blue-theservicedog

[blue-theservicedog]

You know you’re a service dog handler when you get excited that a public place has trash bins outside the doors.

[blue-theservicedog]

I haven't been on tumblr much because I deleted the app when I started classes at the end of September but Blue came to Chipotle and the mall with my mom and me today and he did amazing. I think he might be ready to "graduate."

[blue-theservicedog]

Owner training a service dog can be incredibly fun and fulfilling but it’s also SO HARD, because by the very nature of what it is, you are a disabled person trying to train a dog to the highest possible caliber in order to mitigate your disability while also Living As A Disabled Person. And it’s possible and it’s amazing and I believe in you and I believe in myself and Blue, but it can be so frustrating to have a few weeks where you know you aren’t training enough and then try to get back into the groove and be set back and have bad training sessions.

The last couple weeks I worked more hours than normal (I’m a part-time retail employee so my schedule changes every week which is a struggle in and of itself) and I just didn’t have the energy to do much training at all, especially public access training at our favored PA spots. This week I had less than half the hours I had in the weeks before so I had the energy to say “okay, we need to get back on top of things, let’s go to the Home Depot and work on our Heel and our focus.”

And it went so badly. It was so bad. There was no attention span, no interest in the treats I had, minimal Heeling, a lot of walking ahead and trying to pull. There was another dog we kept running into—who to be fair was well trained and their handlers tried to give us space but we just kept ending up on the same aisles. Blue got spooked by another shopper hauling around some 2x4s and we had multiple people try to pet him and say hi despite his vest and my shirt. Which is partly on me, I have to learn to actually advocate for him and not just in my head.

Even when I gave up and went outside and tried to end the session on a good note I couldn’t get his attention for hand targets or a nice easy Sit. I was so frustrated by the time we got in the car.

And it sucks but this is the reality of owner-training, especially with dynamic disabilities. You’re going to have AMAZING sessions and you’re going to have absolute crap sessions like ours today, and sometimes it’s just the dog having an off day but sometimes it’s because your disability or related things made you miss a week or two and you have to build those training muscles back up.

[blue-theservicedog]

In case you’re wondering, this is from a January 19 policy update. River Dog Gear has a post about it which I’ve linked below. I know there are more because there was an uproar about this on Instagram at the time, but honestly I don’t remember which shops I follow were on Etsy at the time. Technically, at least at the time of this post, we didn’t know what the reasoning behind this policy change was, and I don’t remember if we were ever told definitively by Etsy—I don’t make gear so I certainly wasn’t—but the general consensus among the SD community on Instagram was that they’re trying to prevent fakes.

Meanwhile, here’s one of the ESA vests I found that was the reason I made this post:

(Image Description: A screenshot from Etsy’s mobile app. The screenshot shows a listing for a red dog vest similar in shape and design to a classic service dog vest, complete with a small handle on the back. The vest in the listing photo is seen side-on and has two patches on the side. One is a white circular patch by the handle with a red medical symbol reading “E.S.A. Dog.” The other is a black rectangular patch along the trim that reads “Emotional Support Animal.” The listing is on sale for $31.96 USD and is titled “Emotional Support Animal E.S.A. Dog Harness | Reflective Vest with Pocket and Pull Handle.” The listing is by the shop All Access Canine, written as one word—AllAccessCanine. The vest’s average rating is 4.9 stars. End image description.]

So you can presumably see why I’m upset—a vest like this is almost guaranteed to be used by someone who either doesn’t realize ESAs don’t have public access rights in the US (they don’t even have flying rights with most airlines anymore) or someone hoping people will see the red SD-style vest and not think too hard about it.

Honestly, I’m furious. It’s that much more difficult for service dog gear makers—most of whom are service dog handlers themselves—to sell their gear online without the help of Etsy, but they’re still hosting listings like this. One of the things that the SD community on Instagram talked about a lot when this first was released was that no one is going to pay the $60-100 USD for a custom vest if they’re going to lie about it. They’re going to buy something like the vest pictured above. This will only do more harm to our community than good.

This post isn’t about the validity of ESAs, by the way. ESAs are great. My sister has an ESA. Blue is temporarily going to be labeled as an ESA by my university since he’s being owner trained in a state that doesn’t have SDIT access rights. I can explain this more in another post if people are curious. But ESAs do not have public access rights and do not need vests with flimsy pull handles or patches labeling them as ESAs. Stuff like this is why people outside the community have no respect for either ESAs or service dogs. Clowning by ESA handlers will not be tolerated.

Absolutely infuriating that Etsy drove away service dog gear makers because they can’t prove that the gear is going to an actual service dog, but are absolutely fine hosting service dog-style vests and patches as long as they’re for ESAs.

