Pay It Forward

One of my rugby friends puts together a fundraiser each year to raise money for wheelchair sports and spinal cord injury research. The Pay It Forward event is a fun way to connect with people in the wheelchair sports community across Texas- including some folks I get to see only once or twice a year.

The event takes place at the AT&T Conference Center on the UT campus so I headed over after work. Since Morey had been with me all day at work we took some time to play ball on the south mall. Usually this space is filled with students but that day we had it to ourselves. It was so hot Morey only wanted to chase the ball a few times but it was nice to spend a few moments reflecting on our almost six years at UT.

There was a photo booth at the event which has become a tradition for me and Morey. Usually it's hard to get him to look at the camera because he has no idea why he should look directly ahead but luckily I had brought his tennis ball with me from his earlier play so I had the photographer hold the ball right next to the camera. That's the secret to Morey's handsome and super alert photo!

Dog Days of Summer

Ever since we got back from our Indiana trip it's been hot. Not just kind of hot but super miserably hot. It's really too hot to be outside for more than a few minutes at a time and Morey and I have both struggled with being inside so much since we both enjoy being outdoors.

(Btw, if you are curious about what the Dog Days of Summer really are you can find out here:
http://farmersalmanac.com/weather/2015/06/29/why-are-they-called-dog-days-of-summer/)

The only way to survive being outside is to be in the water. Morey has fully embraced this idea and will spend as much time in his pool as he can. He doesn't necessarily splash around that much- he is content just to lay and soak in the water. I wish his pool was big enough for two!







So how do we keep ourselves busy while we are hiding out in the AC? We have been watching a lot of Olympics but we've also found some fun ways to stay entertained! Don't worry- plenty of treats were involved! : )

 Maybe Morey is trying to be an announcer for the Olympics?

 It's so hot I think snowmen are on both of our minds! Here is Morey practicing with his snowman nose!

Watching all the gymnastics at the Olympics has Morey focused on his balancing skills. Turns out he is pretty good at balancing beef jerky sticks on his nose!

Indiana Summer Vacation

    This has been a busy summer of travel for us!

Our office is part of the Association on Higher Education and Disability and this year their national conference was in Indianapolis. My boss and I were presenting at the conference and I tacked on some time with family before and after the conference. I gave Morey the week off so he stayed with Grandma while I went to the conference (he definitely got the better end of that deal!).

It felt strange to be without Morey for the week. My boss asked me what it was like to not have Morey with me. It's hard to explain but it gives me a sort of unsettled feeling. Like I am forgetting something all the time. There are some nice things- like not having to worry about where to take him to hurry or not having to go outside first/last thing of the day but I would never complain about doing those things in exchange for having the most wonderful service dog ever!

My mom sent daily emails with pictures of him playing in the pool, going for walks and playing with toys. When I got home the fun continued as Morey and I both enjoyed some summer vacation in Indiana!

 We had to have some trees cut down in the yard and Morey enjoyed playing king of the yard as he stood majestically on the downed tree trunks and limbs.

A ball and a pool full of water- sounds like the perfect ingredients for a summer vacation! It's fun to see Morey be such a country dog while he is home!

Baseball Buddies

One of the evening events at the rugby camp was attending a Houston Astros baseball game. We all took the Metro Rail to the stadium and, as usual, made quite a scene as 10 people in wheelchairs went through the security line. As we were waiting in the line, a security guard asked if Karen and I had our certification cards for our dogs. We both informed him that it is not required (and in fact illegal) to ask for certification cards for service dogs. When faced with me and Karen adamantly telling him he can't ask us that, two well-behaved clearly identified service dogs and two people in wheelchairs he just shut up and moved on down the line. He definitely picked the wrong people to try telling about service dogs laws and requirements!

I think Sasha and Morey would have preferred playing ball to watching it but they still seemed to enjoy themselves.

 Someone gave me a resusable Astros bag and I had Morey carry it for me. As you might imagine, he got a lot of comments/compliments as he walked through the stadium carrying it!

 One of the women wanted to buy something from the gift shop and while we were waiting for her Morey and Sasha decided to check out some of the activities in the stadium. They were disappointed to find they weren't exactly set up for dogs but we pointed out that they aren't great for wheelchairs either!

While Morey was following the directions (Place Feet Here) he didn't understand the point is to measure your stride.

Sasha did a little better in comparing her height to one of the Astros athletes.

They were lots of people walking by and taking pictures of our dogs. As one woman walked by she saw Morey move and said "Oh wow, it's real!". I guess she thought he was part of the display!

 By the end of the evening Morey offered to hold Sasha's leash and walk her home. I'd say it was a successful first date! (closely chaperoned of course!)

