Happy Puppy Day 2016!

   IMPORTANT PUPPY PICTURE INTERRUPTION

   We interrupt your daily scheduled coffee and internet break to bring you pictures of the CUTEST service dog as a puppy-in-training. There's not a lot to read for this post...just a lot of cuteness to soak in.

   Thank you to the Cook family for sending me pictures of Zido as a puppy so I can enjoy and share them! You guys are the best puppy raisers I could have asked for.

 

Love and blessings,

Zee and Me

How Does He DO That?

   Wow. I'm absolutely blown away by the response to that last post. I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought that post would be viewed over 1,700 times! All I can say is thank you so much for caring about my little blog and wanting to spread the word on fake service dogs. I know Maine has passed a law, and I'm hoping Virginia will soon follow suit, that makes it a crime to pass off a pet as a service dog. If my story, and the stories of every other service dog partner, tugs at your heart I URGE you to contact your representative and ask for stricter laws on service dog certification. As a partner, I would much rather go through a strict certification test than be shopping in the mall and have a "service dog" growl or lunge at Zido and me.

   So for this post, I wanted to do something much lighter. Whenever I tell someone what Zido does for me, the number one question that is asked is "How the heck can he do that?" So I'm going to try to answer that here!

   For those of you just joining my blog, you can either head on over to my first blog post (please excuse the sloppy writing; I was just a newbie...) but here's a more in-depth overview:

   In 2004, I started getting sick every three months with flu-like-symptoms and would have to be hospitalized for about a week at a time. My family was stationed in Japan at the time and would have to fly to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii (I know...bummer...) for testing every few months. After about a year of this, the Air Force had to move my family state-side for better medical services. That was in 2006 and was about the time I started losing consciousness. They thought that whatever disease I had was transitioning from these stomach symptoms to neurological symptoms, but had no idea as to why that was happening. For the next two or so years I would visit my lovely friends at Children's Hospital when eventually one of the top neurologists came to the conclusion that I have some kind of autonomic disorder (NOT autoimmune...VERY different). Of the known disorders, I have bits and pieces of each of them but don't fit perfectly into any one category. I've been to some of the best hospitals and have had teams of doctors work on me, but after about 8 years of it, that's about as far as we came. When I was getting ready to go to college, I told my parents I was done. I didn't want any more tests. I didn't want any more non-answers. I was fine with knowing nothing and knowing that it was never going to be cured because I was done. For the first year of college, I was okay with hiding it. Of course, my roommate and good friends knew, but I didn't want to be "that girl" so instead I told myself it didn't exist. I had actually been going unconscious less and less and really thought I was getting better. Maybe the doctors were wrong!

   In September of my sophomore year, right before I turned 20, it all went downhill. We don't know why, but I started going out very often and I was terrified. I had told myself I was getting better but turns out, God and my body had different plans. My parents and I talked about the options because I wanted to be independent, but I was scared what independence would bring. Later that year, my mom's best friend, Miss Michelle, (who is INCREDIBLY knowledgeable on service dogs) said she thought I would qualify for one. I started looking and found that for many organizations, you have to have a name for your disease in order for them to place you with a dog. Since I didn't have a name, I didn't qualify. Then Miss Michelle told us about Canine Partners for Life. She said they were one of the top organizations in the country and were only up in Pennsylvania, so my mom, sister, and I made an appointment for a tour and headed up about two weeks later. While we were there, I was told that I definitely qualified and was given the application to begin everything. What's crazy is that when I went on the tour of the kennel where all of the dogs were, Zido was in there but I never knew he would be "the one." Later in the year, after an in-depth application process and in-person interview Zido and I were paired together and we began training. This was totally a God-thing because the normal wait is at least a year, so to know that they had a dog for me so soon was just an absolute blessing. The decision to get a service dog was the ultimate decision to no longer hide what God had blessed me with. You can't hide an invisible disability when there's a 64 lb beacon next to you saying "Something's different about this girl!" but I've found a lot of peace in that decision. It's just a bonus that 64 lb beacon is the cutest dog in the world.

I mean seriously...look at that face!

   Now, fast-forward to what he does for me. So, Zido is able to smell my heart-rate. I know...it's crazy. Experts aren't sure what exactly it is that the dogs smell, but they think it's some hormone or something that I let off that he is able to detect. Now one thing is that you can't train a dog to be able to smell it. They either have the gene that can detect it or they don't. Professionals CAN train dogs for diabetes alert because that's a specific sweat thing, but for seizures and cardiac there's no training them for the smell. What they get trained for is what to do BECAUSE of what they smell.

   I like to tell people that my heart, as a muscle, is perfectly fine. It does what it needs to and no tests have shown that anything is wrong with it. What happens is my brain sends it the wrong signals. So basically my heart is correctly responding to the incorrect signals my brain is sending it. I generally have a fast heart-rate (about 85 bpm at resting), but when my brain tells my heart the wrong thing, my heart can climb up to about 140-160 bpm. For my body, it's at about that rate that I would normally pass out as a way for my system to kind of "reboot". That reboot process would take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, and during that time my entire system shuts down. Zido keeps me from going out by alerting me anywhere from 110 bpm - 120 bpm. Once he alerts, I sit down or lay down (depending on what he wants) and wait for my heart to get back to normal.

   It took some time for Zido to learn my heart-rate because it's pretty fast for a healthy human, so he was alerting ALL the time when we first began. Now, however, he's learned "me" and knows "Okay NOW she needs to rest" and alerts much less frequently.

   He has a couple of different alerts depending on what he's trying to tell me, but to answer one of the top questions I get: no he does NOT ever bark to alert me. That's a big no-no so he's trained to alert in much more discreet ways. Each dog comes up with their own way of alerting when they're in training, but then when they get matched with their person, they kind of tweak their alerts to whatever works for their partner.

   For Zido and me, he normally starts by just straight-up going stubborn. What I mean by that is he just kind of does whatever I tell him NOT to do. For example, if I tell him to stand, he lays down. If he's down, he pops up. It was SUPER frustrating until I realized it's his way of saying "Hey something's not right and I need your attention." Then comes this really intense stare or a super deep lick on my hand. If I don't listen to that, and we're walking, he'll cut in front of me or wrap me in his leash to get me to stop walking. I normally catch the idea by this point, but let's just say Zido isn't afraid to try more intrusive means of alerting (he's totally gone up my dress and licked my leg because I wasn't paying attention. Oh and yes of course I was on a date in public. It was so embarrassing.) Once I get the message, I'll sit down wherever I am and Zido will pop a squat on top of me. If he wants me to lay down, he'll back his booty up against my chest to kind of push me down and then he'll lay on top of me and when he senses my heart-rate is stable, he'll pop up and we'll continue on our way.

The infamous alert. Zido's way of saying "Mom...stay."

    Zido's main job is to alert to cardiac, but as we've grown closer he's been able to alert to different things. When he wants me to know my blood pressure has dropped, he'll rub his face/nose on my leg or whatever body part he can get to. If we're walking, he'll knock the back of my knee with his head and then cut in front of me. His alerts for migraines are very similar to cardiac alerts, but those jump from a lick or stare straight to wrapping me in his leash. One time, he had been alerting me but my heart-rate was fine so I couldn't tell what it was. About 20 minutes later, while I was on my way home, a MASSIVE migraine hit. When I got home, he took off and literally grabbed my mom's arm. He's never done this before but when she let him lead, he took her straight to me at the door. A-MA-ZING.

   It's really hard to know exactly what he's alerting for since they are all very similar alerts, but the main thing I've learned is to just stop what I'm doing and sit down, because no matter what it is, I would rather be sitting and tip over than standing and fall. I don't care what he does when he alerts, as long as he does it (except barking of course!) He's been going above and beyond what I ever expected of a service dog and it makes me so over-the-moon excited to say he's kept me conscious for....drum roll please....

511 days!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Each dog is as different as each person, so none of this is one-size-fits-all. What I know is that it's been super cool and incredibly rewarding to learn Zido and his quirky ways. Everyone who's close to me has said how amazing it is to watch our partnership grow, and I can't believe we're already coming up on a year and a half together! Thank you all so much again for the love and support and I hope you stick around to learn more about my adventures with The Incredible Zee

   Up next on Zee and Me: "Top 10 Things NOT To Say To Someone With A Service Dog"

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me

Why Your Fake Service Dog is Ruining My Life

   I know this post might make some of you angry, and I'm truly sorry for that, but it is something that is incredibly near and dear to my heart. This is my blog and my way of expressing personal opinions in order to show what living life with a service dog is really like. Because it's more than just "getting to have my dog with me all day." It's a constant struggle to fit in and it's a constant fight for my rights as a person with a disability. I pray that you understand that and please know that I am not writing this in anger. I'm not writing it to hurt feelings. I'm not writing this to spark controversy. I'm writing it because it is MY truth. This post will also be heavy with outside links so if you have any further questions on what I've said, I highly encourage you follow those links and even do some research of your own.

   Okay I'm going to start this off with an incredibly important point:

I am NOT a lawyer.

