Welcome to new client, Wounded Warrior Brian, who is from Missouri. He and his wife are staying at the Fisher House at the Center for the Intrepid at San Antonio Military Medical Center while Brian receives treatment for PTSD. With the help of trainer Beverly Benson, they found the perfect SDIT – “Will”!! It was wagging tails at first site!
WE WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD, BRIAN AND FAMILY!!!!
A warm welcome to new client, Wounded Warrior Mark, who is staying at Liberty Barracks at Ft. Sam Houston as he receives treatment for PTSD and TBI. Unfortunately, because of the rules at Ft. Sam, Mark’s SDIT, boxer “Jace” cannot stay with him in the barracks. So Cherry Jenkins will be boarding and training Jace while Mark receives treatment – he will certainly have “visiting rights” on weekends! And, he will be able to eventually train on weekend with Cherry in public once Jace has all the Public Access Commands down. SO sad that SDIT’s can’t stay in barracks if it’s transitional housing for those receiving medical treatment before they are released. In 2011, General Wong, the Commander of Brooke Army Medical Center issued a statement that they were allowed after a lot of hard work done by a lot of people, including myself. Well, General Wong left, and now it’s back to square one. But we won’t stop the fight!
JACE IS IN GREAT HANDS, MARK!!!!
An update from Michelle, our trainer in New Mexico, who is working with Terryn, who suffers from panic disorder, agoraphobia, and bipolar disorder.
“I worked with SDIT Sadie and her mom, Terryn on Saturday 6/28. Training went well. Sadie is now approx 5 months old, and had a couple sessions with the puppy obedience class. She is a bit skittish around the other dogs (approx 30 in her class), so the socialization will help. Sadie was a little nervous around my dog, Ms.Abby, however, Sadie warmed up to her after they sniffed a bit and did the proper dog introductions!
We worked on the commands “Sit with Stay” then “Recall”, and “Down” and “Leave it”. She is doing great based on her age! Sadie is still attentive to everything around her. I think that with Abby there with her showing her “the ropes”, she was able to focus a little more on the training, and learned that she got treats when she did what was asked of her. She got better and better with commands as time went on.
We eventually got Sadie to sit and stay with me, I dropped the leash, mom walked about 20′ away and called her, and she returned to mom with no issues. She never tried to go astray. Great JOB!!!!
Sadie is not used to the treats, as her puppy class does not use them. So in teaching her “leave it” with the “down and stay”, she was tempted, but finally learned that she had to not take it, and focused on other things.
Sadie is very aware of her surroundings, and Terryn kept trying to make Sadie focus on her with “watch me”. I explained that Sadie was just on alert for those that could potentially walk up to mom without her knowing.
After training, we treated both Sadie and Abby with a run in the dog park, to help Sadie socialize with a few other dogs – and she was great! She was not skittish and followed mom – even off leash.”
WONDERFUL WORK SADIE, TERRY, ABBY, AND MICHELLE!!
SDiT Kilo is welcomed into IGA in Roswell, NM with open arms.
Mom Shauna updates:
The Manager at the IGA store, LOVES Kilo. He greets him each time we take Kilo in, and Kilo is starting to get to know him, and everyone else. They love him there, and said they wish their dogs were as good as him. lol
Shauna, Great job!!!! I hope that Kilo is not scared of the colored tiles. We will work on his reaction to wheelchairs and motorized carts once you are feeling better.
I just received a message from Shauna who is currently working with SDiT Kilo. Shauna is currently getting ready for Surgery next week.
Shauna writes:
Kilo went with me to per-register at the hospital where he did wonderful. He focused on me, and laid at my feet, while we were in the waiting room.
While I was also at the hospital, I needed to have an EKG completed and labs, Kilo was remarkable, never left my side. With me on the table, he went into a down, and waited until I commanded him “let’s go.”
I just want everyone to know how wonderful Kilo is doing with mom about to have surgery. Mom, Shauna, is waiting until she is aware of who will be with her to ensure he is there before she goes into surgery and when she wakes. The hospital seems very accommodating. YAY!!!!!
Look who’s found his perfect SDIT! Chuck, a veteran from McAllen, TX, fell in love with Betty on our website – and after much hard work from Chuck, rescuer and trainer Cherry, and SDE, a match was made!
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Cherry writes:
“Here are some pics of Betty’s (renamed Guess) first meeting with Chuck. These two are made for each other! Guess walked really well with Chuck and obeyed all the commands, SIT DOWN STAY and WAIT. She even performed a perfect cover for Chuck too.
We went and had some lunch and Guess went right under the table.
Of course I asked them if I could have a final picture with my girl Betty Boop as I called her. I am really going to miss that sweet sweet girl, she was one of my star pupils and so sweet and loving.
Chuck and Guess had a bond from the very beginning! He has been working with the VA in McAllen and Harlington to try and get funding for Service Dog training for veterans like him with PTSD. We will all fight together!
