StarTrekker wrote:
dragonsanddemons wrote:
I have a service dog who does similar things. I'm very prone to shutdowns in public places like restaurants and grocery stores, and I find that just having Merlin (my dog) with me helps ground me so I'm less likely to shut down. He also is trained to perform pressure tasks when I need him to ("hug" where he'll put his front paws on my shoulders (he's a standard poodle, he's pretty big), "up" where he puts his front paws in my lap, "lap" where he rests his head in my lap, and we're working on coming up with something to get him to lie down on my feet), and that is helpful for anxiety and preventing shutdowns.
I will warn you, odds are you'll get a lot of people commenting on how cute/pretty/handsome your dog is, or just gasping and saying "It's a dog!" like they've never seen one before, and wanting to pet your dog (if you're lucky they ask first, although there have been a couple times where I'm busy with something and then turn around to find a complete stranger petting Merlin). I've even had a couple people try to whistle or bark at Merlin to get his attention. I'm now very accustomed to just saying "thanks" and moving along if someone compliments him or saying "Please don't distract my dog, he's working right now" if people are trying to pet him or make noises at him.
But when Merlin is not out working, he gets to just be a regular dog. This is why when I am seriously looking into getting my own place, I will really just be looking at pet-friendly apartments, because non-pet-friendly places may be legally required to let me have Merlin, but in his off time he will be acting just like a pet dog. He barks, he chews on squeaky toys, he stampedes down the stairs like a herd of elephants, and on occasion he throws up on the carpet - I don't want any neighbors (or the landlord) to resent us or accuse Merlin of not being legitimate because of any of that, and it's really not fair of me to not let him talk or play. So I figure it will cause the least fuss if I choose a place where people should be expecting things like that.
That’s awesome, I love poodles and originally wanted a labradoodle as my first service dog, but I was told they tend not to be well suited to that kind of work. The program I’m working with uses labradors, so that’s what I’ll have, all things going as they should. I like labs too, they’re friendly and tend to have enough energy to be out and about all day.
If you don’t mind my asking, what’s it like day to day living with a SD? How often do you bathe Merlin, what do you bring with you if you know you’re going to be out all day, how often do you walk him, etc.? I work with dogs now, and was raised with them, but that’s different from being literally tethered to one for eight to twelve hours at a time every single day.
I bathe Merlin about once a week, or when I notice he's getting a little smelly. He wears boots when there's salt on the ground or in summer when the pavement is literally burning hot, and the boots make his feet stink, so sometimes I have to just clean his feet. I have a pouch with training treats, a roll of bags to clean up after him, and a flashlight so I can see to clean up after him in the dark that I bring with me whenever I take him out, and he has a collapsible bowl in a pocket of his vest that I use for water, or if we're going to be out at his mealtimes, I bring the kibble in a ziplock bag and use the bowl to feed him. I walk him once a day for about 30-45 minutes, and sometimes I also let him run around the backyard (he especially enjoys it when the neighbors' dogs are also out, although he's pretty good about not barking at them - he just races them up and down the fence). I don't let him run around or play vigorously for an hour before and an hour after mealtimes because standard poodles are particularly prone to bloat, which can be deadly. I've heard that the exercising around mealtimes doesn't actually matter much, but I figure better safe than very, very sorry. I brush his teeth and clean his ears every day (poodles are also prone to ear infections, and I was told that Merlin especially is), as well as combing his ears and tail, where the fur is longer and can mat if I forget to comb it. Merlin is a pretty chill dog and spends a lot of his free time resting or watching out the window so he can bark at everyone who passes by (we're trying to discourage the barking, though).
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"
15 Feb 2020, 2:52 pm
