Dog Off Duty: Zido the Normal Dog

   When you've been partnered with a service dog for over a year and half, there are a few questions you seem to run into over and over again. For us, those questions are of course: "What is he?" "How old is he?" "Why do you have him?" "Where does he sleep?" and my favorite..."Boy or girl?"

   There's one question, though, that I seem to get day-in and day-out: "Does he EVER get to be a normal dog?" Now, sarcastically I want to answer that with, "Nope. Never. Work him all day, everyday. Gotta work him to the bone. He needs to earn his keep." Instead, I end up telling them that yes, of course he gets time to just be a dog and I remind them that he truly loves his job. But, like the rest of us, he loves his time off as well. For this post, I wanted to show you guys just how "normal" of a dog he becomes when the harness comes off.

   Before we begin, let's check out this video to see just how much he changes during the transformation from on-duty to off.

   I mean, who hasn't felt that way at the end of a long day? When he gets home and I take him off harness, Zido becomes like any other dog. The issue I run into, though, is that even though the harness may be off, his brilliant mind never turns off. I swear to you I will tell him not to do something and he looks deep into my eyes and CHOOSES to do it anyways...

   For example, I made a terrible mistake that the trainers from Canine Partners for Life warned us not to make: I let Zido sleep in my bed with me. I mean, I told myself, "Just for a little bit so we can bond!" Yeah, well a year and a half later I would really like to reclaim my king size bed. So a few weeks ago, my mom and I embarked on a craft journey and remodeled an old coffee table into a special, four-post bed for King Zido. During the making of the bed, Zee was in love. We were making it in my living room, so Zido would come and crawl into the table while we were still trying to figure out what to do.

He also wanted to "help" me paint so he took it upon himself to sit on me and supervise my every move.

All was well and good when the bed was finished and still sitting in the living room...

   But then I tried moving it into my room and he realized what that meant. He saw MY bed and he saw HIS bed and said, "Ohhhh...yeah, no I still want the big bed."

   My brilliant plan to force him to sleep in his bed was foiled when I fell asleep each night...I would go to bed alone and wake up with a furry lab cuddled up to me. I realized that of course he would know when I was truly asleep because my heart would tell him that! So now the bed will be upstairs for the other two dogs to enjoy while Zido and I continue to figure something else out.

   On his off time, Zido also loves being outside. He will run and run with his basset hound brother, Luigi, and his mutt sister, Annie. During the winter, we have found that Zido LOVES the snow! This past January, we had a record breaking snowstorm, which absolutely thrilled Zido.

    
   As spring has begun, I've also found that Zido is quite the little gardener. He has taken it upon himself to "assist" my parents in their background landscaping.

   He will also be of service by rearranging some of the plants that are in our backyard...we've found that his true gift isn't alerting to my condition, but rather he is a proud horticulturist.

   Above all else, though, Zido's absolute most favorite thing to do when he is off-duty is to snuggle up close to me and drift off to sleep.

   Whenever I am out in public, Zido is always on harness. He has a job to do and he takes his job very seriously. However, working dogs still have their time at home when they can just be a normal dog that runs around and probably get into a little bit of trouble. Each partner will have their own rules when it comes to when the dog is off harness, but my general rule is that if my shoes are off, his harness is off. That means, for us, when we are at home he is mostly off harness, but there are many days when I'm not feeling my best. On those days, I will put him in his smaller vest, which is a regular looking service dog vest that CPL provides. It tells the dog that they are still on duty and working, but it is much smaller than his full harness.

   What will continually amaze me is that even when Zido is completely off harness and not technically working, he is ALWAYS on the job. He has woken up from deep sleeps to alert me and has stopped in the middle of playing to tell me something is wrong. He has even woken me up in the middle of the night because I was having a nightmare and my heart rate was increasing. This dog is seriously amazing and he blows me away every day. I'm always proud to show him off in public and watch him work, but some of my favorite memories happen when he's just my goofy lab at home.

