Seizure Dogs…….. They have arrived.

February 14th, Valentine’s Day.

The day my wife Tammy and son Damien came home from a week in Florida, going through more training with the service dogs they are getting.

Akuna and Kiara came home with them.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPicking them up at the airport was easy enough, the dogs were a little confounded with the white stuff falling from the sky, but from what I can tell handled very well for Tammy and Damien and laid down in the back seat with Damien and rode home better then I was…..

Damn snow.

Many changes have come to our household now.  Some we were prepared for, some we weren’t.  The cats aren’t happy with us lol

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis is the true old man of the house…..

Not Me.

Hellboy has been our cat since before we got married.  Tammy has had him for like 12 years now.

He ruled the roost.

Till now.

Kiara learned the hard way last night when she got just a little to curious when he was trying to curl up and sleep on our bed.  Fortunately no damage done, to either of them.

The biggest issue though is me.

You see every now and then the kids get rambunctious and either run or stomp through the apartment.  The problem is we live on a second floor, I feel the floor move, I hear the noise and coupled with the feeling of bothering the downstairs neighbor, who happens to be my landlord.  I get a anxiety attack.

Last night it was mass chaos for the first hour after everyone getting home.  The kids happy to see mom home, the excitement from Damien about being home coupled with the dogs excitement about a new place with cats…..

I had a bad one and had to leave the apartment till my heart stopped racing.

Over time, I will get over it.  I have no choice.

If you are planning on bringing in a Service Dog into your house there are some things you really need to take into consideration and prepare for.

If you have cats…..

Make sure that you put their food and water up out of the dogs way.  Our dogs are on a strict timing regiment for their food and water due to the fact that Damien will be taking Akuna to school.  We need to do our best to ensure that there will be no accidents during school hours and this is what M&R (our trainers) have suggested and done while training.

Make sure that they can not get to the litter box.  Not only is the thought of the dogs eating kittie cookies not really a pleasant thought, but if they do that will expose to issues such as worms, that will make them sick and ensure unwanted visits to the Vet.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANext on the list is make sure all your kids small toys are picked up and put away.

Within minutes of being home, I was brought 3 stuffed animals and a small pillow out of the boys room and Kiara found a Lego figure that had been lost under the recliner.

We should’ve been a little more prepared for that then we were.

Those small things can also get lodged in the insides of these dogs and could also mean unexpected trips to the Vet and unfortunately worse.  We had a neighbor who had a Doberman that ate a sock and blocked his intestines.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI will be posting about our journey with Akuna and Kiara from time to time.  Hopefully our experiences with these dogs will help you understand just what will be going into having a Service Dog from day to day.

It isn’t going to be a easy trip down the street.

There are going to be bumps and potholes and definitely some unseen curves.

The piece of mind I will now have about the safety of both my wife and son is well worth it.

If you have questions, thoughts, ideas……

Please feel free to contact me.  I will answer what I can, steer you in a direction and listen to your advice.

And here we go……

 

 

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