Dog Park Dilemma

 So, after last week’s post, you’re probably expecting me to start with some point on which I have begun to differ in my thinking from that of The Seeing Eye.

 

I hate disappointing people. So, here goes.

 

I love dog parks.

 

Not the most controversial statement ever, unless you’re a TSE grad. The Seeing Eye’s advice when it comes to dog parks is that they are a risky endeavor for the blind. A large open space with no tactile contact with your dog, lots of other dogs you don’t know running around, who may or may not be vaccinated, have good temperaments, or knowledgeable and responsible owners…anything could happen, and by the item the blind person realized their dog was in trouble, or was the trouble, it might be too late. And even if they did realize it in time, would they be able to safely traverse the distance to the dog(s) in question, and do something about it?

 

This is a reasonable set of concerns. But these concerns are predicated on a fear of the unknown. I don’t care to live this way. I also don’t choose to eschew all reasonable caution, so let me present a more nuanced perspective on dog guides, the blind, and dog parks. If you choose the tried-and-true avoidance philosophy, I won’t judge you. I’ll even defend you to those who might. Each person’s risk tolerance is a combination of environment, tools, nature, nurture, resources, and a host of other factors, a highly individualized calculation I won’t presume to evaluate. Here’s my calculation.

 

 

 

I can’t get to a dog park on foot. There aren’t any near where I walk. I have to hitch a ride with someone. So, I’m never at a dog park without a sighted person. My former roommate and her dog come and pick me and Greta up most Saturday mornings, and we four ladies drive to a dog park downtown that has very good reviews. I’m guessing that reviews on dog parks wasn’t a thing when TSE authored its policy. It takes time to update every thought and idea you have to adjust for the changing world, and even more to evaluate whether or not you should update. No judgment there.

 

So, we drive to the dog park, get the dogs out, pack up our folding chairs and thermoses and knitting projects, and enter the “airlock,” a dedicated unleashing area. Once through there, we release the dogs to race around the large, open grassy area to their hearts’ content.

 

My friend is very knowledgeable and responsible when it comes to canine behavior and safety. I can trust her eyes and my ears to pick up any signs of doggy trouble, and she can race to the rescue and knows what to do if there are any temperament issues. After a year, we’ve had no problems. We’ve made an effort to – with proper social distancing – get to know some of the other puppy parents there, get to know their experience levels, get to know their dogs. We have a community.

 

As for vaccines…well, if your dog is vaccinated, check with your vet but you shouldn’t have anything to worry about if your dog is properly vaccinated.

 

I believe life is better when you give people the benefit of the doubt. I have experienced that dogs behave well unless you give them a reason not to. And I have support. I choose to take Greta to the dog park, to let her embrace her doggy heritage with a fluid pack of happy canines, exercising and enjoying all the endorphins that come with it. It’s been great to see that Greta’s tendency to bark at dogs while working (a behavior I’ve employed a trainer to help with) stems from an intense desire to play rather than anything untoward.

 

And, because I love you, my readers, here is a cute video of Greta helping me with my knitting.    

Needles and Nail-clippers and Vets, oh hide!

Vet visit today, Prada’s first with me. We got a heartworm blood test done (just to be safe), a vaccine, and nails trimmed, and Prada proved that she can fit under a bench that is 6 inches off the ground! And get under their in about 2.5 seconds flat. Vet offices are usually hard and stressful places for dog guides beyond the normal doggy stressors available. They aren’t allowed to go socialize with the other doggies in the waiting room or even sniff around or say hi to the overly friendly vet technicians that just adore them to pieces…poor Prada, but she did amazingly well. I am so proud of her!

Building

Well here’s a huge shout-out and thank you to my mom and sister for being so willing to take me and Prada places to walk. Karen’s been amazing, driving us out to the mall area to work, and yay for mom’s love of walking in neighborhoods. That’s done a tremendous amount for rebuilding Prada’s and my habits with street corners, distractions, and such. I’ve been fighting the new guilt trip of “oh, I haven’t’ been correcting for this, so I shouldn’t’ start now.” The problem with this is it wouldn’t’ be “starting,’ it would be “restarting.” So I’m learning to get over it, and Prada doesn’t seem to be suffering at all, psychologically. In fact, she seems happier working when I’m paying more attention. Time to cut back on the daydreaming, I guess. Last night Mom and I walked through an older neighborhood in Salem where a lot of people hadn’t yet removed their Christmas lights. It never ceases to amaze me, how much I enjoy working with Prada at night. I’ve said this before, but I need to find more night activities to walk to. Thursday nights we’ll be at Bible Study, but that’s not much of a long walk. Maybe when it gets warmer she and I will just work around campus for the heck of it, although my roommates tend to frown on this. I can understand, I don’t’ like it when they’re out late at night alone, either, and we all generally try to avoid this. But somehow it seems slightly different. I mean, I’ve got a German shepherd with me. I guess we’ll see what happens; it won’t be warm enough for me to walk at night for at least another month or two. In the meantime we’ll just borrow the MPR for fetch and hide-and-seek.