   We have something super special coming up next on Zee and Me! Miss Michelle (the woman who told me about CPL) will be writing a guest post about her own experience with training a therapy dog! She has been such a huge part of my life and I can't wait to share her wisdom with the rest of you!

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me

Zido Turns 4: A Doggie Birthday Party

   It was by far the WEIRDEST birthday party I'm sure any of my friends have been to. But I have to say, sitting in a chair and looking at my 15 friends that came to a birthday party for my dog while Zido opens the presents they brought for him was so incredibly hilarious and humbling. I can't believe how blessed I am; I mean 15 humans willingly gave up their Sunday afternoon to sit in a living room, eating dog-themed food, and watch a dog open birthday presents. Sometimes the amazingness of the people in my life is overwhelming.

   Well, this post is going to be the pictures from Zido's big day and a couple points from the day. Please don't judge me for the corny food names, but hey when you have a dog with you 24/7, you start to get a litte pup-crazy. Up next on Zee and Me is "Dog Off-Duty: Zido the Normal Dog"

Zee and I started the day off with some yoga. As you can tell he was THRILLED to be up early on his birthday

Mini Dachshunds. AKA little bitty BBQ hot dogs

Of course there need to be hot dogs at a dog's birthday

The full array of dog-themed foods...but for humans

Oh the cheesiness is just beginning...

Chocolate AND puppy kisses? Is there anything better?

Animal crackers are the same as chew toys right?

Well this is just a given...

Kibbles and Bits for people. Yum!

I had NO idea there were Scooby Snacks for humans. And they're delicious!

The birthday boy enjoying some pig ears

Yes, Zido opened all of his own presents. His "take-it" and "tug" skills came in handy.

Zido, Garni, and Bud waiting ever so patiently for their pup-cake

So excited Garni and Bud could join us!

Zido's favorite part about his birthday is opening presents

  I'm really lucky to have two other women in the Northern Virginia area who have service dogs from Canine Partners for Life. We try to get together for each of the pups' birthdays so of course they were at Zido's! I used Toni's recipe for this super special pup-cake for the dogs and the video below is when the boys were finally able to gobble it up.

I hope you all have a blessed week and as always, thank you for reading!

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me

Two for One Special: Dating with a Service Dog

    So you might be chuckling at this topic, but I know that some people out there probably wonder "What's it like to date with a service dog at your side 24/7?" or even "What's it like to DATE someone with a service dog by their side 24/7?" No judgement at all, because I actually thought the same thing when I realized I was getting a dog. So here's our story and hopefully you love it as much as I do...

   For those of you that have been following our story from the beginning, you might remember that I was in a relationship at the time I was partnered with Zido. Well (for completely unrelated reasons!) soon after I came home with Zido, that relationship ended. I was then faced with the thought of "Who the heck is going to want to be with me now?" I knew of plenty of other service dog partners who were in relationships, but I couldn't think of any that began AFTER the service dog entered the picture. So, as you can imagine, I thought for sure it was just going to be me and Zido from now on, because who would willingly want to be with someone who has a "beacon of difference" next to them all the time?

   After a little bit, I started talking to a guy, but that quickly fell through. Then I started talking to another guy, and that eventually fell through, too. To both of their credits, the talking didn't end because of Zido; they both knew I had him and each told me they were fine with it. There just wasn't the connection that should be there in a romantic relationship with either of them.

