Socializing at the Sparkle Party

The Gender and Sexuality Center at UT is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and is hosting a series of events throughout the year. One of the big events was a Sparkle Party which was held during the first week of classes. Prior to the event I happened to mention to one of the GSC staff members that Morey had no sparkly attire to wear to the party. She promised to save a sparkly top hat for him to wear and, much to Morey's dismay, made good on that promise!

As it happened a colleague from another department had her retirement party on the same evening so first we went to that party before heading over to the Sparkle Party. Certain social environments are difficult for me to navigate and unfortunately this one was one of the more challenging ones due to a combination of factors. There were lots of people there so it was difficult to try to move around the room. The room was pretty loud and because I am so much lower than most people it was hard to hear enough to carry on a conversation. There was cake and punch and most people were holding their plates/drinks while they talked or used high bar tables which I couldn't even reach.


A colleague who sees Morey at meetings a lot commented that he didn't look like himself and she was right. He was not comfortable with the situation either. He kept getting in the way so I was constantly having him move and was afraid to let him lay down lest his tail get stepped on. There were regular tables at the front of the room that no one was using so I decided to start a trend and set up shop at a table. Morey was glad to be settled out of the way and I was able to enjoy my cake and watch the slide show. Eventually someone came over to join me and we struck up a conversation. I guess I haven't figured out the art of mingling in social situations as a wheelchair user.


I felt bad having to take Morey to another social situation but I needed to make an appearance at the Sparkly Party. On the walk over to the building I gave Morey the freedom to sniff and walk more freely to help relieve some of this stress. Thankfully the Sparkle Party was held in a larger venue so there was more room to move around. Feeling slightly guilty at adding to his stress, I did adorn Morey with beads and the sparkly top hat which attracted a good bit of attention and lots of photo opportunities. We even took a turn rocking sparkly sunglasses in the photo booth. Morey does like getting compliments and attention from people so I like to think that made up for the humiliation of wearing his sparkles.

The life of a service dog is not all fun and games and I try to be aware of situations that make Morey nervous or uncomfortable. In some cases there is not a lot I can do to change or avoid the situation but I at least want to be aware of what Morey is communicating to me and do what I can to relieve his stress.

Agility Action

Morey and I recently returned to our Agility Class after taking a break for the holidays. I was worried Morey might have forgotten some of the things we had previously learned but he jumped back in like we hadn't missed a week. Last week he went through 13 obstacles in a row which was a new record!


While Morey has an advantage in some ways because of his service dog training in other ways it makes it more of a challenge. For example, sometimes you want your dog to cross behind you to walk on your other side but Morey is used to sticking to one side (unless cued to move to the other side). He is also used to hand targeting so when I try to use my hand to signal a direction to go he just thinks he needs to follow my hand so he can touch it. We're working through some of these challenges and it's making us both pay close attention to each other.


One of my challenges is naming each obstacle. I want to be careful that I'm not confusing Morey's cues for work with his agility cues. I've actually gone back to ICAN's cue sheet to read the exact definition of each cue to make sure I'm not giving Morey conflicting cues. While I can change the meaning of the cues he initially learned, I want to be intentional about making changes and make sure I am not setting Morey up for confusion or failure later on.


For example, Morey has been trained that "Jump" means jump up onto something. For agility I want him to jump over and through things so I'm deciding how to indicate to Morey the difference between these. I don't want to tell him to "jump" while we're out working expecting him to jump up onto something and instead he jumps over it. I think I've settled on "over" as jumping over something and since the tire is the only thing he has to jump through I think I will just name that "tire". We'll keep "jump" the same since that is a cue I often use in daily life.

Morey doesn't know all the cues for each obstacle yet but when he does he will have increased his vocabulary by quite a bit!