Prada’s latest trick is burying her bone in furniture. My grandmother brought her an edible, chicken-flavored chewy bone and she went nuts over it. She carried it all through the house without eating it, and then started shoving it between couch cushions or under pillows. She even tried to bury it under the Christmas tree! Eventually I convinced her it was for chewing on. New it is no more.

Target Focus

On Haloween night, sometime around midnight, my roommate released her self-published biography of Martin Luther, titled Martin Luther, Reformation Rebel. It's a short story aimed at a younger audience but a good read for all ages. For those who are familiar with Reformation Period history it's rather like a walk down memory lane, as she mentions many key leaders on both sides of the Reformation at the time. It's intelligently written and displays a clear understanding of Martin Luther's personal perceptions about his work. It's a narrative told from Luther's perspective, so it naturally bears a bit of bias on the side of the Reformers, but an excellent, interactive way to learn or revisit that period of history.

The part that stood out to me the most was (go figure) a short anecdote about Luther's dog. Martin Luther remarked upon his hound's complete focus on a piece of meat his master held out for him. The dog's entire attention was wrapped around that piece of meat, his head following its every movement. This is the kind of single-mindedness that I observe in Prada when I put the harness on her, or when I hold a tennis ball or oven mit out for her to play with. Today I took her to a choir festival up in Birmingham, but opted to leave her in the audience when I went on stage with the UAH choir. My directors husband held her leash while I headed out to the warm-up room and Prada gave me this look that clearly said "why is my world walking away from me?"

This is how I picture the ideal relationship between a Christian and Jesus Christ should look. That's what prompted Martin Luther to make the remark about his dog's focus. Paraphrasing, "why can't a believer be as focused on God as this dog is on a piece of meat?"

If you're interested in purchasing the book there are two different options. You can download an ebook or purchase the hardcopy from http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/martin-luther-reformation-rebel/5933950.

"Before the Reformation, the Christian church was almost entirely Roman Catholic--- outwardly united, but inwardly corrupt and troubled. Then one man decided to do something about it, and Christianity was never the same. This is his story. Read it. Decide for yourself what you are willing to risk to change the world."

Map Quest

A faculty friend of mine invited me to come speak to his Intro to Special Education class this week about my history of academic accomodations and dog guides. At first he asked me if I could talk about dog guides in his class for fifteen minutes and i had to laugh. I could probably talk about that topic for about fifteen HOURS. But we eventually narrowed it down to my academic history of accomodations, my mobility before Prada, and how Prada has altered my lifestyle. Of course I ended up going a little over time, but he had made an allowance for that. The students were mainly interested in what my usable range of vision was, and Prada's training. One student, the guy that runs the front desk of my residence hall, approached me the day after the class on my way up to my room with another question. He remembered me saying that it was my job to tell Prada where to go, and her job to get me there safely. "So, how do you KNOW where to tell her to go?" he asked. Obviously i can't read street signs, so how would I know? Well, there are a few ways that visually impaired people navigate the world, and the techniques don't change too much from using a cane to walking with a dog.

You know how when you walk into a dark room and you can feel when it opens up a bit, or when you've left a dark hallway and entered a wider intersection of unlit hallways? The air feels different, it sounds different. "more open,' people like to say. Blind people are much more attuned to this. We use air current changes and how sounds change in differently-sized spaces to orient ourselves. It's kind of like a low-powered sonar. Outsiide, if we're walking next to a building line or along a wooded path we can feel and hear when the area opens up. We can feel the slight downward slope of a street corner, or the upward curve of a driveway. We use landmarks like these to keep ourselves on track. We also use very carefully constructed mental maps of our surrounding areas. It is necessary for us to memorize which streets intersect with each other and what kind of traffic control (light, sign, et cetera) graces the intersection with its presence.

When a sighted person gives directions it usually sounds like this; go left at the next light and then once you pass the WalMart on your right take a sharp right and then left at McDonald's. When a blind perosn gives directionis it will consist of numbers of blocks and cardinal or orientation directions. "Go four blocks down Main, then at Main turn right and go three blocks. Cross the parallel street at the end of the third block and continue straight away from the parallel until you reach the onramp to the bridge. Then turn left and go for a block and a half. On that second block take the second driveway up."

We talk a lot about routes when we give directions or talk about our daily routines. A route is a preplanned, often practiced set of directions that we use to get from point A to point B. We like to have these programmed plans of travel to maintain our orientation, and the more our normal routes intersect, the better picture of the area we have.

A Short Story

There is a good reason dogs should be given toys with which they can occupy themselves. That is, when they get bored, just like humans, they go find things to entertain themselves with. Prada went without a nylabone for a few weeks, and she developed the habit of dragging articles of my clothing out into the common room of our dorm to get my attention. If I didn't have any clothes within puppy-reach she substituted items from our trashcan. Well, she has a new nylabon now but every so often she would relapse into the former habits so my roommate, in a moment of genius, laced the trashcan with hot sauce to provide immediate consequences to unwanted investigations. This has worked beautifully. My poor little girl's eyes watered up the first time (and so far last time) she checked out the trashcan and my roommate felt quite sorry for her but kept herself steeled against the onslaught of sympathy-mongering, knowing that it was better for Prada this ay. It seems to have worked, she's not nearly as interested in the trashcan, so thanks, roomie!