   Then came Zack. We had known each other for over a year, but just as friends. We started texting a little bit and eventually decided to hang out to play pool and ping pong. It was truly one of the best "hang outs" I've ever had. A little bit into the night, the ping pong ball went out of bounds and flew over this little moveable half-wall. Zack is a little over 6' tall, so he was able to go over it with no problem. I, on the other hand, couldn't. I also forgot that I was wearing jeans and that I'm only 5' 5". Needless to say, I did not make it over the wall and instead tripped over it, bringing the wall down with me. It was absolutely humiliating, but after realizing I was okay, we both busted out laughing. Then, to add to the embarrassment of the moment, one of my biggest "date fears" happened...Zido alerted. I wasn't sure how Zack was going to react to me having to sit against the wall while my dog sat on me in front of the other people in the room. It was a pleasant surprise, then, when he immediately just sat down next to me and continued talking like nothing was wrong. I was hooked.

   We hung out more and more after that, and eventually it came time for our first "official" date. He asked me to go out on a Saturday night and told me to wear something I felt nice in. When he picked us up, he had a single rose for me,and he told me to give it to Zido so he could hand it to me. He also mentioned that he had a surprise for Zido when our date was done. He took me to Jackson 20 in Old Town Alexandria, which was one of the coolest restaurants I've ever been to.

Zido giving me Zack's rose

   It was a dessert date, so while we were there we each ordered a dessert and some wine. The food was remarkable but what I'll remember most from the date was the wine. Both of us like a sweeter wine, so when we asked the waiter what he recommended, he told us about this one particular dessert wine. We had never tried it and I told Zack it was too expensive, but he said it was fine and ordered two. When the waiter came out and we saw how completely and utterly SMALL the glasses were, we both immediately started cracking up.

It was seriously smaller than a shot...

   After we had finished very slowly sipping on the wine, Zack got the check and we left. When we got out of the restaurant, he said it was time for Zido's surprise. I asked what it was and he told me he had gone to this dog-bakery and bought him a few special dog-desserts so he wouldn't feel left out of the date!! Ladies...I swear my heart just burst. It was so sweet of him to think of Zido and I couldn't even get the words out to tell him how much it meant to me. Then we walked around Old Town and ended up in this creepy cemetery. We were just walking through but got really freaked out when Zido kept intensely staring at this one spot and there wasn't ANYTHING there! So we very quickly left...

   All in all it was one of the most special nights of my life because it showed me how normal I can feel as a woman with a service dog. When Zack eventually asked me to be his girlfriend a few months later, he made sure to include Zido and has never once said anything about Zido being embarrassing or wishing that I didn't have him with me. If anything, Zack is more protective of Zido in public than I am; he hasn't been afraid to say something to people that make rude comments about Zido and me. Zack and I will be together for a year in June and I can really say that with my two Z's next to me, I've never felt more loved or more protected.

   I know, this was a super cheesy post, but it was important to me to show that people with service dogs can (AND DO) live incredibly normal lives. We go on dates, we go to school, we get jobs, we fight, we cry (by the way, Zido is such a typical guy and has NO clue what to do when I'm sobbing. I look up and see that he has brought me almost all of his toys and is just staring at me like "Ummm does this help?"), and we laugh. I have been so blessed to find someone who accepts me for everything that I come with and has accepted Zido into our lives.

   Here are some pictures of my time with Zack and Zido. Coming up next on Zee and Me: "Zido Turns 4: A Doggie Birthday Party!"

Helping out at an event at The Kennedy Center with my boys

On Aug 8, 2015, we had a day at the park to celebrate the anniversary of me being partnered with Zido

All dressed up for Halloween with my scarecrow and not-so-cowardly lion

Playing in the snow in Wisconsin

Easter 2016 :)

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me

Change of Plans....My Dog Can Fly!

   I've made a change of plans from what I said I would post last week. Last week, I had said that the next post would be called "Top 10 Things NOT To Say To Someone With A Service Dog" but I'm not going to write about that. I was starting the draft and writing down various comments about why they shouldn't be asked, but I really didn't like where the post was going. I want this blog to be positive and uplifting, and I felt like I was making that post very snarky and kind of negative. Don't worry; throughout my future posts, I'm sure I'll mention all of the questions that shouldn't be asked, but I really felt like listing them out was just going to go against the message I want to send.

