Saxon The Service Dog

There are many things I don't know about having a service dog.    First thing is, what exactly is a service dog?  Although they are out there, service dog's don't seem to be out in the public when i'm out there.  Recently I interviewed Christina Jacobs, who is co-training Saxon to be her service dog.  Easy person to talk to, and Saxon is such a friendly and well behaved dog, barely bugging her at all while we were talking to each other!

Saxon did not start as a service dog.  Saxon had been her pet for around a year and a half before the idea of having a service dog to help her came up.  After battling anxiety her whole life Christina's doctor suggested that she try using a service dog to help her deal with the symptoms.  After some research, which seems like a lot with as much as she knows, she found out that not only could she do the training herself, but that she could train Saxon to be her service dog.

At first things were a little rocky, as although she is ready and willing to train Saxon, she is no expert.  A friend got her in touch with Possibility Dogs, and also she has taken some dog obedience classes at Finish Forward Dogs which helped with little areas that they were having trouble with, such as how to act around other dogs.  With Charlie this wouldn't be a big deal, but in one case Saxon actually tripped her, quite the opposite of helping!

So in what ways is Saxon supposed to help her?  His main job is to nudge her, paw at her (try to bug her really) to get her to notice the compulsions she has related to her anxiety so that she can stop.  Another job that they are working on is having Saxon nudge her or pull her out of area's that are to busy when she is starting to have a panic attack.  Pulling? Oh Charlie can handle that one!  She also hopes that he might be able to become a therapy dog someday.

Although Saxon is still in training, he has come a long way.  He already has passed the Canine Good Citizen test as well as a temperament test.  Although there is no final test per government regulations, they do have to demonstrate that Saxon will perform his tasks "most of the time" as she put it.  There is also a Public Access Test, administered by Possibility Dogs Inc, which isn't required but is a good idea for any service dog that will be in public regularly.

Great thing is, she is also a huge dog lover.  Although the questions I wrote down to ask her only lasted about 20 minutes, our chat lasted over an hour!  we both had great stories to tell about Charlie and Saxon.  We even like the same dog park in Portland!  Also she has a Facebook page for Saxon where she spreads the word about service dogs, plenty of great pictures of Saxon, and helps educate people on how great "bully breeds" are.

She also mentioned something, and thankfully sent me a video, Saxon can chirp.  I really didn't believe her at first, as he is obviously not a bird, but there is proof, and I almost fell over laughing when I first saw it.  This dog does not stop being cute.

teaming up with possibility dogs

Charlie is amazing.  He's gone from puppy mill dog with some anxiety issues, to a dog that melts the hearts of anyone that watches him, whether it be fetching the ball, or rubbing up against someone and using his deadly weapons called "puppy eyes" to put a smile on everyones face.

It's inspiring to see dogs able to have such a positive effect.  Charlie in't the only example of the positive effect dogs have on people.  Everyday there are therapy dogs and service dogs making a difference in the world in a way that no one else seems to be able to do, and without asking for anything but a little love returned and a full stomach at the end of the day.

With every dog it boils down to one thing:  Possibilities.  Sometimes it's a therapy dog melting your heart, sometimes it's a service dog giving you the chance of a normal life, and maybe even sometimes it's a SAR dog using his nose to save someones life.  Everyday dogs create the possibility of a little more happiness for the people that know what sort of magic a dog can create.

So how can Charlie and I help? Well hopefully Charlie will be my buddy in therapy someday, but for now we can help support those that help make these possibilities come alive. That's why our hike is no longer just a hike. Me and Charlie have teamed up with Possibility Dogs inc. to take pledges for our hike and donate these to help them help everyone they can.  How can you help?  Keep an eye on our posts this summer, fall and winter leading up to our hike to learn more about this amazing
organization, those that they have already helped, and how you can donate when the time comes!

Raw food diet experiement

So in my last post was my opinion (with more than a few facts behind it) on the carnivore vs. omnivore debate.  Really that was just my curiosity being put into the a blog post.  At the same time I was also testing the idea on Charlie to see what he would eat.  I took pretty good notes on what I fed him, including "guesstimates" on the weight of the different items I was giving him.  I call it a guesstimate because I don't have a scale, therefore the measurements are likely off occasionally.

Some facts I came across:

• Dog's need to have a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1.  Therefore for 1 pound of chicken, a dog needs to have 1350 mg of calcium.
• Egg shells are a great source of calcium.  Turn it into a powder you can mix it in the food.  1 teaspoon  = 2000mg of calcium
• CHARLIE LOVES EGGS!

Some worries from my roommates: