Service Dog Training – Graduation

Julian and Clover

We didn’t have as much access to the hotel computer as I thought we would to keep in touch with everyone during training. I will continue to add photos from the two weeks but it might take a couple of days to get it all done.

Friday we had our public access test in the mall, of course Clover passed she is a smart dog! Then we went back to the 4 Paws training center for paper work and GRADUATION!

Julian had a great time during dog school and made alot of new friends, for him coming home was biter sweet. He was ready to see people back home but didn’t want to leave the new friends. Aside from the magic of the 4 Paws dogs, just being at 4 Paws where what ever your disability is.. is accepted unconditionally… where having a disability of some sort is actually the norm.. all the kids, Julian included are free to just be themselves. They feel such love and acceptance that it quickly starts to feel like home.

I want to thank everyone who took part in making this dream a reality for Julian. When Julian told us in his PATH meeting while setting up his microboard that he wanted “a dog like telly” (a.k.a Rielly) he set in motion an amazing journey. What an awesome way for him to learn about self-determination! With Clover by his side, Julian is ready for a whole new chapter.

Touch Down!

“Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit” 

 ~Ronald Reagan

 

Self Determination is the essence found at the very core of the pursuit of freedom, it is the spark that starts the fire what burns from within.  Nearly one year ago a group of friends and family gathered in a conference room to  celebrate the life of Julian Herington and to set a blaze the spark that Julian already has burning within him to live a life of his own.  With his own hands Julian stepped up to create his PATH (person centered plan), and watched in delight as his friends and family signed their commitment to join Julian’s team and to helping him reach  those goals…

If you have read any of my previous posts on this blog you know we have been fund-raising all summer to help Julian reach one of his goals, to have a service dog.   If you didn’t already know that, I will wait right here while you read them and get up to speed.   lol…. okay now that you are back… let’s get to the good parts of the story.

Tuesday night I got a call from a young man who said he knew a mutual friend and heard about Julian Unleashed and has been following this blog.  He said he would like to come by and make a donation.  Okay, except no one will be home till Wednesday night…  We agreed to meet Wednesday after his study session.  Did I mention he is a college student?  Yeah, he is.

Wednesday around 9:30 pm a knock at the door brings two college students to our home.  After our shih-tuzs Morgan & Mischief gave their stamp of approval on their entry, I was introduced to Schuylar Oordt, who is a senior and plays football for the University of Northern Iowa.

Schuylar explained that each year the football team sells t-shirts and two of the seniors decide what to do with the proceeds.  Schuylar had read my post after the auction and knew we had come up short on the $13,000 goal and wanted to donate enough of the t-shirt proceeds to finish off Julian’s fund-raising. Read that again, finish off Julian’s fund-raising!

And he did.

Schuylar also told me that he hopes to create a tradition where future seniors use the t-shirt money to do something good.  He said he feels blessed that his college was paid for by athletic scholarships and he wanted to do something to give back.

Schuylar knows the important of a team and how it takes many for one to succeed.  Thanks to his generosity… Julian is off the bench...  Getting off the side lines is EXACTLY what self – determination is about and with the help of Schuylar and all our team players and awesome donors Julian and his SD (service dog) are headed to spring training camp… and ready to get on with the big game…. LIFE!!!!!!!!

More about the Panther with a big heart:

http://www.unipanthers.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/oordt_schuylar00.html

It’s Official!

In the “Choosing A PATH” entry I talked about Julian’s person centered plan and the list of things he wants to achieve in the next 3-5 years.  While the golf cart and being able to drive is fun and exciting the one item from that list that Julian constantly (and I do mean CONSTANTLY!) reminds me about is getting him a service dog.

Getting a service dog isn’t as simple as going to a breeder or pet store and buying a new puppy.  There are different kinds (service dog, guide dog, therapy dog, medical alert dog, psychiatric dogs, autism dogs), there are different breeds, different training programs, waiting lists, and significant costs to be considered and then the specific tasks that you need based on your specific disabilities.

I started researching and found that Guide Dogs For The Blind estimates it costs them $45,000 to train a guide dog. (You read that right… forty-five thousand dollars!) They have a multi-year waiting list and don’t serve people who have additional disabilities. I will spare you from the boring play by-play of how we came to find an amazing service dog training program called 4 Paws For Ability, unless you really really want all the details in that case email me…

Once we found 4 Paws we had to fill out an application, information about Julian and his disabilities,   provide references and approval from Julian’s doctor.  We mailed the packet. We waited patiently, well, Julian not so patiently… then an email came asking to schedule an interview! Ahh, the excitement of making measurable progress.

The interview gave us the opportunity to talk about what tasks the dogs can do and which ones would be beneficial to Julian.  I got to ask the list of questions we had been compiling. And then the great news! Julian’s application has been approved, your “official” packet of information will be coming to you within a week.

To say that Julian is excited with the news is, well, an… UNDERSTATEMENT! He is very happy and can’t wait to get the dog. His first question was can the dog back float? Uh…I don’t know if the dog can swim… but I will be sure to pass that along to the trainers.

So, what happens next?  We have to raise the money for the dog, and once that is done it will take 6-9 months of additional training to customize the dog for Julian and then we will travel to Ohio to spend 10 days in training with the dog before Julian finally gets to bring it home.

How is Julian handling the waiting? I told him that his service dog is in dog school right now and that before Julian gets the dog, Julian will have to go to dog school too.  Now every morning he tells me he is ready for dog school too. 

Choosing a PATH

The corner-stone for living a life of self-determination is person centered planning.  Creating a person centered plan involves getting all of the people central to the person with a disability’s life, their support system, and helping that person create a vision for how they want to live their life and the direction they want to follow for the next 3-5 years.

A great resource for person centered planning and more detail on what one is and how you do it can be found at Pacer’s website:

http://www.pacer.org/tatra/resources/personal.asp

Julian decided that having so many people that he cares about all in one room at the same time, it must be a party! He is totally right, this party is a celebration of his life, his dreams and goals.  In October of 2009, we got together and had one great party with the outcome being Julian’s MAP (shown below).

Julian came up with a list of goals:

He wants to have a golf cart so that he can drive.

He wants to have a large soup pot of his own.

He wants to have a service dog.

He wants to have a home of his own.

He wants a job.

He wants to graduate from the Iowa Braille School.

He wants to go to prom with Randee.

Each person attending the PATH signed their names to his map showing their willingness to continue to support Julian and his life’s goals.

One of the outcomes of the person centered plan was the decision to create a microboard for Julian.