   So instead, I'm going to write about flying with Zido! I get a lot of questions about how that works and what it's like, so I figured with springtime and travel season coming up, that now would be a great time to touch on this subject!

   Zido and I have flown together eight times and each time is a little different. We've flown out of Reagan and Dulles in DC, Phoenix, Colorado Springs, Wisconsin, and Las Vegas so I've gotten to see how the different airports handle service dogs but to be honest, I haven't had a single bad experience at any of them. It helped going in with an idea of what I was going to do and what my rights are as a person with a service dog.

   The preparation begins right when we're booking the tickets. For a majority of the flights, we've flown Southwest because of the ability to choose our seats when we get on board. Obviously, you can do this on other flights, through the online ticket-booking, but I like the way Southwest does it because, as someone who has priority boarding because of Zido, we always get the seats that work best for us. Those seats are normally in the second row. We can't sit in the emergency exit, but the ones in front normally have a fair amount of leg room. I need leg room because that's exactly where Zido sits! He is trained to curl up into a little ball right where my purse would normally go, and he LOVES it! It's kind of like a little cave for him to sleep in. When I have a family member sitting next to me, he feels the freedom to stretch out and snooze.

Zido and I on our way to Arizona. April 2015

   Before we get to the flight, though, we have to get to the airport and through security. I make sure that Zido does his business at least once before we walk in the doors, but hopefully twice. As for security, I prepare the night before the flight by taking out anything sharp from his harness's packs. Then, I put whatever else I have in his packs into small plastic bags. This speeds up the process of unpacking all of the stuff when we get up to the scanners. Normally, each TSA will ask me what I want to do to get through if they don't have something in-line already. I choose to unpack his harness, keep his harness on him, tell him to sit and stay, I go through, I call him through, and then they pat down his packs and check for any unauthorized residue. Other partners might have a different way of handling this situation, but I've found this to work the best for Zido and me. Once they're done with the pat-down, we are on our way to the gate!

   Once we get to the gate, we go up to the counter to ask for priority boarding. That allows us to be one of the first ones on the flight so we can get the seats. Normally the wait isn't too long, but if it is it's always nice to have a behind-security-potty-place for Zido. A lot of airports are starting to build these in and they are a life-saver during short layovers. If there isn't one behind security, that means we have to go back out of security and then go through the whole process again.

   Boarding the plane is pretty easy; we just pick the seat we want, I take Zido's large harness off and slip on his smaller vest, I put his blanket down, and tell him to go to bed.

Zido's all curled up and ready to fly

He actually loves his little spot and being able to pop his head up to say hi to me. I also always tell the person whose seat he's under that there's a service dog under their seat in case they feel him move or see a tail pop out from under their legs. We don't want anyone thinking there's a snake on the plane or anything! I've only run into one nasty lady who said some very rude comment, but in general people are really nice about it.

   Overall, Zido could care less about flying but I've noticed he isn't a huge fan of the take-off or landing portion. I help ease his mind with a few drops of "Rescue Remedy." It's an all natural herbal calming formula that just helps him relax without medicating him. That way if he needs to alert me, he is able to without being super drugged. It also wears off very quickly so there aren't any lasting side-effects.

   That's really basically it! If we have a longer flight I will always ask the flight attendant for some ice to wet his tongue without making him have to use the restroom immediately, but as soon as we land, I take him outside to relieve himself. I was really nervous the first time I was getting ready to take him on a trip, but was really surprised to find how easy it was! That's one important thing that Canine Partners for Life has taught all of us is not to be scared to try something with our dogs. The best way to get over a fear is to do it and not make excuses about how difficult we might THINK it is. We always need to remember that our dogs have been trained for this; it's most likely that we're more nervous than they are and I've often times found Zido to be my "Rescue Remedy" when I'm really anxious.

   Up next on Zee and Me: "Two for One Special: Dating with a Service Dog"

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me