Dr Kelly Fleming

I’m extremely grateful for my 3 boys who were trained as service dogs through an organization.

I’m very grateful for the opportunity to raise Bobby. Unlike my other boys, he’s only known 2 homes – the breeder family and me. I only had one who went from the breeding facility to foster care, to school, to me (4 different locations to adapt to) Another went from breeding facility, foster care, homeless and cared by staff, then placed with another foster family, then school, then placed with another client, removed from that person after 2 months, returned to school and finally came to me (10 different locations to adapt to). My other one went from breeding family, foster care, school, back to foster care as unable to be placed, then back to school and finally to me (6 different locations to adapt to).

With Bobby, he started learning my life the first weekend I had him. I know his quirks, how he will react to people, dogs (yes that will change as he gets older but also working with a trainer so young, I can redirect any issues of reactivity, etc). He only really knows life with a disabled parent, he’s surrounded by disabled people who use wheelchairs and walkers. He’s not afraid of the reacher because I use it to pick up his ball and he’ll take it right from the reacher whereas all the other boys were terrified of it.

His attention is solely on me which helps me redirect him faster. When he picks up clothes, papers, towels, etc, he gets told give and gets one of his toys in return because those are skills he’ll need in the future. I don’t discourage him when he does something that drives me crazy like stealing my stuff so when it comes time to introduce skill work, he’s already got a positive reinforcement behind it.

As I said, I’ll always be extremely grateful for the school that trained my other 3 boys not only did they have to unlearn so many things, they had to learn skills such as “back” or “behind” (depending on terminology used in their training) to make sure I went through a door first and they followed. Bonding was slower as they adapted to getting with a full time wheelchair user.

Bobby learnt these things immediately since I taught him leash skills. He already comes up on my lap to get his leash on, he sits and waits for the door to open and follows me. Same as the elevator. I don’t have to retrain him not to enter an elevator and get himself and my chair all stuck, he knows where he is to sit in the elevator.

Yes, as he goes through his teenager time, things will change as he “forgets” what he learnt, but learning all these things now is what will help him succeed as a service dog.

Tonight I gave him his first bath with me and he had complete trust in me. He didn’t try to get out of the tub, he actually used my chair lift to put his paws on while I washed and showered him off. He then climbed up completely into the chair lift when he saw me grab the towel and let me dry him while he sat there. Yes, treats were involved but he wasn’t scared. Every time I have a bath, before there is soap in the water, he’s right beside me so I’ve slowly been introducing him to the water by taking some water and rubbing his head and then over the weeks his whole body.

The trust he has with me is amazing. He’s also being socialized with people and dogs as well as stores and he doesn’t get jumpy (reactive) around thing such as cars, buses, etc . He’s being raised in a Deaf house and Deaf homes are noisy.

Yes, it’s a lot of work but at the same time to see him learning new things everyday is just amazing. Today he stole at least 30 things, but each time I said give and gave him a toy in return, he was happy and I’m happy because this is pre-skill work.