The thing about consequences like this is that Prada won't remember WHY she gets sick if she tosses up a bit of undigestible trash or food. The consequences aren't immediate enough for the dog to link them with the action that spawned them. So, like with very small children, the results of misbehaviors, and praise for good behaviors, must be as immediate as possible, or else just forgone.

Squeak and Squawk

Prada killed the squeaky today. It still bounces, it can still be tugged and chewed on, but it has fallen silent.

So what do you do with a Seeing Eye dog during choir practices? Does the noise bother the dog? Do the high pitches bother the dog?

Prada appears unperturbed by the soprano section (the higher female voices) but perhaps that's because I'm singing alto this year (lower female voices). I usually sing soprano but our director needed altos so that's where I am for the semester. During my audition Prada relaxed on the floor until I got up into the higher registers, then she looked up to make sure I was ok, and hasn't displayed any interest in our noise since then. Our seating chart has me on the end of one row so Prada sleeps next to my chair during the rehearsal. Every so often while the director talks to us about different sections of the music she'll roll over and hum at me but other than that she's pretty quiet.

I took her to a concert last night, a guest faculty piano recital. She was quiet during the whole performance and I feel more confident about taking her to one or two of our shorter performances with a roommate to puppy-sit. If that doesn't work out, though, I'll just stick her in the soft crate in the choir room and check on her during intermissions. We're getting ready for a choir retreat in a couple weeks so I'll get to see how she deals with more noise in smaller quarters (and have her off her eating schedule again :P).

Prada proved to be a bit too excitable by an audience to come on stage with us, but she sits very well in the audience, or sleeps in my dorm room during performances.  I’ve taken her to a variety of musical performances, including flute and organ and orchestral, and so far I think her favourite is organ.  She “comments” with a hum during applause after each piece, and I suspect it’s due to the vibration of the lower registers through the floor.  I personally love organ music, too, so it’s a good match J

Tails and Travel

Most buildings at UAH are very easy to get to.  There’re a lot of sidewalks between buildings and they tend to center in two major clusters.  Unfortunately, one of the buildings I anticipate spending considerable amounts of time in is cut off from the main campus by a six-lane street.  Sparkman Drive is a busy thoroughfare connecting two nearby highways and the research park near the school.  It has few sidewalks,  its crosswalk is controlled with a very short light, and its speed limit is somewhat frightening from a pedestrian’s perspective.  Most of the engineering and computer science classes are held in this ostracized building, the Olen B. King Technology Hall (Tech Hall to students), and as an engineering major I expect to devote a good deal of my time finding safer ways to get there.
I changed majors and had only the one class in Tech Hall, but I still maintain that it is difficult and unsafe for disabled students to travel to.  Something needs to be done about that building!  Either build a footbridge or move the classes back to central campus!

My current solution, one that can evolve with changing needs, is an informal trade agreement.  A friend drives me over and picks me up afterwards, and I and my roommates adopt her into our living space.  She lives off-campus, so during the day we open our suite to her as a place to leave books, change clothes, grab a quick meal, nap, or shower.  Trading services like editing papers or hospitality for rides is a common arrangement between college students.  It’s also a common arrangement between the disabled and their friends and family.  It’s cheaper than taxi fares and frequently more time-effective than waiting on a bus.

There are, of course, hazards for puppies riding in any vehicle.  Last week when my friend picked me up after lab at Tech Hall I climbed into her truck, moved Prada's tail out of the door, and closed it--right onto the tail that she'd just moved BACK into the door. Fortunately I didn't close it hard and it only pulled out some hair but the experience was certainly painful, and very scary. Prada insisted on riding back in my lap (there's more shepherd than there is lap, but we made it work) and was shaking the entire time. She calmed down as soon as we got out and seemed fine for the rest of the week. Yesterday, my friend picked me up to go to class and Prada had no qualms about getting into the truck so I thought she had forgotten about it. This, unfortunately, did not prove to be the case. When my friend picked us up again Prada did NOT want to get back into the truck. It was the same place where the tail incident had occurred, and she was shaking again. I got her into the truck without incident but she insisted on riding at least halfway in my lap and trembled the whole way back again. When I took her up to our suite she immediately went into the new soft-crate I'd just purchased for her and stayed there. When I pulled the harness down to go on a quick errand a few minutes later she didn't want to come out, almost refusing to obey my "come" command.
We’ve only ever caught our tail in a car door once since this first incident.

The trembling and dislike of my friend’s truck lessened over time, and she and I have both become more aware of tail position (thought I maintain that it was originally Prada’s fault, since I moved her tail out of the way and she put it back).  I was very impressed with her location-specific concern about the truck, though.  If we rode in that vehicle from anywhere else she was fine, but she did not want to ride away from Tech Hall for a couple of weeks.

In other, happier news…I’ve made a delightful, “no duh” discovery.  One of the most frequently cited reasons for switching form cane to dog, and perhaps the most common testimony given by dog handlers, is increased confidence.  If you get lost with your cane, you’re on your own.  If you get lost with your dog, the odds are in favour of your dog being able to take you back to familiar ground.  That, and you’re generally a lot safer.  I’ve now begun to discovery these new layers of confidence for myself!

