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| Assistance Dog Blog Carnival |
Past Perfect
My first assistance dog retired before his third birthday. I learned so much during the almost four years of our training and working life together. The first lesson I learned was never name a dog after a famous pot head. Marley had way more "wait.... what?" moments than I can count. He just regularly forgot he had a brain. Not everything I learned was positive. For example, Marley was a classic "bad" breed. And I got constantly harassed on the internet for it. Repeatedly told my dog was a ticking time bomb waiting to eat children. When he lost his vision, and I had to retire him, I was given no support. I gave up on connecting with other assistance dog partners.
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| This kitten demonstrates a stoner moment. |
This Time Imperfect
Every time the assistance dog carnival rolled around, I wished I could participate. Yet, I did not want to bring the drama I experienced on assistance dog forums into my blog. Finally, this topic came up. I couldn't resist. Its okay to strive for perfection and not reach it. Its okay to not be the perfect handler, to not know every little thing. Sure, its not okay to work an untrained dog, or a dog who poses a direct threat.. I think most of us know the real big nono's. Most people who are trying to take this road *are* trying to do this right. Being told that you have to look and be perfect 100% of the time is not okay. Nobody is perfect, and that's what makes us human. That's what makes our dogs, dogs. Its okay to be imperfect.
Future Perfect.
About a year ago I began planning for Marley's successor. I started with nothing, but my requirements for the breeder I wanted my puppy to come from. You know, the usual things us owner trainers sometimes obsess over. Health tested parents, early neuro stimulation, early socialization, etc. Finally, the "perfect" breeder was found. Future, as I've taken to calling him in my head, will be a standard Poodle. In a lot of people's eyes, that's wrong, I guess. But I've decided, I'm not going to obsess over someone else's idea of Perfect. Its enough stress to obsess over mine.
I'm sorry you didn't find the support you needed and that people were hurtful. I look forward to hearing more about Future.
ReplyDeleteHi Starre.
ReplyDeleteThank you for contributing this post to the Carnival! I hope you feel more community in times to come. I was curious what breed your retired SD is. I have also faced some of this. When I first tried to apply to a SD program and inquired about Bouviers (my preferred breed), I was told, "Bouviers are snippy attack dogs." That was an unpleasant surprise! I look forward hearing about Future, the Standard-Poodle-To-Be.