Look whose adopted beautiful Nelly! Nelly was rescued and fostered by Cherry Jenkins of In Dog We Trust!! Jason traveled all the way from El Paso to meet Nelly! Our trainer, Michelle, in New Mexico, will be training him.
Jason is a Wounded Warrior who served for 12 years. He suffers from PTSD, TBI, frequent migraines, flashbacks, night terrors, and anxiety. Let’s hope wonderful Nelly will be his best companion to help him as a Service Dog for all his troubles!!!
CONGRATULATIONS to Ronnie, a Wounded Warrior with PTSD and TBI, who, with the excellent training of Kendra, passed his PAT with now SD, Roxy!!!
“We met at target to do Ronnie’s PAT. I am SO proud of the hard work and dedication of this team! They did beautifully on the PAT and they PASSED!!! Roxy was born to do this work; as a matter of fact, when I was trying to get a picture she kept getting up to do covers because people were walking behind Ronnie! She just does it without having to be told! These two make the perfect team and are so inseparable, they love each other so much and it shows!!!! Congratulations you two!!!!”
Look at this beautiful artwork done by former client, Wounded Warrior Ken, with SD Mozart!! For each sculpture he sells, a portion of the proceeds he will donate to our non-profit, In Dog We Trust!! THANK YOU AND BLESS YOU KEN!!!!
From our wonderful trainer Kendra, in Houston. She is training with Ronnie, a Wounded Warrior with PTSD and TBI, and his SDIT, Roxy!
“We met at Target and practiced a mock Public Access Test. Roxy did perfect! We also practiced walking behind a cart, and they will continue working on that.
At our next met we will have the official Public Access Test. In the picture is Roxy in a dressing room; she goes right under the chair. She is going to rock the exam!”
WAY TO GO RONNIE, ROXY, AND KENDRA!!!!
Some very sad news. Ivan went into congestive heart failure last night. They wanted to keep him at the Vet ER overnight, but Daniel refused because he said he did not want his beloved SD to spend his final hours in a hospital. This morning, at approximately 10:00 am, Daniel, following the realistic but dreadful prognosis of Dr. Muisquiz, decided to end Ivan’s suffering as his murmur was so advanced his poor, 3 year-old body could not take anymore. I made sure I was with Daniel to interpret what Dr. Muisquiz was saying, and go over with him what to expect during the procedure, and help him sign the paperwork. Daniel’s 18 year-old son, Logan, was there to support his father. It was truly one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen. Ivan was everything to Daniel – just like his wonderful wife and other children. Daniel held Ivan until his final breaths. Daniel, as to be expected, is not doing well. And one of the saddest parts of it is that Daniel had taken Ivan to a different veterinarian about two months ago, because Ivan was losing weight drastically, not eating, lethargic, and was having constant nosebleeds. That veterinarian apparently did not even listen to Ivan’s heart carefully. A grade 5 heart murmur can be detected just by FEELING the dog’s chest or one of his pulses in the leg arteries, as Dr. Muisquiz showed us. Of course, I will be giving this “veterinarian” a call, because I truly believe this was a case of malpractice. Ivan’s congenital heart murmur would have eventually caught up with him, but had he been diagnosed properly earlier, the process could have been slowed and Ivan would not have had to suffer so much.
Please “friend” Daniel Stroud on Facebook to express your condolences.
Thank you for bringing Daniel out of his shell and helping him to regain some normalcy to your beloved Wounded Warrior father, Ivan. You will be missed beyond belief. Luckily, you had 3 years of the best care and the deepest love a dog could feel
Please say prayers for Wounded Warrior Blake, who suffers from PTSD, TBI, Major Depression, and severe back issues – he walks with a walker or cane, but is mostly in his wheelchair. He just had surgery, and will be ready to start training again soon with his SDIT, Zoid!!
