Just thought I'd post again about my wonderful dog Worthy. He'll be 15 months old on July 2nd. He's coming along well on all his work, and goes nicely into public places (that is legal in Oklahoma for an assistance dog in training with the disabled person and AS LONG AS THE DOG BEHAVES WELL. If he acts aggressive or disrupts business at the place, etc., they are entitled to require me to remove him. That is true of any assistance/service dog, anywhere, too.)
Worthy is from A New Leash on Life, and director Barbara Lewis is overseeing our training. She was here this week, and was pleased with his progress.
I have read up and experimented with his grooming, and think I've settled on a great style for him. It takes close to a half hour of combing a day, but that is time well spent, too. It enhances our bonding, gives him more and more ability to hold still and move the way I need him to, and gives him a checkup every day.
Standard Poodles are said to need more grooming than any other breed! I sure believe it. But right after I comb him, wow. Then as a little time passes, his hair curls again, and that is neat, too!
We're still working on joyful barking when excited--not good in public!--pulling on leash--improvement there--retrieving--very good progress. I haven't seen this dog meet anyone he didn't like. I love that. Being black and big, his appearance is "protection" enough. I want no protective behavior. That would be inappropriate for an assistance dog.
His hips are not perfect, but not bothering him. We'll be keeping a close eye on that, for sure. I do not need to lean on him at all, nor does he have any chores that involve standing on hind legs. We have a ramp for him to use to get up and down from the bed, and he steps on and off the sofas easily. Like a typical Standard Poodle, he is breathtakingly agile. We'll have another hip x-ray after he is 2.
One thing he is doing for me now is to walk beside me when I go out and down the 65 foot driveway to bring in the garbage cans. Without him, I need my walker. With him on leash beside me, I can go without the walker. There is a kind of biological feedback that happens that aids balance. I think it is muscle balance overriding the bad signals from my ears. It likely has something to do with the early dance training as well as so many years of training and working dogs. I am very grateful for it.
I still need the walker to go farther with Worthy, especially with other people moving around me. But here, too, he improves my stability. I have a jazzed-up walker now, too. 8-inch wheels, brakes, a seat, and very easy steering. Woo-eee!
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
