Sure, you do it because you love it, it’s a great thing, a lotta fun, very worthwhile and meaningful.  But you gotta use your head and not let your heart override it, and that means making some decisions and doing some things that aren’t so much fun sometimes, and it can be tough – REAL tough.

Best analogy or comparison I can give you is flying. I spent a big part of my Air Force career as an aircrew member linguist flying around in the back of airplanes in the not always so friendly skies. More to the point, a large portion of my close friends are pilots. Every single one of them loves it, will tell you it’s their life, has a lotta fun doing it, but also knows they have to be very serious about it, because if you’re not, people die. At the same time, if all you did was focus on the serious stuff, you wouldn’t do it, so they have all developed the necessary balance between the fun and serious parts.

Can’t think of any better example there than this short video of an Air Force Thunderbird crash in Idaho seven years ago:

If a Tbird pilot can make what’s a rookie mistake – miscalculate his altitude so that he started a routine loop back toward the ground 800 feet lower than he should’ve  – it could happen to anybody.

Now I’m not gonna tell you that people or dogs will necessarily die in the service dog world (although it is certainly possible and does happen) because of human mistakes, but you can seriously screw up somebody’s life if you get things wrong, not to mention the overall negative effect you can have on the entire service dog community, and you better be very clear about that.

And yet I see stories every day where people never got that in the first place or have forgotten it somewhere along the way. Well-meaning people who really want to help, but you can tell from the things they say and the stuff they do that they’ve lost their focus, let their hearts get the best of their heads, and forgotten what the goal is. It’s not just people new to the game, either – I see it happening with people who’ve been around for many years and oughtta know better as well.

How do you know if that’s happening to you? Well, if you find yourself doing or saying any of these things, you better take a real hard look in the mirror and ask yourself just what it is you’re really trying to accomplish and why you’re in this world.  These are all things I’ve seen said and or done by people involved with service dog training in just the last few months.

“It makes me FEEL really GOOD inside, that’s why I do it. I just enjoy watching other people FEEL GOOD and that makes me FEEL GOOD.” (my capitalization)

Notice a pattern there?  All swell and wonderful, but lemme give you a clue – it’s not about whether you or I – or even the person getting the dog, for that matter – “feels good”.

“The people who have used pit bulls as service dogs generally won’t go for any other breed.”

Huh? Notwithstanding whether the breed is even appropriate for the specific tasks someone needs (e.g., pulling a manual wheelchair) or any of the legal stuff going on, if people in wheelchairs with Goldens and Labs get unfairly hassled in public access areas all the time, how much more problem do you think, say, somebody with a controversial breed like a pit is likely gonna have, especially if the person has no visible physical injuries? No way am I saying that’s right, but it’s the reality, and if you choose to train pits for them in spite of it, you better recheck your priorities, and fast.

“In another training method designed for soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress, dogs are taught to mark a 3-foot space around someone by walking in a leashed circle, clearing people away who might be crowding the individual. “

C’mon, you can’t be serious. I can’t see how you possibly could be considering, among other things, the ramifications of something like that on the entire service dog community (more on that in a later post), and I think maybe you’ve let the emotions of seeing a veteran who’s dealing with post-traumatic stress get to you (that’s not some abstract discussion for me, either – again, more to follow).  (This one is particularly disappointing to me, because, unlike the majority of these deals, it’s being done by a place that, up to now, has had a pretty good rep.)

“The average pet can often be transformed into a highly effective service animal if the family is willing to institute the structure necessary for success in the program.”

Not sure how you define “often”, but…yeah, sure. That’s why Canine Companions for Independence, for example, goes to the trouble to breed all their dogs, train them for two years, and still only graduates 30-40% of them. Please.  That, by the way, is the epitome of being serious, and talk about making decisions you don’t want to make (i.e., releasing dogs from training), but that you know are for the good of everybody concerned, including the dog.

And, last, this doozy:

“The dog’s a companion, but also in a sense, the dog’s a weapon…”

WHAT?????!!!!!?????

That’s enough for now, I could go on all day. Trust me that these are not a few selective quotes taken outta context to make my point, either. I have a real sensitivity to that kinda thing – matter of fact, I just saw the definitive example of that when it was done to a good CCI veteran grad friend of mine in a national news magazine article about service dogs in only the last couple weeks.

