In last week’s blog post we learned about Steve, his former service dog Jack, and his new service dog Pisces. This week we will have three more stories of my fighters and their service dogs, and how they help make their lives with Parkinson’s more manageable.
First is Steve F. and his dog Ivy, who assists him in five important ways:
- She provides balance when he walks with the use of a special harness.
- She signals to others that Steve may need extra time or assistance when they are in public.
- She keeps him active in walking and playing with her.
- She brings him his medicine upon verbal request.
- Her companionship is priceless! Ivy is perfectly matched for Steve’s pace and temperament.
Cheryl (Jim B.’s wife) says this about their service dog, “Mason is a yellow Lab and helps Jim with balance and retrieving articles. He opens and closes doors, helps Jim get up when he falls, and keeps Jim active by taking regular walks. Jim is pretty high functioning, but Mason will be able to increase his duties as Jim’s needs increase. His unconditional love and companionship does wonders for Jim. Parkinson’s can be an isolating and lonely disease, but Mason and Jim are best buddies! We can’t imagine life without him”.
Both Ivy and Mason came from Joys of Living Assistance Dogs in Salem, OR. They are quite familiar with the needs of people with Parkinson’s disease.
Gigi is a service alert dog for his owner Bill C., a retired police officer who has REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD). This condition (common with PD) is where incomplete or absent REM paralysis allows the person to “act out” their dreams which can be violent, hurting themselves, falling or hitting their partner.
Gigi, before having been trained, instinctively alerted Bill to wake up when the was experiencing his RBD. Because of Gigi’s instincts, Louise and Bill decided to take what was occurring naturally and have Gigi trained to become a professional service dog. It’s a different way of achieving the same goal. Gigi is so in-tune, that if Bill and Louise are watching a sad movie and both are teary, Gigi will jump over Louise to comfort Bill.
There are different types of assistant animals. Service Dogs must do a particular task or job to mitigate their handler’s disabilities, such as the four dogs we’ve shared in these blog posts. There are also Emotional Support Dogs that provide support through companionship to their disabled owners. Finally, Therapy Dogs are trained to provide emotional support to people OTHER than their owners and may provide affection, comfort and love to people in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and disaster areas. Like those who are with Angles on a Leash.
Service Animal, Defined by Title II and Title III of the ADA: A service animal is any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.
Do you have a service animal? If so, send me a picture of you and your dog!