We Did It!-Graduation, Day 11

It seems going through the posts that I was at Ultimate Fighting Championship Camp or something...not Service Dog Training! I promise, this is not the norm. No one else had issues, I must be super special!

Brian took the Public Access test since I was on the injured roster. He and Slugger passed! The only worry was the food distraction test and Slugger almost gave in to temptation. However, he must have known that he was doing something important and resisted. Hooray!

Later that afternoon we all went back to 4 Paws and filled out the paperwork to take Slugger home with us. We promised to take good care of him. Then we had graduation! It was so crowded and noisy that I was sure Cole was going to have a melt down. Some of the other kids in the class just couldn't handle it.

This was our attempt at trying to get a picture of all of the dogs.Our dear friend Paula drove 4 hours just to be with us on this special day! We have not seen her since the Dravet conference last year and it was so nice to be able to hug each other. She also brought her lovely daughter. She kept Cole entertained during the madness with a new iPad app called "Paint My Wings". We were so grateful to her for coming. That is something that I love about my Dravet family, we truly share each other's victories and sorrows. We may not be able to physically be there in times of need, but I know that they are rooting for us...always! It was so, SO nice of Paula to come and spend time with us.We waited patiently and we were last to graduate! They finally presented Slugger and Cole as a certified working team. We got a fancy certificate and everything!Plus, we got to sign Cole and Slugger's names on the Wall of Fame!There are a lot of lives changed here.We were so sad to say good-bye to the staff at 4 Paws For Ability. There were many tears.

Here is Slugger with his first "Mom". She will always be a part of our family.Along with some special other people who will also be family. If you haven't guessed, we are always willing to adopt.Speaking of family, here are Slugger's litter mates that were in the class. We are so excited that his sister Samba and his brother Shaggy live close to us!If you have ever doubted that this is something you could undertake, I will just say to you-If I can do it, you can do it too! Contact 4 Paws today, or if you have the chance, help someone with their fundraiser. Our lives will be forever changed because of these people and their mission...and by Slugger, of course.

Meet Our New Friend!

Here is a little video to introduce the kids in Cole's class to Slugger!

We are planning on making a longer one when we get home to introduce them to the idea of the rules that come with a service dog.

Last Day, and Another One Bites The Dust-Training, Day 10

You can play this in the background and imagine a montage America's Funniest Home Videos style of me falling on my face. Well, actually on my hands.

I went on my first long blind track with Slugger today. I had no idea where Cole and Brian were, just the direction they headed in the beginning. Something that would be more along the lines of a typical life situation. I knew the last place Cole was, but not where he went. Slugger took off like lightning, as usual. We were doing great. I was slowing him down, putting pressure on the Flexi line and we were going more at my pace than him dragging me around like he wants to. He was running so hard though that all of his legs left the ground and he jumped over the line and got hung up in it. I had to stop him (which he didn't like) and untangle the line from in between his legs. After I got him loose, there was slack in the line and he caught the scent again before I was ready. Remember when I said you have to have perfect body position if you are a little whipersnapper like me? Well, my knees were not bent, my heels not dug in and my arms not braced. So-with that incredible force he has, when he snapped into the scent after that slack, it was like being hooked to a race car. He literally pulled me down, and almost got the Flexi out of my hands. I heard the trainer yell to me to just let go, so I did before I was dragged to kingdom come. I landed directly on my hand and heard an audible crunch. After he asked if I was okay, I waved the trainer on and told him that I was certain Slugger would just go and find Cole. So, I rolled around on the ground for a minute and then cowboyed up and walked to where "Super Tracker" had already found the boys. My hand started to swell as we walked back to the car and hurt like the dickens. I put an ice pack on it (I had one in the car already) and we went to get lunch.

I was sure that I had at least broken my pinkie, so everyone at the center convinced me to go in and get it looked at since I was feeling pain up the side of my hand and in my palm. Well, I have a soft-tissue injury aka a really bad sprain. At least my hand is not broken, but I have this nice little ace bandage :)Now I don't want anyone who is getting a tracking dog to be freaked out by all of my random injuries. This is not typical. 1. I am not really the most coordinated person on the planet. 2. I weigh around 110 pounds, Slugger weighs almost 80. 3. My shoulders and arms are not that strong since I do not have enough cartilage around my rotator cuffs. This will not happen to you. Or at least I hope it won't. Seriously, I laughed when it happened. First I sucked in my breath and said/yelled "Aahh!" and then I started to silently giggle. I was glad that Slugger was doing his job. It was me that wasn't ready, not him. I told the trainer, worse things have happened than a broken finger. So, we got to go to the hospital twice this trip...nothing was emergent and we never had to stay. I guess it is just part of taking in the scenery when we travel :)

I can't believe that today was our last day of class. Tomorrow is our big test and then-hopefully-our graduation! I just hope that Slugger passes the food distraction part. Too bad that tracking isn't part of the the test. The trainer said that Slugger is like the kid in Little League that is certain he should be on the Varsity team, and he probably should, but he isn't old enough yet. I am positive that we have a Varsity tracker on our hands. I just have to get used to it.