GREAT news from Wounded Warrior, dear Kimberly, who met the new love of her life, SDIT, Kimmy! Kimberly and Kimmy met at Laurel Ridge, and the bond was INSTANT! Kimberly, as intelligent and detail-oriented as she is, already had the training manual memorized. Kimmy was beautifully behaved, and started covering for Kimberly the minute they met, as poor Kimberly was shaking with nerves and excitement from this new part of her life! Kimmy heeled perfectly with Kimberly at the hospital as we walked the halls and I showed her how to use the collar properly, would sit, down, stay, and make incredible eye contact. Even the Medical Director at that Laurel Ridge unit popped her head in to see how wonderful everything was going – and she plans on integrating more Service Dogs into other patient’s treatments! Kimberly was given food, bowls, a leash, two collars, and all medical records for Kimmy. You could just see how much even having the presence of Kimmy on the Wounded Warrior ward brightened up everyone there – and the staff was amazing!
Kimberly and I talked regularly after we spent several hours together going over the basics, and have continued to talk almost every day since then. We had developed a trusting bond for several weeks before this day, and I knew a Service Dog would be perfect for Kimberly’s life at this point. The doctors allowed Kimmy to stay with Kimberly the last days she was there, and she had her own room, where they would snuggle and cuddle and were literally inseparable. Kimmy would let Kimberly know when she needed to go potty, and Kimberly enjoyed taking walks on the grounds of Laurel Ridge with Kimmy. Kimberly would let people pet Kimmy ONLY if they asked politely if they could pet her Service Dog, and if Kimberly felt comfortable with the person – and Kimmy would sit on command and allow the petting and treats.
I called the airline prior to Kimberly’s departure back home to Georgia to ensure that she would have no problems boarding with Kimmy at her 6 am flight! She did say that going through the screening was a hassle, because Kimberly is in a full-leg moveable brace and it was hard to manage everything – but she did say that many people offered her help, and for that, she was very grateful. She did remember to give Kimmy her Benadryl 45 minutes prior to the flight, and Kimmy was excellent – just a little anxious on touch-down. But she never barked or did anything inappropriate! Kimberly has worked with dogs all her life, so she and will continue to be an excellent handler.
Since Kimberly has arrived home and back to civilian life after 29 days at Laurel Ridge, she has said it’s been a bit of a difficult transition – but we both agreed she should take things slow and it will continue to get easier for her. Kimberly’s fiance is currently deployed in Iraq, but feels so much better knowing Kimmy is there to comfort her! One pleasant surprise – Kimberly has a cat named “Nubbins” (due to the fact that she has a nub for a tail) – and SDIT Kimmy and Nubbins are already best friends!! I am SO proud of Kimberly – she made her first trip out alone with Kimmy to the drugstore to get her medications – and it took a lot longer than expected due to the transferring process – but Kimberly said that having Kimmy there made a world of difference. Baby steps! Kimberly still wants to remain active duty – she loves being a soldier – and her command welcomed both she and Kimmy back onto base with open arms and commented continuously on how well-behaved Kimmy was! They are completely supportive of Kimmy being with Kimberly at work once she is settled back in – and for this, I am so grateful.
Kimberly and I will continuously train via video, Skype, email, and phone as they venture out more and more – but I am SO proud of the two of them!!!!!
From our dear friend and former trainer, Tony. Thank you, Tony – your words always have and always will mean the world to me and to all of us – and your opinions are very important to me and all of us at SDE:
“As a client and former trainer I have the utmost respect for Laurie and Service Dog Express, She has made my life so much better and I can handle the simple everyday tasks that most take for granted when she paired me with my properly assessed dog Lucy (God bless you Laurie and what you did for me).
As trainers, the client should come first; their needs are off utmost importance.
I think off myself as not only a client but as an ambassador for Service Dog. I try to educate the public as much as I can, but having just one aggressive hyper or skittish dog can make it so much harder for the public to understand what we are doing or what the dog is for, so a properly assessed dog is essential. I know we would like to place all the dogs with homes but they all can’t be a Service Dog!!..
I get so many compliments on how well behaved my dog is in public; it is a proud and calming feeling to me. So thank you so much Laurie for all that you have done to make my life a lot easier..