   The only "legal-ese" that I base my knowledge of service dog laws on is what comes from Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which is:

"Under the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.  The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person's disability."

   Now, you may be asking yourself "Okay well what does that mean 'work or perform tasks'?" The ADA "Frequently Asked Questions" page has that covered as well:

"The dog must be trained to take a specific action when needed to assist the person with a disability. For example, a person with diabetes may have a dog that is trained to alert him when his blood sugar reaches high or low levels. A person with depression may have a dog that is trained to remind her to take her medication. Or, a person who has epilepsy may have a dog that is trained to detect the onset of a seizure and then help the person remain safe during the seizure."

   These tasks can also include such things as going to get a juice box when the dog senses a lowering in blood sugar, opening doors for people who use wheelchairs, assisting in taking socks/shoes off for those of us that get lightheaded or dizzy when we bend over, or (like Zido and me) the dog is trained to tug while walking on harness so that the person's heart doesn't work as hard for them to walk. I also use Zido when I'm on the ground and I need to stand up. He is trained to plant his feet and I can place my hands in specific locations and put my full weight on him to help me stand up.

   According to the ADA, simply providing comfort to their human does NOT qualify as performing a trained task in order to be recognized as a service dog. That is what's called an "Emotional Support Animal" (ESA). Rights for people with ESAs generally fall under the Fair Housing Act because GENERALLY, ESA rights do not extend outside of a house (airplanes are different but there are separate laws regarding air travel.)

   There's another category of assistance animals known as "Therapy Animals." You have probably run into them at hospitals, nursing homes, libraries, special education classrooms, and a few other places. People with therapy dogs have VERY different rights as compared to service dogs under the ADA. According to the National Network website (look specifically at section III):

"Even though some states have laws defining therapy animals, these animals are not limited to working with people with disabilities and therefore are not covered by federal laws protecting the use of service animals.  Therapy animals provide people with therapeutic contact, usually in a clinical setting, to improve their physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive functioning."

   This means that the rights for a person with a therapy animal extend only so far as to the place they are ASSIGNED to work. So if I have a dog that I have certified as a therapy dog and have an agreement with Children's Hospital to come on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the pediatric cancer ward between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., that's as far as my rights extend. If on my drive to Children's I have to stop at Giant to pick up some candy for the children, I CANNOT bring my therapy dog into Giant with me, because that is not his assigned location of work. My only public access right is specifically where and when I have an agreement to work with him. I know that's a little redundant, but that's an incredibly common mistake that I run across very often so I want to be sure that the difference is understood.

   Okay so now that I have all of that legal stuff out, I'm going to go to strictly my opinion. To put it as bluntly as I can, there is no excuse for someone to pass off their dog as a service dog when they are not. None. Zero excuses.

   When Zido was born on April 10, 2012, he basically went straight into training. Of course, he spent many many weeks with his mother and siblings and was in no way, shape, or form taken from any of them before the right time. But as soon as Canine Partners for Life (CPL) breeds a litter of puppies, they start taking notes. They see behaviors: they look for the brave ones, they look for the timid ones, they look for the ones that show problem-solving skills. They see everything. When the proper time came, Zido was then placed with a Puppy Raiser. I stay in contact with this family to this day, and I cannot stress how important their job was for that first year of Zido's life. Not only did they have to deal with the naughty puppy stage (they told me they still have baby-safe products on their cabinets because of Zido), but they also taught many many many of his most basic and most important skills during the year they had him. Right away, he was learning sit, stay, down, heel, back, front, side, leave-it, etc. Each month, they had to fill out a review form on Zido's progress and had to attend training sessions at CPL twice a month (I believe it's that often).

   Then, after that first year, the family gave him back to CPL so he could be trained for his future partner. AKA...me. I can't even imagine the pain they went through saying good bye to him, but every single puppy raiser I have ever spoken to has said that seeing the change their dogs make in the lives of their partners makes each tear, each pee-stain, each "Zido...NO!" worth it. Once Zido was back at CPL, he went through another year of intense training. Here, he learned how to pick things up, open doors, take off jackets, tug on harness, turn on/off light switches, open refrigerators, and the list goes on.

   THEN after a year of that training, CPL went through all of their applicants to place their dogs with the right person. I was placed with Zido on August 8, 2014. On October 10, 2014 my mom and I packed everything and basically moved to Pennsylvania for 3 weeks of INTENSE training (see my blog posts from back then to begin to understand the intensity of those 3 weeks). It was ONLY after we had successfully completed those weeks of training that we were certified as a service dog team and I could take him home. But don't think for a moment that the training stopped there. Aside from the daily obedience training, there were SIX TIMES during the first year together that we had to travel 4 hours up to CPL, complete a 2 hour Graduate Support Class, and drive 4 hours back home. Then, at our 1 year anniversary, we had to be re-certified and now we will have to go up to be re-certified every 2 years for the rest of our partnership.

