Category Archives: Anxiety

Anxiety, Central Texas, Epilepsy, Texas

Amanda and SDiT Diezel

From trainer, Andrew, who is working with Amanda, who suffers from epilepsy and anxiety, and her SDIT, Diezel.

Andrew writes:

“Amanda, Diezel and I met at Petsmart and worked on the Public Access Test for practice. Diezel had some issues with focusing and remaining seated when strangers are around. Other than that, they are getting very close to passing! Amanda and Diezel are a great team – they really love each other, and Diezel is extremely attentive to Amanda.

We met again at Petsmart for the next session. We worked on obedience conditioning, and ran through the Public Access Test again for practice. We also discussed certain reorientation exercises that will help Diezel to utilize Amanda as good home base and enable him to focus better on his handler is these distraction-rich environments.”

Anxiety, Central Texas, Texas

Kathy and SDiT Olla

From our trainer Andrew, who is working with Kathy, who suffers from extreme anxiety, and her SDIT, Olla.

Andrew writes:

This last session occurred at Kathy’s house. We had planned on going to Lowe’s to practice the Public Access Test, which they are just about ready to pass, but Kathy was unfortunately not feeling well due to anxiety that day. So, we worked on teaching Olla to help Kathy with that by conditioning the Olla to lick a certain spot on Kathy’s arm when she senses Kathy’s anxiety, and to offer her comfort by snuggling. We also learned how train Olla to nudge Kathy and be continue to alert when Kathy begins to disconnect from her world due to her stress levels. We spent the rest of the time in our session working on obedience and basic playfulness, and getting Olla’s energy out. It was a tribute to Kathy’s persistence to continue the training process even when she felt at her worst.

Anxiety, Bipolar, Depression, San Antonio, Texas

Greg and SDiT Missy

From our trainer, Jackie, who had her first training session with Greg and his SDIT, Missy. Laurie will continue to work with Greg and Missy after this point. Jackie writes:

I met with Greg on March 1st to work with him and Missy on her Service Dog Training for some cognitive developmental delays, depression and anxiety. Greg has continued to work with Missy on sitting. This week, we worked on having Missy sit at the door before she is allowed outside. If Missy broke her sit-stay once, the door was opened, and she had to be placed back into a sit before being released to go outside. Greg also worked with Missy in “catching in the moment” of her “down” to decrease the amount of time it takes her to learn his new command.

We noticed Missy is obedient but has a short attention span as many dogs do that are new to training. Training accommodations and recommendations were made and written down for Greg to continue working with Missy. They are: 1) Missy must sit and “wait” at door before going out. 2) Practice with Missy from only 10 minutes at a time three times a day at this point because Missy has a short attention span. This amount of time will increase as we continue to help you train. 3) Keep Missy in a harness for now so that you can easily put a leash on her if someone comes to the door 4) Do not assume that Missy understands the “stay” command yet. For example: I would not let loose of the leash anywhere thinking that Missy will stay. Do not let Missy off leash at parents’ home in backyard because Missy could easily escape through the barbed wire fence until she learns “come” and “home”. 4) Whenever there is food anywhere (table, counter, tray table, etc.), assume that Missy can reach this food while still untrained.

Overall, it was a very good and enjoyable training session!

Anxiety, Bipolar, Depression, Houston, Texas

Elisa and SDiT CB

From our dear trainer, Kendra, in Houston, with Elisa and her SDIT, “CB”. Elisa suffers from bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. Kendra writes:

I met Elisa at her house for the initial evaluation. At first, CB was shy; she was hiding behind Elisa when I came in the door. I had a treat in my hand and she would not take it. So Elisa and I sat down and talked about what she wanted a Service Dog to perform for her and more about the process.

After being there awhile, CB warmed up to me and I was able to do the evaluation. CB has already finished basic obedience at the Pet Store, so she knows “sit”, “lay (down)”, “off”, “leave it”, and loose-leash walking. I was able to handle CB with little problems. She is treat motivated, and has a strong bond with Elisa. We went outside to see how CB did outside of the home, and CB was much more outgoing when she was away from the other dog that’s in the home. I asked Elisa to work on getting CB to focus on her when out for walks by stopping at times and having CB do a “watch me”. The homework for Elisa and CB is to practice “watch me”, “sitting at the door” to go out, and socialization. We also talked about shedding, as CB sheds very badly. In one of these pictures, Elisa was having an anxiety attack and CB was comforting her!”

ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, El Paso, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Attack, Texas

Melissa and SDiT Bjorn

From our wonderful trainer, Terry, in El Paso, who is training with Melissa and her SDIT, Bjorn! Melissa suffers from have major depression, anxiety, ADD, and OCD. Her anxiety has many triggers; the biggest two lately have been extreme amounts of stress and claustrophobia. She also has naturally low blood pressure, and when she gets sick, it tends to drop even lower and she has been known to lose her balance or pass out. She has appointments at the end of the month with a Rheumatologist. Her PCP thinks there is a likely chance that she has Lupus and RA.

Terry writes:

This is a great picture of Melissa and Bjorn successfully completing “controlled load into vehicle”. Additional training covered; proper leash control, “sits on command”, “noise distraction”, “off lead heeling”, and “controlled unload out of vehicle”. All in all, things went exceptionally well, especially for the first session of hands-on-training. Melissa has only had this dog for two weeks, but you can definitely tell during the session that she has put a lot of work into training, that Bjorn already had training despite being a rescue, and that Melissa and Bjorn absolutely love each other. From all indications, she will continue to provide this passion as long as she has this dog. Melissa and Bjorn are a wonderful fit, and will do well throughout the program.”

Agoraphobia, Anxiety, Depression, El Paso, Experience, Texas

Elizabeth and her “Bro”

From our wonderful trainer, Terry, in New Mexico. He is training with Elizabeth, who suffers from anxiety, depression, and agoraphobia, and her SDIT, “Bro”. Terry is doing a wonderful job of methodically working on each command required for the Public Access Test. So far, they have mastered Six Foot Recall on Lead, Downs on Command, and Sits on Command. Terry writes:

This latest session was wonderful. Elizabeth is completely committed to the training, and she and “Bro” have an exceptional bond. Today, they mastered “Off-lead” walking!!

They are progressing beautifully, and it is a pleasure to work with them.

Anxiety, Epilepsy, Experience, San Antonio, Texas

CONGRATS to Candice and Trenton

From our trainer, Cherry, who has been working with Candice, who suffers from epilepsy and anxiety, and her now Service Dog, Trenton!!

“Huge congratulations to Candice and her little Corgi mix Trenton, who passed their Public Access Test!

Candice has worked very hard with Trenton, who in the beginning was anxious of big stores and busy places – but now he confidently goes with Candice everywhere!

Trenton has alerted Candice over nine times in the past couple of months to her seizures!

Off leash, load, unload, sit and stay, down and stay, wait, leave it, positioning in a restaurant and heeling were all done extremely well!!

Candice and her family are off on vacation soon, and she told me how happy she is that she will be taking with her Trenton, her Public Access Tested Service dog!

Candice’s dedication to training her beloved Trenton has truly paid off. She told me as we were leaving the store how excited she is to take off the ‘In Training’ badge and sew on her Service Dog patch!

And so she should be, she deserves it!

Anxiety, Equipment, Experience, Fibromyalgia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Self Training, Virginia

Catt and Baron

From our dear trainer, Catherine, in Virginia – and update on her own Service Dog, beautiful Baron!!!

BARON UPDATE

Service Dog Express's photo.

My Service Dog, Baron, is nearly 11 months old now, and after much debate with myself about when was the appropriate time to neuter him, I decided to

do it as soon as possible. He was neutered last week. I was an absolute disaster the day he was there; my childhood dog passed away during a routine surgery years ago, so I just was so worried about Baron.

I have discovered I am a very overprotective momma when it comes to Baron. Ever since my wonderful dog, Duke, recently died of a very aggressive brain tumor at such a young age (2), I worry (sometimes a little too much LOL) over Baron. At not even a year old, the vet receptionists all know my phone number when it pops up on their incoming calls! But he’s perfectly healthy!

Baron and I have continued our training since he passed his Public Access Test some time ago, and the number of commands he knows is astonishing to me. We’ve been invited to speak again to some of the Companion Animal classes here at Virginia Tech and I’m very excited about that!

Baron has helped me so much through my struggles with my health. As you may remember, I have chronic Lyme disease as well as a couple co-infections. I’ve had my PICC line in for about 3 months now – I believe it’s getting removed in a week or so – and have been on a lot of medications. I’m FINALLY starting to feel better!!! So thank goodness for that. One thing that has come up through all this is that I was originally diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or Dysautonomia) after doctors examined me, because I had a lot of instances where I would be totally fine and then I would fall over unconscious. Baron alerts to it! So, since I’ve had him, I’ve been able to either leave class or sit down so that when I drop, it’s not in a public or dangerous situation. In the last month or so there has been some debate on if I actually have POTS or if these are mini drop seizures. Still debating that, but either way Baron keeps me very safe from them!