Betty (AKA Guess) was in an animal shelter and due to die because her old family no longer wanted her, she was rescued and trained by In Dog We Trust rescue San Antonio.”
“Hi Laurie!
I had another great session with Lucia and Lily. We met at a Petco for this session to work on basic heeling and training with distractions. Lucia worked hard this week on progressing Lily’s heeling and she did so great today! I noticed wonderful progress! Petco was a great challenge for Lily; she made some great success with little animals around such as fish, turtles, birds and the main animal, CATS. At first, when she saw the cats, she went nuts! So we worked with her at a distance, desensitized her to the cats and she kept getting closer and closer, while Lucia was treating her for not whining or reacting when she looked at the cats. Throughout this time, Lily’s eye contact became stronger as Lucia reinforced her for not going after the cats! It was an amazing turn around!!!
but no worries, I have full faith that Lily will overcome and be able to have self control as Lucia continues to work on “Leave it” with her!
This was another great session and made my day!”
SUPER JOB, LUCIA AND LILY!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! KEEP THAT CHIN UP! LOOK AT THAT EYE CONTACT. LILY LOVES YOU SO MUCH!
A wonderful update from Catherine, in VA, who is doing the basics with her pup, Baron, to prepare him to be a Service Dog someday with the guidance of SDE and trainer Shannon!
Hey Laurie!
I have GREAT news for you! Baron’s training is going so well and for being so young, he is so smart and talented. I truly believe he was born to be a service dog. His Sit is impeccable and he is doing Sit/Stay for longer and longer. He also is a master of Down, though we have not progressed to Down/Stay yet. He responds to his name and “here” every time, even when in distracting situations. We are working on heel, but he is improving more and more every day. Ignoring people is the hardest part for him since he just wants to be friends with everyone!! But he’s getting so much better each time we go out and about.
He came with me to CVS and the grocery store yesterday and did FANTASTICALLY. He stayed focused on me (and the wealth of treats in my hands haha) and walked beside me so nicely. Today, I took him to work with me and he stayed under my desk with a bone for 5 hours, quietly only whining when he needed to go outside at one point.
I am in shock, he is so great!!! At only 4 months old, he is doing so incredibly well!! We still have lots of work to do, but since he’s still a puppy, we keep the training sessions short and spend most of our time enjoying puppyhood!:
In the last photo, that was after the day at work lol he was exhausted on the car ride home!!
Have a great day!
Catherine”
WHAT A WONDERFUL JOB YOU TWO ARE DOING, CATHERINE! I DO BELIEVE, TOO, THAT BARON WILL GROW TO BE A WONDERFUL SERVICE DOG! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!! BARON IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO ADORABLE!!!!
Congratulations to Claudine and beautiful Lexie, who passed their Public Access Test today!
Claudine suffers from PTSD, panic attacks, several ruptured discs in her back, and asthma.
Claudine has been working tirelessly with her Labradoodle, Lexie, for around 2 years, training for this very day!
First, we started at Target. Lexie unloaded from the car on Claudine’s command, waiting with the door wide open. Walking across the car lot with moving traffic was not a problem for Lexie, who stayed close to Claudine and walked steadily beside her in a perfect heel.
Then, after a well-controlled load back into the car, we drove to Petsmart where Claudine and Lexie were asked to walk by pets and birds. Lexie went by completely ignoring them, and at one point, Claudine sat her down right by some cats, but Lexie paid no heed.
But its not over for these two! Claudine now wants to perfect her three tasks and has asked me how to teach Lexie how to retrieve things, which of course is one of my specialties so will be happy to oblige!!”
AMAZING, AMAZING WORK CLAUDINE AND LEXIE!! YOUR BOND AND EXTENSIVE LENGTH OF TRAINING TOGETHER HAVE PAID OFF IN SPADES!! SO PROUD OF YOU – AND PROUD OF YOU, TOO, DEAR TRAINER, CHERRY!!!
From our wonderful trainer, Candace, in Ft. Worth, who is holding pre-approved group training classes as well as individual instruction for her clients to help with socialization:
“The group session with the Bates, Singhania and Ward families was outstanding this past Sunday! We started out at the Heritage Botanical Garden to work on commands. We focused on loose-lead walking, along with a more formal “heel.” We also worked on “cover,” “under,” and “dropping the leash”. All of the SDiTs are improving greatly. After a long walk (nicely) around the main part of the garden, we headed off to a nationally known chain store to practice public manners. All SDiTs are still showing no startle reaction and were all successful at a particularly difficult “leave it” challenge! The day ended with everyone standing in line (as it usually happens) and the entire group did wonderful. Boomer is booming less, Simba is coming out of his shell, and Buddy is learning to read his handler better. I have high hopes for these families and their SDITs!”
WONDERFUL WORK TO ALL FAMILIES AND THEIR SDITS!