New Experience . . .

For the past few years, I have been trying to find ways to work around my physical limitations and develop some kind of excercise routine.  Since Cura came home, I had kind of given up actively pursuing anything.  There were a few reasons, not the least of which was that after a few weeks of adopting Cura I was invovled in a car accident that further restricted my activities for several months.  But, finally, about a month ago, I had reached a point where I was ready to try, once again to develop an excersize routine that worked for me.

Since many of the things that I had either considered or actually tried in the past were either unrealistic or ended up putting too much stress on my body, I decided to try swimming.  It is a good aerobic excercise that also provides resistance to help develop and tone muscles.  On top of that, I could also participate in water resistance excercise classes.  Maybe in the future, as I get in better shape, I can try to do some basic, beginners yoga or tai chi -- something that will help me to increase my strength and flexibility a bit and keep things from getting tight and restricted. 

But, in order to include swimming in my life, I needed to introduce Cura to a new experience.  More often than not, she is within a few feet of me -- even when I am home and she is relaxing.  At the very most she is upstairs when I am down or she is in the front of a classroom while I am wandering among students.  If I was going to start swimming, she was going to need to lay calmly by the pool while I swam laps in the pool.  Since the pool was in a gym, she was going to have to resist any urge that she had to go for a swim herself and she was going to need to learn to come to me when I called -- but not by going through the water.  She needed to know that she had to go around the pool rather than take the shortest route to me. 

So, a new mission for Cura, myself, and the trainers.  We have been going swimming fairly regularly now for a few weeks and things are going quite well.  Cura has even gotten so used to the routine that one time she got up and started in the direction of the woman's locker room/sauna/steam room/jacuzzi (they are all in the same direction) after 20 minutes.  Up until that point, I had limited my swim time to 20 minutes -- I guess she figured it was time for us to be done!  She came back promptly when I called her, but it made me realize that as I extend my swimming time, I am going to have to reiterate the stay after about 20 minutes -- at least for a bit. 

I find this development quite interesting.  You see, Cura has been trained to hold her stay indefinitley if I am in the room with her -- but if I am out of sight, she is expected to break her stay after about 10-15 minutes and come find me (a safeguard in the event I need her help but was not able to call for her).  So, I think Cura might have lost track of me in the water and decided that she needed to go find me!  Not an altogether bad thing -- but it means that I need to 'check in' with her every once in awhile so she knows I am still in the pool and that she should stay put!

All in all, the experience has been a good one and my stamina in the water is slowly improving.  We still have the occassional training session at the gym -- making sure that Cura can perform a recovery series in the different environment and that she is on the ball with all she needs to know.  But, for the most part, she has settled in and is taking the gym in stride.

Crawling out from the Cave!

Finally, I feel like it has been forever!  I apologize to all of you who have patiently been waiting for me to pop my head up and re-enter the blogosphere.  To make a long story short, my absence began because I became ill -- for weeks!  Yes, I was one of those fortunate souls that got that lingering cold/flu (no N1H1 though -- yay!).  After finally recovering, I have spent the last month or so dealing with current activities while playing catch up and getting things back under control.  I believe that I am finally to the point where I can resume my blogging on a regular basis.  So, here goes!

First, since so many of you probably have four legged fuzzies in your home, or know someone who does, I thought I would pass on an opportunity to lend a helping hand in the Gulf.  Some of our local businesses are collecting human and animal hair to be sent to the Gulf so that it can be used to soak up the oil. Apparently, hair has been used effectively in the past to clean up oil spills and some eco-conscious businesses are making it easy for us to gather this easily acquired item and get it to where it can really do some good. Check out Matter of Trust for more information on how collecting all that hair that your dog or cat is spreading around your carpet and furniture can be used to combat the oil gushing into the ecosystem. If you are not aware of any businesses collecting in your area, you can sign up on the website and they can provide a location for you to send your clippings. They are also looking for donations of nylons -- and they don't have to be pristine -- they stuff the nylons with the hair and create a hair boom to gather the oil. Even better . . . do you know a local groomer? Get them involved!

Now, on to a bit of an update . . . well, an update on one thing anyway -- more will follow in later posts.  Some of you may remember that Cura and I were scheduled to go to a Conference in April.  Despite not being fully recovered, we did go.  It was my first with this particular organization so really wanted to go.  But on top of that, this going to be a great opportunity to see how Cura handled a Conference situation.  There are some major national conferences that I want to eventually attend, so this smaller gathering was a good test run.  On top of that, this was the location that had informed me that they required certification for any Service Animals (see Traveling with a Service Dog) and I saw it as both an educational opportunity as well as a sitiuation for me to practice dealing with these types of situations.

We traveled by car and Cura was her usual laid back travel complanion.  Though she does get a bit antsy once we have been travelling for about an hour -- looking around, sniffing the air.  It is almost as if we hit a point where she realized that she doesn't recognize the sights or smells and she spends about 15-30 minutes trying to record them in case she needs them.  Then, she settles down for the rest of the trip until we get close to our destination -- then she gets antsy again, but more expectant, like she knows the trip is about to end. 