I’m somewhat directionally challenged (and by that, I mean I got lost in a two-street town).  But I also like to explore and travel.  I love going to new places, local and abroad, meeting new people, trying new experiences, et cetera.  However, I’ve always had to limit myself when traveling solo because of my difficulty with directions.  This, now, can change.  Last Sunday was a fine evening, and Prada and I both had energy and time to spare, so we harnessed up and set out to solve a mystery.  I’d often heard other students talking about a route between the library and the Materials Science Building (MSB to students) that took about ten minutes on foot.  My route to the MSB wound around the nursing building, athletic complex, fitness center, and a sports field.  And it takes twenty minutes.  But, I now had a dog, and curiosity, and a whole new confidence about travel!  If I got lost, Prada could just find familiar territory for me!  We intrepid explorers set out, and lo and behold!  A shorter, safer route to the MSB!  Now I add my voice to the long history of handlers praising the merits of dog guides.  I love my new feelings of confidence and independence!

Fixing an "oops"Mom pointed out to me over the weekend that I had accidentally posted some stuff for this blog on another blog that I have since let die off, so here's the stuff y'all are missing.... Sweet Home Alabama (originally dated August 13th, covering the 12th and 13th) Ok, so that was probably the most cliché title I've used yet but it sort of begged to be in there...I am now in Huntsville, Alabama, prepping for my sophomore year at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Prada and I flew in on the 12th and have been running ourselves ragged ever since then. The flight went well, if a bit delay-ridden. We almost didn't make it to the airport on time but managed to slip in just in time to board. The flight attendants ended up moving me to First Class since that was the only place they had enough room to give me my whole row. Very nice accommodations, I must say, and here's a salute to the flight attendants at United Airlines. Their ground staff and flight crews are wonderfully accommodating to us VIPs (visually impair passengers) and other disabled passengers. Extremely friendly and attentive and helpful. Yay United! The ground staff for the Denver airport, however, doesn't get the same shout-out. The gate agent at my landing gate (a United employee) was quite irate by the time an M& A (Meet and Assist) agent arrived at the gate. She had called for him to come and guide me to my connecting gate but he took 40 minutes to get there. I only just made it to my gate in time, where the wonderful United gate agent there was waiting for me so she could check me in as a pre-boarding passenger. I had enough time to ask one of the airport staff if there was a place I could take Prada outside to park. Federal regulation requires all major airports to provide a relief area for service animals. Apparently the staffer I asked didn't know about this and didn't care. He tritely informed me that the only way I could take her out was to give him the leash and let him take her out, I couldn't come to the area he was thinking of for her. That, of course, I absolutely did NOT do. Better that Prada have a small accident when I'm the one with her to clean it up and take care of her than to hand her leash off to an already surly stranger who might traumatize her to the point of distrusting strangers in reflective jackets or even growling at them. So I decided she could wait till we got to Huntsville. Fortunately she could indeed wait that long, no accidents for Prada :). At the time I was not as aware of the legal recourse available to me regarding an employee who disregards the ADA regarding service dogs and relief areas at airports, and the rules about not separating handlers form their dogs. So what does it take for a VIP to get started each semester? The first step is to ensure that you're registered with the school's Office of Disability Services, or Disabled Student Services, or whatever your institution calls it. We have the latter, here, DSS. This year we have a new coordinator for DSS who specializes in Asperger's Syndrome. I haven't met with her yet but I did call her to make sure she still had me on file and it looks like everything is in order. The next step is to send the coordinator a list of classes for which you will need accommodations (extended testing time, enlarged materials, electronic books, special seating (for hearing impaired or wheelchair bound), in-class assistants to read white-boards or interpret into sign language, et cetera). The coordinator then sends you several LOA's (Letter of Accommodation). Hand these out to your professor to begin the dialogue of achieving these accommodations. The professors are required to cooperate with the LOA, but each class is unique so execution of these accommodations can vary from class to class. I also usually send emails to my professors before the semester starts, requesting syllabi and book lists so I can start purchasing alternate-format books (audio books or electronic copies). DSS coordinators also recommend you take these syllabi to Testing Services, or whatever they do accommodated testing, and get those scheduled before the first week of classes are over. Because I have extended time for my exams (great reading comprehension, very slow reading speed since I can only see one or two words at a time) I take them with a proctor from DSS instead of under the professor in class. This way nobody gets disturbed and the professor doesn't have to reserve the classroom for extra time. The next step is to locate all my classrooms and find accessible routes to and from each building I have to interact with. This now includes taking Prada to the classrooms and praising her each time we get to one successfully. I have only showed her one classroom so far because I was busy running other housekeeping errands on campus, such as returning the parking decal to the transportation office on campus. The gal at the transportation office was quite amused when I entered with my dog guide and handed her the parking decal. "I don't suppose you need this, do you?" 'No ma'am,” I replied “but I sure do need the $120 you charged me for it!" She laughed and gave me the form to sign so they would refund the money . I've been asked by the RA's in my residence hall to attend all of the floor meetings, even the ones of floors I don't live on, to introduce the students to Prada and educate them about how to interact with her and answer questions. (This post is from about the 15th of August or so) This is the last of the stuff I wrote and never got around to posting. I've got some more to write up but y'all will have to wait a bit for that. This should get you all caught up to about...oh...beginning of last week or so. The past week hasn’t yielded many stories, but certainly some theoretical discussion on life with service dogs. So how's Prada settling in at college? Well, I think the camping trip right before flying out here helped her a bit; since she didn't eat on the trip she was hungry by the time we got here and she's been eating regularly, though last night was the first time she finished everything. It didn't take long for her to adjust her park schedule but she didn't like it when I woke her up this morning at what felt like 4:30. She's been quite happy with our increased work schedule, running all over campus, and has collected several new devotees among the staff and faculty. Her new spot is a corner underneath my half-lofted bed, a nice little cave furnished with her mat, a tie-down, her nylabone, and water dish, and we've already discovered that we have room to play with the much-adored oven-met. My dorm is not your typical college dorm, but a quad. It includes: a common room, kitchenette, two bathrooms, two showers, 4 bathroom sinks and counterpaces, and 4 bedrooms. I have three wonderful roommates, two of them roomed with me last year and the third is a friend from down the hall moving in with us, One of my concerns about roommates, despite all of their expressed excitement over living with Prada, is the courtesy of dealing with dog hair. Prada sheds. A lot. I’m well-armed with lint rollers and brushes, but that is one of the side effects of living with a dog. Some people don’t want to accept that, but the hard truth of it is that Prada is legally considered part of my anatomy, so complaining about her shedding has just as much valid reason for accommodation changes as me complaining about a roommate leaving clothes on the floor. Fortunately, I have wonderful roommates who’ve all had shedding pets before and aren’t terribly picky about things like that, and I work pretty hard to keep Prada’s fur under control. I really can’t wait to see you again, girls! Have I had any access issues since moving back to school? None from UAH, but a local Wal Mart employee made quite a stink about me bringing her into the store. She even refused to look at the sign on the store’s front door that said “Service Animals Welcome.” Fortunately her manager was better educated, and proceeded to compliment Prada before waving me on to go shop while she handled her employee. I’ve not had a problem there, since. Both UAH and other local businesses, with this single exception, have welcomed me and Prada with no hesitation, and I feel quite at home here again. (I can’t remember what day I wrote this, but it was sometime last week) Prada has an amazing internal clock. 