Update on the Brown Clan

For the many who are wondering how everything is going with the new service dog at home with the Brown’s I figured I’d better get you all updated while I was taking a quick breather.  Everything is going well she has yet to step foot in the school only because before we went to get her it was kind of a mutual decision to wait until next year to try to possible implement her.  As far as around the community she has been openly accepted. Our doctor offices are always looking forward to seeing her so it’s nothing to get a reminder call from a live person saying we look forward to seeing Jonathan & Sherbert I still snicker when I hear it. Kids who are afraid of dogs are more willingly to curiously look at her as she actively assists her boy in the many things she helps with especially during PT when he does his lap around the building, we go behind him, and his therapist goes the other way the kids find it amusing LOL.  So as you can see their bond is strong and growing. 

Today was her first day going to Cub Scout with Jonathan honestly it is our first day back as well. She had been to church with us during a noonday session and was accepted without an issue (not that we were expecting any with this being our church home as well as the church that help do most of our fundraising). The boys had been used to being around the Cub Masters’ for the past two years during camping trips gearing up for the whole service dog so most of them were very interested in her and happy to see her can’t wait to see what the first camping trip is like with both of them in tow.

As for me, I have gotten use to referring to her as my baby girl and saying the babies.  People tend to look at me as if I am crazy when I say it and then I go the dog. I am still in the trying to get the house back in order from the March trip. Yes! I know it’s been like two weeks but when I return I was back in the run of the mill with work and doctor appointments but overall everything has been well I’ve been getting some really unique laughs out of these two as they try to get away with some very interesting things.  Jonathan trying to sneak bacon (the kind we eat) to Sherbert because they look like her Beg Strips or when he is eating pizza offering her some to.  I have quickly had to separate them during dinnertime do not want to explain to the vet that issue.

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald (Missy), Jonathan (JB), & Sherbert (SD) 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 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