WDW with service dog; tell me all about your experience!

[Ms_Butterfly]

Thanks for the pronounciation - not sure I can pronounce the "x" part being first, though!

Yes, CBR is my favorite Moderate. It is great with an SD 'cause there is lots of grass. You may want to put in a request for a room near a woodsy area for more dog pottying privacy (so nobody tries to bother your dog while he's trying to potty).

Go to weather.com to check out the average temperatures for any date and place.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Lol, the X coming first is a problem for a lot of people. Until I remind them of the xylophone. Somehow that makes it easier on people.

Thanks for the link, I'll surely check it out.

I really liked cbr last year and after seeing how green it is, decided it would probably be a place that a SD can benefit from the grass.

 

[SueM in MN]

News, finally!!

Last thursday I had a visit from my contact at the dogschool and one of their dogtrainers. But way more important; one of their dogs. It was a visit to see if the dog and I would click and if all of us would be positive about maybe teaming the two of us up. Conclusion of that day? A team we will be!

CONGRATS!!!!

Congrats on Xippe! How is that pronounced?

I'm glad you asked. It would be nice sometimes if we had a pronounciation option that popped up correct pronounciation for things.
I wonder who named him and where the name came from?

Lol, the X coming first is a problem for a lot of people. Until I remind them of the xylophone. Somehow that makes it easier on people.

Thanks for the link, I'll surely check it out.

I really liked cbr last year and after seeing how green it is, decided it would probably be a place that a SD can benefit from the grass.

The front desk should also be able to give you information about dog 'relief' spots.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thanks Sue! How are things in your families life concerning SD's? I remember reading somewhere that you were looking into it also? Any new developments?

Such a popup would be a great aid if you ask me. Especially for those of us that aren't native english speakers.

The name Xippe was given to him by the breeder and the dogschool. (they are in close contact as early as deciding which dogs to pair up to make a new litter of puppies ). Out of the 6 puppies that were born, 3 became SD's. All of them have names starting with an X. The other 3 have names with no rhyme or reason to the first letter.

I would never have came up with Xippe (not that creative), but really like it. Turns out it's a more used dog name. And there are at least 2 kids with that name also. Now that if you ask me, is a case of "poor child".

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks Sue! How are things in your families life concerning SD's? I remember reading somewhere that you were looking into it also? Any new developments?

Such a popup would be a great aid if you ask me. Especially for those of us that aren't native english speakers.

The name Xippe was given to him by the breeder and the dogschool. (they are in close contact as early as deciding which dogs to pair up to make a new litter of puppies ). Out of the 6 puppies that were born, 3 became SD's. All of them have names starting with an X. The other 3 have names with no rhyme or reason to the first letter.

I would never have came up with Xippe (not that creative), but really like it. Turns out it's a more used dog name. And there are at least 2 kids with that name also. Now that if you ask me, is a case of "poor child".

Thanks for asking!

We bought a male British Lab in mid January. He's 9 months old now and has been thru 2 levels of obedience class and will start further obedience/some service dog training in September. The breeder has not trained SD, but has trained some therapy dogs and what his own dogs can do is amazing. We also can work with a woman who does do SD training and there is a local organization that will help with 'owner-trained' SDs.
The breeder helped us to choose a dog that was very mellow, but still outgoing. He also chose one of the British Labs that would get larger than average so he will be tall enough for DD to reach in her wheelchair.
His name is Niles and here is his DIS Board debut (note: the picture was taken at the breeder's place when we went to pick Niles up after some training. I don't have a hunting patterned couch - DH and I don't hunt).

 

[cccdisney]

Sorry - a little threadjacking here!
Sue -
This is my first time posting on the disABILITIES. I lurk a little but usually spend most my time on the Disneyland board since I live in California and visit DL regularly.
Anyway, I wanted to mention that my son (5 yrs old with Autism) has an Autism Service Dog that looks just like your Niles! We have had Keeper (a girl) since December of last year and she is a Keeper! We have not taken her to DL yet because unfortunately my son does not like it there and refuses to even get out of his stroller. So our last few trips he has stayed home with grandparents. We received our son's Service Dog from 4 Paws for Ability out of Xenia, OH.
I need to visit this board more often - lots of good info!

