Our first weekend at home

We have now been home for 4 days. We came home from training Friday morning on the Go Train & Transhelp bus. I was a little worried about how Troy would react to the train as he is sensitive to sound and it can be loud when it pulls into the station. He did so great. I gave him some treats and cuddles to distract him from the noise and he didn't get scared at all!

Once we were home he sniffed around the whole apartment and gave my mom a few kisses. After settling in he had breakfast and then I took him outside. On our way back to the apartment, he pooed in the elevator and in the hallway. I didn't get too upset with him because I knew accidents would probably happen. I just told him "No!" and cleaned it up.

Later on Friday we took a trip to the pet store to pick up some more food and toys. Once I got to the cash register I told the cashier that I was told 3 weeks ago that this store would offer a 30% discount to my service dog. He informed me that that program is no longer in place and currently there is no discount being offered but he would honour it this time since I was under the impression I was getting 30% off. I am very grateful that he honoured the discount but can't help but be disappointed that they no longer offer it. I guess I'll be shopping elsewhere from now on.

On Saturday we had some visitors come over to hang out and meet Troy. My boyfriend came by for the afternoon and we went to Square One to give Troy some exercise. He seemed to really enjoy getting out of the apartment. By the time we got home from our last minute Christmas shopping, Troy was panting and SO tired. After dinner my mom's friend came over to meet Troy. He was so tired from shopping that he just layed by my feet the whole night.

On Sunday my little cousin came over with my aunt and her boyfriend. I was really nervous that Hailey (my cousin) wouldn't understand that she can't pet Troy. She's only 3 and used to love to play with my cat before we had to put him down last year. She pet him once and then didn't really bother with him at all after that. She kept asking me: "Kelsey, why do you have a dog?". I must have answered that question 20 times on Sunday morning. Right after my family left, my mom had another friend come over to meet Troy. Like usual, Troy just took a nap by my feet the whole time they were here.

For the most part Troy had a relaxing weekend to get settled in his new home. We practiced pushing door buttons, fetching items, and nudging the cupboards closed but other than that, he had the weekend off. 

He has had two accidents in the building since we've come home. The second one happened yesterday in the lobby just after trying to get him to go outside for 20 minutes. Hopefully he will get used to going outside soon.

This weekend Troy has developed a bald spot under his chin that I think was caused by stress and scratching as well as a white spot (sort of looks like a pimple) in a different laoction on his chin. We are going to the vet (he's wonderful and offered a discount without even asking) on Saturday to create a file and check his weight so I will ask what I should do about it if it hasn't improved.

Within the next few days I'm going to post about our December Barkbox! Stay tuned to see what we got this month and for a mini-review on each of the products.

Have you liked our facebook page yet? Be sure to follow us on there for more pictures and quick updates: www.facebook.com/ssdandthecity

Here are a few pictures of Troy from this weekend:

He loves his new blanket- only $3 at Target!

Here's a sneak peek of what we got in our Bark Box. He looks so cute! I may need to invest in some more bandanas/scarves for him...

Waiting for the Train on Friday

Troy LOVES the sun. We even had to close the door to the sun room or else I'd find him tanning in there. I can't stand to be in that room for more than 30 seconds when it's sunny outside. It's WAY too hot for a dog to be in!

In the food court at Square One on Saturday. Such a good puppy.

Day 18: Graduation!

Yesterday was Troy and I's graduation. We are currently at home and doing great but that will be another post to come in the next few days.

We spent the day getting ready and relaxing before my mom came to have dinner with us. We all had a great last dinner together in the dining room. Some of the staff sat with us as well which was nice.

After dinner we had a little bit of time to relieve our dogs and take pictures with each other.

The ceremony went fairly smoothly and started on time which was great. It was a little long but that was to be expected with 4 different classes all graduating on the same night.

Unfortunately Troy's sponsors were unable to attend but his foster family came to see him! His foster mom is such a sweet lady and she even brought him a gift! I am so glad that I got to meet her. Troy didn't react the way I thought he would. He wasn't overly excited or out of control like some of the other dogs were when they saw their foster families. I am assuming he was calm because our bond has grown so much over the last few weeks. It was very bittersweet to watch him act this way.