6:30, on the dot, and she's up and trying to get me to join her. Since we live on the fourth floor of our residence hall (to be referred to in future as Franz) I generally accommodate her early rising because it takes us a bit longer to get outside for parktime. Prada is the first service dog to live on campus, and she is quickly becoming the most well-known resident of Franz. One of the RA's has determined that she should be the building mascot. So far the only problems I’ve encountered are merely logistical in nature. 1. We have to slide a card through a reader to get into Franz (like sliding a credit card). This is a wonderful security feature, I really do appreciate what it does for us. BUT...it is a bit difficult to get out a card from my wallet and slide it through the reader while holding onto Prada's leash. The card process usually requires two hands, though I can occasionally manage it with one. If I'm carrying anything, though, it's quite challenging. My solution to this problem? Make it a flat-scan system where you just hold the card up to a reader pad instead of sliding it. These are generally strong enough to where you can just hold a not-obese wallet up to the reader and it'll unlock for you, so this would eliminate more than half the process, thereby saving time and energy and hustle. 2. Students seem to think that holding a hand out for the dog to sniff (as is the generally accepted method of meeting a new dog) is not included in "please don't pet her, she's working right now." I understand the training they've received from their parents, and normally they're doing the right thing but Prada's working, and even hand-sniffing is a distraction. Really, there's not a lot I can do to prevent this so I content myself with 'red-handed advocacy,' explaining why that's not ok after I ask them not to post act initiation. Minor frustration, but I'll be dealing with it for the rest of my life so it's ok. And better this than people freaking out about her, I think. 3. Our cafeteria doesn't use trays. You have a plate, a cup, sometimes one of those little plastic basket thingies, and then whatever else you're carrying, and in my case, a dog guide hardness to handle with just two hands. it's a touch on the difficult side since I'm not a proficient juggler. However I don't use the caf very often as our suite has a kitchenette and plenty of food-storage space (and my roommates and I collaborated on a rather large collection of small cooking appliances so we can cook in more often than eating out. cheaper, healthier, generally tastes better) and another disabled student on campus informs me that there is a process by which you can request a tray for the caf. Since I'm rarely there, though, I haven't bothered to test this process and I don't foresee this being any major issue. Just something that other dog guide users should be aware of for future considerations. 5. Residence Halls on UAH have a penchant for fire drills, and residents have a tendency to accidentally set off the fire alarm for no real reason other than over-cooked popcorn or smoking too close to the doors. These are extremely noisy and cause myself and Prada no small amount of aural shock. Not a huge issue, Prada doesn't appear too upset by them, but I can tell she's not comfortable with the noise. Nothing we can really do about this, though, so we deal and fire drills are usually followed by short play sessions to release some of the stress of the noise and rush. As yet, those are really my only issues on campus, and considering the problems I COULD be dealing with and how easily resolvable these are I don't think we're doing too bad. Prada has taken to charging admission for entering our suite. One bellyrub per person, and the more she likes you the more you pay. I get charged every time I get out of bed in the morning. She has also made it a practice to go poke each of my roommate's doors with her nose every time we come back to the suite after a trip. She wants to know if they're all there and how her flock is doing. If they're not in the suite she checks their rooms (usually closed and locked) and then returns to me. If they're home she visits each one in turn for pets and reassurances that they're ok, then comes to me. We've designated a corner in our common room as Prada's place in the room, an additional piece of 'safe spot' for her where she can keep an eye on us all while we're hanging out in the common room. her nylabone hangs out in this location and that's usually where we try to keep her while we're eating. She's gotten into a few food items due mostly to me forgetting about whatever I was eating and going to do something else (I'm a bit distractible, but learning to be more responsible) or me forgetting that she's a bit taller than my sheltie. Tables and desks are nose-level for Prada, where they weren't for Lady. But, upset tummy for a couple of hours, whatever it was comes back up (and so far, it's all come up outside). and she's just fine. She hasn't shown any signs of a food-distraction yet, with the exception of cheese. Anything with cheese in it is extremely interesting so we're trying to remind her that she really shouldn't care by making her sit with her nylabone in her corner whenever we're eating. I expect this won't developed into a serious problem, just a temporary inconvenience. I've sort of developed a system for introducing Prada to various groups I'm affiliated with on campus, such as choir and Bible study. Prada comes with me on harness to the event a few times, then at the end of whatever we're doing, say, a choir rehearsal, I will take the harness off just once for people to get their puppy-fix, get introduced. After that, the harness stays on for all future meetings. I've taken Prada with me to the track a few times since we've been here. Our fitness center has an indoor track that I really like because it is laned out and has a one-way sign on it so there's no confusion about where people are supposed to be. I don't have to keep track of randomly directed runners. It's also in a stable lighting situation and completely obstacle free so I can run with confidence that I'm not going to collide with anyone or anything. Prada does not run with me, her claws would tear up the track. She watches from a tie-down position near the track entrance. She remains in harness and her German Shepherdness has so far deterred interference. The first few times we went down there Prada would get excited and sit up all perky when I'd run past her, watching me. After that, though, she settled down and just waits for me. I've taken to carrying her nylabone around with me so she has something to do when we're in one place for several hours (like computer labs or the track). OK, that's all the stuff that got posted in the wrong place.... Since then the only terribly significant event is that Prada has a new toy and has decided that the oven-met can take a break for a while. Due to the fact that this toy contains a couple of squeakers, though, I will be limiting her access to it to hours when myself and my roommates are all awake, healthy, and not intently studying. And before you get on my case about being a typical “puppy mom” that thanks everyone wants to know about new toys…file this under the category of “your roommates can’t legally complain about your dog, so be nice to them by showing courtesy when your dog gets a squeaky toy.”

