Car rides and up~chucks, gotta love 'em!



Hurricane and Tuono

Picture it: The sound of cool tunes filtering through your ears, the warm 60 degree breeze streams through the open window as you travel through the back hills to no place in particular, which is followed by the smell of fresh cut lawns and newly sprung flowers waking up your nostrils after a long cold winter. Two more minutes and you’d be seeing yourself single in the fast and easy lane with no in laws! Then it all comes to a screeching halt as a sound from the back seat smacks you back into reality and you hear these words or similar from the person you forgot was with you!


What’s that sound?”

“What sound?”

“Honey, pull the car over!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Emma’s gonna be sick!”

Awwck, awwck, awwwwck! ~ thar she blows!


Grab the paper towels, the plastic bags, the hazmat gear and get ready for a parking lot full of people to be staring at you as the dog is pulled out of the car and your significant other walks into the convince store to buy a bottle of water and some Lysol to further wash the stench from the seat before that long journey home, which let’s face it, might only be 20 minutes, but still pure torture for the dog.

Ah, the dreaded car ride with a dog that constantly gets car sick. How much fun is that? Is there a way to prevent it? And why do humans open the car window to give the dog fresh air?  Have you ever smelled the air driving through Jersey?

Well actually, air quality has nothing to do with the dogs stomach upset but the balance of air pressure might, so if you open the window, open more than one to balance the air pressure inside the car.  Most people tend to open the window where the dog is sitting which can create more of an unbalance in pressure, so opening two windows just a couple of inches might help. 

Motion sickness happens mostly with pups because their ear structure for balance is not fully developed. When you plop a pup in a car and sickness occurs because of it, then that may be what your pup will associate each car ride with.

Do you remember how you threw up after that roller coaster ride? Did you ever want to get on another one after that? It’s pretty similar, bad memories stay with us for a while.

Also if the only time you take your dog for a car ride is for vet appointments then that can create an anxiety which he will associate with the car as well.

In most cases as the pup grows and the ears develop they stop being ill and all is well with the world. But, if illness is associated with the car and remembered by the pup, well let’s face it, he doesn’t know the inside of his ears are now fully formed, he just associates the car with puking and he may never grow out of that.  

Don’t dismay though, there may be a way to get Fido used to the car again.

What to do, what to do?

Option 1) You can strap Fido in the front seat with blinders on, and a puke bag around his neck. (That’s what mom and dad did to me, well minus the blinders, and the seat belt!) But of course then you run the risk of getting a ticket for allowing the dog to ride in the front seat. 

Option 2) You can take the time to train Fido to see that, car = ride = fun!
 

I once worked with a customer at her home and the dog riding in the car was a big problem, among other things!  I showed her what to do, but my last visit with her proved to me she was not practicing as the dog ran from the car when she opened the door.

Hey, I didn’t say training would be short and sweet! It can take weeks to get a dog used to riding in the car without being fearful or getting ill. These weeks of training are seen as precious time that some owners just don’t want to invest in, but they are the first to complain when they can’t get Fido into the car for a vet visit.

Once the dog has grown, it is not likely that the guardrail whizzing by the window is what makes the dog sick as it does a human with bad equilibrium. In most cases it is the nervousness the dog feels at being in an environment he is not used to, or remembers as being unpleasant.

The different sounds your tires make when they hit the road, the loud noise of traffic, the radio, the horn honking, and your spouse’s bad driving (ride the ass , step on  brake, ride the ass, step on  break. You know, we’ve all been there!) Any of this can make a dog nervous enough to make him sick.

People might offer up the advice to give the dog rescue remedy, and while it may work for some, I found it to be nothing more than crap in a bottle and an expensive one at that! But I can’t tell you to rule it out either, that’s just my own experience.

In a few cases it may be motion sickness and for those long drives you may want to talk to your vet about Dramamine.

Giving ginger may also help as it is good for stomach upset due to motion sickness. So keep a few ginger snap cookies in the car.



However your goal here is to make the car ride enjoyable for the dog, so for each successful step you want to praise and reward the dog. By success I mean that the dog is not showing fear, if you reward at a time he is acting scared then you are rewarding the scared behavior. Take your time and wait for him to be calm then reward him. Otherwise, ignore the scared behavior.  Sometimes changing the car can help as well because the dog may associate a negative with one car but not with another.

