I've been screamed at for not letting someone's kid pet my SD, she's been charged at aggressively by another "service dog" (my first thought was to cover her, my friend was ready to punt the other dog, thankfully it stopped), I've had a kid just start SCREAMING because he was afraid (Pepper never left her heel position. It's gotten better in the 10 years I've had her, but some people just suck.
It's A LOT of extra work to go out with a service dog.
Join us on Discord! Link in BIO! Don't touch service dogs.
01/06/2025
Is it the cover of a dog hip hop album or of the newest Disney movie about a dog gang? Either way, they're called the Land Sharks.
11/20/2024
He's been in here most of the day. I think he likes his new bed 💜💚
11/16/2024
This weekend was a bit hit-or-miss. Sherlock was definitely excited to go, and he's making good progress, but I did have to pull him from a run because he was too worked up. But he also succeeded on both crazy 8s runs (a first) AND set his personal best this morning!
11/16/2024
The only thing that kept me from crying today was the wonderful local barn hunt community. In second blind today, Sherlock lost his ever-loving mind and I could not get him to calm down. At that point, he wasn't going to be able to focus on the search, and I was worried someone, human or dog, was going to be accidentally bitten, so I made the difficult decision to pull him from the run. For my non-dog-sports people, runs aren't cheap, and you don't get your money back (understandably) if the dog doesn't run for some reason. So that makes the decision harder. I was upset with him, I was more upset with myself as a trainer. But several people reassured me it was the right decision. It also ESPECIALLY helped that several people also commented that despite that, he's come SO FAR from how he did in the blind when he started. This community is part of why I love this sport so much. 💜💚
11/05/2024
Poor Sherlock was never scared of thunderstorms, fireworks, anything like that until one particularly loud thunderclap during a storm that made him scream (and made me jump and shout, it was so loud) Thankfully, much of what I need to do right now is reading, which I can do with him cuddling. He did eventually stop shaking and go to sleep on me 💜💚 I think it helped that I find thunderstorms relaxing, and I'm sure he could sense my calm.
11/04/2024
When your service dog gets bored in the grocery checkout 😂😴
10/05/2024
This girl is simply amazing! She passed all 4 crazy 8s runs this weekend (she's never passed one before), got her open title with a first place and high in class, and didn't pass any of her senior runs, but had very good runs. I am SO proud and so tired.
10/05/2024
Day 2 of barn hunt for Zelly! She's very excited that I let her bring her bone. She did AMAZING yesterday, getting her open title and her first 2 successful crazy 8s runs! Hoping for another great one today!
09/14/2024
Do you think he likes it? 😂
09/02/2024
Homework cuddles ❤️
09/01/2024
Just refilled Pepper's medicine organizer for next month, and she spent the whole time drooling on the side of the bed. Note to self: shut her out of the room next time 😂
08/15/2024
So Zelda is very smart and I'm proud of her. She was barking and barking last night and in my sleepy state I thought it was Sherlock, because it was thundering. So I got up to give him a calming treat and cover his kennel (that combo tends to calm him down), and I discovered he'd tried to push his way out the kennel door and was quietly sitting there, stuck at his neck and shoulders (thank God for the shoulders!). If she hadn't let me know, I wouldn't have known for HOURS. So after I checked Sherlock and gave him his calming treat, she got a biscuit, too. One of the big ones.
07/29/2024
Took Zelda to the vet for an ear infection this morning. She got anxious, so she started tasking like she would if her handler was anxious. She's so stinkin' sweet! ❤️
07/26/2024
When you reeeeeeaally want mom's lunch
07/25/2024
When the calming treats kick in...
07/23/2024
So Zelda found a new friend and hobby this weekend at the river. Apparently she LOVES magnet fishing. A couple times she helped him pull the line back in, one of which was when he dropped the line entirely (it was tied to him but came loose), and she grabbed it and brought it back.
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Update: in the several minutes since I took this video, he figured out that the door was actually open and he could just walk out.
The vet's description of "he just takes a little longer to figure out life" definitely still fits.
#cats #cat #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catsofinsta #blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #lovemylittledoofus #goofycat #ishestuck #notreallystuck
Charlie is "stuck" on the gate and telling me all about it (yes, I helped him right after the video)
Life with a scent dog 😂
I'm having one of those moments that I need to remember when things get difficult.
Boyfriend's dog Mishka used to be great with other dogs until she had her first heat cycle, then she started to get very possessive of him. It got to the point where she couldn't be loose in the same room as any of my dogs, which was challenging for him and I spending time together with me having a service dog. I had minimal experience with reactive dogs and felt lost trying to handle it. 💔
Back in February, I took a webinar with Michael Shikashio of Aggressive Dog on intra-household dog-dog aggression to try to figure out how to solve this. We (well, mostly boyfriend) worked with her walking her around Scheel's and shifting her association with other dogs from "they're going to steal my human's attention" to "see a dog - get a treat". Her body language started changing. She very quickly started to sit and look at boyfriend for a treat if she saw another dog. Within a month, instead of getting tense when she saw another dog, her body language was curious. We started walking our dogs together to give her positive experiences with them at a distance.
