My name is Kate and I am a 22 year old college student. I am a senior and am very much looking forward to graduating and starting my job and grad school. I guess you can say that I am a very typical student I hang out with friends, I study, and I love to play video games...except...I use a service dog to get through my daily life.
The worse thing that anyone can say to me is "I want to buy a vest off the internet so my dog can go anywhere with me!" or even, "wow cool gear where can I get that for my dog?"
There is more to having a service dog than being able to take a beloved friend everywhere, which believe me is very nice. Having a service dog to me means many things 1) I am able to get through a normal day of classes, errands, and studying....without medication. 2) People look at me differently. I know some people would say "silly Kate, that's all in your head" but really...it isn't. My friends have counted the people staring at me in the dining hall, and around 20 or 30 oogling eyes they get bored, and move to cheering me up. "It's okay Kate, we know how awesome Moxie is."
Moxie is awesome. Moxie is my service dog, my foot warmer, my best friend.
Moxie was rescued from the National Rat Terrier Rescue known as "Ratbone". She came to me at the age of 8 and has been my best friend and constant companion for the past 3 years. She had a background in agility that was taught to her by one of her fostermoms and because of that the jump to service dog was not a hard one.
Moxie first alerted to a compulsive behavior when I was at work one day. My boss and very good friend noticed the behavior and Moxie's reaction and in turn suggested training Moxie as a Psychiatric service dog.
There are so many stigmas attached to psychiatric service dogs. The main fact that our disability as handlers is invisible has caused many comments that many of us using psych dogs would like to erase. A few that I have received that stand out are complete strangers saying the following in public places:
"What's wrong with you?"
"You don't look disabled."
"I won't have someone parading a fashion accessory around as a service dog in my store."
"That's not a golden retriever therefore it CANNOT be a service dog."
And then sometimes the questions seem harmless, but I try and be evasive. Many people want to ask about your disability...but are trying to work aruond the subject. I'm here to tell you I know what the following questions mean, I'm also here to tell you, that it's none of your business why I use a psych dog, sometimes I choose to educate, but honestly...most days...I just want to get through my day.
"What kind of dog is this?" - This question can either refer to the breed of dog, or the type of service dog. Depending on how I feel that day I usually respond, "she's a rat terrier/beagle mix, but other than that we're not certain."
Not all people are looking for the type of service dog, some people really want to know her breed, others however, give you a puzzled look and are left scratching their heads as we walk away.
I decided to start this blog because Moxie is 11 years old, and it is time to retire. So now it is time for me to find another dog that can preform her vital functions.
Throughout this blog I will do the following things:
1. Find a new service dog.
2. Train it.
3. Pass the AKC canine good citizen test.
4. Pass the Therapy dogs international test.
5. Pass the PsychDog public access test.
6. Specifically task train the new dog to preform vital functions to help me get through my daily life.
I welcome questions at any time and any I can not answer I will say honestly and recommend other literature.
Useful Links:
AKC Canine Good Citizen
Public Access Test
Sample Tasks that Some Psychdogs Preform
Therapy Dogs International
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