I am so excited you are here! We are entering day 7 at 4 Paws for Ability, being trained as a family in how to interact with our daughter Riley’s new autism service dog, Jingle. I am so happy you stopped on over from The Bark. Make yourself at home, and thank you for being interested in our story.

The answer is yes!

Prior to meeting Jingle, I thought there would be a “mitts off” rule around Riley’s service dog. I imagined myself having to correct adults and children alike, “No, she’s working,” etc.  Some folks receiving service dogs will undoubtedly do just that, but 4 Paws says it is for each client to decide. Chloe, a teen reader of this blog who just got her Asperger’s service dog in August says it sometimes feels invasive when people approach her dog. I myself have already been stopped numerous times at the mall by well meaning people wanting to ask about her. I love introducing her and talking about her but I guess that could get old. We’re going to have to figure out what feels comfortable for Riley. So far she has been open to it, but we will absolutely let it be her perogative, and I guess she might feel differently about it on different days. Perhaps we can put an “I’m working” sign on Jingle when Riley doesn’t feel like interacting with people out in public, and take it off when she does. 

We made our second trip to the mall today and Jingle was the perfect angel. She held the heel command even when I took her into loud busy stores. She is so smart! She didn’t want me putting the gentle leader back on her!  

Riley had another upset today, came in crying from the kid’s area, and we practiced the “over” command again. We got Jingle to put her body over Riley’s lap, and Riley pet her as we praised her. Jingle is definitely motivated by the treats at this point, and not by an altruistic goal to help Riley, but they are bonding more and more with each passing day. Todd is still her sweetheart(full tail wags when he comes in sight), but she’s responding better to me.

Jingle sat on the seat in the car today with her head on Seth’s lap, which thrilled him to no end. We also let him give her the peanut butter filled Kong, but are saving the Pupperonis (doggie crack) for Riley to give. Todd and I are using biscuits for the obedience piece.  We are all feeling a little bit more relaxed about the whole thing, and not like we have to get everything perfect, right this minute. It is a process, one that will continue to evolve long after we’ve left 4 Paws and headed back to Cleveland.

Above, you see Jingle in one of Riley’s t-shirts from her favorite store, Justice. I’m sorry Jingle, I’m afraid there will be a lot of that in your future. You didn’t resist when she put it on you. May you grow to love it.

Today at training Riley came running in from the kid’s area, crying. She stomped up and down a couple of times and shrieked,

“I was trying to tear a picture out of a coloring book, and it ripped, and I crumpled it up and now all my friends are MAD AT ME!!!! WAHHHH!!!!!”

“Riley, why didn’t you ask for help?” I asked.  

That did it.

“I’m not a baaaaaaby!” she wailed.

I sat her on the mat in front of me and immediately gave Jingle the “lap” command. Jingle sprung to action, she started down by Riley’s knees, and I gave her treats as she inched her way up to Riley’s lap. After the treats, she just stayed there, her body providing deep pressure. I talked to Jingle in a soothing tone, telling her what a good girl she was. Riley started to pet her. We just sat like that, petting Jingle and I could feel Riley’s body start to relax. It didn’t take long, maybe five minutes, definitely less than ten. Then, when she was calm, Riley just got up and marched herself out of the room and back to the play area. We didn’t need to discuss it. She was okay. 

This is exactly what we were hoping for.  I sit here trying to think of a pithy ending for this post, but there are no words.

Amen.  

* For more cute dog pictures (and puppies) visit my main page!

Last night, we put the kids down in the next room, and Todd stood at the door to the bedroom. He looked at Jingle, motioned with his arm toward the door, and said, “Jingle, go to bed!” She hopped up from the floor, ran into the bedroom and jumped up onto Riley’s bed. She stayed with her all night.

She knows who her girl is.

So.

If you think getting a service dog means you’re going to show up and receive a dog that just automatically does what you tell it to do, good luck! Prior to this training, Todd and I could not imagine what we’d be doing for ten days. Ten days? Are you kidding me?  Now we’re kind of hoping 4 Paws doesn’t notice if we stick around for an extra week or two. There is so much to learn! The whole service dog thing is a relationship. The dog has to know you and trust you.

I have been deliberately taking a back seat in the training, because every animal we have attaches to me, and I don’t want to foil the attachment to Riley.  As a result, Jingle’s like…”Yo lady! Get real,” when I try to correct her or give her a command, but she does whatever Todd tells her to do.   