A month and a half ago, we had our next challenge: we moved in together and needed to integrate her into my pack of not only dogs, but cats as well. We took it slow, and we are very fortunate to have the space to be able to separate the critters into the groups that they're most comfortable with and give each group their own space. We did a lot of work with having the dogs near each other but not able to be in contact, whether using kennels or gates across doorways. She's been doing great, so two nights ago a friend and I got Mishka and Pepper near each other where we could both love on them both and encourage them to be near each other, but could quickly separate them if needs be. Boyfriend had the difficult job of staying at a distance so she was less likely to get possessive, and it was KILLING him. The girls were completely avoida
Caught Blanche bathing Pepper ❤️ She was sitting on top of the dog to bathe her, but slid off while I was getting my camera out
So Zelda developed a fear of stairs a while back, seeming like she doesn't trust her back legs. The new house has STEEP steps to the 2nd floor, but they're carpeted, so I hoped I'd be able to get her to do it since it's a better grip than non carpeted. I went and got her favorite people food (yes, that's white bread), tore some up to use as treats, and full slices for jackpots.
And this girl. THIS GIRL. She did it on my 3rd try calling her up! Once she gets those back feet up on the steps, she zips all the way up. I'm so proud of her! Had her go up and down several times then called it for the day to make sure we ended on a high note. Breakthroughs like this make all the stressful parts of training 1000% worth it. ❤️
Charlie is a yeller 📣
Kitten nugget update! 3 weeks and 3 days old.
Had a difficult time getting little man to latch, but he finally did, and drank like it was going out of style. ❤️
Happy kitten day! 4 babies - 3 female, 1 male.
Pupdate: Pepper's physical therapy went well. Vet is sending me some stuff to do at home, and the links to get some of the equipment for home if I want it. She was VERY good at physical therapy even though she was less than thrilled about it, and earned herself an ice cream cone.
I have PTSD from a series of armed robberies at a store I used to work at. I also have severe anxiety that I’ve carried with me all my life, and the PTSD compounds that. In 2013, my PTSD got to the point where it was no longer manageable. I was no longer able to leave the house without my husband, except to go to work. Even at work, I was barely functional some days. Always on high alert, in fight-or-flight mode, terrified of every loud noise, it was exhausting. When I fled a gas station because of somebody yelling “hey, how ya doin?” across the store, I knew I needed help.
I went to a therapist who helped me learn coping mechanisms and a psychiatrist who prescribed me medications to help control the anxiety symptoms. While both helped, my medication dosages were going up and up and up without ever getting me to the point where I could live normally.
And then someone suggested I get a service dog. Hey, I love dogs, I already have one (although he turned out to not have the right personality for service work and not be healthy enough for it) and I’ve recently discovered a love of dog training! So I did what I always do, and threw myself into research. What tasks are common for PTSD dogs? How do you teach these tasks? What breeds are best? What personality traits does the dog need?
After several discussions with our trainer and vet, I decided to give it a go. So I did more research - this time to find just the right breeder. I interviewed breeders like you’d interview an employee. I was going to make sure I did this right. I ended up meeting Kristi at VonBussler Labrador Retrievers, and she happily answered all my questions and helped me choose a dog with just the right personality. After playing the waiting game for a litter of puppies with a silver lab with the right personality, I came home with Pepper.
From day one, we trained. Every single day, no matter what. Pouring rain? Train the dog. Sinus infection? Train the dog. Sprain your ankle? Train the dog. The only time we took a break was when she was recovering from spay surgery. After 4 months of working with her, she was regularly going out in public with me. And something amazing had happened - I could leave the house alone again! Well, “alone” in the sense that I didn’t have to have another human with me.
It wasn’t always easy. The first time we went to the grocery store, she grabbed a toy off the shelf walking by the pet section and I didn’t even notice until I bent down to get something off a bottom shelf later. (Yes, we bought the toy, I wouldn’t put it back covered in puppy slobber.) Another memorable trip to the grocery store had her licking the floor in produce, then puking all over in the checkout line later. We still had a lot of training to do. And we kept at it.
She went to orchestra practice, to the doctor, to the gym - everywhere I went. Working with my psychiatrist, we started to cut back my anxiety medicine. It ended up at half the dosage I was at before Pepper and I was finally stable again. She gave me my life back. I am living like a normal person again. She’s my superhero.
Training and working service dogs and scent dogs.