Mom pointed out to me over the weekend that I had accidentally posted some stuff for this blog on another blog that I have since let die off, so here's the stuff y'all are missing....


Sweet Home Alabama

(originally dated August 13th, covering the 12th and 13th) Ok, so that was probably the most cliché title I've used yet but it sort of begged to be in there...I am now in Huntsville, Alabama, prepping for my sophomore year at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Prada and I flew in on the 12th and have been running ourselves ragged ever since then. The flight went well, if a bit delay-ridden. We almost didn't make it to the airport on time but managed to slip in just in time to board. The flight attendants ended up moving me to First Class since that was the only place they had enough room to give me my whole row. Very nice accommodations, I must say, and here's a salute to the flight attendants at United Airlines. Their ground staff and flight crews are wonderfully accommodating to us VIPs (visually impair passengers) and other disabled passengers. Extremely friendly and attentive and helpful. Yay United!

The ground staff for the Denver airport, however, doesn't get the same shout-out. The gate agent at my landing gate (a United employee) was quite irate by the time an M& A (Meet and Assist) agent arrived at the gate. She had called for him to come and guide me to my connecting gate but he took 40 minutes to get there. I only just made it to my gate in time, where the wonderful United gate agent there was waiting for me so she could check me in as a pre-boarding passenger. I had enough time to ask one of the airport staff if there was a place I could take Prada outside to park. Federal regulation requires all major airports to provide a relief area for service animals. Apparently the staffer I asked didn't know about this and didn't care. He tritely informed me that the only way I could take her out was to give him the leash and let him take her out, I couldn't come to the area he was thinking of for her. That, of course, I absolutely did NOT do. Better that Prada have a small accident when I'm the one with her to clean it up and take care of her than to hand her leash off to an already surly stranger who might traumatize her to the point of distrusting strangers in reflective jackets or even growling at them. So I decided she could wait till we got to Huntsville. Fortunately she could indeed wait that long, no accidents for Prada :).
At the time I was not as aware of the legal recourse available to me regarding an employee who disregards the ADA regarding service dogs and relief areas at airports, and the rules about not separating handlers form their dogs.

