Aiobe the first dog I worked with in Team Training is finally graduating today as a hearing dog. The other dogs in my class either graduated in the next Team Training or were released.   Aiobe took a little longer as she was trained first as a service dog and then as a hearing dog.

I have a soft spot for Aiobe who was quick, responsive and eager to please and made my first time easy.  Aiobe also has a "knowledge bump" on her head. I hope she enjoys her new home and her people grow to love and appreciate her as much as I love and appreciate Hermione.  Knowing that she'll graduate today puts a smile on my face.

Her puppyraiser Alma has a blog for Aiobe.  She emailed her local cci list that Aiobe is graduating and I'm sure will update her blog soon.

Theda, Meesha and Sawyer were sitting next to each other in the NE TT photo. I had read from a Myspace friend that Sawyer was an interview dog, so I was hopeful for him.

My brother's name is Misha pronounced Meesha.

Sawyer is Hermione's full brother. (CCI did a repeat breeding).

All three graduated on Saturday from the NE CCI region.

A man wanted to join the cci-grads list in April saying his son was graduating in May. I emailed him that he needed to wait until after graduation so he could get all the Team Training info first. He emailed me his son had graduated with Theda, I was really really pleased. I had nothing to do with the naming of Theda, but I think it's cool. Theda is a Skilled Companion or a dog that works with a special needs kid. I told him I was a Skilled Companion also, because I'm a mom to two kids.

It's an amazing CCI world, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Here's a great article about hearing dogs that my fellow CCI grad with a hearing dog sent me about a fellow grad.  It describes the way hearing dogs work and the decisions they have to make.  The decision to break a down / stay to alert to a sound is intelligent disobedience.  Some CCI dogs in hearing training don't make it through the hearing program, because they won't break a down to alert.

Hermione is a smart girl.  I told her to get the phone which was on a table on a charger in an upright position. Being a novice handler initially I told her UP and GET. She readily went up and gave me her "I have no idea what you want" look since there were many things on the table and I have never asked her to get the phone before. So I learned that I needed to put the phone and charger on the ground. She immediately knew I wanted the phone since I have taught her to GET what I indicate with my foot. After three tries she figured out how to get the phone out with one grab. Then we tried on the table. The first two times she hit the buttons on the charger but still picked up the phone. The third time she avoided the charged and picked up the phone but moved it as there wasn't much space. So the fourth time it was too far away for her to reach. So I moved it back and had her UP and GET again so we could end on a success.

Theda, a black lab, has made it almost all the way to Advanced Training and may find her match next month. She's the black dog on the bottom left.  Right next to her is Sawyer, a full brother of Hermione's.


This cheers me even though she was not named after me. Go Theda go!!!

Also this gorgeous sweet golden retriever  who was turned in at my graduation was selected as a breeder.  I hope he has a prolific successful career,

[edited cos I forgot a few things]
Hermione walks in sync with me quite close which I need because as I have discovered in working with her..my left knee sometimes locks up and sometimes I get momentarily disoriented.

She will stay under a table or just down anywhere I tell her even a hospital operating room or a noisy restaurant where people drop food on her. Since I take her everywhere very useful.

She is my window to the walking world since she reacts ten times faster than me. Ears cocked or ears down mean I have a better idea of what we're walking into.

She positions herself under verbal commands so I don't have to steer her around. That took a little getting used to.

She also alerts me if she's on leash and I'm uncomfortable or off leash and in a lot of pain. An extra bonus feature. I think it's because I get quite cranky after a while but have poor body awareness. She likes me to be happy since happy means more praise and petting. And now that I finally figured it out alerting me is an easy way to get praise.

She pushes the disabled push plates on doors.

Hermione opens and closes my fridge and freezer doors with the help of a tug strap attached to each side. It actually takes some force to open the doors so this is very helpful. She also carries a plastic carton of milk.

She turns off and on lights which I've found unexpectedly helpful as we have regular light switches so it requires some dexterity to flip them. Eventually C will replace them with the broader push ones.

She opens doors with french door handles and open these doors if they have a tug strap. Right now just one door in our house has a french door handle and no tug strap. So I need to work on that.

She also retrieves any items which I find helpful but less helpful than I thought since high dexterity items tend to be breakable hence not good for a dog to carry in its mouth and she can't carry anything that heavy. However she does help my back by picking up some things off the floor.

I use vest to carry light items which I've discovered are all I need anyway for walking trips.

She toilets on command.

