Sep 24, 2009

A Must Have Book For Everyone With A Dog: “Speaking for Spot”

Al Service Dogs

I’m not gonna make a lot of excuses for not posting much lately, other than to say my experience matches that of so many others over the last year or two – things move so much faster on places like Twitter and Facebook now that blogs almost seem outmoded. They still have their place, but generally for longer things, and there’s a whole content ownership discussion as well – stuff I won’t go into here.

I also don’t mean to turn into ‘book review central’, but there is one other book I’ve been meaning to mention that’s a must buy for anyone with a dog (it’s that good) – Speaking for Spot by Dr Nancy Kay:

http://www.speakingforspot.com/

You can read a ton of great reviews about it with a lot more detail, but I will just say this…

There’s a lotta stuff in Speaking for Spot that it’s either taken most of us 10-15 years or more of not always so pleasant experience and several dogs to learn, or that we didn’t learn even with all that experience, and you can save yourself a whole lotta time and grief by just getting and reading it now.  You’ll be way ahead of the game.

Sep 12, 2009

Dean Koontz Donates $1 Million to Canine Companions for Independence

Al , Service Dogs

I’m sure there will be more to follow on this one, but it’s just been announced that Dean Koontz donated another million dollars to Canine Companions for Independence at their Board of Directors reception last night.

Trixie-Dean


I say “another” million because the last official public number I saw shows that the Koontzes have already donated over $5.5 million to CCI, including a surprise $1 million during the November 2008 graduation at the Southwest Regional Center named for them in Oceanside, CA.  The plan was that they were going to donate $100,000, but they decided to surprise everybody (especially the center director, Linda Valliant) and “add a zero”.

You can read that whole story in the Spring 2009 Southwest Region Newsletter.

Absolutely fantastic news!  I’ll add my everlasting thanks to the many I’ve seen for Dean Koontz already today.

Sep 9, 2009

“The Marines Wanted a Manly Dog”

Al , , , , Service Dogs

Pfc. James Burns plays with service dog Finn at the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment, Camp Kaneohe, Hawaii.Pfc. James Burns plays with service dog Finn at the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment, Camp Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Hey, how about something a lot more fun and upbeat than yesterday’s depressing post about the VA (one of these days I hope to be able to write about them and have a good feeling instead of the bad one I always get now).

That quote in the subject line of this post cracked me up when I read it yesterday.  It’s from Susan Luehrs, executive director of Hawaii Fi-Do, the Assistance Dogs International-accredited organization that just placed a service dog at United States Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment-Hawaii.

She was explaining why they went with a big yellow Labrador Retriever like Finn instead of their usual labradoodles:

“Hawaii Fi-Do works mostly with labradoodles, a cross between a Labrador and a poodle, but the Marines wanted a manly dog, she said.”

As the proud human of one of those “manly dogs”, all I can say is “Ooh-RAH!!”  No frou-frou designer dogs for the Marines (apologies to all you labradoodle lovers…haha) – gotta love it!

Whole story is here:

“Canine reports for duty at Kane’ohe base”

(FYI, Canine Companions for Independence placed Facility Dog Jonah at the parent organization for this unit, the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West at Camp Pendleton, back in November 2008.)

Sep 8, 2009

Finally, The Real Story About The VA And Service Dogs For Veterans

Al , , , , , , Service Dogs

While I’ve addressed this subject before (“Why The VA Has Provided No Money For Service Dogs – In Their Own Words”), I’ve really held off and pretty much kept my mouth shut, hoping that some of the behind-the-scenes discussions I was aware of with the VA regarding service dogs for veterans would bear fruit, and not wanting to possibly mess those up.  Plus, I really think some of the VA people working the issue are good guys and want to help, and I didn’t wanna risk torquing them off.

Well, without going into more detail, I will tell you that those talks have been going on for several years now, things have really fallen apart, and from all appearances they are going nowhere on the VA end.  That’s why I was so glad to see this story all over the place this weekend, even with the misleading headline (BTW, the story doesn’t say this, but Taylor is a Canine Companions for Independence service dog – he and Bill Callahan graduated from the Southwest Regional Center in Oceanside, CA in February 2009.):

Veteran Bill Callahan and Canine Companions for Independence Service Dog Taylor

“After 8-year delay, VA program hopes to help vets”

I’m so used to misleading headlines by now – especially from the AP, where the vast majority of stories originate – that I just expect it, but I’m also really tired of them, too. (At least they got the Department of Veterans Affairs part right – it’s not the “Veterans Administration” and hasn’t been for years. I’m immediately suspicious of any story that starts out that way and you should be, too – it gives you a good idea right off just how thorough the person who wrote it is and how accurate the article may be as well.)

Just like this story – the real headline should be:

“Paraplegic Veteran Gets Service Dog With No Help From The VA”

Because that’s the key point here, and the dead honest truth. With all the hype of late, particularly all the buzz about “post traumatic stress” dogs (which I think is now helping to obscure the service dog need for veterans with severe physical disabilities like spinal cord injuries who, ironically, will almost certainly have post traumatic stress issues as well – but that’s a subject for another post), the reality is the VA has had over seven years to work this one and has really done zip.

I hear now that the VA says they have something in the works, but, honestly, we’ve all heard that one before, and that’s pretty much the same line in that article.  Did you see any details?  Nope. Could just be that with the two pending pieces of legislation (“Wounded Warrior K-9 Corps Act Introduced in Congress Yesterday”, “Service Dogs For Veterans Act Passes The Senate, But What Does That Mean?”) they are a little nervous and feel the need to look like they are doing something.  Both of those bills definitely need work, but, hey, if they get the VA’s attention, that’s a good thing all by itself.

Nonetheless, I’ll say again what I’ve said before – I don’t think the government or the VA is the solution to this problem. But if providing some money gets top-notch service dogs in the hands of more veterans with disabilities who need them, then I’m all for it.

One thing that should have been done LONG ago is allowing veterans with service dogs to receive the same  payments for expenses that veterans with guide dogs have been receiving for years.  That I know of, the VA has not even agreed to do that, although if you look at their official web page for guide and service dogs, it appears that they now have – this is indicative of the serious confusion that’s all around this subject:

http://www1.va.gov/health/ServiceandGuideDogs.asp

Lemme leave you with a coupla things you can do here.  One, you can certainly contact your elected officials to voice your opinion, and it wouldn’t surprise me if you hear about an effort to amend or combine those two pieces of legislation in the near future.  By far the biggest thing you can do, though, is to educate any veteran you know who could be a potential candidate for a service dog (especially those with serious physical disabilities like SCI), or anyone who may know a veteran who might be a potential candidate for a service dog – in other words, everybody.

Please contact me if I can help with that at all.

Sep 3, 2009

“Seventy-pound Labrador retrievers take up half the bed.”

Al , Working Dogs

I cracked up when I read that in this story today about military working dogs at Joint Base Balad in Iraq:

“MWDs ‘out of the doghouse’ at JBB”

U.S. Army Specialist Chris Belville, 25th Infantry Division dog handler, spends time with his canine, Cookie, in his living quarters here Aug. 28.

It doesn’t surprise me – I know enough handlers to know how they are about their dogs, and the stories over the years about them sleeping with the dogs, usually under hostile conditions in the field, are legion.

But there’s just something about the image of a big Lab out there taking over a bed just like they do everywhere.

Not that that would ever happen around here, of course.