[blue-theservicedog]

Absolutely infuriating that Etsy drove away service dog gear makers because they can’t prove that the gear is going to an actual service dog, but are absolutely fine hosting service dog-style vests and patches as long as they’re for ESAs.

[blue-theservicedog]

Owner training a service dog is like, I have days where he amazes me and days where he’s a menace.

Sometimes, those are the same day.

[blue-theservicedog]

Turns out consistency is really helpful in dog training, especially when trying to train a dog out of a bad or unwanted behavior that you don’t have a good management plan for.

[blue-theservicedog]

Owner training with an invisible disability is so funny because people will come up and compliment you and tell you you’re such a good person for training a service dog for someone and then walk off before you can be like “actually he’s for me”

[blue-theservicedog]

I was mostly good and took him to Home Depot which technically is no longer pet friendly but it’s a hardware store and not a place that sells groceries so I don’t REALLY care. And we actually had a really good outing working on focus and heel!

Sometimes as an owner-trainer it is INCREDIBLY tempting to take my dog into stores he’s not allowed in yet (my state doesn’t give SDITs full access rights) because it’s easier than going out to run errands and then coming home and then taking him out for training, and I know those stores don’t care because I’ve seen so many fakes and straight up pets inside and watched employees not only ignore them but even interact with them. No one would care! Clearly no one knows the law!

But I know, and I care, and I also know he’s not ready for those kinds of locations yet, so I’m good and I don’t take him with me to pick up my meds or whatever. But man, I want to.

[blue-theservicedog]

Sometimes as an owner-trainer it is INCREDIBLY tempting to take my dog into stores he’s not allowed in yet (my state doesn’t give SDITs full access rights) because it’s easier than going out to run errands and then coming home and then taking him out for training, and I know those stores don’t care because I’ve seen so many fakes and straight up pets inside and watched employees not only ignore them but even interact with them. No one would care! Clearly no one knows the law!

But I know, and I care, and I also know he’s not ready for those kinds of locations yet, so I’m good and I don’t take him with me to pick up my meds or whatever. But man, I want to.

[blue-theservicedog]

hi!! i saw we live pretty close (as far as the US goes lol) and i was wondering, if you’re happy with the breeder, where did you get blue from?? i’ve been looking to get a service dog for a while now and im trying to add as many breeders to my list as possible!! thanks!

For sure! I will say, I’m happy with the breeding job and I know they’ve had successful service dogs from their breeding program before, but their communication wasn’t great, especially after I brought Blue home. Just in the sense of like, they only emailed me a few times—when he was born, for payment, and when he was old enough to come home—and when I messaged them asking for the contact info for Blue’s litter mates because he needed puppies to play with, I never heard back, not even a “no, we don’t feel comfortable sharing that.” So their communication/customer service leaves something to be desired. They did have regular updates of his litter on their website, though.

Customer service was meh, but what’s more important to me personally is that Blue is a healthy dog with a good temperament and who is incredibly confident while not being overly independent, which are all good things for a service dogs and signs of good breeding, and their dams and sires are all AKC registered.

So all of that said, the breeder we got Blue from is Puget Sound Retrievers in Gig Harbor, which is in Pierce County but on the Kitsap Peninsula.

If you’re looking for a Golden specifically, you can also find some breeders on the Evergreen Golden Retriever Club website! EGRC is the Seattle chapter of the American Golden Retriever Club, which of course is the Golden “chapter” of the AKC.

Good luck!

[blue-theservicedog]

Every once in a while I’m reminded how big of an undertaking, how long-term of a project (and for the HIGH possibility of “failure”) owner-training a service dog is.

And I think there’s this misconception that most of the training time is spent on task work. At least, that was the idea I had when I first started doing my research and preparing for this. But no. It’s ALL about public access. Per the ADA (so this may be different in other countries), a service dog only technically needs to be able to perform one task, but they HAVE to be well behaved and in control at all times in public in order to be considered a service dog.

Obviously mistakes happen and no one’s going to get kicked out of a store for an imperfect Sit or Heel, but it has to be dang near because it’s a matter of safety for you and the general public.

It is SUCH a labor intensive and exhausting experience and a lot of owner trainers know that going in but don’t have any idea HOW just… how MUCH it is. And you’re doing all that on top of being disabled and needing a service dog. It can get so much worse too, if your disability prevents you from training for a time and you have to effectively start over on certain skills.

I think we owner-trainers deserve a gold medal or something just for surviving, honestly.