   "Courtney, why are you telling us all of this? We get it...Zido is well trained. What does this have to do with fake service dogs?" It has EVERYTHING to do with fake service dogs, because you see, Zido had to go through 2 1/2 YEARS of training before we began our life together. I had to go through 10 YEARS of living with a disability that could put my life in danger at any moment of any day before I could have the security that Zido gives me. CPL has invested $30,000 into EACH DOG during their lives. Before I was even born, people with disabilities were fighting to have civil rights when the ADA was passed (July 26, 1990). And you know what? The moment someone chooses to go online, buy a "service dog vest" for $60, pay for a doctor's note from some online forum saying they "deserve" a service dog, put the vest on Fifi and walk into Target, they ruin it all.

   Legally, I have the right to walk into any establishment with Zido and no one can tell me to leave because I can't have my dog there. For me, it's frustrating beyond belief when I am told to and I have to fight for my rights to be there. When I just want to go on a fun date with Zack and I have to instead pull out my law book from Zido's pouch and prove that I have every right to have my dog with me, I'm only thinking of the ones who ruined it for me. Because I have to think that maybe that business has had a horrible experience with people claiming their pet is a service dog in the past and their tainted view is now being applied to me and my dog. According to the ADA, a business is able to ask that the dog be removed from the premises when the dog becomes out of control (i.e. barking, growling, relieving itself, interrupting other customers, walking around unsupervised). From that moment on, that business most likely thinks that ALL service dogs are disruptive and should not be allowed in. However, that's illegal, but businesses DO have some rights when it comes to service dogs. The sad part is that many businesses are too scared to ask someone to leave because they don't know their rights as a business.

   Legally, a business is allowed to ask TWO QUESTIONS of service dog partners (also on the "Frequently Asked Questions" ADA page):

"(1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"

   They (and any other strangers) are NOT allowed to ask WHAT disability the person has.

   If a person can't answer either of those questions, the business is allowed to ask the person to leave the dog outside. Note: the PERSON cannot be denied services, but the DOG can be denied access. Of course, people lie. That's the hard truth of humanity. So when they lie, and they keep their untrained, non-service dog in the public's eye, they become the example for the rest of us.

   Too many times, I hear horror stories of "service dogs" and while it often times leads to a compliment on Zido's temperament and behavior, it still infuriates me knowing what people are doing. I've heard of a lady that let her "service dog" walk around during a yoga class and go up to people. I've seen "service dogs" with full-blown muzzles around their mouths to keep them from biting people. These are just two of the stories I can recall, but trust me there are plenty.

   (Also, side note, there's a reason they are called service DOGS. The ADA covers dogs and miniature horses as service animals. No other animal is recognized as being an ADA-approved service animal. However, there are therapy ANIMALS because there are no restrictions on what can be a therapy animal. Fun Fact: during training, I had to read an article on a "service snake" that wrapped itself around the human's neck when it sensed an impending seizure. My analysis? The snake was sensing an impending weakness and was preparing to suffocate the human. But that's just my opinion...)

   Through all of this, what I'm trying to say is this: when a person chooses to take their pet out in public because they "just can't stand the thought of leaving her at home" or they "think this would be therapeutic for him" or whatever else they tell themselves, I want them to think of two things:

(1) It is a SCARY world out there. There are a lot of sounds, smells, people, quick-moving small children, and sights that little Spot has never encountered during his day-to-day life at home or on a walk around the neighborhood. And he loves it. When his owner takes him to Target because they want to, he is TERRIFIED of everything he is being exposed to. I'm sorry, but if they care SO much about their dog that they just can't stand the thought of leaving him at home where he is comfortable and happy, and instead choose to throw him in a situation he has never experienced, I'm thinking they're actually being pretty selfish and thoughtless. I don't care how "well trained" they think he is. He is a dog, and when a dog gets scared or threatened, he's going to do what he knows he needs to do to protect himself. They're just asking for trouble.