Bottom line is this. We already have more “half fast” service dogs out there than we need, and surely do not need any more. But that’s exactly where we’re headed if this nonsense keeps up.

And the real irony here is that a number of the people saying these things are combat veterans, who’ve been through many life-or-death situations, so they sure understand “serious”, but, based on what they’re saying, don’t have a clue when it comes to training service dogs.

Please – do everybody a favor.  Get your head on straight here, and if you can’t do that, get outta the game before somebody gets hurt.

I tried to embed it with the start time set (something you can easily do with any YouTube video and you’re supposed to be able to do with these, too), but it didn’t work for me, so you’ll need to let it load and then drag the bar to the 18-minute point where the CCI segment starts:

Companion article (pun intended) with more detail has now been posted at Defense.gov as well:

“Defense Leaders Promote Benefits of Assistance Dogs for Veterans”

On top of everything else, I want to point out something Buddy addresses that most of us who’ve been involved with service dogs for any length of time have heard hundreds if not thousands of times from virtually everyone who has a service dog.  Namely, how people would completely ignore them before they got the dog, but once they had the dog, that all went away – people stop, talk, actually go out of their way to meet them.

As Buddy says, “Oh, yeah, they ignore you – just flat out…they walk right by you like you’re invisible.  And now they come up and, you know, wanna pet the dog…” (Trust me, I know all the etiquette rules very well, and I also know that many with the dogs allow it, too – it’s up to them, and that’s not the point here.)  A complete, 180 degree change from how life was before.

That’s one of the biggest reasons I have problems with the whole concept of what service dogs for those whose primary or only issue is post-traumatic stress are being trained to do – actually keeping people away from their human partners. That runs directly counter to the role service dogs have appropriately played for as long as they’ve been around (with the exception of one group of dogs whose proponents have been pushing this idea for years and are now doing it with veterans) and is something I plan to address at length in another post.

Haven’t had a chance to talk to anybody who was at yesterday’s event yet, but I’ll be very interested to see what they say.

Probably the most overlooked subject I see with people looking for a service dog, and one of the major advantages a first-class service dog organization offers, is support – it’s just not something most people normally think about in the overall scheme of getting a service dog.  And yet it’s one of the most important things to consider, and one of the biggest reasons I always recommend going to a top organization that will offer lifetime support – for both you and the dog.

That’s clearly not something you get if you train a dog yourself – you’re completely on your own.  A trainer, even a great one, may or may not be there when the time comes for another dog, and doesn’t likely have anything close to the resources a good organization has for both placing your dog with someone else or providing you a successor dog.  Even among organizations, you need to take a close look, because that varies widely, too.

What you’re looking for is exactly what Buddy talks about.  An organization that has a built-in, long-standing process for something no one really wants to think about, but yet knows is gonna happen someday.  It’s tough enough to begin with, and you sure don’t wanna be fooling around with what happens to a dog you love more than anything and has been so faithful to you for many years, or worrying about where your next dog to meet the needs you still have (and which may over time have become even more serious) is gonna come from.

Kudos to Buddy for tackling a very important subject I know she doesn’t really wanna talk about and doing such a great job.

If you wanna be smarter about service dogs than 99% of the population (including a number of celebrities and politicians – big surprise there, huh?), gimme 2 1/2 minutes and watch it.

Watch the images, but pay close attention to the words, too, because they hit all the high points and very quickly. Bottom line: whenever you hear or read anything about service dogs, rack it up against what you see here.

Tons more I could say, but I’ll just add that the video will also give you a very good feel for why I have the attitude I do and what’s behind a lot of what you see me say here.

“Canine Companions Give Help, Hope to the Disabled”

Simple as that – CCI isn’t just gonna give you a dog, and I’d like to believe no other reputable organization will, either.

OIF Veteran Andrew Pike and his CCI Service Dog Yazmin

And, while it might not seem that way at first, that’s exactly how you want it. You don’t want someone to just give you a dog, or tell you they already have a specific one picked out for you and all you need to do is fill out the application.