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Niles is cute Sue! How long does all of the the training take, you think?

And as long as we're posting pictures, guess I can do the same.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Yeah for the cute doggy photos!

Not so yeah for the weird duck patterned couch ... glad it isn't yours, Sue!

 

[dclfun]

I'll have to find a good "face" photo of Skye. We just got back from the Amvets national convention in Orlando where we did three speeches for them about what Skye has done for me and how she's changed my life. We spent Thurs. night at the Rosen Centre hotel, the speeches were on Friday, I had to work yesterday...and now I'm exhausted ( but on my way in to work this a.m.). Amvets donates lots of money to Paws with a Cause as they train dogs for veterans along with individuals such as myself so I was glad to have an opportunity to "give back" for the wonderful gift I received. We are at Disney all the time and have a cruise planned this year and next on DCL too with friends who are helping us out. I can't wait as we haven't been on the ships in awhile. Sue- Niles is gorgeous. I'm assuming he's not full grown in the photo as he looks a bit smaller than Skye and she's a smaller English lab as well, although they tend to be shorter and stockier than American labs anyway. Xippie is gorgeous too! I'm very partial to Labs and their personalities-we are all so lucky to have lives blessed by a service dog so that we can maintain our independence and lead the lives we want to live.---Kathy ( and Skye)

 

[SueM in MN]

Sorry - a little threadjacking here!
Sue -
This is my first time posting on the disABILITIES. I lurk a little but usually spend most my time on the Disneyland board since I live in California and visit DL regularly...........
I need to visit this board more often - lots of good info!

Glad to see you here. Do come visit more often.
We can always use a DL expert!
For those who have never heard of Autism Assist dogs and what they can do, here's a link to an article (the first part about Sam and Reno).

Niles is cute Sue! How long does all of the the training take, you think?

And as long as we're posting pictures, guess I can do the same.

Your dog is cute! We would have liked a yellow one, but the only yellow one that was left was going to end up too small.

We were told that he will probably be 2 yrs old before he is actually fully trained.

Yeah for the cute doggy photos!

Not so yeah for the weird duck patterned couch ... glad it isn't yours, Sue!

LOL
I posted the picture and then when it came up on the computer I thought, "Oh, ick! People are going to think that is my couch." So, I went back and edited my post really quick. The breeder has a lodge which is really nice, but any patterned fabrics are some kind of hunting pattern. His place would be my taste, but the furniture - NO!

I'll have to find a good "face" photo of Skye......

Sue- Niles is gorgeous. I'm assuming he's not full grown in the photo as he looks a bit smaller than Skye and she's a smaller English lab as well, although they tend to be shorter and stockier than American labs anyway. Xippie is gorgeous too! I'm very partial to Labs and their personalities-we are all so lucky to have lives blessed by a service dog so that we can maintain our independence and lead the lives we want to live.---Kathy ( and Skye)

It's really hard to take a good face picture of a black dog. I've got a lot that just look like black blobs because all the face features blend in.

So nice for you (and of you) to be able to tell people how much difference a SD can make in someone's life. And blessings to the many volunteers who make SDs available to people who need them.

The picture of Niles was taken about a 2 weeks ago. According to the breeder, he actually is pretty much to his fully grown size. He's about 60-63 pounds and may get up to about 64, but shouldn't be much bigger. The breeder's biggest adult males are about 70, but the majority of the males are about 60. His females are between 40 and 60 pounds.
One thing that seems funny to me is Niles looks big to us in real life, but then when we see pictures of him, he looks so little.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Sue, I agree. In the picture Niles does look cutesy small. I didn't even notice the pattern of the couch, too busy looking at Niles. I kinda like the humor of his name (or more, my weird humor I guess). When I hear the name Niles, I automatically think of Niles, from Frasier. So reading the name, I automatically made the assumption Niles would be yellow/blondish. Finding out he is actually black is just humor.