To his foster mom (and everyone else too): Troy and I are doing wonderfully and he already seems to love his new home. He was amazing on the train and bus. We went to the pet store this afternoon too and now he's sleeping - like always!

Tomorrow my boyfriend is coming over and I plan on taking Troy to the mall for a short amount of time just to get out of the house and get some exercise. On Sunday my little cousin, aunt, and some other family friends are planning on coming over for a Pre-Christmas visit. I don't anticipate Troy having any problems with all of the company but hopefully they listen to the rules and don't interact with him too much! If my cousin doesn't understand, I'll have to put Troy in my room for an hour or two while she's here.

Here are some pictures from yesterday at grad:

Troy's foster mom, my mom, me, and Troy :)

Day 17: Where has the time gone?!

Wow. It's hard to believe that tomorrow Troy and I are graduating and then we leave on Friday morning!

Today we just practiced some more "fetch" and watched some educational/entertaining dog guide videos with the seizure response class.

We took a very short walk this morning but then it started to rain/snow so we headed back inside after just a few minutes. It was nice to get outside with Troy today even if it wasn't for very long.

After a few guest speakers, videos, and talking with our trainers we had individual play time before dinner.

I wish I had more to tell you about today but since it's the end of training, things have really slowed down to give us and the dogs a bit of a break before heading home.

Tonight I plan on packing up most of my stuff. My mom will be picking up my manual chair, walker, and suitcase tomorrow night so that all I have to worry about on Friday is getting my power chair and Troy home safely. We are taking the go train from Oakville to Port Credit and then transhelp home from the Go station. I don't live very far from the school so I thought that Friday would be a good opportunity to test Troy on the Go train as I take it fairly often. I want to know how he does before I plan anything with my friends downtown.

Tomorrow if the weather is nice Troy and I are going on our first walk without any trainers! I hope it doesn't rain or snow so that we can get out for a bit in the morning.

I don't have many pictures from today as most of the day was spent relaxing and talking about information but here's one of the videos we watched today of Rick Mercer visiting the Lions Foundation Dog Guides. It is really entertaining and funny but still educational and brought a lot of awareness to LFC Dog Guides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjVbYES3ygg

I'll be sure to get some pictures at grad tomorrow to share on my blog. I'm sure I'll even see some of you there. Troy and I are both really excited to meet everyone!

P.S. Tomorrow's post may have to be posted on Friday afternoon depending on what time grad finishes and how tired we are!

Day 16: Troy's sponsor!

Today was another fairly low key day. Everyone is really tired and just ready to go home. We have learned all of the commands and skills so for the next few days we are focusing on practicing what we feel we need to work on the most and talking about caring for our service dogs, travelling, going home, etc.

Today was also very sad for our service dog class. One of our class members will not be graduating with us and is leaving tomorrow morning. His dog was not cooperating the way we had all hoped and will be going through some more training after the holidays before the school makes a decision regarding the dog's working life. The dog may be placed with a different handler in the same program, a different program, or the dog may be "disqualified" and sent to a loving family to be cared for. We all feel terrible for both out class mate and for the dog but life must go on and it's better to go home without a service dog than to go home with one that won't listen and/or could possibly put you in danger.

We had some guest speakers come in throughout the morning and afternoon to talk about travelling with a dog guide, fundraising and sponsors, and media. We also talked about laws and human rights for service dog owners.

The afternoon was exciting for Troy and I because we found out that he is sponsored and we got to find out who his sponsor was! Troy's sponsor is the Hamilton Masons. A few members will be attending the graduation this Thursday so we will get to meet them and they asked if they could take a picture of Troy and I for their website. The Hamilton Masons also sponsored a dog in the seizure response program named Winn-Dixie (Dixie for short). Each service dog costs 25 thousand dollars to train but that can be a lot of money for one person or company to raise so the lions foundation asks a sponsor for 10 thousand per service dog. This is still a very large amount of money and the amount to sponsor a dog varies depending on which program the dog is in (it ranges from 8-12 thousand dollars). I am extremely grateful for their donation/sponsorship of Troy and I am sure Winn-Dixie's handler is grateful as well.

The rest of the day was spent practicing some more fetches and down stays. We didn't get to go outside for very long today as it was raining so we had a good play time session tonight.

Here's a really cute (and slightly annoying) video of Troy playing with a squeaky toy. It looks like those are his favourite toys now. He especially likes soft and squeaky ones!