If you’re gonna do this right, and make a lifelong match of a dog and human into a team, you have to know both ends of the leash exceptionally well. On the human end, that means a fairly thorough application process – CCI, for example, has a written application followed by phone and in-person interviews, and will tell you the process takes several months.  It’s not accidental that the resulting matches they make are legendary.

I wanted to bring this up again now because with everything I’ve been saying here lately about options other than service dogs, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.  I’m still VERY concerned that not nearly enough veterans apply for them, especially those with severe injuries like SCI.

I’ve heard the usual reasons for not applying for several years now and I’ve addressed those here (see “I Don’t Want To Take Someone Else’s Dog” among others). On top of that, I’m even more concerned now because, if I went by what I see online, in the news, and on TV, I wouldn’t even know that service dogs have a role helping veterans with serious physical injuries – I’d think the only thing they do now is help with post-traumatic stress, which is very much NOT the case.

Now, I don’t want to waste your or an organization’s time, either.  For example, if you’re 100% certain that you need a seizure alert dog, there’s not much point in applying to CCI because they are very upfront that they don’t train those type of dogs. So you do need to research the places where you’re gonna apply

Lemme let you in on a little secret.  Well, maybe not a secret, but something I don’t remember ever seeing advertised, and that I know for a fact is true.  Part of the process in an organization determining if someone is a good candidate for a dog is whether they show enough initiative to ask for one in the first place.  So take a hint.

Look, there’s no way you’re gonna get “voluntold” for this one.  If you’re seriously thinking about a dog and have done the research, apply – don’t think it to death, just do it.

First, it’s funny (and I can definitely use a laugh with all the serious stuff I’ve been writing about here lately), and, second, it gives you a real behind-the-scenes look at just what it takes to train service and hearing dogs to perform actual tasks for people with physical issues who really need them (as opposed to all the “feelgood dogs” I see stories about daily – sorry, said I wasn’t gonna get serious).

Rob and Joss from radio station KFGY in Santa Rosa, California do “we come do your job” stories, and, as part of that, went to the Canine Companions for Independence National Headquarters and Northwest Regional Center that are co-located there. Lotta familiar faces and places in this video that bring back great memories for me and likely anyone else who’s been to the Santa Rosa campus:

Lots I could say, but here’s the one key concept I want you to take away from this one.

Amidst all the humor, note how big a factor the human end of the leash is. A common comment from CCI graduates after attending the two-week Team Training at one of the regional centers is something like “We learned very quickly that the dogs were not gonna be the problem – we were. The dogs were very well trained – the trainers had to train US to be able to be smart enough to work with them.” One of those “I’m joking, but really I’m not” things.

That’s something that gets lost in the discussion about service dogs – most people naturally think about the dog taking care of the human, especially if it’s someone with severe physical issues, but they don’t think about the human taking care of the dog. And that’s a HUGE part of the equation, something you need to be thinking about whenever you see service dogs talked about as a possible solution, both for a group of people and on an individual level as well. The top organizations know that, and it’s a key part of evaluating whether someone is a good candidate for a dog.

And that also means that a key piece is having trainers who not only are training masters when it comes to the dogs, they also have to deal with a wide range of people with varying physical abilities and personalities, with some associated emotional stuff going on in some cases as well, and they have to be able to effectively train them to work as a team with the dogs. That’s something that even those of us closely associated with CCI forget about a lotta times, and why I have such a tremendous respect for those trainers.

Again, a great video.

Patient Luis Medina at Hialeah Hospital gets a visit from Ruby, a pit bull therapy dog. With them, left, is Dr. Reinaldo Carvajal.

“Service or menace? Pit bulls skirt law by being used as service dogs”

Let’s just bypass the “scam” angle and assume for the moment this isn’t being done just to get around the ban and these really are service dogs.

I’ve heard probably all the discussion about using non-traditional breeds as service dogs.  A lotta times that consists of someone saying something like this (and in the snottiest or snarkiest tone you can imagine): “Well, it’s not just Labradors or Golden Retrievers that can be service dogs.”

That’s true. But, beyond the excellent reasons for using Labs or Goldens (here’s a hint: “Retriever”), life is already hard enough for someone who truly needs a service dog – why make it any harder by using a pit bull?