We talked today about taking our dogs home and continuing our training. Here is Slugger doing lap.After class, Captain Fuzzypants got a bath. Plus a professional blow dry. On the list of must haves when we get home, dog blow dryer :)I am so grateful to the staff at 4 Paws and to anyone who even donated a dollar to make this happen for Cole. Slugger is his perfect match and I am sure that he will prove his worth time and time again. He has already made such a difference in just a few weeks, I can't imagine what it will be like a year from now. Everyone that has made an effort to mold him into the amazing dog that he already is will forever be a part of our little family.

Cole will miss socializing with every adult in sight. He could care less about the other kids, but that is nothing new.It is time though to get back to our routine and our beds. Cole's nap today is still going strong after 2 hours. He is so tired. He keeps saying that he wants to go home. I admit, I also want to...but I want to take all of the amazing people that we have met with us.

Parents Of The Year-Training, Day 9

We are kind of out of our element here. No specific routine. At home, the morning usually goes like this:
Brian wakes up, gets ready for work. Makes Cole's milk, puts it in fridge.
Cole wakes up for the first (or third) time, comes into Niki's bed.
Cole sleeps for another hour, Niki gets ready (if she's lucky).
Cole wakes again, Niki grabs milk gives Cole meds.
Cole watches the show of the day and drinks breakfast.
Niki gets Cole ready for school. Nurse comes, we go to school.
There are slight variations of this routine, but it is usually how we approach morning. Here, all sorts of versions have been happening. We have been waking up earlier, all together. No going back to sleep for anyone. Sometimes I have been giving meds, sometimes Brian. Sometimes I have been getting breakfast, sometimes Brian.

Today, we figured out that we forgot the meds completely. Awesome.

Cole was having a really hard time waking up this morning. We started at 7:00 am, and by 8:30, he still wasn't ready to get up. It seems like all of the kids have hit a wall today. They need routine and this has been anything but. So, in our commotion of trying to get him to wake and get ready, we forgot the morning dose.

He had a rough time at the center and we could not figure out why. Now we know after some process of elimination. Also, watch out grandma's you have been replaced! Cole has adopted a grandmother that is here with another little boy in our class :) I told her to take it as a compliment.Cole had a 12 minute tonic-clonic seizure just after our track at the park. Being outside was enough to just push his brain over the edge.Slugger didn't even have a chance to alert. He was so amped up about tracking and playing the game that he couldn't focus. Then, Cole and I were separated from him for about 15 minutes before the actual seizure, which is in his alert window (we think).We'll have another chance, but we are kicking ourselves about it. At least we know that the medication is helping a little! We wondered about Keppra. Yep, parents of the year...right here.His post-ictal phase was really rough. Without that barrier of Keppra to break through, the rescue meds became super strong. The seizure took Versed and Diastat to break. He was so irritable, it was awful. Lots of screaming, crying and demanding things. "I want this, I want that!" We would give it to him and he would just continue to ask for it.

We got to the mall for our last indoor practice (can't believe it!) and he had kind of mellowed out. We knew that it was not going to last long though, so we asked to go first. Slugger did two short, textbook tracks. We also worked on some obedience, but left early.Good thing. I know my child. I can't always predict what or when he is going to do something, but I knew that he was getting to the end of his rope.Not a moment too soon, we left with him screaming as we headed to the car. The whole way back to the hotel we heard things like, "I want to go home! I don't want to be in my car seat! I want my milk!" over and over and over at a very loud, high pitch. Always fun. Slugger wasn't even really into behavior disruption commands because Cole was just so out of control.

We came back and tried to coax him into taking a nap. That took about a half hour to actually get him in the bed without going ballistic. Once in there though, he crashed hard. After his nap, he was good to go, we went and met up with one of Brian's cousins that lives in the area. You never would have known that Cole had just been through a rotten day. He just cared about the tractors and old farm equipment around the dairy that we visited. Made this farm girl proud!This kid is tough as nails. It makes me feel a little better that he rebounds so well, but still-no awards are in my future.

