Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 5 - Let my Love Open the Door!

Our fifth day of service dog team training and I think Suzan and I are getting it! We did a bunch of retrieves again, "ups" and "backs". I finally got the door open by tugging it and now my challenge is "push". This is where I use my nose to push close a cabinet or refrigerator door. Suzan says I just need to put a little more "oomph" into it. Easy for her to say! Noses are very important to us dogs and we have to treat them with care. But I will try harder tomorrow!

My favorite thing we did today was "find the phone". I'm very good at that one!

Guess what Suzan got me? Business cards! It's not as silly as it sounds. When I have my vest on out in public, people shouldn't pet me. Suzan thought it would be nice to give children (or even adults!) a card that explains my job and why it's important that I'm not distracted when I'm working. She's heard that it's one of the hardest parts about having a service dog. Having to tell everyone that they can't pet me, or try to get my attention or especially try to feed me! So please make a service dog's job easier and pretend we're not there. And don't worry, we get plenty of kisses and loving from our partners and our families when we're off duty! Thanks!




5 comments:

Speak(er) said...

Hi Suzan:

What a great idea for the business card! Would you mind if I borrowed your idea?

I found out about your blog from Mary and Emma. I'm a foster home with Helping Paws - the organization that trained Emma. I'm currently training Belle.

Angel Logan said...

You sure can borrow the business card idea, the more people that are educated about assistance dogs the better!

I've seen your blog and really enjoy it, Belle's a cutie! Can I put a link to it on Logan's blog?

Thank you so much for being a foster home. I know how much of your heart and soul goes into preparing these amazing animals for their future jobs. Without people like you and Logan's foster family, we wouldn't have our wonderful partners.

Suzan

OlRedHair said...

Suzan,

I love Logan's business cards. It is a great idea. I know it will be hard for people not to want to interact and love on your sweet girl. But I know how essential it is for Logan to be allowed to do her job while she is in uniform.

Mary = The Service Dog Lady said...

Emma may need that business card!! What a great idea. We love your blog!! Emma

Anonymous said...

Logan;

Hamish & Sophie think your cards are cool, they are not much into collecting baseball cards but they would love to have one of yours