If someone needs a service dog, they generally already have enough to deal with – a serious physical disability, for example. Adding a service dog, as wonderful as they are and as much benefit as they offer, brings on more responsibilities – a service dog team is just that, a team. Why in the world make it any tougher than it is already by using a controversial breed?

Look, I’ve met some nice pit bulls, I’m definitely not a fan of Breed Specific Legislation, and I’m convinced most dog problems are really their human’s problems. Although, that’s easy for me to say – hafta admit if I was the parent of this 6-year-old little girl who just had her face badly torn up by a pit here in Colorado Springs the very same day this article came out, I might not be so calm and rational about it: “Girl maimed by pit bull coming to terms with appearance”

Thing is, though, we can argue all day long about whether pits have an undeserved reputation or not, but the reality is if you use one as a service dog, you are automatically adding to the stuff the human partner has to deal with. Period – no way around it.

Again, there’s nothing that says you can’t do that, BUT it’s like everything else with a service dog, and that’s really the point I want to make here.  The focus has to be on making a life-changing, lifelong improvement for the person receiving the dog, and everything – EVERYTHING – has to be evaluated in that light. And the question you have to ask yourself or an organization is “What’s the priority here?”  Is it rescuing pit bulls, or a crusade to prove they aren’t bad dogs, or (fill in the blank), OR making that truly life-changing improvement in someone’s life?

And the answer is not “both”.  It’s like that old thing about how “you only get one thing in the box – what’s it gonna be?”

Well, what’s it gonna be?

“Amazing dog services Salt Lake paraplegic”

Beyond the obvious emotional story, the video does a great job showing many of the skills of a properly trained service dog, in particular pulling someone in a manual wheelchair, an often misunderstood but very important function for some.

I am well aware that many are not comfortable with dogs pulling someone in a chair. Although, to my surprise, I just noticed the other day that probably the most promoted veterans-only service dog organization specifically says right at the top of their application in italicized print “It is (our) policy that our dogs do not pull a manual wheelchair.” Something to very definitely consider if you’re a veteran in a manual chair with a specific need for your dog to pull you, because that organization just ruled itself out for you.

I’ve always chalked people’s dislike of this task up to misconception, but having just seen an apparently older Lab of unknown origin last week at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in Denver straining to pull a large man in a chair, I now have a better appreciation for why some are concerned.  When trained properly, with the proper weight restrictions and health examinations, as CCI does, it can be a very safe and essential task for some.

I personally know a number of CCI graduates who make use of this function daily, and at some point I plan to write something about just why it’s so useful for them – a longer discussion for another time.

For now, though, I think seeing Tadaki and Kelly rolling through that mall says a ton all by itself.

Read this excerpt from their “Doing What’s Best for Our Companion Animals” fact sheet – note especially the last sentence (my emphasis):

Working Dogs

Relationships of mutual respect and benefit are truly wonderful between dogs and humans; however, working dogs are instead often used as a substitute for innovative non-animal programs that intelligently address human needs. Sometimes working dogs are used in situations that are considered too dangerous for human beings—and therefore too dangerous for animals. They may be treated cruelly in preparation for and during their lives of servitude. Some people love their working dogs, but others don’t, which means that working dogs cannot count on having a home where they will be treated well. Also, some working-dog training programs contribute to overpopulation by breeding their dogs (with the notable exception of programs for the deaf, which rescue dogs from shelters).

When working dogs become too old to work, they may be separated from their human companions and either “retired” to another family, returned to the training center, or even killed. Optimally, humans should be relied upon for support of the disabled rather than working dogs and other animals—it is too common for animals to be exploited and abused.

Not clear enough for you?  Just in case, if nothing else, read that last sentence again:

Optimally, humans should be relied upon for support of the disabled rather than working dogs and other animals—it is too common for animals to be exploited and abused.

Not only is that an absurd comment, it’s a ridiculous accusation with no factual basis as well as an insult to the vast majority of people with service dogs and the organizations that train and support them.

It’s very disappointing to me when I see anyone supporting this organization, but especially so when it’s a service dog organization volunteer or, worse, an employee.

No one should support this organization – NO ONE.  Don’t you support them and tell everyone you know not to support them, particularly celebrities – I’ve long said that if we can get them to stop dropping the large sums they do into this place, it will go away.

Which can’t happen soon enough.