Tony Cuciniello
( Service Dog Lucy)”
TONY – YOU ARE VERY CORRECT THAT PROPERLY ASSESSED AND TRAINED SDs ONLY SHOULD BE IN THE PUBLIC. IF THERE IS A DOG THAT WE FEEL IS NOT ACTING APPROPRIATELY, WE WILL WORK AS HARD AS WE CAN TO TRY AND TRAIN THE INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR – EVEN IF IT MEANS HAVING TO REMOVE THE DOG AND HANDLER FROM PUBLIC ACCESS FOR A WHILE. IF THE DOG JUST CAN’T BE TRAINED CORRECTLY, WE WILL ALWAYS BE HONEST AND REALIZE THAT THE DOG IS JUST NOT SERVICE DOG MATERIAL. A DOG CAN LEARN THE COMMANDS, BUT ONCE IT BEGINS TRAINING WITH THE HANDLER, DYNAMICS CHANGE. THAT IS WHY CONSISTENCY AND SUPERVISION BY TRAINERS IS PARAMOUNT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INPUT. MANY DOGS THAT PASS ASSESSMENTS ONLY EXHIBIT BEHAVIORS ONCE THEY ARE PUT IN VASTLY DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. THEY MUST BEHAVE CORRECTLY – FOR THE SAFETY OF THE CLIENT AND THE DOG.
A lovely update from trainer Beverly, who is working with Wounded Warrior Christopher and his awesome SDIT, Shoeless Joe!!
“We met at D&D feed store to review with Chris and Shoeless all the PAT skills to see where Shoeless is and what he needs work on. Since Chris had been heavily involved in his VA appointments and then had some back issues that took him away from working with Shoeless, we wanted to brush them both up on their skills. We trained for about 1 ½ hours reviewing the skills, refreshing his memory and reminding them both of what is required for a SD to pass the PAT. Shoeless picked up on all commands very quickly and did very well on the skills we practiced – sit, down, stay, leave it, heel, watch me, controlled entry and exit into stores and controlled load/unload into a vehicle. We worked heavily on his sit/down stays with distractions, enlisting the help of store employees who happily provided various distractions.
As always, Shoeless was a hit and did a great job not reacting to claps, squeaky toys, people walking by and petting him, stepping over him, etc.
The one area that Chris isn’t as comfortable with is eating out at a restaurant with Shoeless. Next weekend we plan to train again at D&D, then go to Chili’s restaurant to finish the session on restaurant skills. Chris will practice with Shoeless during the week, and I have no doubt that Shoeless will do fabulously next weekend! This picture is of Shoeless Joe doing a perfect down/stay even with his dad out of sight!”
We at Service Dog Express have had a quite eventful and absolutely fulfilling experience the past two Saturdays! It started over a month ago, when one of our clients with his SD was attending the inpatient Wounded Warrior PTSD clinic at Laurel Ridge Psychiatric Hospital here in San Antonio. So many of the other Wounded Warriors there were astounded by this client’s SD, that we started getting phonecalls from the inpatients asking if they could obtain SDs.
Coordinating it all was extremely difficult, but over two Saturdays we were able to bring together our trainers, various fosters, rescues from In Dog We Trust, and a TON of dogs onto the unit to meet and greet all the potential clients. It was a tremendous success!! I’m sure the front lobby wasn’t too happy with the parade of hair most likely left from all the dogs we brought, but I am SO pleased to say that we matched up 5 dogs with these Wounded Warriors!!!!! It was like a grand opening shopping event!
The most amazing thing was to see how each warrior’s countenance and demeanor changed when the dogs were brought into the unit. Their sad eyes brightened, they were excited, frowns turned to smiles, as they petted and met each of the dogs. Even the staff seemed happier! So, the 5 new adopters will receive their dogs once they are released from the inpatient unit – all papers were signed – and we will train with them once they are released.