The nerve!

This afternoon we took all the dogs to the mall. Jingle was so excited to be around all those people and smells, she could not reign herself in and listen to me when I gave her the heel command. She is a very social dog and just wants to introduce herself to everyone and have them admire her. So she got herself saddled with a “gentle trainer,”  which goes around her muzzle and makes it easier to direct her, rather than having to rely on jerking on a choke chain constantly. She was mortified. She tried repeatedly to paw it off, but finally started to behave. Eventually she won’t need it but for now, until she is used to us and until she is a little more mature(she’s just 11 months)  she’s going to have it when we are out in public. Yes, she’s now lying on the floor,  giving me the stink eye, but I can take it.  

The best part of today was KISSES! When we first got here, germ-o-phobe Riley could hardly tolerate the feel of Jingle taking a treat from her hand. She’d wipe her hands repeatedly on her pants, and was very grossed out at the possibilty of saliva. The girl won’t share a cup or water bottle with her own mama.

Today, she allowed the trainer to put peanut butter on her hand and command the dog, “Kisses!” Riley wavered back and forth. Yes she wanted to do it. No she didn’t. Wait, yes she did. Finally she decided to go for it. With a blob of peanut butter on the back of her hand, she commanded the dog, “Kisses!” Jingle licked the peanut butter, and got a treat. Over and over.  Riley let it happen. She enjoyed it. She bonded with her doggy and didn’t freak out about germs! When we finished that little segment, she got up and I was sure she’d run to the bathroom to wash her hands, but she didn’t! She just went and played! I am probably the only mother celebrating that her child didn’t wash her hands, but I was seriously teary over this. Riley was just living. She wasn’t worrying.  

This is Jingle in the morning. While Todd and I run around in circles gathering the kids to get out the door on time, she sits patiently, hoping we’ll get it together. Once her harness is on, she’s ready to go!  

Oh, one last thing from today, when we got to the mall, Todd and the kids went in and I tried to get her to “go potty” outside before going in. She cried her eyes out over Todd and the kids going into the mall without her. She likes us, she really likes us! Well, she likes them at least!

She really is a sweet dog. She is so tolerant. The little kids at 4 Paws crawl all over her, take her bone, tug at her whiskers, and she does not bat an eye. She’s just a bit lost with us yet. ”Who are these people and how is it I’m in their hotel room?”

Hang on Jingle. We’ll all find our way, together.

Today we got into the meaty stuff. Behavior disruption! This is the whole point of having a service dog for Riley. To help her with the meltdowns. Eventually, hopefully, Jingle will be able to redirect Riley before the escalation occurs. Today, a 4 Paws staff member indicated she would be role playing a child crying, (which sent Riley running from the room covering her ears before the scene even unfolded). The dogs are taught to nuzzle, to put their head in the child’s lap, or to go “over” which means putting their whole body across the child’s lap for deep pressure. The dogs are very attached to the people who trained them and it is sweet to see them interact with each other. 

Jingle needs to get used to Riley. She’s accustomed to responding to the trainers imitating meltdowns, but not Riley specifically. So for now, when Riley starts crying, we reward Jingle. She must associate Riley crying with getting something good. We are saving her very favorite treats for meltdowns. Lucky for us, homework tonight was meltdown city. Riley was so tired. She cried and screamed. She hit herself.  She ran from the room.  

Jingle scored with a lot of treats.

Jingle, Riley and I wound up on the bed together. Jingle did “lap” on command, and Riley pet Jingle until she felt better.  Jingle was so relaxed (and tired from her hard day of training) that she fell asleep and Riley inspected every inch of her face. Riley softly stroked Jingle’s whiskers, she ran her fingers over her eye brows and around her nose. 

“I like her black mustache,” she said.  

“I like the pink spot on her nose,” I said.

Jingle let out a content sigh. 

We skipped the rest of tonight’s homework. Bonding was more important.

Last night Jingle was spooked by noises outside the hotel room door and she barked a few times in the night. I tried to soothe her, “It’s okay Jingle. You’re okay.”  I got out of bed to pat her and comfort her a couple of times.

Today we learned DO NOT TRY TO SOOTHE A BARKING DOG.  A firm “NO” command will suffice. Soothing only rewards the behavior we don’t want. Ooopsey!

