Louie Whippet

the
Service Dog

Beverley and Louie Whippet

Louie is our 8 month neutered, male, white and red brindle whippet. He is beautiful. We just fell in love with him. Louie and I bonded immediately.

I have several medical conditions and I must rest frequently in bed, sometimes for days until I have strength enough to get up, walk, etc and take care of myself. Louie would sense that I needed comfort and even as a young dog of 8 months old, will come and lay with me for hours. He always wants to be in the same room with me and comes to check on me if he is busy doing something else.

I read about Service and Therapy dogs a few years ago and hadn't thought about one for myself but Louie took this role on for himself. I looked on the Internet under service dogs and I found two books that I highly recommend, and were highly rated, if you are interested in training your own pet or are planning to get a dog for service or therapy work. It takes a lot of patience and diligence these books help guide you through it.

Anyone can train a dog for the work if he has the temperament for it. All dogs want to please us and with gentleness, love and patience we can train them to help us. I trained Louie on the bed a lot. I could have him in a down stay with him sitting at the side of my chair. I have him sit and stay for his food and a treat or a favorite toy. I make a game out of it and I work with him in several sessions a day. When he doesn't do something correctly I just keep working with him until he gets it right. Never hit with your hand. Our hands are hands of love, not discipline.

The title of the books I use are "Team Work" and "Team Work II" by Stewart Nordensson & Lydia Kelley. There is a new DVD of "Teamwork II " out also by Lydia Kelley since Steward died. Go to Amazon.com for prices and more information about the books. These books are for disabled people to train their dogs.The books are spiral bound and nice to hold and carry. People don't have to be able to speak or move but they can get help from friends or a family member to train their dog.

Louie loves his work vest. The vest was purchased on-line at www.activedogs.com . It is bright orange and says he is a Service Dog and not to pet because he is working. His name badge says he is in training. By law, the Service Dog is just like a Seeing Eye dog and must be admitted with you. Hotel, motels, restaurants, etc. cannot, by law, charge you more money for having a Service dog or place you in seating out of the way of others.

Louie loves to shop at Costco, HomeDepot and Fred Meyers. When I ride in the electric shopping carts at the stores I hold onto the leash with Louie and he walks along side with me. He takes it all in stride. We think he is pretty special.

We educate a lot of people when we take him in with us. He has ridden on the tram in Salt Lake City, Utah this summer over 4 times without any preparation because I couldn't walk the distance and I was trying to find a certain store on the tram route. He rode an escalator and did great. We showed him the moving stairs and he got on and jumped off when it met the floor. He does great in elevators. He stands and he holds his footing. He goes with me to medical appointments and even to the emergency room. I put him in a down stay and I was so proud of him as he stayed and I held his leash but he didn't get in the way. People can't believe how well behaved he is and so young. We started out slow and worked up to longer outings in stores, restaurants or quick food places.

When we take him into restaurants he lays under the table. I reccommend taking a small mat for the dog to lay on under the table so he doesn't have to lay on a soiled floor. Louie is clean and I don't want him laying where people put their dirty feet. We never feed him from the table, so he doesn't expect it. We praise him with words and give him rewards but only after we eat and only outside the restaurant or in our van when we leave. When training in other places we reward him with words and small broken doggie bones. It is enough and we never stop praising him for good down or sit stay. Good job. Always keep up the praise even if your dog has learned the command perfectly. They love to please us and its so easy to give them our love and praise for all the love and help they give to us.

I hope my experience will help others see the benefit and possibility of having a Service or Therapy dog. You don't have to buy already trained dogs, but can do it yourself. There are many reasons to have a service dog and you can teach them to do for your particular needs.

Sincerely,
Beverley Service & Louie

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