Change up the routine each time you are to train. Dogs learn our routines very well and you don’t want the dog acting scared before it even gets to the car. They know when we pack we are leaving, when we pick up our keys we are leaving, we put on a jacket and when we pile a load of crap in the car before a trip, etc.  Your dog is more keyed into your routine than you are! We should all be that observant!

Every training step you take will be done several times throughout the day and in short increments, gradually extending the time.



Step 1
Walk around the outside of the car, don’t open the door or go in. Then head out for a short pleasant walk and upon returning to the house walk around the car again and then go into the house. Gradually you will walk around the car longer, open and close the door but never go in the car. When you open and close the door you should be grabbing a treat so that the dog believes good things come from the car. You can wait a bit until through the corner of your eye you see the dog is calm and give it to him then, or you can kind of discreetly brush it out of the car and onto the ground as long as the dog sees it as coming from the car. He may not take it at first and that is fine.  The treat may sit on the ground a day or more before he’ll take it.
 
Step 2
Put the dog in the car, but don’t start it. Keep the sessions short and do them throughout the day.
Step 3
Put the dog in the car and start it, don’t go anywhere, just let it run.


Step 4
Start the car and turn the radio on low and eventually add the wipers and the blinker as they make sound as well.


Step 5
Start the car and go down the driveway and return, unless of course you live in the country and your driveway is a mile long, then you just want to back the car up a little bit and then pull forward.

Step 6

Start the car; go up the block and back.

Gradually you will go farther and farther. Keep in mind that the pavement of the road is sometimes different. On some roads there are noise making ridges off to the side that wake sleeping truckers up before they pound into the guardrail, and it is a good idea to hit one of them (a ridge, not the trucker) briefly with each trip so the dog gets used to it.

Try to find heavier traffic areas and make a quick entrance and exit off of them. A tractor trailer can make quite the noise as it passes and if you can stop on the side of the road where you would be at a slight distance from these trucks such as an off ramp or rest stop it may help the dog to adjust to the noise without that close up and personal, right on the side of you feel! 

Tunnels are a difficult place for your dog to handle as well because the sound echoes, so close the windows, turn the radio up just a bit so the sound of the cars and trucks don’t seem so loud.

In some cases dogs feel safer in a crate, which is also the safest way to have your pet travel, and covering some of the opening with a towel can also help.  Obviously you would not do this on a hot day when the sun is glaring through the window of the car, as you will want air flow to keep the dog from overheating. If the dog feels trapped and anxious in a crate then try a seatbelt for dogs.

Keep plastic over the seat for easy clean up, that’s a no brainer!
Always end up in a place where you plan to have fun with the dog immediately after you arrive during training. You want the dog to associate fun things happening at the end of the car journey.

Ginger dosing
 http://www.ehow.com/how_7854897_give-dogs-ginger-motion-sickness.html  
Dramamine: info and dosing . http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/dimenhydrinate-dramamine/page1.aspx

Tags! What Gives?



 

Therapy dogs, Assistance dogs, Guide dogs, Service dogs!
                                     What gives?


Formally a Therapy dog Evaluator,  and present AKC CGC Evaluator,  I have since begun a new journey as a foster home trainer of an upcoming service dog.  The training takes 2 1/2 years.  This page was updated on 4/23/2017 (originally written back in 2011 when I had Therapy dogs.)


Recently I had been asked the question about how to get a dog certified for therapy to aide a family member suffering illness. I had explained that the therapy work that my dogs do is different than what they were looking for, which was an assistance/service dog.

Today we hear more and more about Therapy dogs, Assistance dogs, Guide dogs, Emotional Support dogs and Service dogs, so what’s the difference?

Therapy dogs work to stimulate and make happy the lives of others at the direction of their handler. They are not allowed in businesses unless there is express permission from the business owner. They bring joy and comfort to the public through petting.
Assistance/Service dogs assist physically or mentally challenged people in everyday tasks. They are not to be petted and do not offer comfort to the public.
Guide dogs lead the blind through everyday life and perform tasks for the owner.
Emotional Support dogs, provide comfort to their owner.

Only Assistance/service/guide dogs have access to all places under the law.  Emotional support dogs and therapy dogs do not.




There are websites that will sell you any type of equipment for a price, trying to make a dog look legit, but that does not lend any credibility to the dog, and in fact, it does a big disservice to all.

I am also finding (which really disgusts me),  people who have their dogs registered as a therapy dog sometimes abuse that privilege, which can then ruin it for the people who really need an assistance dog by their side. Here is a perfect example of what I mean.

Every year I volunteer with an organization at the fairground where I give information about State Animal Response Teams in Pennsylvania. I often bring with me one or both of my tested therapy dogs, (Chance and Steeler) to lure the people into the booth, because let’s face it, people at a fair don’t want to see an information booth, they want to see or buy something special!  But in order for me to bring my dogs onto the fairgrounds, I had to get special permission from the board of directors, because aside from the dogs that are contained in cages for the dog show, family dogs are not allowed on the grounds during fair week.

So, picture it, there I stood, behind the great information table that holds baskets of peanut butter biscuits and other small items while my therapy dogs sat in front of the table bringing in the crowd.

But on an unusually warm day, while standing back looking out at the passersby,  I saw a man and women briskly walking through the fair with two golden retriever pups, cute as could be, maybe about 5 or 6 months old, and dangling from each dog’s collar were yellow therapy dog tags clearly identical to the group I test for!

I suspect that the gatekeeper at the fair allowed the dogs in because of those tags; however, being an Evaluator for this particular organization, I knew full well that those dogs were too young to have been tested for therapy work!

Needless to say, this couple really pissed me off and if I had in me the sprint of a 20 year old gymnast, I may have jumped across the table and confronted them on it! (But alas, this older mind asked this older body, what are you nuts? And I let it go.)
This is what I mean by abuse and it is this type behavior from previous patrons that might have a business owner chase legitimate dogs off their premises.

After that incident, I looked a little deeper into this subject and I came across a site called psychdog.org. I don’t know if it is deep enough for all that one might need it to be, but I think it is a good start for anyone who is looking to get a paper trail going for their dog to become an assistance dog.

Key things needed to succeed
Do a minimum of four months of basic obedience; get an AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate, and six months of Public Access Training.

The bottom line for success: http://psychdog.org/training_ownerstandard.html
Public access standard http://psychdog.org/publicaccess.html



03-23-2014  update:  I found this website for seizure alert dogs with some good resources so I am adding it here.
http://www.ice-epilepsy.org/seizure-alert-dogs.html



Another site I came across was Assistance Dogs of America Incorporated (ADAI). It does seem that they are similar to many Guide Dog centers which foster pups out to families then take them back and evaluate them. They also seem to get dogs from pounds and breeders and look for mostly retriever or retriever mixes for this job. Their site can be found here.
http://www.adai.org/we-can-help/programs/assistance-dogs/




The Assistance Dogs International Inc. (ADI) developed a public access test 15 years ago.  This test cannot be administered without the express permission from the ADI 
It is advised you hook up with their website regarding this.
http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/standards/public-access-test/

The below link was fairly helpful in how to get started in training your own dog with a qualified dog trainer as well. This site also tells you how to keep a log of training's.
http://www.iaadp.org/iaadp-minimum-training-standards-for-public-access.html


The ADI is trying to model a standard law as a template and you can find that here:
http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/modellaw.php


Service dog information for Veterans: http://www.prosthetics.va.gov/ServiceDogFAQ.asp#FAQ1

Service Dogs for Psychiatric Disabilities  http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html

Service and Assistance dog trainers and resources by state http://inch.com/~dogs/service.html 

After note:

This is a follow up to the above post as it regards to Assistance/Service dogs which came to me about a week after I posted. I was very happy to hear from someone that actually works with ADAI to bring insight to this type of training. This email has helped me to understand so much more of what is involved for training than just having Fido fetch your shoes. It is valuable information for anyone who may be looking for a service dog as well as the information as to why you might not want to use your own dog for such work. I was going to run this on its own rather than adding it to the TAGS post but I did not want to bounce my readers from post to post with this needed information and really how much of me can you take in one week?

My thanks to Marilyn, for getting back to me with such great information and reasoning!