                               We all had a great time at the game- canines and humans alike!

Camp Friends

This summer I was invited to help coach a wheelchair rugby camp specifically for women athletes. I was excited about the opportunity to work with other women who play rugby since I am so used to playing with/against men. The camp was held at the University of Houston so Morey and I packed our bags and my rugby chair and we hit the road!

We were staying in the dorms (oh the joys of shared room/bathroom, twin bed, and cement floors!) and sharing rooms with the other athletes. Our rooms were suite style with 2 rooms that shared a bathroom and hall way. As it turns out, Morey and I ended up rooming with a woman who also had a service dog! Nothing like 2 people, 2 large dogs and 2 wheelchairs in one tiny dorm room! Luckily they kept us busy so we weren't in our rooms that much.

 At home I share a queen bed with Morey and still don't feel like I have enough room. At camp, I was sharing a twin bed with him and neither one of us was comfortable! I would have made him sleep on the floor except it was concrete and there actually was very little floor space. Karen was also sharing a bed with Sasha and it was pretty cute to see the two yellow dogs on "their" beds!

Most of our days were spent at the gym and both Morey and Sasha were pretty experienced in laying around while their crazy humans banged into each other! They seemed to enjoy each other's company as napped next to each other on their comfy beds.

At the end of each day we did let Morey and Sasha off duty so they could romp with each other. Since most of the time they were very professional in ignoring each other it was fun to give them a chance to interact and play with each other!

Sasha is four years old and is a graduate of NEADS (http://www.neads.org/). She and her human live on the UConn campus as residential life staff. Sasha is apparently friends with their mascot (a husky) and she was even invited to his birthday party! This made Morey slightly jealous since he has never met Bevo (UT's mascot). 

Given all their similar experiences (service dog career, jobs at universities, rugby playing humans), and common interests (tennis balls, sleeping in beds, treats) Morey and Sasha seemed to hit it off right away. It is difficult for dogs to maintain long distance relationships but hopefully we will be able to reconnect them at a future rugby event!

Independence Day

July 4th was such a hot day that we mostly stayed inside out of the heat but we still managed to be festive and patriotic! Morey of course had to wear his red, white and blue lei!














At night a lot of our neighbors were setting off fireworks and at first Morey didn't really seem to mind. Then I decided to go outside and see if I could see any of them and Morey snuck out with me. Our next door neighbors were setting off some pretty big fireworks and when Morey saw the light and heard the noise he panicked. He crouched low and looked around frantically so I quickly opened the door and let him inside. The rest of the evening he was nervous and scared. I felt really bad for letting him get scared since he has never had any fear issues before. I will definitely be more careful when we are around fireworks in the future!

Summer School

I usually play ball with Morey several times a day (typically before work, during a lunch break and then before heading home from work). But since the weather has turned hot I have changed Morey's schedule to include indoor training sessions instead of outdoor ball time. Morey loves to train so he doesn't mind this change a bit!

Morey and I are working on a few different training goals right now, most of them for agility. I taught Morey "left" a while ago and now am teaching him "right". Having directional cues makes it a lot easier for me to direct Morey through different obstacles when I am farther away from him. And, since he is much faster than me, it doesn't take much for him to get ahead of me!

Another training goal for Morey to learn "spot". This will be used for the contact obstacles (dog walk and A-frame) which require the dog to make contact with the bottom of the obstacle before moving on. I want Morey to do a "2 on-2 off"- basically to stop with his two front paws on the ground and his two back paws still on the obstacle.

All ICAN dogs learn the "shaping game" which is kind of like playing the "Hot Cold" game. The person has an end goal in mind- it can be a real task or a training goal just for that session. It's common to use an object and have the dog do something with it- touch it with their nose, put their front feet on it, pick it up with their mouths. You click and treat the dog any time it does something close to what you are wanting and continue until they figure it out. So you might start by clicking the dog for looking at the object and then for moving toward it and then for sniffing it, etc. If the dog does something different you ignore it (equivalent of telling a human "colder") and wait for them to offer another behavior.

When a dog know the game it is lots of fun! You can bring out an object and they will immediately start offering behaviors, trying to figure out what will earn them a treat. It's a great way to build your bond with your dog and since it makes them think it can tire them out as much as physical exercise. I have really enjoyed breaking out my clicker and doing some shaping with Morey!

What I realized with Morey is that he must have never been shaped to do anything with his back feet. It's almost like he doesn't know he has them! It took a really long time for him to step on the board we are using with his back feet. It's been slow going but each session we make more progress. By the time "summer school" is over and we go back outside I am sure he will have it down! Practice makes perfect!