I wish I could have taken pictures, but it is against Laurel Ridge policy. Thank you to everyone who participated in these monumental days – and five new dogs now will have forever homes!!!!!
UPDATE 10 AUG:
Regarding the post above about Laurel Ridge. Those of you who posted such incredibly negative postings were uninformed and unaware of how this process worked. I will not waste my time justifying your hatred, I will only present the facts so you can be a little bit more “educated” about how this process worked.
We were sent client submission forms from several of these Wounded Warriors who are in the TRANSITION unit at Laurel Ridge. The DOCTORS at Laurel Ridge who observed what a difference the SD, Sassy, had made with this one Wounded Warrior wrote PRESCRIPTIONS for these select Wounded Warriors for a Service Dog based upon what they observed in the healing process that took place between Sassy and his owner. They INVITED us to come. We did not initiate this. The warriors met the dogs on two separate occasions – which took hours and hours of work on behalf of our fosters, trainers, and the staff at Laurel Ridge. NONE of these inpatients received dogs while still inpatients. They were prescribed the dogs as part of the HEALING process when they are eventually released back into the civilian world. EVERY single dog that was chosen by a Wounded Warrior, again, with the ADVICE of their doctor or caseworker will not be receiving the dog until they are back home. Each Wounded Warrior who has chosen a dog has also been assigned a TRAINER from Service Dog Express to follow-up with them on training and helping them reintegrate into society just as we do any other Wounded Warrior who comes to us seeking the healing aid of a Service Dog. I don’t know where this term “contract” came up that many of you are referring to – the warriors simply chose a dog that they spent several hours with accompanied by a trainer to see if it were a good fit – and if they decided, again, along with their doctors or caseworkers that the match was well made, the ADOPTION papers were signed so that each warrior was properly matched with their dog. In addition, all dogs, no matter how far along in their Service Dog training they were (ALL now basic commands), were DONATED to these Wounded Warriors. No “money” was made off of this for any of us. We all did this out of the goodness of our hearts and because we, again, were INVITED by Laurel Ridge. In fact, we have been invited back AGAIN to work with some more Wounded Warriors in the female unit who will be transitioning back into civilian life because the DOCTORS and CASEWORKERS were so impressed with the high caliber of dogs we brought and how carefully we assessed each warrior and the dog they chose – again – ALL GIVEN PRESCRIPTIONS BY THEIR PHYSICIANS OR CASEWORKERS for this incredible experience to heal with a Service Dog by their sides. And I am NOT going to delete and ban all you naysayers until you have had a chance to read this – because you have ALL missed the point. What we have done at Service Dog Express by helping these Wounded Warriors is given them hope and joy – if you had been there to see the way their faces lighted up when they realized they could benefit from a Service Dog – the literal tears of joy – you would all be saying the exact OPPOSITE of what you posted and “shared”. These Service Dogs will, as always, be part of the healing process for these men and women who are now going back home, many alone, to civilian life – and their spirits have been uplifted by knowing that they will have a “Battle Buddy” by their side. Again, these dogs, who we normally charge adoption fees for because of the amount of training we have put into them, were given to these men and women for FREE. Maybe you all should be looking at the fact that more lives will be SAVED because of what we did – it was in all respects a labor of love for all of us involved – instead of focusing on the ridiculous comments that imply we did this to “make money” or to “prey on vulnerable people”. If you have issue with this, ask the doctors and caseworkers who finally thought “out of the box” and realized by actually SEEING the healing power of these dogs – and prescribed them for our amazing warriors to help them in their new lives. So, from what has been written below, it seems that everyone who posted such vulgar and uninformed posts would rather see our valiant men and women rely on drugs and get shoved out into the world back into loneliness and reliance upon drugs and other unhealthy methods to “cope” instead of knowing they will have a highly trained and continuously trained Service Dog to be by their sides. All I can say is shame on you. You care more about what you “think” Service Dog Express cares about – money, publicity, etc., than actually what we DO care about – and that is enhancing the lives of all of those who can benefit from a Service Dog. Shame on you.