Two years to train, sounds familiar. What will Niles job be for your DD?


Xippe also is an english lab. Thanks to google I've been able to track down mulitple of his ancestors. Really fun to see their pcs and read up about them. I kept pretty much away from reading up too much about different breeds as I knew there are multiple breeds our school works with and I stated to be up for anything except a poodle. Now I'm fully jumping into lab info and I'm falling in love more and more. Thankfully I'm not the only one. My parents allready claimed to be first in line to adopt Xippe when he retires. (I know it will be soo hard, but when the day does come -many many many moons from now please!!- my living arrangement is such it wouldn't be fair to then have 2 dogs) Poor boy is acking to get to work and they're allready talking about his retirement.


Kathy, how old is Skye now? I can really sympathise with your giving back whenever possible additude. We tend to be very priveledged in the Netherlands. For seeing eye dogs and service dogs one doesn't have to pay a cent if one fits the "hmo" rules for one. About $15000,- of the actual costs of training etc. aren't covered but payed for by donations. Signaling dogs (for the deaf or hearingimpared), seizure dogs and dogs helping out kids with autism (which is only just starting up around here) is never covered under the "hmo" and fully funded by gifts. However no client has to pay a dime for their dog. A real priveledged situation compared to most of the world.

I will be getting Xippe because of people and businesses out their donating money. It's a small thing to keep the cicle going. I've got a pretty public function in our local community which makes it easy to get some attention for these organisations and hopefully some donations. I can do it and one day another person will get 'THE call'.

Have fun on the upcoming trips and let us know how it went this time!

 

[SueM in MN]

Sue, I agree. In the picture Niles does look cutesy small. I didn't even notice the pattern of the couch, too busy looking at Niles. I kinda like the humor of his name (or more, my weird humor I guess). When I hear the name Niles, I automatically think of Niles, from Frasier. So reading the name, I automatically made the assumption Niles would be yellow/blondish. Finding out he is actually black is just humor.

Two years to train, sounds familiar. What will Niles job be for your DD?

We wanted a name that sounded sort of British. DH and I do watch Frasier and thought that 'Niles' fit the dog.

His jobs for DD will include picking things up and giving them to her, alerting us if he is in her room with her and she needs something, alerting us to seizures, opening doors when she is out and hopefully, alerting her to not go off the sidewalk unless there is a curb cut. She won't ever be able to be totally independent, but we feel that he will be able to make her world a little more accomodating.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

We wanted a name that sounded sort of British. DH and I do watch Frasier and thought that 'Niles' fit the dog.

Who knew I would be so close. Niles does sound very british, but also proud. And a SD deserves a proud name, so good choice if you ask me!

His jobs for DD will include picking things up and giving them to her, alerting us if he is in her room with her and she needs something, alerting us to seizures, opening doors when she is out and hopefully, alerting her to not go off the sidewalk unless there is a curb cut. She won't ever be able to be totally independent, but we feel that he will be able to make her world a little more accomodating.

From the sounds of it, you're right. Even the seizures alone. While you sound like a very relaxed mom, you'll probably have some eye or ear on her most of the time now for 'just in case she has a seizure'. Once Niles can alert others, you can let down your guard more and I can imagine that would mean she can feel a bit more freedom. I know for myself, because of the fact that I will always need 'adult human' help to some extend I value the help Xippe can provide me even more. That becomes even more important and more freeing in some way. Kind of 'the smaller your world is the more freeing even the smallest help can be'.

Sounds like Niles will be a multitasking SD. Are you sure he isn't female? I mean, multitasking is something we women are known for.

 

[LauraVV]

It can be tough to find a service dog for a child. Our daughter's dog is wonderful. The agency we used also trains dogs for use with autism. They do primarily mobility dogs but they also do ventilatory alert dogs. They are one of the few agencies to train dogs for use with kids (without their parents in attendance) over the age of eight. Our daughter passed all their required testing for adults when she received her dog at the age of 8 years 2 months.