So what does it take for a VIP to get started each semester? The first step is to ensure that you're registered with the school's Office of Disability Services, or Disabled Student Services, or whatever your institution calls it. We have the latter, here, DSS. This year we have a new coordinator for DSS who specializes in Asperger's Syndrome. I haven't met with her yet but I did call her to make sure she still had me on file and it looks like everything is in order. The next step is to send the coordinator a list of classes for which you will need accommodations (extended testing time, enlarged materials, electronic books, special seating (for hearing impaired or wheelchair bound), in-class assistants to read white-boards or interpret into sign language, et cetera). The coordinator then sends you several LOA's (Letter of Accommodation). Hand these out to your professor to begin the dialogue of achieving these accommodations.  The professors are required to cooperate with the LOA, but each class is unique so execution of these accommodations can vary from class to class.

I also usually send emails to my professors before the semester starts, requesting syllabi and book lists so I can start purchasing alternate-format books (audio books or electronic copies). DSS coordinators also recommend you take these syllabi to Testing Services, or whatever they do accommodated testing, and get those scheduled before the first week of classes are over. Because I have extended time for my exams (great reading comprehension, very slow reading speed since I can only see one or two words at a time) I take them with a proctor from DSS instead of under the professor in class. This way nobody gets disturbed and the professor doesn't have to reserve the classroom for extra time.

The next step is to locate all my classrooms and find accessible routes to and from each building I have to interact with. This now includes taking Prada to the classrooms and praising her each time we get to one successfully. I have only showed her one classroom so far because I was busy running other housekeeping errands on campus, such as returning the parking decal to the transportation office on campus.

The gal at the transportation office was quite amused when I entered with my dog guide and handed her the parking decal. "I don't suppose you need this, do you?"  'No ma'am,” I replied “but I sure do need the $120 you charged me for it!" She laughed and gave me the form to sign so they would refund the money

. I've been asked by the RA's in my residence hall to attend all of the floor meetings, even the ones of floors I don't live on, to introduce the students to Prada and educate them about how to interact with her and answer questions.



(This post is from about the 15th of August or so)

This is the last of the stuff I wrote and never got around to posting. I've got some more to write up but y'all will have to wait a bit for that. This should get you all caught up to about...oh...beginning of last week or so. The past week hasn’t yielded many stories, but certainly some theoretical discussion on life with service dogs.

So how's Prada settling in at college? Well, I think the camping trip right before flying out here helped her a bit; since she didn't eat on the trip she was hungry by the time we got here and she's been eating regularly, though last night was the first time she finished everything. It didn't take long for her to adjust her park schedule but she didn't like it when I woke her up this morning at what felt like 4:30. She's been quite happy with our increased work schedule, running all over campus, and has collected several new devotees among the staff and faculty. Her new spot is a corner underneath my half-lofted bed, a nice little cave furnished with her mat, a tie-down, her nylabone, and water dish, and we've already discovered that we have room to play with the much-adored oven-met.

My dorm is not your typical college dorm, but a quad. It includes: a common room, kitchenette, two bathrooms, two showers, 4 bathroom sinks and counterpaces, and 4 bedrooms. I have three wonderful roommates, two of them roomed with me last year and the third is a friend from down the hall moving in with us, One of my concerns about roommates, despite all of their expressed excitement over living with Prada, is the courtesy of dealing with dog hair.  Prada sheds.  A lot.  I’m well-armed with lint rollers and brushes, but that is one of the side effects of living with a dog.  Some people don’t want to accept that, but the hard truth of it is that Prada is legally considered part of my anatomy, so complaining about her shedding has just as much valid reason for accommodation changes as me complaining about a roommate leaving clothes on the floor.  Fortunately, I have wonderful roommates who’ve all had shedding pets before and aren’t terribly picky about things like that, and I work pretty hard to keep Prada’s fur under control.  I really can’t wait to see you again, girls!

Have I had any access issues since moving back to school?  None from UAH, but a local Wal Mart employee made quite a stink about me bringing her into the store.  She even refused to look at the sign on the store’s front door that said “Service Animals Welcome.”  Fortunately her manager was better educated, and proceeded to compliment Prada before waving me on to go shop while she handled her employee.  I’ve not had a problem there, since.  Both UAH and other local businesses, with this single exception, have welcomed me and Prada with no hesitation, and I feel quite at home here again.

(I can’t remember what day I wrote this, but it was sometime last week)


Prada has an amazing internal clock. 6:30, on the dot, and she's up and trying to get me to join her. Since we live on the fourth floor of our residence hall (to be referred to in future as Franz) I generally accommodate her early rising because it takes us a bit longer to get outside for parktime. Prada is the first service dog to live on campus, and she is quickly becoming the most well-known resident of Franz.  One of the RA's has determined that she should be the building mascot.  So far the only problems I’ve encountered are merely logistical in nature.

