Laurie & Heide, A DogWish Success Story
DogWish Service Dogs Transforming Lives!
 Four and a half years ago I became disabled. I was housebound for 3 years suffering through, while I went from doctor to doctor, enduring endless tests, where they tried to diagnose my symptoms and deal with my problems. After these diagnoses I thought the days of my independence were over. I am suffering from Metabolic Syndrome with blood pressure and pulse issues that cause loss of consciousness, poly cystic ovarian disease, over whelming exhaustion (no REM sleep), diabetes, short term memory loss, Bi Polar/manic depression, agoraphobia, and disabling anxiety/ panic attacks (my body was no longer able to handle stress of any kind), and fibro myalgia. I lost hope as the doctors just adding more drugs to my life.
God always seems to work in funny ways. My husband, an avid library fancier, brought me home a book. (please keep in mind that now I have to read things 3 to 4 times to be able to understand things). In this book there was a woman on the west coast that had similar symptoms. She actually had a Service K 9 that assisted her everywhere she went and helped her live a more normal life. I was in shock. I had heard about Service dogs for the blind, hearing impaired, and dogs that helped people in wheel chairs but never a dog that helped the mentally impaired or ones that helped people with multiple problems.
My family started doing research on dogs for the mentally ill. They found an organization, DOGWISH, INC, on the West Coast; Calif. , that trained dogs to help autistic children, and assist people like me. They called them Psychological Service Assistance K9s. I was adamant that the dog be a GSD. Through my families research this was one of the only places that used GSD's anymore as Assistance K 9's. Some places, like Paws for a Cause, which is only 10 miles from my home, have waiting lists up to 4 years, and don’t even acknowledge this type of K9. I contacted DOGWISH and spoke with Bob Taylor. He not only understood my problems, he had a dog in training he said he could customize specifically for my needs, and could bring the dog to me, and help me in my home. To me, this was unbelievable. Other programs want you to go there for a month and learn to handle and work with a dog they have generically trained. It is all very impersonal, and impossible for someone like me.
I am so lucky to have so many friends, neighbors and family that love me. They held countless fund raisers, even my son's high school got involved, to raise half the money to get me an Assistance Service Dog. I have now owned Heide now for 15 months. SHE IS A GSD!! She enables me to leave the house on my own. She is trained to keep people out of my personal space, to react if I loose consciousness, to get me through panic/anxiety attacks, she helps balance (with medication) the chemical imbalance in my brain, the agoraphobia, and by exercising her regularly- I get exercised -my body and brain. She reacts to stop my manic behavior by balancing my brainwaves with her brainwaves. Her formal registration reads- Seizure Alert / Psychological / Therapy/ Disability Assistance K9.
To me Heide is my access to the outside world, she is allowed by law to go everywhere I go. I will never be the way I used to, I will never recover, my conditions will only get worse. Heide helps to ease that pain by helping me get through everyday one step at a time. Heide is a remarkable friend. Without her I would still be housebound. There are bad days and she will lay by my side helping me through. If you would like to visit the site about DogWish, they are on the web at www.dogwish.org. The creator, founder, and Master Trainer is Bob Taylor, who has personally given his life to help us. You’ll love him.
Laurie
(Written by Laurie to a woman who contacted her, and CC’d to Bob Taylor)
March 1, 2009
Hi Bob,
I wanted to drop you a note and let you know that Heide is doing great. We lost our house to foreclosure. Chris's grandparent’s house was empty and that is where we are living now. Heide loves the big yard, and there is a church near by with a huge fenced play area where we exercise regularly. Squirrels are an issue, which is our fault because in the old house there was a fenced yard where she WAS ALLOWED to chase them. The back yard here is not fenced so we are working hard to curb that behavior. It's working. She is so Smart!!! She wears a back pack style harness now because my health now requires that I carry my blood pressure cuff and my sugar testing kit and medication at all times. Heide easily carries those items in the new harness.
Since it is winter here, which means 4 ft of snow on the ground, Heide and I are pretty much isolated to the house. If the sun is out we venture out to the church for exercise or around the block. There aren't any neighbors out because of the cold so we haven't met any new friends. Once a week my daughter comes and takes us to lunch, and once a week Chris and I go to the grocery store. Other than that we are House bound. My son, Eric, takes Heide out back and runs her everyday to wear off some of her energy. She easily bounces over the 4 and 5 foot snow drifts, and barks at him when he gets on the roof to clear off the snow.
The first week we lived at this house we had a small trash can fire, I was in the shower, I heard Heide barking and barking, so I got out of the shower and went downstairs - she was frantic running from door to door and then from me to the door, the house was full of smoke. I got the fire put out, it was small and in a metal trash can - but the point is that she carried out her job and before ANY smoke detectors went off!!
She watches for or probably hears the mailman come everyday and will go to the front door and whine so that I know that the mail is here and we retrieve it together.
The snow is so deep that there are huge banks along the sides of the sidewalk, so at night we sneak outside when there are no cars out and bowl her tennis balls down the side walk, it will usually sail 3-4 four house before I release her from a stay to run after them. Because we live in the City everyone has to keep there front side walks clear of snow or you can get fined. It works to our advantage.
When we moved around Thanks Giving I knew that it would be hard because I didn't know anyone here, there is a bus stop close by but still being new to this area is scary. It will be easier when spring is here and we will be able to meet neighbors. Living in the city now I always expect to get stopped with Heide going into new stores or restaurants, but we have hasn’t had any problems. WE ARE ALWAYS LADIES! LOL
Because I have a lot of time on my hands and Heide on her paws, it's the perfect time to work on some new commands. We still practice all the old ones just to keep it fresh. Right now, and I am so excited - we are working on Heide bringing me her harness back pack on command. Like I said it contains my emergency medication, BP cuff and Sugar testing kit. If there is a time where I am at home alone with her and unable to get to my emergency stuff she can bring it to me. She is unbelievable, in just two weeks, working twice a day for ten minutes a time, she has learned to get it off the door handle (where we keep it) and bring it to me across the kitchen ( 15 ft). Now we will start working on giving the command from the living room where I am out of sight. She already knows the word "Pack" and goes right to where we keep it and scratches at it or will bump it with her nose. "Get the pack" is the command for her to bring it to me.
SHE AMAZES ME EVERYDAY BOB! Her mind is like a sponge. Just for giggles and something to do - I am trying to teach her how to crawl on the floor. Its harder than it sounds, but we are making progress. There are other things on "our" list of things to learn, and we just work on a couple at a time.
Heide and I have such a tight bond, we have a lot of conversations, one sided of course. It might speed up my disability case if I said that she was answering me. LOL. Chris and I have talked and my kids have urged us to get an emergency touch pad. I am sure you have heard of them for people that have assistance dogs to press the pad if their charge passes out or there are other medical emergencies, and police or paramedics come. It is something we are considering, I know that Heide will learn when and how to use the system with flying colors, if my health conditions soon require one.
Rest assured that Heide is being the best she can be, she is healthy in mind and body. She just went to the Vet for a yearly check up and is in tip top shape! (which I already knew).
Thank you for giving me the greatest dog in the world.
Love Laurie |