Proud Mama-Training, Day 8

It is day 8, right?

Today was great. We took Slugger on some difficult tracks through the woods and tall grass. He even went on one where Cole and I back tracked, which is difficult to follow. He did awesome. Brian was totally confused as to why he was going a different way, when he could see Cole and I in the trees, but he went with it and was glad when I told him after they found us that Slugger followed our trail exactly. The trainers said that he will be able to distinguish more between fresh and old scent as he matures. Regardless, he followed the track perfectly and found us! Plus, I did a better job handling him when it was my turn and did not have any injury to add to my growing list. Including the broken nose...which Cole, not Slugger, inflicted. It might not be totally broken, but there is a big red bump and it is super tender. That pirate sword can inflict some damage!

We worked on some more tricks in class and also off leash commands. We did a little tethering and Cole showed Slugger how he goes out at the knees and then tries to get away. Slugger stayed put-awesome.We also worked more on just hand signals, or just voice commands. Slugger did well. He needs a lot of encouragement for roll over, but he performs just like a circus act when it comes to shake, high-five, bang and give five! I think that we are going to try and turn bang into the force, so Cole doesn't run around pretending to shoot people all of the time.

Slugger also was very obedient with staying on his place during class. I was trying to listen and watch Cole (who kept on trying to leave the building) while Brian was once again trying to have someone resurrect my phone. Yep, it's dead.Here is Cole trying to show Slugger the picture he was coloring, cute! Slugger was an angel as I ran back and forth trying to handle Cole. I would really recommend to anyone coming to training to bring a third person that does not need to learn how to handle the dog. Even with our make-up sessions with each other in the evening, we are still missing things. Bug was great though, he stayed put and only got off of his place once while I was running around. I was a proud mama.We went to the mall to practice after class. Slugger is getting more used to tethering and did great.We shortened the strap and had less tangled mess than last time.It was so great to know that he wasn't going any farther than the tether strap. It was nice to not have to keep my eyes totally peeled for places that Cole could hide.It didn't stop him from taking stuff off of displays, but hey-Slugger is only so incredible!We also did two short tracks just by ourselves without the trainers. Slugger really shined! He was amazing. The first time, I forgot to take off his gentle leader. I wondered why he didn't just bolt and get into it in the beginning, but after I talked him up a little more he took off and found Brian and Cole. It was like he was looking at me to say, Uh...mom, take this thing off! I don't play the game with this thing on! Still, he tracked and found his boy in a really short period of time. It gave me more confidence. The second time, I took it off like a good mom and he found the boys even faster. Once again, proud mama. I was handling him a lot better and wasn't being dragged to and fro. We let Cole play at the play area for a half hour. This was one of the first times that I relaxed a little in that kind of an environment. I knew that if Cole left the area, Slugger could find him. If he had a seizure, Slugger could help me to comfort him. It was a great feeling. Cole kept going up to people and saying, "I'm Cole!" like usual, but then he added, "That's Slugger!" and pointed over to his buddy.After the mall, I took Slugger to Disneyland for pets to really test him. In Petsmart, he was incredible. There were un-trained, yippy dogs everywhere that were totally getting in his face. He stayed by me and didn't break command once. Except for when I put him in a down at the cash register and the lady behind me kept telling him how beautiful he was. The nickname Big Head has lots of meanings :) I was proud of him though. He is my second child. Watch out-I am going to start sending people pictures in the mail and expecting to see him on the refrigerator at my relatives, lol!

True Colors-Training, Day 7

Cole and I actually stayed home this morning. Cole needed some rest and I had to catch up on some insurance, nursing, and other misc stuff. Plus, my whiplash from yesterday's track hurts like %&*#. The whole right side of my neck, shoulder and running down to my sciatic is paying me back for not holding my body the way I should have. A note to all of those getting tracking dogs in the future...hit the gym, NOW! I always knew that I needed to be strong to carry Cole around if he is seizing, but adding a strong tracking dog into the mix just ups the ante.

So, we gave Daddy some one on one training time with Slugger, uninterrupted. It seems every time he went out to practice, Cole would get in the way. They worked on tethering and behavior disruption some more and went on two short tracks. Slugger likes the game so much that he tracked the trainers just fine, even with removing Cole from the equation. That would have confused most dogs. The head trainer said that he is probably in the top 2% for tracking dogs that he has worked with.