She already does so much for me and yet I feel she can help more. She'd like that cos she likes to get praise and use her brain. I just need to figure out more what works for us. Some of my original ideas like doing laundry I could have her do but my human family are more suited to. However as you can see... she's incredibly useful to me in several ways I didn't expect. What we're working on is another post.

On Friday we drove up to CCI for my Team Training Workshop - a 45 day followup to Team Training for my entire class.

We passed our public access test again. I was initially nervous but it was clearly old hat to Hermione. Then my class with their families had lunch kindly provided by CCI volunteers and then a 1:1 training session.

The workshop increased my confidence. We're doing well overall. And we've improved a lot. Hermione does whatever I tell her. Sometimes she doesn't understand what I want but I'm learning how to make things clearer to her. All she requires is that I focus on her and initially position her correctly and control my energy level appropriate to the task.

We worked specifically on LIGHT where she turns the light on with her nose. She does it but scratches and I want less scratching. C installed a french door handle in our bedroom this weekend. Today she successfully opened the door and chained several commands together so she obviously knows the command.

After talking to the trainer...I also realized instead of SPEAK aka bark on command I wanted PHONE (get the phone) and GO TO C which are more effective ways to get help. She can already get the phone off the charger. Smart girl. She also knows if I stand on one end of the living room and C on the other she should go to him. Good for just two training sessions. But she doesn't connect the specific words to the actions. But that's a lot harder for a dog who after all don't use words.

What she does now is another post.

On Saturday we went to see some CCI puppies with their roly polly bellies and waggly tails and peeing and nibbling and every cute cliche imaginable. I had a favorite as I always do. I haven't yet figured out if my favourite means anything concerning life as a service dog but I feel free to say my favorite now since it means nothing to me but I will lock the entry about my fav.

This litter was noticeably fatter bigger more mellow louder than her previous litter. Puppies are supposed to be fat but it was weird to think "this pupppy is fat" after petting Hermione's lean sleek body.

Meanwhile Hermione and mom of the puppies Isabella ran around and around in the family's backyard. Even after 4 litters and tummy hanging down Isabella wanted to play. Of course Hermione easily outran her but after the slow humans in her life she delighted in running and chasing with Isabella.

I took Hermione inside and the dogs played tug of war with a stuffed duck. Both growled with tags wagging. Hermione ripped a toy for the first time since she's been with me. Something to keep in mind for future dog playdates.

I needn't have worried about Hermione getting sore. The next evening she ran around and around like the wind in a friend's big back yard at a party. Everyone else thought it too cold to be outside.

When it was time to go I clipped on her leash and she simply walked by my side.
Now she's snoozing in her crate.

Now I must go email the neurologist about Little T's "abnormal" brain MRA but I shall think of Hermione tail wagging...ears cocked forward and running so free.

Last night and today I didn't quite have my access for Hermione denied but called into question.

Last night there was a pause as we were waiting to be seated at this restaurant and this waiter said out loud "No... service dogs have to be allowed in restaurants." We were seated by the door. The kids behaved atrociously the worst I've seen in a while. Getting up. Both C and Little T spilled full glasses of water. Hermione snoozed quietly except for when cold water was splashed on her. I made her DOWN again. Another waiter came over with a cloth and said "Don't worry." Hermione settled near the wetness then with a sigh settled on some ice. She has resigned herself to a life of cold water.

Today I had to take both kids to the dentist and as we were walking in the dental assistant said "Dr [] says pet dogs aren't allowed." I said matter of fact "She's a service dog and she's allowed here. It's federal law." Nothing more was said. Hermione sat near Little T then I moved her and she sat further away and the dental assistant said "Thanks" Hermione took another snooze.

Little T screamed partway through the process tired of having his teeth cleaned and examined. The steroids have destroyed the enamel in his back teeth so I imagine it feels weirder than for the average child. Hermione helped keep me calm.

They didn't bring Hermione out to our class until the end of the second day which is the last day before prematches when they give you a dog they think you might graduate with. When they gave me her leash, I felt the calmest I had felt the entire Team Training. I'm not normally a nervous person, but TT was hard with no family the first week.

I also felt she was smart and like she could also be really sweet, although she was being her serious public self. I thought all the dogs had special qualities. But I was all worried about prematches. I hadn't seen Hermone's goofy playful side, so I was worried.

There were 3 folks coming back for successor dogs and they all seemed content to wait for their matches. I should have taken their cue.

The night before prematches I tossed and turned until 3am. Then I remembered how one of the trainers commented she liked how she said Hermione. I went to sleep and slept soundly the rest of the night.