These dogs are well trained, but they are not used to us. We have not been their trainers. Our voices are unfamiliar. Our commands sound different. They don’t know if we’re serious, or if they can push it. They do not respect us yet.  

Jingle is a sweetie, but she’s young, just 11 months. She is very excitable, but she takes a firm correction really well. Riley is getting more comfortable with her. She was skittish at first, afraid to give treats for fear of being bitten. She’d give a command, and then pull her hand back before delivering the treat, confusing Jingle.

Today Riley learned a few tricks for Jingle to perform. Jingle already knows all the tricks, but taking direction from us is different. The tricks are not part of what a service dog is required to do, but the trainer says they are an important part of bonding the child and dog, (KIDS LOVE TRICKS), and a huge part of the socialization piece these dogs play for a lot of kids. She will be the kid with the cool dog who does tricks!

Jingle does gimme five, high five, shake, roll over, sit, lay down. She’s probably got a few others but we didn’t learn them yet. This seriously was about 1/2 hour of a very full day, but Riley did love it.

There is another nine year old girl in the class who is much like Riley. So much like Riley, that neither makes the first move, and they’ve hardly spoken two words to each other, but for Riley this other girl’s presence seems like a relief. 

4 Paws has a great set up with a playroom adjacent to the training floor. The kids are allowed to wander back and forth, and sibs have so much fun, all within eyesight/earshot of the parents being trained. The staff is really cool about kids coming in and out and kids with autism can stim and hoot and holler and no one bats an eye.

Little man finally broke down this evening. He wanted to make Jingle do some tricks, but we are having to take a firm stance, Riley is the only one to give Jingle treats, at least until a strong bond is formed. He felt left out and had a good, yet uncharacteristic cry. He got cuddled by me, promised his own dog one day, and was allowed to stay up late to work on his new Legos.  

He can’t help but love her too.

We are in our hotel suite with Riley’s new doggy! We are exhausted from all the excitement. Jingle is a very sweet dog, a good match for Riley. We were told she’s 35 pounds but she’s taller than I thought she’d be, a lean, young dog with lots of good energy. She loves to play and is very submissive to other dogs. She does not know what to make of being here with us and seems a little lost. She was in a foster home most of her life and did one month in a women’s prison. It is so cool to sit in a room with 13 dogs all day without any of them causing any trouble. Hardly any barking, no jerking leashes, no jumping.

All of the kids getting dogs are adorable. Riley was soooo excited today. This is her as we were waiting for Jingle to be brought out.

This is the video of Riley meeting Jingle for the first time.

(Forgive HT for spelling his only daughter’s name wrong. He is tired and didn’t have good schooling).

More tomorrow. Training is hard work!

Yesterday was Riley’s Circle of Friends meeting. In honor of Jingle, we studied canine body language, and compared it to human body language. How do dogs indicate they’d like to play? They do a play bow, paws forward, butts in the air. How do kids indicate they’d like to join a group to play? Some of the more outgoing girls said they just walk right up and ask. Others said, they stand facing the group, make eye contact and wait for an invite. A couple of girls admitted to really feeling shy about those kinds of things. I’d cut photos from magazines and we talked about the messages people in the photos were sending with their body language. None of this was aimed right at Riley, though she drank in the info. Much better coming from other girls in a discussion rather than a lecture from Mom. This group of girls is darling. There were eight including Riley. I am really enjoying getting to know all of them and Riley is so happy to be part of the group.

After that, we baked cookies in the shape of dog bones. Yum! The girls all took turns adding ingredients, stirring, and rolling the dough.

Later, after the girls (and two little brothers who joined us to play with Seth) left I was busy in the kitchen. Between cleaning up and making dinner it took me well over an hour. Thank God for my XM radio. Much giggling could be heard from the next room. Riley and Seth were having a ball.

I didn’t know they were in the crate.

The question is, why didn’t I think of crate training them sooner?

We’re off on Monday, and Tuesday we meet Jingle!

Just now, I was searching for a picture in my computer files and what did I come across? That’s right. A baby picture of Jingle. For some reason I saved it when we were looking at the 4 Paws website last year. We’ve looked at lots of puppy pictures over the last 10 months, but only Jingle sat there in my photos.   

This little girl was meant for our little girl.

Amen.