We met up at the mall to work on some obedience, the first time tethering with Cole and to do our first indoor tracks. Cole was super overstimulated and had a small partial seizure. Then a couple of meltdowns. Slugger did awesome and started kiss, touch and nuzzle without being prompted. Cole even climbed into a small space where I couldn't fit and Slugger just slid right in there and licked Cole until he stopped and came out. AWESOME! The tethering is going okay. Cole just keeps darting and going back and forth and everyone is getting all tangled up in each other. I think that we are going to shorten the strap. Also, Slugger is a little more slow to obey since we put the gentle leader on for tethering and he is distracted. All he can think about in the beginning is getting it off. Still, I am so excited to be able to use it more.

Off of the tether, Cole showed his true colors. Giving out at the knees and throwing himself on the ground, running away, being obsessed with going on the train instead of trying to track, going into a restaurant and hiding under a table, etc. Brian and I were actually trying to put the tether strap on Slugger when he went into the restaurant and the trainer went in and fetched him out kicking and screaming. My favorite though, he climbed a ladder in the middle of a department store. An employee came up to me and started telling me, "He shouldn't do that, he might get hurt". You think? No offer of assistance or anything. It was obvious that I had a service dog in one hand and was trying to fetch Cole down with the other. Instead, he just tried to tell me what to do. Just another day in paradise :)

We also did 5 shorter inside tracks with Slugger. He got confused a couple of times. Once he got stuck in front of a display of blow-up Christmas lawn decorations. It was almost like he was thinking track, track, track, oh-this is different...what it is? Maybe I should check it out. So I had to take him back to where he left off and start again. As we continued to practice, he would get better and better. Getting to the point that he was back on his A game. However, he would always go up to the parent that was with Cole. We have to encourage him to find Cole and not mom or dad. Food....more food. This dog went through an entire bag of mini-begging strips at the mall just for motivation with tethering, the gentle leader and tracking. I think he is going to have a stomach ache tonight! I was just done by the time we got out of there. Taking Cole to the mall is always an adventure.

Tonight, we went to the home of a family in our class that lives locally. The dogs had a great time playing with each other. They all have been working hard and really haven't been able to run around.Cole stayed back to protect the candy while the other kids went out into the neighborhood to Trick Or Treat.The kids were so cute! It was so great to have some time outside of class to chat.I gave a small shout out on facebook, but I just wanted to thank Lexie, Hobo, Alfie, Starburst, Ani, Krypton, Sushi, Charlotte, Donut and their families for inspiring us-and to everyone else that we know who has gotten a service dog for their child. This experience has been so rewarding already. We hope that Cole has many wonderful years with Slugger.

Tricks With Treats-Day 6, Continued

Today we learned a little bit more about tricks that Slugger can do. My favorite is "Bang". I'll have to get a video. We all know by now that Slugger is totally motivated by food and treats. So, Halloween is an awesome holiday for him! He got lots of treats today when we were practicing all of his tricks. I am sure that he will be popular with the kids in Cole's pre-school class.

Tonight, after training, we had a Halloween party with all of the staff. Cole and Bug were quite a hit as the Pirate King and Captain Slugger. We practiced for two days with his hat, since he absolutely hates stuff on his head.Can't you just hear him think Seriously, Mom?

He kept it on really well though after all of our practice and they looked so cute! Brian of course, thinks that I am insane for making him wear it. Cole took his costume a little bit too literally and pilfered and plundered this treat bucket.Then he tried to share his treasure with Captain Slugger!Trick Or Treat!They had a small Trunk Or Treat for the kids. This was Cole's very first time ever Trick Or Treating for real. If you remember other Halloweens, it has just been too much for him. We went to two houses his first year, but he couldn't eat anything. The last two years (remember the chicken and the Scuba Diver?) were just too overstimulating. Plus, he can't have candy. Well, he shouldn't have candy. Now that he is off of the diet, this rule is not quite so strict, so Daddy gave him a little piece of the treasure.Here is what Cole thought about Halloween!
Pretty exciting.

There were awesome costumes in our class. So many, that I had to make a slideshow! I even missed a few really good ones. Like Shaggy the dog being Scooby Doo and his boy being "Shaggy". There was also a UPS man and the UPS truck. I will try and get the other kids pictures tomorrow.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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It has been SO much fun to be here during a holiday. It gives us an excuse to get together after class and just adds another level of excitement.Happy Howl-oween! From our Favorite Houdini Howler and the peg leg Pirate King (you think that I would have planned it, but I actually bought the costumes a couple of months ago!)