(2) They are ruining the day-to-day life of those of us who NEED our dogs. How would you like if you walked into a store, and you notice five separate employees eyeing you during your trip just WAITING for you to do something. One of them finally has the courage to come up and say "Excuse me, ma'am. We have a strict 'no blonde' policy so I'm going to have to ask you to leave." It sounds ridiculous right? Well you know what, Zido has become a part of me. I could just as successfully separate myself from him as I could cut my arm off and continue on my day. When a store only has poor experience with service dogs, as much as it hurts, it's no wonder they're going to ask. It doesn't make it legal and it doesn't make it right by any means, but it makes sense why they would ask. People passing off their dogs as service dogs are the reason for that.

    If you can't tell, this is something that I'm incredibly passionate about. I dream of working in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice so that I can help make the lives of all people with disabilities better. If you have any other questions, or if you have KIND comments, I would love to hear them. I will remind you that I am no expert in the law. I will either Google an answer for you or contact someone who can help, but I would love to talk about this more if anyone has any questions.

   I know I normally say "Up next on Zee and Me" but to be perfectly honest, I have put so much thought and emotions into this post that I haven't even thought about what my next one will be. All I can say is stay tuned because another one is coming up.

Love and blessings,

Zee and Me

Downward Dog: Yoga with Zido

For years, my doctors have been telling me to either try yoga or swimming in order to train my heart to not wig out every time I try to work out. Well, whenever I swim more than just a couple of feet, I start to look like a cat thrown into a bathtub. And when you're trying to be cool with your friends, looking like that just doesn't work...

So, yoga. Late last year, my dad found this place about 10 minutes from my house called Honest Soul Yoga. My mom and he checked it out and found out they had a 21 day, unlimited trial package for just $21. They figured that would be a great way to get started so they signed us up. After my finals were over for last semester, I decided to give it a go. Now, I like to consider myself kind of flexible and not a total weakling. I mean, I've done PiYo (I hadn't in like 6 months) and I've been to the gym (I hadn't in like a year) so on my first day I was thinking, "How hard could yoga really be?"

In walked the teacher. She's probably one of the kindest, sweetest, women you could ever meet. But, like every instructor at the studio, when she teaches yoga, she. teaches. yoga.

Of course, I brought Zido's blanket so he would have his own little yoga mat to stay on. I wasn't quite sure what my heart would be doing during this "Align and Flow" class (sounds relaxing doesn't it?) so I had no idea what Zido would do. Well, we got started and focused on our breathing. Not too bad. Then came the stretching. And the bending. And the planking. And the side planking. And the "lifting one leg and crossing it over the other while twisting your arms around each other." Oh and let's not forget "resting half-pigeon." Zido kept his eye on me the whole time, but never alerted. I was thinking "Okay this is awesome. I really REALLY feel like I'm getting a workout, but it doesn't seem to be doing crazy things to my heart."

After 45 minutes of some pretty intense stretches, holds, and movements, we finally reached the best time of yoga: shavasana (aka "Yoga Nap Time"). Our teacher had us stretch our legs up the wall and close our eyes while focusing on our breath. I was sore, but I felt so good and so calm. Immediately, I heard Zido move right next to me. I opened my eyes and watched him stand up and look at me with "the look." I'm not sure if my heart had just reached the point of no return or if my blood pressure did something funny, but an alert was happening. I knew what it meant, but it was at that moment I realized I had never told the teacher what he would do if he alerted me. I knew that everyone else had their eyes closed, except for her so I watched as Zido made his way to my side, turn around, lift his leg, and proceed to sit on me while staying alert about our surroundings. Now, I've gotten pretty used to this, but the teacher certainly hadn't. I can only imagine what she was thinking when she's telling us to breathe and relax, and all of a sudden sees my 64 pound lab sit on me. Needless to say, she started laughing, which made me laugh, which made the rest of the class open their eyes, which made the teacher explain what had just happened, which made the whole class laugh. All in all, it ended up being one of the best working-out experiences that I have ever had, and when my 21 days were up I immediately signed up for a membership.

Zido meditating with one of his new "friends"

Each class, I have at least one person come up and say how impressed they are by the fact that Zido just lays there. He always makes me chuckle when the instructors tell us to breathe in and I hear Zido take a deep breath and sigh it out next to me. I'm just happy that I've finally found something I can do to feel healthier. I can definitely see a difference in my body after just a couple months of doing it, and I really appreciate the friendliness of the Honest Soul staff.

I'm sorry this has to be a short post, but I have a ton of work to do! This week is supposed to be a beautiful-weather week, so be sure to get out and enjoy it! If you're into yoga, do it outside! If walking or running is more your thing, go and do it! I've learned that no matter what disability God may have blessed you with, He's blessed us even more with a beautiful world. Go out and breathe!

Up next on the blog: "Why Your Fake Service Dog is Ruining My Life"

Love and blessings,
Zee and Me