If the weather is nicer tomorrow I'm sure we will take a walk outside to work on some more distraction stuff but other than that I think it will just be another relaxing day (which is more than fine by me). Everyone is tired and since we don't have anything new to learn it's pretty much the end of training! I am excited to go home but also kind of nervous because you never know how the dog will react to the change. Hopefully his behavior doesn't decline too drastically. I'm sure we won't have a problem because he is such a gentle boy and very well behaved but I won't know what will happen until I'm home...

Day 15: Our first shopping trip together

Today was mall day! Troy and I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon walking around Oakville Place. The school paid for our lunch which was much appreciated and I had butter chicken poutine from New York Fries (it's been way too long since I've had either of those things). After we quickly ate, the class split up and was given about an hour to shop around. While we were shopping the trainers would spy on us and watch to see how we were doing.

My first stop was David's Tea but after waiting in line for over 5 minutes and still barely moving, I decided to leave. I didn't want to waste all of my time in one store. Also, that location is really small and Troy was just in the way the whole time. The David's Tea in Square One and the location at Yonge-Dundas square are much larger so when I get home, I look forward to going there with Troy instead.

We also went into H&M to just walk around and practice going through tight spaces. H&M is not a very accessible store to begin with so with a service dog it was definitely interesting. Let's just say I'm glad I don't really shop there...

The last store we went into was Bath and Body Works. I wanted to see how Troy would react to: A) a very crowded store full of women gushing over him and B) all of the different scents that sometimes overwhelm me, never mind a dog. We spent about 15 minutes in the store. He was VERY well behaved and the only thing he sniffed were the fuzzy socks with foxes on them. He probably thought they were a toy since they were right at his level and fluffy. As soon as I said "Troy, right" and moved forward a little, he completely ignored the socks and kept walking with me. I thought he would have been sniffing many more things and be slightly nervous or scared in such a crowded store but he wasn't. Bath and Body Works is another store that isn't always the most wheelchair-friendly so I was really proud of how he handled it. Whenever I'm shopping with my boyfriend and want to go in Bath and Body Works he always stays outside since two wheelchairs are nearly impossible to maneuver around the store. So, yay Troy! You did a fantastic job today buddy :)

Once we got back to the school it was around 2:30. We had an appointment for our class to buy items from the gift shop. I bought a snowflake Christmas ornament with the dog guides logo in the middle. I was going to buy a black spring jacket with the logo on it as well but the smallest size was way too big for me.

We practiced a few fetches and an alternative to fetch which used to be referred to as take it/go give but now you just have to say "okay" when you or another person is holding an item out to the dog. Troy did great with this and grabbed every item from the trainer then immediately gave it to me.

After dinner we had a 20 minutes play time. Today we got to play in pairs and he got to play with Frito (the dog who he is always cuddling with in the dining room)! It was so cute to watch them play together. Frito would always steal the toys that Troy had in his mouth and then he would try to take them back from her unsuccessfully. He didn't really care. He was just happy that he had another puppy to play with!

After play time I gave Troy a bit of peanut butter in his Kong and now he's sleeping on his bed beside me like always. I'm not too sure what the plan is for tomorrow but can you believe there are only 3 more days until graduation? Time has gone so quickly these last few weeks.

Here are a few pictures of Troy from today:

Waiting patiently for everyone at the mall and ignoring the kids trying to talk to him :)

Frito and Troy staring into each other's eyes at lunch <3

Waiting to be picked up from the mall



Troy trying to steal the Christmas toy from Frito. Looks like I may have to get him some Christmas toys. He seems to love the santa stuffy and candy cane squeaky toy more than anything else...

Day 14: Day off + Friends came to visit!

Today was our second Sunday off. Last weekend my boyfriend had plans so he was unable to visit but this weekend he came to finally meet Troy. He also brought two of our friends with him to hang out for the day.

Troy spent a few hours alone which is good practice in case there are places I have to go without him for a short period of time. While he was in his crate for 3 hours, I went to Oakville Place to buy a new phone. We are also going to Oakville Place tomorrow as a class and Troy will be with me as part of our training.