The next day I walked in our class and snuck a peek at the crates that were there. Hermione's crate was there and I got a little excited.

The Skilled Companions went first. As some of the kids were matched their total joy made me cry. I laughed when they gave one mom the CCI cat dressed in a vest, because she had petted the cat the whole time.

Then it was my class' turn. I saw a black dog being brought out. Was that my dog? The trainer brought the dog down the hall and someone else in my service class was announced. The person looked thrilled. Another black dog that I thought was a great dog went to someone else. An enormous yellow dog went to someone. I thought he was a wonderful dog, but too big for my kids. Then I saw petite Hermione being led down the hall. I held my breath. There were still some folks left. They started leading Hermione over to me and announced Hermione's name and my name and I cried all over Hermione. Hermione wagged her tail. I was thrilled.

Knowing what I know now, Hermione was giving me her polite tail wag, not the entire wiggle butt I get every morning, but it was enough for me that day.

Hermione seemed polite but somewhat aloof that first day. Then on Valentine's day, we had our first night with the dogs. As soon as we got to our room, Hermione's tail started wagging. Then when I leaned down to turn on the tv, she rolled on her back exposing her tummy. I petted her and she thumped her tail.

However I still wasn't sure if Hermione really wanted to be with me. Final matches hadn't been announced yet and I took it a personal thing about my bonding with Hermione. My family was coming and I fretted about whether to kennel her for 36 hours while my family settled in or not. I decided to kennel her.

On Monday morning, I walked into the classroom and heard this loud thumping from Hermione's crate. We were supposed to have a lecture and then do command practice with the dogs. The thumping continued louder and louder. Finally the trainers said "Okay we'll let the dogs out first." Hermione wiggled out and wiggled her entire butt. I put her on her leash and she walked calmly over to the table and did a UNDER with this long satisfied sigh and settled down for a nap by my feet. Finally the clueless human got a clue bone.

As soon as we got home, she bounced around in excitement. My kids call her "maniac dog", because she can run like the wind. She is also still "chill dog" and "snooze dog"

Sorry relatively long absence again. The thing of it is I've been a lot more physically active and more centered since I got home with Hermione. I wrote more about this on blogspot, but the main thing to quote another LJ person with disabilities is I've been thinking of myself as "an okay person with a disability instead of a defective normal person" I'd say a good person actually. I hadn't realized how much time and energy I spent trying to "fake it as normal" aka do things that hurt, aggravated or added up to such without thinking about it.

I spend more time sitting down and more time walking. I spend more time saying "No, I can't do that." I've even stopped apologizing for not able to fill in useless forms. I spend more time getting my kids to do things that they should be doing like cleaning up their toys and less time either cleaning up after them or feeling bad that it causes me pain to do so. The kids seems happier. The house is cleaner.

I've spent more time thinking about how I can make things easier for me. Get a scanner, so I can in forms I have to fill out and do them on the computer. And less time worrying that I don't do enough. I'm a good manager. And we've managed as a family because I've managed people to do things for Little T so his life and therefore the entire family's life improves. Until now I've always felt somewhat bad for doing the same for myself even while knowing that when I'm doing better the family does better. And even now I'm squelching down a little voice that says I should be vaccuuming or whatever else hurts me and is what a "good housewife should do" which somehow gets conflated with "stay-at-home mom".

Sorry I've been so long to update. Things have been very busy and intense for me in a good way. Hermione has changed my life. I just never realized how much I struggled each day to just get by. Hermione does more than just pick things up for me and open my fridge door. People treat me better. Folks open doors for me. When I ask for a straw, I get one directly in my cup. No fumbling around awkwardly with the wrapper or worse a straw in my cup with the "straw condom" on. Folks are patient with me if I'm slow or drop things even without my adorable kids. Yesterday I asked a weird question and the salesperson didn't blow me off but asked the manager.

I suspect it is the presence of my dog and that I feel more relaxed and confident.

It has just been a huge adjustment. Good, but huge

I was worried about integrating her needs into my daily routine. I'm still tweeking things, but it's been a lot more fun than I expected. Exercising with a dog is fun. We've walked everyday. Thanks to Hermione's wonderful BCs and PRs for teaching her house manners. She knows them all. Just testing me on one house manners thing (not eating the tons of food my kids drop on the floor. Testing is normal when switching handlers and especially normal for someone like me who's never had a dog before, but mostly stopped this weekend.

