As long as I can remember my daughter talking, she has been asking for a pet. She wanted a dog, a cat, a fish, a rabbit; honestly if it was something that moved and she could take care of, she asked for it. At first, my cat who lived at my parents’ house tolerated her enough that her cuddle/nurture desire was fulfilled. Once Blackie passed away, however, I heard more and more how she “needed” a pet. But how in the world could we have a pet when most weekends were spent at competitions that took all day and many required overnight or weekend-long stays? How could we afford a pet when we were paying for dance competition team, costumes, class fees, as well as swim team and competitions and still paying for student loans?
It didn’t take long for my daughter to find a solution to her unmet desire of a pet.
We had learned of a company called 4 Paws for Ability that trains service dogs for children and veterans right here in the Dayton area. Then, at a swim meet a few months later, my daughter fell in love with the little Papillon, Lilo, from 4 Paws for Ability. My curious little 9-year-old bombarded her trainer with a million questions and proudly announced to me at the end of the weekend that she would like to volunteer with 4 Paws for Ability. That was the beginning of our family’s journey with training service dogs.
We started out as on-site volunteers. We helped play with dogs outside that would otherwise spend the whole day in the kennels while they are in-between fosters. We bathed them and played fetch and used treats to help them learn commands like “sit” and “shake.. We learned to take them out in stores and socialize them. We worked with dogs from the age of 4-weeks to around 2 years and loved it, but there was a huge need for full-time volunteer trainers to take pups home and acclimate them to routine in the house and daily life. This was, of course, bound to be our next step since the lovely 4 Paws staff thought having a pup in a home with children would be a great idea being that most of their service dogs are placed with children.
We started with a 9-week-old Golden Lab named Pansy who was part of the “Pulled Pork” litter after a few hours of training in an orientation class. We took this sweet girl home and loved her so much. Just like parenting, the orientation class and monthly obedience classes don’t 100% prepare you to take on this challenge. But we learned to adapt and do what worked for us and each pup. Our pups went everywhere with us and were the most friendly, well-behaved dogs I’ve ever met. I love every one of them and was sad to see each one go, but was so proud of them.
We ended up with a total of six full-time fosters and have been secondary fosters to countless others.
Pansy ended up being a Fabulous Flunkie, along with Kinder and Oscar. They were adopted by some amazing families and found the perfect home to be just a regular pet pup in an environment perfect for each one of their personalities and strengths. Tapioca went on to be a full Autism Assistance Service Dog for a boy out of state. She knows how to track him if he ever elopes and how to calm him and comfort him when he is frustrated by his lack of communication skills. Slush became a Seizure Alert Service Dog. He is learning to detect and alert when his little girl is having or will have a seizure. It’s slow-going, but he is figuring out his new role. And last, but not least, our sweet Clea became our forever pup just last year. After training her from 9-weeks-old until almost 2 years, we happily adopted her into the family when she decided barking was more fun than being a service dog. It changes our role a bit as we can’t full-time foster with her tendency to bark, but we try to help out where we can.
That leaves a spot open for others to join the fun. Click here to become an on-site volunteer, full-time trainer, secondary trainer, weekend foster, or guardian for a breeder in the program. It is so rewarding to help the children and veterans who need this service, as well as to raise these superhero pups to be the best version of themselves.