My name is Marilyn Lazarus and I am the Head Trainer for ADAI. If you go to www.assistancedogsinternational.org you can look up the ADI public access test. This is a standard test that all service dog organizations give their graduates for public access. In addition to the public access test, each organization should have their own test that is more specific as to individual tasks that the dog is asked to perform. This can be anything from retrieving a cane to bracing when an individual falls, to lifting legs onto the bed or lifting and putting down the wheelchair footrests, tugging an individual upright or (tugging them) over in bed to loading and unloading, and riding public transportation to whatever else may be asked of the dog.




We used to train some dogs that were privately owned only after a thorough screening and determination was made that the dog was suitable for service dog work, however we stopped doing that. There are a few people that were grandfathered in but I think they too would take a dog from us rather than get one on their own.
Sometimes people get a puppy that will not be suited to them either by size, structurally, or with the temperament needed when they are grown. This would force them to start all over again and what would happen to that puppy they have already raised and come to love? Affordability, family relationships, dog to dog relationships, and housing accommodations have to be taken into consideration when talking about owning more than one dog especially when a service dog is involved.


Many owners do not look at their own dog with objective eyes and don’t understand that their dog may show fear, be unable, uncomfortable, or unhappy doing the work which may be required of it. When ADAI needs to point this out, some owners become hurt and upset by this. Another factor to take into consideration with training one’s own dog is that dogs should not be used for bracing or helping with balance until their bones are fully formed and that is around the age of 2 years old.


It is much easier for us to match a dog with a person. We match the dog's personality and skill level with the individual's personality, lifestyle and needs. While that can take some time and put one on a waiting list, it ensures a better match between human and dog.


We use both puppies and older dogs. We get them from breeders as well as pets surrendered to us, shelters, humane societies, and sometimes rescue organizations.


I think it can be dangerous for an organization to certify an individual's dog as an assistance dog because there is so much involved in that. It is not a question necessarily of whether a dog can do what is on the test but rather if the dog feels comfortable and safe in being around the public surroundings required of it.






Videos of a dog and person in public are valuable to us because we can use them to see if something is not right. It affords us the ability to point out those concerns to the person the dog is with. (Many stores however, do not want you taking video inside.)






I think the most help you can provide to people looking to a dog for physical needs is to contact an ADI accredited service dog organization. When you get on the ADI website that I gave you, you can look under member organizations and see who is available in that area. Each organization should tell you what type of dogs they train, their contact information and what their service area includes.






Unfortunately, there are not organizations in every state and sometimes not in rural areas. It is very difficult to explain to an individual who may live far away why they would not be in our service area. We have to take into account time, mileage, weather, expense, and schedule conflicts of getting to the individual. When they have a problem, and they will eventually, it is hard to help them if we need to take a full day to get there and back. Most of the time, people wait so long that their minor problem turns into a major one that realistically would only take several days of consistently working on the problem to help resolve it.






If someone does choose to use their own dog, I highly suggest a qualified trainer with lots of service dog experience to objectively work with them and be honest as to whether their dog is..


(A) A candidate for such work and


(B) Can help guide and stay with them in proper training until the dog is ready for public access. As well as do follow ups with that client as needed.






The success rate for dogs in service dog organizations, even those selected for the work, is probably less than 50% and from shelters the success rate is much less.


Take also into consideration that not everyone who wants a dog necessarily should have a dog. Some people want to get a dog for their loved


one believing it will help them, but in some instances that loved one does not want a dog or in some instances another caretaker/home owner in that family does not want a dog. In cases like that it probably would not work.






If there is anyone is within 250 miles from northwest Ohio, tell them to give us a call but only if they are not going to be using their own dog. We will do a phone interview for preliminary information and then a personal interview at our facility.








UPDATE 10/26/2014
Thanks to Lynn Silvis for passing this information on.

There are plenty of scammers out there buying vests, patches, and fake credentials to get their dogs into housing, and businesses. Please be very aware of these people. The link below will help you to spot the impostors.  This could all be avoided if each state would put the need for service dogs right on a drivers license. States issue non driver's  licenses to those who are handicapped for identification purposes. They issue cards for handicapped parking and with that you need a note from the doctor. We put on out license if a person needs glasses , why can't we put that a person needs a service dog?    

LINK



My Update 1 -10 -15
Revised ADA march 2011 Requirements link here




                                              


THERAPY DOG WORK
consists of people petting dogs publicly

  

Service /Assistance dog 

a dog that performs a task for the owner