learning that as Jonathan loves to disappear in his wheelchair.

Getting back to 4 Paws, we went into obedience mode and I loved the fact that Sherbert knows when that wheelchair is coming at her that she has to move out of the way not to be hit and a command does not have to be given to know that her boy is not paying attention.  We worked on the commands we already knew sit, stand, down, and then we added under which is a helpful command because she will go under anything she is able to and simply lay down until she is freed.

The big finale was the mall and the funny thing was how many people knew our pups and how accepting everyone was of her accepts one guy who had to make a remark and I probably should not have but I responded. His remark was more or less just run the dog through the mall and when I looked at him my comment was yep she is going to run on through cause she is a working dog and has that right and kept on walking. I was simply in mommy mode and he was being a smart allack.  Other than her zip lining me through Lens Crafter while the technician fixed my glasses I was truly impressed I hardly had to correct her and she was so happy because people where just simply in awe with her and her pet siblings wanting to pet and say hi.

The cool thing is now that we have gotten past the public access I am able to take her anywhere I go so we can continue to work on her endurance of staying in her command for lengthy time.  The worst part of my day was my reverse going on my car.  I do not know how it happens but I do know I was thankful I found an honest mechanic and was given honest information without a diagnostic fee.

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald "Missy", Jonathan "JB" & Sherbert "SD" Brown

Day 3 of Training: Updates from Day 1 & 2 and a little rambling

As we began to build into the foundation of being a dog owner, we are now coming into play the part of being a service dog owner.  Many may say there is not a big difference between the two however there truly is and as we add on to what is expected of a service dog owner my mind begins to open to real world experiences as well as accepting the fact a lot quicker that my family just got a whole lot unique. 

I am going to bring everyone up to a little more speed after having the first day be interrupted by viral infection and then the second day I was just pooped.  There are twelve families in all.  Our little lady actually has a sister pup in our mix name Pretzel who will be living in West Virginia.  All of our pups are amazing well trained, behaved, and just particular adorable however they are used to their trainers voice and so the process of getting them user to our voice is simply the challenge as well as getting them to respect our commands.  The very first day we worked on sit and down I was extremely proud of myself because I got the hands commands and word commands down pack quickly and Sherbert responds to both being given together or simply one of the other.

Our second day wasn’t bad well for me it was a rough one after a night in the local ER for a viral infection everything got to me from sound to smell and I was determine to fight it out.  Our goal for that second day was to get our counterparts to remain in the sit and down commands for longer periods.  How many people you know wants to constantly have to tell their service dog no and sit and stay among other things so it’s a learned and practice behavior to get them to stay one place in one position while their handler takes care of whatever it is that they are doing even  when distractions are around.

The great thing about these service dog is they have a understand that when a command is given that I’m already letting him/her know to stay  in that command until I give the release command which happens to be free. When Sherbert is given the command to sit she knows it’s an implied condition that she stays in that position until she’s released  which is simply by me telling her free.  I was amazed at how calm this little lady acted when they started throwing out some cool treats that she seems to love in front of her and the tennis ball. 

O let me tell you about the tennis ball I thought at one point my arm was going to be ripped from my arm she may look small but Sherbert is extremely strong so we keep tennis balls away from her unless she’s being rewarded or we are in play mode. 

Sherbert can also walk into a heel mode which for her it means walk to my left and have her ears within the my leg distance and to follow my every turn and step without over powering me or trying to pull me ahead.  To say she had my respect and attention is far by means but now I realized she knew what she was doing so I know needed to show her I was learning but I was still Mom and she needed to follow rules so here comes day three.

Today was tracking and do mind you I woke up to snow flurries (Did I mention to anyone I’m from South Carolina below the Dixie Line and that we don’t do snow) so imagine my crazy little self-watching the news and seeing all of the craziness going on so my first thought was let’s leave early (that didn’t happen) but we did get there on time.  Now today was totally fun well after I warmed up it was but we went tracking and I have to say if I didn’t say it before My Girl Is A ROCKSTAR she was on her boys trail snapping and S-trailing all on his body cell scent.  For those who are wondering what snapping is basically it’s her head movement that lets me know whether we still have a hot trail and also her way to be able to pick up where her boy has gone.  The S-trail is basically if she’s in a wind pattern the wind will blow the skin cells in certain areas so she’s on the trail but she has to work with the wind pattern. With a few new tricks up my sleeve such as place when Sherbert gets on this special mat that she has and she always keeps atleast two paws on it and she can do whatever she wants.  We had a lot of fun with disturbance training it’s interesting to find how she has now adjusted as me being her owner and when I leave she always thinks like Jonathan has and that thought process “Oh Mom’s gone yeah baby no rules.”

Overall she’s a good girl I’ve been taught some things to recognized about her I know she’s a stubborn little thing because my child is stubborn and I know she will do well as long as I respect her and she respect me. So all in all we are good however I hear my little angel in her kennel snoring and I’m now going to lie it down since tomorrow is a early day and it’s a super fun day as we are going to be doing more tracking as well as our first public access run a busy mall.

Day 3 in Ohio & Day 2 at 4 Paws for Ability Inc

Our second day has been a true adventure Sherbert came back to the hotel with us and she has been a great joy as well as very behaved.  It has been greatly interesting to see others interest in her as well as no one seems to have a negative reaction to her.  Guest has acknowledged her and pet her and the front desk agent even greeted her.

Sherbert is trained on seizure alert so it was interesting to see her in action she must have intensely went at J’s ear and mouth for a good ten to fifteen minutes with alert notices.  Their personalities are exact matches not only are they both stubborn as all else but they have their playful moments when they are all about the playing.

The team at 4 Paws for Ability are great not only are they great at making sure your bonding with your dogs are quick but that it’s a bond that works for everyone.  The coolest part of it all is the bond between the 4 Paws parents.

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald "Missy", Jonathan "JB" & Sherbert "SD" Brown

Day 2 of Ohio: Meeting Sherbet

The big day has finally arrived and we have met our newest family member Sherbet.  The bonding phase for Jonathan and Sherbet was extremely well Jonathan took to her without a problem until he realized that there was a Wii in the kids play area.  Sherbet and I got close and personally, it is interesting to realize how well she took to me and followed my commands. 

So we got to see one of our classmates dogs in action when one of the little girls was in preseizure mode a beautiful golden by the name of Slate went into action sniffing and licking alerting her parents & Jeremy that the little lady was in the mode.  Our other great adventure was one our classmates bolted and we were on a search and rescue because our puppies are not use to the kid’s scent.

Other than me getting sick from something I ate and being exhausted I would say today has been a great day.  However, it is now time to close my eyes and prepare for another day before my little one comes up with another adventure or something that is going to cause a little chaos…