STEWART and I took a trip to the center to take a more active role as a volunteer.  The trip impacted STEWART’s life and my life in ways that will last forever.  I believe we both grew as a team and we both gained a little more self confidence than we had before. The trip began with April and I brainstorming about how to fund for a long -term project.  I also began going out to the location that the pu ...

 Each year our service dogs are required to complete Public Access Testing.  This year, CAROLINE, CAYLIE, and NIKKI decided to practice together at Concord Mills Mall.  We worked on walking through crowds, having a stranger pet our dog, walking with a shopping cart, lying down in a restaurant, completing a down, sit, and stay, and handling noise distractions.  The dogs did a great job!  The biggest di ...

On Friday (060112), my life as I knew it would be changed forever.  Sherri (my trainer) drove from Wilmington to Durham, with a four-legged creature for me.  The few days leading up to that day were filled with a lot of emotion, anxiety, and self doubt.  All my friends, acquaintances, and church parishioners were all very excited as well. It was a long process, but after seeing STEWART, the process was w ...

     This week I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Wilmington to work with STEWART and my new trainer Sherry.  I was very anxious and excited.  I was anxious because I was traveling alone, which is something I have not done in a long time.    I was anxious about the car trip, staying in the hotel, and meeting Sherry.  Over the years it has gotten harder and harder to meet new people and to ...

This week, we had various clients with PTSD and a P4P dog come in and speak to us. Their was 1 previous paramedic, 2 Military men with PTSD, and 1 Military man with TBI. They said in one form or another how they never thought they would get PTSD, that it really is the straw that broke the Camels back. Each person rely heavily on their dogs for function and are especially devoted to their dogs. They are awar ...

This week in class, we watched a movie about an organization (I am not sure how much I can disclose so I will air on the side of caution). Kyria asked us to write down things we liked and didn't like about the organization. I liked: that clients with the greatest needs go to the top of the list, their camp community (the idea of having other experiencing this life changing event together), and the focus of ...

The last two weeks of class have been mostly guest speakers, and it has been incredible to have them all in the class with us.  The first speaker was Mrs. Ivancevich and her daughter's (Amanda's) service dog, ELLIE.  Amanda was diagnosed with infantile spasms as a baby and ended up having brain surgery to remove the parts of her brain that were causing the seizure.  ...

Once we got Barb's van unloaded and everything staged and set up, we had a lot of people come up to us and ask about the dogs and the prison program.  A couple of families were <i>very</i> interested in the dogs, so they filled out applications.  Hopefully those families will be able to adopt their dogs at graduation! Also, many families wanted to know more about the Pet Expo on Sunday, Februa ...