So now on to list the massive number of commands he knows:

– Sit/Stay
– Down/Stay
– Here (our version of Come)
– Heeling – both on and off leash
– Load Up
– Let’s Go – getting out of the car
– Drop – drop it
– Cover – front and back
– Get It – pick up and bring whatever I point at (literally anything, including a piece of bacon I made him retrieve without eating…I’m a meanie I know)
– Under – going under table, chair, etc.
– Focus – eye contact
– Interrupting anxious behaviors
– Waking me up from night terrors
– Alerting to my “drop episodes”
– Pull – helping me up stairs or hills
– Lay – deep pressure therapy
– Place – go to your bed
– Tug – open pull doors/cabinets or pulling doors closed
– Close It – closing doors/cabinets
– Light – turning lights on (we haven’t learned turning them off yet)
– Push – pushing button for elevator or handicap door
– Get _____ – he knows the difference between Phone, Book, Meds, Keys, Leash
– Hold – he likes to carry things for me LOL like grocery lists. He’ll just carry it around wherever we go
– Back Up – backwards heel
– Out – get out of whatever room he’s currently in
– Put it – point at table or wherever and he’ll put his object on it
– Take it to ____ – heknows me and my mom so far
– Shake
– Rollover – by far his favorite command ever; if I’m trying to teach him something new and he doesn’t know what I’m asking he just rolls over!
– Around – run around me in a circle
– Bang – play dead

As you can see, there are a LOT of commands LOL! He loves to learn new things though and he is such an absolute joy to train. There are of course some fun commands in there, too, because he has to have something to show off to the kids we speak to.  Anyways, that is my update! I’ll attach some pictures of Baron too! In one of them he is wearing his “doggy pajamas”. Yup you read that right!! Baron blew out his entire undercoat in November and didn’t grow one back…he’s odd – what can I say. He’s a shorter-haired Golden Retriever and he also has very thin hair. So he gets cold – he has 3 pairs of doggy pajamas (I only have pictures of the one) that he has to wear some days when it’s below a certain temperature. Otherwise, he refuses to go outside and if I force him out, his teeth chatter and he shivers. I think he’s actually a giant chihuahua, but that’s just me LOL.

Catt & Baron

 

Anxiety, Experience, Texas

KayCee and Charlie’s Video

A wonderful update from our past client, KayCee, who suffered with anxiety, and her Service Dog, Charlie!! She writes:

Hi, Laurie! Today it has officially been one year since Charlie and I met and he came to live with us! He has done a great job for me so far, and he will keep doing so until his replacement is old enough to take his place (she’s only 7 months old right now.) Anyways, I made a video of all of our memories and photos of him throughout this past year and I thought you might be interested to see some of how he’s doing.

Much Love,
KayCee and Charlie

What a beautiful video tribute to her journey with Charlie!!!! Try to fast forward to the wonderful pictures of KayCee and Charlie, Charlie with KayCee’s mom, etc. The ones of them together are beautiful. The music is perfect!!!

Anxiety, Bipolar, Depression, Equipment, Houston, Texas

Elisa and her SDIT, “CB”.

From our dear trainer, Kendra, in Houston, with Elisa and her SDIT, “CB”. Elisa suffers from bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. Kendra writes:

I met Elisa at her house for the initial evaluation. At first, CB was shy; she was hiding behind Elisa when I came in the door. I had a treat in my hand and she would not take it. So Elisa and I sat down and talked about what she wanted a Service Dog to perform for her and more about the process.

After being there awhile, CB warmed up to me and I was able to do the evaluation. CB has already finished basic obedience at the Pet Store, so she knows “sit”, “lay (down)”, “off”, “leave it”, and loose-leash walking. I was able to handle CB with little problems. She is treat motivated, and has a strong bond with Elisa. We went outside to see how CB did outside of the home, and CB was much more outgoing when she was away from the other dog that’s in the home. I asked Elisa to work on getting CB to focus on her when out for walks by stopping at times and having CB do a “watch me”. The homework for Elisa and CB is to practice “watch me”, “sitting at the door” to go out, and socialization. We also talked about shedding, as CB sheds very badly. In one of these pictures, Elisa was having an anxiety attack and CB was comforting her!”