Thanks for all your kind wishes about Hermione. I really appreciate them. I've just been so tired.

Well 'Mione as the kids call her is truly a member of the family now. Today we rushed her over to urgent care (a sadly familiar event) in our family. Albeit for a relatively benign reason. She had a huge allergic reaction (everyone has allergies) probably to a spider bite.

Other than a hugely swollen face, she had little other reaction to this series of events. When I opened her crate, she greeted me with her usual huge wiggle butt. Her entire butt, not just her tail moves. She ate her breakfast. She sat patiently as the vet examined her. She winced slightly at the second shot on her shoulder. But otherwise she waited quietly and greeted everyone politely.

She got a shot of benadryl and steroids and the swelling has mostly gotten down. Just a little on her jowls.

I looked around for the spider but couldn't find it. The irony is that C vacuumed our bedroom the night she came home and maybe that's when the spider found refuge in 'Mione's crate.

I suppose everything has a silver lining. I got to fill out my vet report early. I was supposed to take her within two weeks to the vet to get a baseline and other than her face she looked fine. I called the CCI vet clinic just in case there was something else I should do since we just left Team Training on Saturday.

I was also going to try to take it a bit easy today with her. Yesterday I kept telling her to push the push plate on a door that wasn't working. The plate was recessed, so I couldn't see that she was pushing, but nothing was happening. I now know her look of "Ma'am, I'm doing what you're telling me, but it's not working." She looked dejected after a while as I would imagine anyone would be. I misinterpreted it as resistant so I had her do it several times. She woke up twice last night and the results of HURRY weren't good. With a swollen mouth, she can't do much of her work except walk around, so we had a lovely walk to pick up Special K at school.

I initially locked entries about Canine Companions for Independence since for example I didn't want to publicly write I was interviewing until I got accepted, or write about how the waiting process until I had gotten the call to go to Team Training. Then as things become known, I unlocked entries. I do this as a service to other prospective graduates. When I was going through the process, I found it tremendously helpful to read other people's blogs. I hope you find it helpful or interesting.

In a class full of common names like Pam, Shannan, and all two or one syllable names, it figures I'd get a dog with a unique name with the most syllables. Little T says every syllable very carefully. It's very cute. Kids love dog. Little T said excitedly "She's cute!" I just have to keep their interactions mellow.

Hermione is like her namesake quite smart for a dog. Though unlike Hermione, she's very mellow when working and very sweet and loving. Most wonderful dog EVER.

She's a 3/4 yellow lab with 1/4 golden retriever. She's mostly yellow lab with dark golden retriever red soft fur on her back and dark golden lab ears with a little feathering at the very top. Her bottom has feathering and her tail is feathered with a tip of same dark red at the end as though she dipped her tail in a GR pail. She also has the narrow face of a golden retriever. I'm too tired to download photos.

My dog is snoozing in my room. She's a little love muffin! I took several cute photos of her. More tomorrow.

My dog is very responsive and sweet, has a nice jaunty walk,serious minded when working and very energetic when playing and I love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More details when the matches are final on Friday or Saturday.

Tomorrow's the day we all go to CCI. Woo hoo!

We are a very silly family and here are the silliest name or name origins my family suggested my dog will be called. The dog will come with a name. What we end up calling the dog unofficially remains to be seen, but I promise you, it won't be Maul. ;)

Horrid names
Darth Maul or Maul for short
Darth Vader
Poo Money (a feature in Lego Star Wars)
Coldstone
InNOut

Silly Names
Cat
Dog
YMCA
Squeaky
Otter

Not so bad
Jag (comes from Jaguar being a fierce animal is not the best name for a service dog)
Yoda
Edward
Percy
Lady
and all the other two syllable train engine names in Thomas except Thomas

Confusing
Names of various family members that are two syllables.

This kept my kids amused for a good 1/2 hour.

C got my files off my laptop. Hooray! Not so good --we'll have to replace the hard disk.

I have a nagging headache from the flurry of tree pollen brought on by the rains.

However I have small joys.
C is better and is in fact raking leaves as we speak. A rather useless task IMO but one that brings him satisfaction.

My CCI buddy graduated with hearing dog Naomi aka Meme.
The first hearing dog I ever met was named Maya and she graduated with hearing dogs Macon and Muffey. I have running joke with Maya's proud owner that all hearing dogs' true name begins with "M" and so Meme fits.

Also my best friend in high school called herself by her middle name Naomi. Then in college and beyond she started calling herself by her first name Maia (pronounced the same as Maya)