I had a great day at the mall with my friends. Zak and I shared Thai Express, ice cream from Purdy's, and I bought a new phone to replace the one that cracked. I got the HTC One M8 and so far, I'm super happy with it. The speakers are incredible and so is the camera. I took a few pictures of Troy when I got back with my new phone so you can hopefully see what I mean about the camera. I had to switch cell phone carriers in order to get this phone but I don't mind. Over the last 7 years I've had every cell phone carrier available in Ontario so I'm used to switching! I even had Petro Canada Mobility at one point...

I got back from the mall just in time for dinner. Zak and his friends left shortly after dropping me off at the school. Troy was VERY excited to see me and my friends when we got back. He gave kisses to everyone to say goodbye which I thought was the cutest thing in the entire world.

After Troy and I both had dinner, we played for a few minutes in the classroom/play room. He is continuing to open up with his toy preferences which makes play time so much more fun. We threw a football around for a bit as well as some different styles of squeaky balls. He really liked the rubber dumbbell toy today too which was different for him.

Now Troy is fast asleep on his bed while I transfer all of my music and pictures to my HTC. I forgot how much work it is to set up a new phone!

Tomorrow should be a very interesting day for us. We are spending the morning and having lunch at the mall. Afterwards we have a gift shop appointment. I probably won't buy too much as I spent a lot of money today on my phone but we'll see!

Here are today's pictures of Troy:

He was determined to catch the pink ball!

Showing off his dinosaur qualities ;)

Decided to take a break during play time

My new favourite picture of Troy. Isn't the camera on my HTC One M8 stunning?

Day 13: I'm glad the morning wasn't an indicator of how the rest of the day would go...

Well, this morning started off pretty badly. We were practicing fetch and I accidentally dropped my phone on the tile floor. The top corner cracked a little bit but the glass was all contained under the screen protector. Troy thought that this meant he should fetch it since everything else I had dropped in the last 5 minutes, I told him to fetch. Without me telling him to, he picked it up which cracked the screen even more (if it wasn't already cracked he wouldn't have damaged it but since the screen was already broken, it was much more fragile). By the time I got it from his mouth, there were a few fairly large cracks from the top of the screen all the way to the bottom. So now on my day off tomorrow, I'll be spending the afternoon at the mall trying to figure out what to replace my phone with. I'm debating between switching carriers or just getting the same phone with the same carrier. We'll see...

Other than cracking my phone, we had an awesome day together. We practiced fetching small items such as a credit card, pill bottle, metal washer, and more. We also practiced some more "help" but this time we switched up the scenario. I was laying on my bed in my room and pretended to be in pain. Troy did much better than I anticipated. He barked for about 20 seconds straight really loudly and he started barking almost instantly after I said "help". Usually he gets a little distracted when I say "help" and it takes him a few seconds to clue in that he's supposed to bark.

After lunch we took a 2 hour walk around downtown Oakville. Troy did great and even walked across the sidewalk grates with very little hesitation. A few days ago he would completely jump out of the way and choke himself just so he didn't have to walk on the grates. I'm so proud of how far he has come!

We walked past many different dogs, kids, and people. It was fairly busy as it was nice outside today and Christmas is coming soon. All of the stores were busy so we didn't go in any. We spent most of our time focusing on distractions and getting across the sidewalk grates. At one point there were a few horses that were walking along the street and Troy hardly even noticed!

The only difficulty we had on our walk today was the snow. He was so excited to walk through the snow but after a minute or two he realized that it wasn't play time and stopped pulling as hard on the leash.

After our walk it was time for dinner and then at 6:30 we had a short playtime by ourselves. He is much more interested in playing with toys now than he was for the first few days which is great to see. He played with a squeaky ball for about 10 minutes and then he was tired so we went back to the room. When we got back I gave him a chewy to entertain himself with for a couple of minutes and ever since then he's just been fast asleep while I watched a few TV shows and researched what phone I want to buy tomorrow.

Hopefully Troy does well tomorrow while I'm gone for a few hours. My boyfriend, his sister, and his friend are all coming to visit and meet Troy so tomorrow will be an exciting day for us. I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.

P.S. It's hard to believe that at this time next week, Troy and I will have already been at home for over 24 hours!

Troy has some of the funniest sleeping positions. Not sure how his paw can be comfortable like that (it looks like his arm is broken; I assure you that it's not) but he stayed in this position for a really long time so I guess he didn't mind :)