When we got to the hotel, I just had to show the front desk Cura's Service Dog Tag.  I had her certificate, but I was not going to show it unless I had to.  Once they had made a copy of the tag, I politely let them know that thier procedures were inappropriate and that, it was possible that they could run into some difficulties if they continued to require people with Service Animals to provide certification when they checked into the hotel since it was against both ADA Federal and New Mexico legistation.  I suggested that the clerk inform the manager so that they can avoid problems in the future.  I am not sure if he did -- but I did my bit.  I was tempted to call and pretend to make a reservation again, just to see if they changed their practices -- but have not gotten around to it.  I still may do it . . . just to see if I need to follow up and contact someone higher on the totem pole.

Cura dealt with the crowds well.  In fact, she was quite popular.  I have run into several people that were at the conference and they all recognize me because they remember Cura.  She was a big hit -- everyone commented on how well behaved she was.  She still has a bit of trouble with camera flashes -- too much like lightening.  But each event we attend where people are taking pictures that require a flash, she gets better. 

The conference days were long and full of activity and the trip was followed by over a week of very busy days.  By the end of it, Cura was knackered!  She even got to the point where she didn't really want to go out a couple of times (more on that, later).  But, all in all, it was a successful trip.  I think Cura will manage a larger conference quite well!

Expression of Disbelief!

Apologies for posting delays . . . I finally caught whatever has been going around.  Still recovering, but am a bit better so I thought I would have a little rant . . . it has been awhile since I had a little rant about all those 'eejits' out there -- so here goes!  (don't know what an eejit is -- google it!!) 


As you know, Cura spent 13+ months at a shelter.  I have a black and white picture of her from her intake at her last Shelter (Watermelon Mountain Ranch) which shows no grey on her muzzle.  You will notice that every picture that I have posted (where you can see her face) shows that she has grey hair on her beautiful face -- and if it doesn't it is a trick of the light.  My beloved Cura has been grey since the day we first locked eyes upon each other.  Since she is only four and a half (at least based on the records provided to me -- and the vet is happy with that assessment), I, my trainers, and pretty much anyone else that spends any time with Cura, attribute her grey to the stress that is the result of a very social animal spending months in a shelter with very limited social contact.  WMR is a good no-kill shelter.  They work hard to socialize the animals, house dogs in social pods rather than in isolated kennels so the dogs have companionship, have volunteers that come in to walk and spend time with the dogs, and generally provide the best care possible with limited resources.  Of course there is room for improvement (I am one of those people who believe that everything can be improved, no matter how good -- nothing is ever perfect) -- but WMR does a wonderful job for the creatures that are fortunate enough to be placed in their care.


So, where do I get off with the eejit rant intro?  Well, I recently had an eejit response to a rather common exchange involving Cura's grey muzzle.  The normal exchange goes something like this . . .


Annonymous Person (AP):  How old is she?
Me: About four and a half.
AP: Oh, she is so grey . . .
Me: She spent over 13 months in a shelters/pounds.  When she went into the last no-kill shelter she was not grey, when I adopted her, she was -- it is probably due to being in a stressful environment for such a long period of time.
AP:  How can a no-kill shelter be stressful?
Me:  All shelters are stressfull.
and here is where this exchange entered into annoying eejit-land . . .
AP:  Well, I suppose that depends on the quality of the shelter . . . .


I chose not to continue this exchange.  Why? For a few reasons . . .


1) I believe that, no matter how good a shelter, it will never be equal to a loving and fulfilling home.  No shelter can give a dog the same quality of life as a 'forever home', no matter how dedicated the staff or how endless the resources  -- in my opinion, any person who is not able to recognize this is not worth the time needed to sway their understanding of the dog/human relationship,


2)  This person, again in my opinion, was not interested in learning about Cura's story -- instead this person wanted to challenge my understanding of reality (notice that I recognize that my interpretation is likely subjective -- but, since it coincides with the interpretation of several professionals familiar with Cura's case, it is certainly a valid possibility!), and


3) I have personally witnessed the behavioral differences between shelter resident Whoopee!!! and Service Dog Cura -- not only after adoption, but before she came home.  For about a month, Whoopee!!!/Cura switched back and forth from the stressed, energy-buzzing shelter dog to the (relatively) stable, comfortable and engaged, potential Service Dog.  On top of that, it is not just me and a small group of professionals that have had these observations . . . everyone who has witnessed her development over the past year has commented on how Cura is clearly much more calm, secure, settled, and confident now than when she was first adopted.


So, annoying person #1 -- next time you think that some shelters could provide a non-stressful environment for a dog, think about this . . . How would you feel if you were confined for over a year to a studio apartment with a small garden and you lived with 1-5 other people in that space?  Let's be generous, let's say that once or twice a day somebody came and took you away from that and wheeled you around (in a wheelchair so you could really only go where they decided you were allowed) a small garden where you saw the same things everyday, sniffed the same smells every day, heard the same things everyday, and felt the same things EVERYDAY!  Would this not be a stressful and monotonous environment?  Hopefully, you understand -- if not, you hopefully never will and there is no point harping on the point.

Enough ranting for one day -- tune in for more 'eejit' stories later.