[blue-theservicedog]

[Video Description: A series of clips. In the first clip, Ver, a white person wearing a hat and glasses, holds up a reusable shopping bag and smiles at the camera. In the second, xe grabs a roll of Kraft paper from the shelf at a store. In the third, xe scans a selection of dog toys and then grabs a Nerf treat dispensing toy off a peg. The fourth is a still shot of a stack of presents wrapped in Kraft paper. The fifth and sixth are time lapses of Blue opening presents. The seventh is a Live Photo of Blue’s food bowl with a bone shaped red cookie with the words “Birthday Boy” on top. The sixth is a Live Photo of Blue chewing on the cardboard from one of his new tug toys. End video description.]

IT’S THE BOY’S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! I went SO overboard with the treats and presents but he’s having a blast. I’m so excited to celebrate this milestone with him. We’re finally transitioning to adult foods (I would have done this much earlier, but our breeder said we had to feed a specific brand and recipe of puppy food for the first year). Blue has no idea why he got so many new toys and things, but I have the joy of knowing that he just opened up a bunch of birthday presents and there’s more birthday celebrating to come! Happy birthday, Blue boy! I’m so happy to be your human.

[blue-theservicedog]

MY MOTHER JUST INFORMED ME THAT IT’S NATIONAL GOLDEN RETRIEVER DAY SI TIME FOR SOME PHOTOS OF BLUE

[Image descriptions: ten photos of Blue, an adolescent cream Golden Retriever. Image one: Blue sits in front of my unmade bed wearing a rain jacket. Image two: He lies on a gray storage ottoman. Image three: He lies on my bed, which is made, in front of my pillows. One of the pillows says “Home is where Seattle is.” Image four: He sits on my couch. Image five: He lies on the ground with his elbow on his bed. Image six: He lies on the ground in front of a coffee table. He wears a harness and is attached to a leash. Image seven: He lies on my bed again. Image eight: He lies on my bed again, but this time the only things on it are my sheets and weighted blanket. Image nine: He’s outside, carrying a lawn flamingo in his mouth, in front of my door. The welcome mat says “Dogs welcome, people tolerated.” Image ten: He lies on the lawn, chewing a neon soccer ball. End image descriptions.]

[blue-theservicedog]

Some other things from my experiences:

Sometimes there’s no good option for getting them. In the US, for example, there are no programs (or very few, and hard to find) that train service dogs for autistic adults. I have Thoughts about this but that’s a different post entirely. If you’re an autistic adult who wants a service dog to help with your autistic traits, your only option is to owner-train. This is cheaper than getting a program dog but is EXHAUSTING and can have a negative impact on mental health. I spend a lot of my time feeling like a bad trainer, a bad handler, overwhelmed by all the training I need to get done before I go to uni in September, and stuck in a loop of these thoughts that makes it HARDER to train. Then it spirals.

This hasn’t happened to me because I don’t have a lot of in-person friends and the ones I do have are chill, and also because Blue isn’t fully trained so I don’t just take him places, but a lot of handlers have lost friends due to getting a service dog. It can completely change your social life.

In the US, every state has slightly different laws about whether service dogs in training have public access rights, and if you’re traveling and owner-train you have to be aware of those laws. For example, Washington State doesn’t consider SDITs service dogs for PA purposes, which is why I can’t take Blue everywhere with me. (But honestly he’s not ready yet anyway.)

You have to put in extra energy to plan for EVERY outing, especially if you’re training. A lot of people have a service dog kit. You need poop bags, water, food, wipes or paper towels in case they get sick/have an accident. You have to think of accessibility in a new way.

Having a service dog can be a HUGE boon to disabled folks, but there’s so much that goes into it that it’s often considered a last resort. I only realized I needed a service dog when I realized I couldn’t go out to restaurants or the mall on my own when it was relatively busy because I would shut down. I needed my family to do crowd control and pressure therapy for me, which isn’t fair to them because unlike a service dog that isn’t their job or why they’re there. A service dog is my only option for real independence and I LOVE Blue and have developed a special interest in service dogs over the last year, so talking about them and especially Blue brings me a lot of joy, but like a lot of SD handlers I wish I didn’t need him.

Sometimes, I wish I had a service dog.

[blue-theservicedog]

*shouts from the rooftops* There are two questions in the USA that are not only legal but ENCOURAGED to ask if you are a non-pet-friendly location and someone brings a dog and you can legally kick out any animal that is not a service animal, whose handlers cannot answer those two questions, and in fact you can kick out an actual service animal if they’re having an off day or are unwell and their behavior is disruptive or unsafe (although in my experience usually proper SD handlers will remove themselves from the situation as soon as they realize)! So DO IT!

[blue-theservicedog]

I wish my cat had a phone so I could text him while I’m at work and tell him I love him and I miss him and he could send back blurry pictures of random things, incomprehensible gibber texts, and audio recordings of his crinkle ball