Using Old Cues in New Ways

One of the things I love about working with a service dog is that it's a constantly evolving relationship. Even though most people get their service dog after it's been fully trained that doesn't mean either one of you is done learning. I find I am constantly finding new ways to engage with Morey not just to keep him sharp but also to build our connection and adapt to new environments and situations. While I've taught him a few new cues/tasks for the most part we just adapt cues he is already familiar with to new circumstances.


We've recently had several days of really warm weather- in fact on Wednesday we set a new record high with an 84 degree day! While the northeast was getting pounded by a horrible blizzard down in Texas we were enjoying some pretty nice weather. Now that I live in a house with a yard, warm weather means there is usually some type of yard work to get done. One day my roommate and I were working in the front yard and Morey was outside with us. We live on a corner and there are often people passing by; running, walking their dogs and just enjoying being outside. While I was busy weeding my cactus garden Morey was busy paying attention to everything going on around him.


When a couple walked by with their Scottie dogs Morey decided to go over and greet them. Although he has gotten better, his greetings still involve some "Golden growling" which is often interpreted other dogs as an aggressive approach. I immediately called Morey back to me and he quickly came after taking another sniff. I apologized profusely to the Scotties' humans. I don't appreciate it when other people let their dogs rush up to Morey and I try my best to keep him from doing it to other dogs.


Knowing this scenario would likely happen again I decided to be more proactive and set Morey up for success the next time. Instead of just telling Morey what not to do (greet other dogs) I decided to ask him to do another behavior. "Bed" is a cue that means go over to whatever has been designated as your bed (a blanket, dog bed, etc), lay down and stay until released. I keep a bed for him in the garage which he often lays on while I work on my sporting equipment so I got that down and spent a few minutes "sending" him to the bed from only a few feet away. He knows the cue "bed" but had never applied it to that bed before. Once he seemed to get the idea I went out into the yard and spent a few minutes sending him to his bed from farther distances.  After two or three times he seemed to understand what I wanted so I went back to my weeding. Every 5-7 minutes I would send him to his bed and have him stay for varying amounts of time. Morey thought it was a game and eagerly bounded toward his bed and laid down, attentively waiting for me to release him.


When I saw a person coming toward us walking his dog I sent Morey to his bed. He saw the other dog, hesitated a moment and then went directly to his bed and laid down! I was so proud! Dogs are probably Morey's biggest distraction, especially when he is not working/doesn't have his vest on. I was also proud of myself for handling the situation like a dog trainer and taking time to teach Morey an appropriate behavior instead of getting mad at him for doing an inappropriate behavior.


ICAN handlers teach the dogs behaviors like boundary training and cues like "bed" that can be applied to many different situations. Spending a few minutes showing your dog that a familiar concept/cue can be applied to a specific place can help your dog stay safe and avoid problem behaviors. I certainly reminded myself of that lesson!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Jamie and Morey

 For New Year's we went up to my grandparents house in northern Indiana. Morey and I were hoping to see some snow but this was as close as we could get:

I remember snow being fun...

They live in an apartment on the campus of a senior living/graduated care campus. It was fun to see how each resident had decorated outside their door. Morey liked this poinsettia he found outside my grandparents' door.
 My grandparents have traveled a lot and have collected a lot of nice items from the places they have visited. A lot of these items are very fragile and are displayed around their apartment. They have a shih tzu which is a perfect size for their apartment. A big lab is not the perfect size. One swipe of a tail or turn of a head could clear a table quite easily and so Morey spent a good deal of time laying in their laundry room. He had a bed, bone and water in there but he wasn't the center of attention like he usually is! Still, he was the perfect guest and behaved perfectly (as usual!).

 We stayed up until midnight which Morey did not appreciate. At home he usually goes to bed around 9pm whether I do or not. We stayed in a hotel and he was more than ready to go to sleep when we finally got back to the hotel!

Do I have bags under my eyes?

Wake me up next year

 

 

 

 

2014 was a sad and busy year for me. I am hoping 2015 will be happier and allow more time for fun things like keeping up with this blog!

May all of you have a wonderful 2015!

From Morey and Emily