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

[Ms_Butterfly]

Merrick's dry food's chicken is organic, I believe. And B.G. Before Grain is their new company and is just as high-quality and made in their own plants (same as Merrick), but the dry food is grain-free and the canned is 100% one type of meat (i.e. a can of chicken, a can of tripe, a can of salmon, etc.). And they both don't use by-products, fillers, artificial colors, etc. of course.

For treats, I like buying Zuke's brand (especially the filets and Z-Ridge chewies), dried fish skin and fish meat (forget the brand names), Merrick's treats (especially the Moo Tubes), and others.

For supplements, I use Nupro, Welactin, and Dasuquin (the latter two are free from IAADP for US members).

BTW - I highly recommend using the measuring cups that are silicone and collapse flat! The silicone washes SO easily and collapsing them flat is great for storage and road travels (when I fly I do separate bags per dinner, but when I go for the summer via car, I can't do that).

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thnx for the info everyone, I'll look into it.

I'm not too keen on bringing along food for the whole duration of a trip myself. Not only on the 'lugging it along' part -am already lugging along an extra suitcase and 2 bags of medical stuff-, but there also are countries that will not allow it and/or give you a great deal of problems about it. The TSA seems ok with it, but if possible I prefer bringing along a small amount for the first duration and buying or ordering the rest on site.

 

[dclfun]

Will you be able to get assistance in carrying/lifting the food and have transportation to go get it once you're in another country? I'm just thinking of logistics. I have had Skye's food shipped to the location where I'll end up before, along with other medical supplies shipped from my provider. There's just no way to lug everything, esp. for a longer trip.---Kathy

 

[Paragd911]

I had my Service dog(s) at WDW & Disney cruise many times. The cast members know not to pet them. Also they are helpful when the dog needs a potty. I will post a few photos.

on the Ship this was his Potty

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

What great pictures Mark!! How was it to cruise with Shadow?

 

[Paragd911]

What great pictures Mark!! How was it to cruise with Shadow?

we went on two. He did fine. we are going again for new years. He pulled me allover the ship.

 

[mechurchlady]

What a handsome dog, great pictures. The sand chair picture would be good in the cruising section of FAQs to show people what is available. Thank you for the great pictures.

Um on the last one I was wondering who peed in the water, lol.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Fabulous cruising with a service dog photos! I like the Pluto wearing a life jacket one (and I noticed the funny signs in the background - gotta love the Disney sense of humor!).

I did a cruise with my SD, but not on the Disney line.

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for the pictures, Mark.
They are great and it looks like your dog had a good time while he was working.
I'm curious if he just wore the Mickey ears for the pictures or if he was OK wearing them just walking around?

 

[yellowcrayon]

Paragd911: The picture of your service dog shaking paws with Pluto is the most heartwarming thing I've seen all week...nay, all month! Thanks for sharing!

 

[dclfun]

Thanks for the great photos! I've yet to figure out how to post mine as I keep getting a message that the file's too large. Shadow looks alot like my Skye who also loves to shake hands with Pluto. She doesn't appreciate Goofy as much but adores Pluto...and Snow White, lol. My dog also LOVES to wear the ears and any kind of hat. She has the Minnie ears, princess hats, and I even made her a YOAMD ears set in silver. She really loved the gold 50th anniversary ears as they had more of a flat felt base on the top of her head, but alas, even a SD must remain in style. I've had trouble with crew members wanting to pet her though. One got down on his knees and cried into her fur, telling me he had been on the ship a long time and missed his dog more than his wife. ---Kathy

 

[Paragd911]

Thanks for the pictures, Mark.
They are great and it looks like your dog had a good time while he was working.
I'm curious if he just wore the Mickey ears for the pictures or if he was OK wearing them just walking around?

He wore the ears without much complaints.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Oh Kathy, what a story about Skye and the crewmember on the cruise! That has me at the verge of sobbing. If posting pictures remains a problem, maybe it's an option to upload them to a webbased photo album and posting the url to it?


Great pics indeed, Mark! I had some friends and family check out this (and some others on her) topic. SD's aren't that common overhere yet, so it tends to wow people even more when they see pics of SD's at WDW or on a cruise. And yep, the Mickey ears and pics with Pluto are big hits!