Her dog assists her with mobility and he also gets me when her oxygen levels go down. He also helps me with mobility (when she lets me use him). It's amazing what he can do!!!

Even though we have 2 family members with service dogs I'd never be able to train one myself. It takes an experienced agency 2 years of training (for several hours a day) for a trained service dog. It's also tough to be able to pick out an appropriate service dog candidate.

We were able to get a foundation to pay the cost for our daughter's dog ($6500). The cost to us was much less than the cost to train a dog (over $20,000).

 

[cccdisney]

Here is a picture of my son with his Service Dog. She will be two next month. I guess we will need to have a party!
I love the dis boards. So much great info!

 

[dclfun]

Skye is 5 years old now and I've had her for three years. I got her when she was 2, which is a typical age to recieve a fully trained SD. People who get dogs from the organization who trained mine don't pay a penny and kind donors that I don't even know supported me. I was told her "cost" was 28K, not including the person who was her foster Mom for a year when she was a puppy who fed her, had her spayed, plus basic vet care, shots, etc, and did basic obedience training, plus took her all over her town in Nebraska ( she was a lady pastor who had raised over 40 future SD puppies).

Sue- Skye and Niles are about the same size then as she also weighs about 60-65 pounds. She got a bit tubby when I first got her but has slimmed down now that I've adjusted her food intake. Long story...switched dog food to a better brand that I didn't realize had a higher caloric value.

Our next WDW trip is to Ft. Wilderness for the weekend of Aug. 15th in a cabin my daughter rented to celebrate my grandson's first birthday. We'll be having a family bbq and doing some of the activities there, plus of course visiting the new dog park. Then we'll be there for 14 nights beginning Aug 31-Sept. 14th with all of us at POP, then we'll be there for Sept 21-26 at AKLodge to visit with relatives from out of town who'll be at Pop. Unfortunately I'll be working some of that time but since my workplace is so close I'll be coming "home" to a Disney resort.

Off to work this am...but when I get a day off I'll try to find that photo!---Kathy ( and Skye)

 

[SueM in MN]

People who get dogs from the organization who trained mine don't pay a penny and kind donors that I don't even know supported me. I was told her "cost" was 28K, not including the person who was her foster Mom for a year when she was a puppy who fed her, had her spayed, plus basic vet care, shots, etc, and did basic obedience training, plus took her all over her town in Nebraska ( she was a lady pastor who had raised over 40 future SD puppies).

We have organizations also that raise and train SD with no cost to the person who gets the dog. We elected to go the 'buy it yourself and train it route' because one of DD's friends was turned down by several local agencies because she could not speak clearly enough (I can understand her though ) and would not be able to be totally independent. For one group, she was on the waiting list for 3 years and was notified they were ready to match her. At that point, they did an evaluation and did not approve her. Why they didn't do an eval before putting her on the waiting list, I don't know.
Since my DD can't talk at all, and will never be totally independent, we knew there was not much chance to get a SD from most of the places near here. The friend of my DDs eventually got a dog from the organization I linked to earlier with the explanation of autism. That organization will also accept people into their 'owner-trained SD' program.

Our next WDW trip is to Ft. Wilderness for the weekend of Aug. 15th in a cabin my daughter rented to celebrate my grandson's first birthday. We'll be having a family bbq and doing some of the activities there, plus of course visiting the new dog park. Then we'll be there for 14 nights beginning Aug 31-Sept. 14th with all of us at POP, then we'll be there for Sept 21-26 at AKLodge to visit with relatives from out of town who'll be at Pop. Unfortunately I'll be working some of that time but since my workplace is so close I'll be coming "home" to a Disney resort.

Off to work this am...but when I get a day off I'll try to find that photo!---Kathy ( and Skye)

Sounds like a nice time, even if you have to work.
I hadn't heard about a dog park - tell us more, please.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Gosh Sue, that does sound like the world upside down. I mean, why waist all that time, energy and hope of an applicant and the company alike by putting somebody on the waitinglist and not evaluate until having a possible match? That's like putting the best reward right in front of somebody and then taking it away. Oh my!