1. We have to slide a card through a reader to get into Franz (like sliding a credit card). This is a wonderful security feature, I really do appreciate what it does for us. BUT...it is a bit difficult to get out a card from my wallet and slide it through the reader while holding onto Prada's leash. The card process usually requires two hands, though I can occasionally manage it with one. If I'm carrying anything, though, it's quite challenging. My solution to this problem? Make it a flat-scan system where you just hold the card up to a reader pad instead of sliding it. These are generally strong enough to where you can just hold a not-obese wallet up to the reader and it'll unlock for you, so this would eliminate more than half the process, thereby saving time and energy and hustle.
2. Students seem to think that holding a hand out for the dog to sniff (as is the generally accepted method of meeting a new dog) is not included in "please don't pet her, she's working right now." I understand the training they've received from their parents, and normally they're doing the right thing but Prada's working, and even hand-sniffing is a distraction. Really, there's not a lot I can do to prevent this so I content myself with 'red-handed advocacy,' explaining why that's not ok after I ask them not to post act initiation. Minor frustration, but I'll be dealing with it for the rest of my life so it's ok. And better this than people freaking out about her, I think.
3. Our cafeteria doesn't use trays. You have a plate, a cup, sometimes one of those little plastic basket thingies, and then whatever else you're carrying, and in my case, a dog guide hardness to handle with just two hands. it's a touch on the difficult side since I'm not a proficient juggler. However I don't use the caf very often as our suite has a kitchenette and plenty of food-storage space (and my roommates and I collaborated on a rather large collection of small cooking appliances so we can cook in more often than eating out. cheaper, healthier, generally tastes better) and another disabled student on campus informs me that there is a process by which you can request a tray for the caf. Since I'm rarely there, though, I haven't bothered to test this process and I don't foresee this being any major issue. Just something that other dog guide users should be aware of for future considerations.
5. Residence Halls on UAH have a penchant for fire drills, and residents have a tendency to accidentally set off the fire alarm for no real reason other than over-cooked popcorn or smoking too close to the doors. These are extremely noisy and cause myself and Prada no small amount of aural shock. Not a huge issue, Prada doesn't appear too upset by them, but I can tell she's not comfortable with the noise. Nothing we can really do about this, though, so we deal and fire drills are usually followed by short play sessions to release some of the stress of the noise and rush.

As yet, those are really my only issues on campus, and considering the problems I COULD be dealing with and how easily resolvable these are I don't think we're doing too bad.

Prada has taken to charging admission for entering our suite. One bellyrub per person, and the more she likes you the more you pay. I get charged every time I get out of bed in the morning. She has also made it a practice to go poke each of my roommate's doors with her nose every time we come back to the suite after a trip. She wants to know if they're all there and how her flock is doing. If they're not in the suite she checks their rooms (usually closed and locked) and then returns to me. If they're home she visits each one in turn for pets and reassurances that they're ok, then comes to me.

We've designated a corner in our common room as Prada's place in the room, an additional piece of 'safe spot' for her where she can keep an eye on us all while we're hanging out in the common room. her nylabone hangs out in this location and that's usually where we try to keep her while we're eating. She's gotten into a few food items due mostly to me forgetting about whatever I was eating and going to do something else (I'm a bit distractible, but learning to be more responsible) or me forgetting that she's a bit taller than my sheltie. Tables and desks are nose-level for Prada, where they weren't for Lady. But, upset tummy for a couple of hours, whatever it was comes back up (and so far, it's all come up outside). and she's just fine. She hasn't shown any signs of a food-distraction yet, with the exception of cheese. Anything with cheese in it is extremely interesting so we're trying to remind her that she really shouldn't care by making her sit with her nylabone in her corner whenever we're eating. I expect this won't developed into a serious problem, just a temporary inconvenience.

I've sort of developed a system for introducing Prada to various groups I'm affiliated with on campus, such as choir and Bible study. Prada comes with me on harness to the event a few times, then at the end of whatever we're doing, say, a choir rehearsal, I will take the harness off just once for people to get their puppy-fix, get introduced. After that, the harness stays on for all future meetings.

I've taken Prada with me to the track a few times since we've been here. Our fitness center has an indoor track that I really like because it is laned out and has a one-way sign on it so there's no confusion about where people are supposed to be. I don't have to keep track of randomly directed runners. It's also in a stable lighting situation and completely obstacle free so I can run with confidence that I'm not going to collide with anyone or anything. Prada does not run with me, her claws would tear up the track.  She watches from a tie-down position near the track entrance. She remains in harness and her German Shepherdness has so far deterred interference. The first few times we went down there Prada would get excited and sit up all perky when I'd run past her, watching me. After that, though, she settled down and just waits for me. I've taken to carrying her nylabone around with me so she has something to do when we're in one place for several hours (like computer labs or the track).





OK, that's all the stuff that got posted in the wrong place....


Since then the only terribly significant event is that Prada has a new toy and has decided that the oven-met can take a break for a while. Due to the fact that this toy contains a couple of squeakers, though, I will be limiting her access to it to hours when myself and my roommates are all awake, healthy, and not intently studying.  And before you get on my case about being a typical “puppy mom” that thanks everyone wants to know about new toys…file this under the category of “your roommates can’t legally complain about your dog, so be nice to them by showing courtesy when your dog gets a squeaky toy.”