 

[SueM in MN]

you can load them onto the DIS Community picture site. That's where I've loaded all the pictures I posted. You use your DIS user name and password to create a gallery of your own. Then hit 'upload' and you can put any of your pictures from your computer onto the gallery.

 

[dclfun]

Thanks for the uploading suggestions and I'll give that a try. I have some photos also of an accessible Ft. Wilderness cabin that I wanted to share plus the ones of Skye on the cruise, etc. Obviously I'm not the most technically saavy when it comes to photo sharing. ---Kathy

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

(If I'm going too much Offtopic feel free to move the topic, moderators)

Less than 3 more months to go until WDW with Xippe. We just had our second training sesion today and things are going really well. Funny thing is he's a lot like me, in the good and the bad. Anywya, we also discussed doing WDW with Xippe.

The trainer gave me some basic tips about flying (drinking, eating, maybe using safety harness etc.) but she's also very honest. There are very few clients with a SD from their school that fly with the dog as far as they know. So all the info she can give is on common knowledge, basic knowledge of Xippe and a bit of guessing.

Both she and me would love to hear about the experiences of other about flying with their SD. What are your do's and dont's, tips and tricks?

 

[SueM in MN]

(If I'm going too much Offtopic feel free to move the topic, moderators)

That's OK.
It's kind of a continuation of some of the things from earlier in the thread.
And seriously, a lot of this thread is not exactly on topic - but it is fun.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Thnx Sue. I know it's fun. Well at least it's for me. I'm a sucker for all of these dogs.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

What are your do's and dont's, tips and tricks?

I don't feed my SD the morning we fly (I do give her her dinner the night before). I also take her water away from her that morning (or, if an afternoon flight, a couple hours before leaving). Before heading off to the airport, I make sure she has pooped and peed that morning (especially peed just before leaving). During the flight, I get a cup of ice cubes and every now and then let her lick (not eat!) one to quench her thirst while making sure she doesn't drink too much where she'll need to pee.

For going through US airport security, check out the TSA's site - under the disability section there is a page with info. about going through security with an SD. (There are also pages for going through with other medical devices, such as wheelchairs, implants, etc.) I find it easiest to send my dog through the metal detector first and then walk through myself after it has cleared from her setting it off (her mobility harness has too much metal). Some people find it easiest to walk themselves through first and then call their dog to them, though, so practice going through doorways at home to see what works best for you.

If either you or your dog need help getting calm when flying, lavender oil is a natural calmant you can use by dabbing it on yourself or your dog's paw pads.

I like to sit in the bulkhead row (the first seat of a section - it has a wall in front of it instead of a row of seats, giving more space to the dog). Request it from your airline. On flights between, into, and out of the US, the airlines are required to move somebody assigned to a bulkhead seat in order for a person with a service dog or a person with an unbending leg (i.e. prosthetic) to sit there UNLESS the bulkhead row is an exit row (a disabled person can't sit in exit rows for safety reasons and neither can a service dog block an exit row for safety reasons).

Any other questions, just ask! We're frequent flyers.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Especially the tip about using icecubes sounds like a great one! Never would have came up in my mind.

Sounds like I should look up the ACAA. Somehow I didn't think it would be valid for flights to the US, silly really. I tend to fly bulkhead seat only anyway, but am running into a bit of a perhaps incooperative airline. They're refusing to assign the seat untill 24 hours pre flight, but also adding a disclaimer about not being able to guarantee, frequent flyers yadiya. It's a United codeshare (not operated by United though) so I had the idea I might get further when contacting them (ACAA and all), but they tend to be even more difficult to talk to.

Lavender oil is also a good tip! Going to discuss that one. The trainer discussed talking to the vet about natural relaxants to have available, just in case Xippe would more or less stress out when flying. He loves cars, but you never now what he thinks of flying untill we do it.

So far, Lufthansa (who is operating the flight) needed to be told we've got legislation within the EU about flying with a mobily disabilty since this year multiple times. Amongst others they tried to refuse Xippe, then told me he must travel in cargo. Neither of which is true, actually as long as Xippe behaves (which he should, considering training ) the new legislation allows me to take him aboard with me. After pointing this out nicely they changed their tone, but somehow I've got this feeling I might have to point them towards the ACAA to actually get me a proper seat instead of playing wishfull russion roulette.