The organization I use evaluates us before putting somebody on the list. We actually need an OT to write a report stating why a SD would be beneficial and the dogschool/organization needs to give a positive advice before hmo will judge an application. Then you go on the waitlist and wait. A year after the first evaluation there will be a second one to update things. Great great great system as you asked me, because that second evaluation was one of the reasons the trainer remembered me when they were dscussiing Xippe and pleaded the case of why she thinks Xippe is a better match with me than he would've been with another person the other trainer had in mind to match Xippe up with. Got to love that system!


CCCDisney; cute picture! I don't know which of the two is the cutest.


Kathy, you allready have a grandson? Wow! Congrats on his upcoming birthday. Shame you'll have to work during the trip, but what a place to come home to after a day of work.

By the way, does any of you happen to have the link to the webshop for the dogbooties for hot days? I'm searching my head of, but so far it looks like we only do cooling bandanas and cooling mats.


Sounds like an SD is more expensive here, just like almost everything. The cost overhere are almost 40K, 15 of which come from donations/sponsoring.

It sure is a wonderfull new world. At the moment I'm having my insurance guy sort out insurances for the dog. The doggie-hmo (yes, we've got such a thing ) is all sorted out, so now he's looking into travelinsurance. That sure is a question he's never had before and has a number of insurance-companies go . There's no way I'm taking any risks with Xippe while being abroad!

 

[dclfun]

Yes, I have a grandson...boy am I OLD! But heck, I still feel young in my heart and despite my disability, am quite active. One of the questions I had with DCL insurance was that if I had to cancel because my SD was unable to travel due to illness or injury, would I be covered. I *am* covered at work under FMLA if she is ill. That's happened only once but if she can't work, neither can I. The answer I got was no, I would not be covered and I could not find another policy that would cover me either. The best I could do was take the DCL insurance knowing that I'd at least get a 100% voucher if we were unable to sail which also covers me onboard for any medical issues.

I get four weeks paid time off work per year so I can't complain and I work in Celebration so I'm not far from WDW. We have so many relatives visiting that I often get a room with our DVC points to stay onsite while they're here so at least we can visit in the evenings. I'm unable to physically drive home (as I live 35-45 minutes away) when I get too tired so after a day of work and an evening of visiting, that's my best option. Out of those three weeks, almost two are real vacation time, lol.

I looked at several different SD organizations before I applied to the one that gave me Skye. Literally I'd just finished my needs assessment when they called me with a match. Their waiting list is based on need vs "getting in line to wait" and I had a greater need than other clients. It's also based on the training needed as they custom train the dogs. I met a lady at the AMVETS convention who recently was placed with a standard poodle from the same wonderful organization. Her dog does totally different things than mine as she has use of her arms but for both of us, we get the help we need from our SD's.

Sounds like the Netherlands at least has more things covered than here in the US. Our medical insurance coverage, IMO, needs a serious overhaul.

Kathy and Skye

 

[mechurchlady]

Waggin' Trails Dog Park
Location: Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground
Dogs: Age 4 months and up. Not in heat. Pets can run free in the dog park only.
Walkers: Quest staying in one of the Fort Wilderness Campground pet loops. Dog must be accompanied by a person age 12 or older.
Time: Sunrise to sunset.

http://allears.net/aa/aa012808.htm#ques6

he new Waggin' Trails Dog Park is located off of the 300 loop of the Fort Wilderness Campground, in the northeast area of the resort. Dogs accompanied by guests age 12 and over can now have some off-leash fun and exercise in the new park. No unaccompanied dogs, puppies under 4 months or dogs in heat will be allowed. Use of the dog park is limited to FW guests staying in one of the designated pet loops. Waggin' Trails is open daily from sunrise to sunset, and as usual, there are several more rules and regulations to abide by, which you will be advised of at check-in.