Autism Service Dogs

I was in Wal-Mart yesterday to pick up some odds and ends, and had a lady come up to me asking about service dog organizations in northern Nevada. There aren't any, of course, which is one of the many reasons I turned to owner-training.

As is often the case, people assume that I'm a puppy-raiser or dog trainer for one of these big organizations. To be honest, I don't do much to discourage that line of thinking, mostly because it's not really anyone's business that I'm owner-training a dog for myself. Erroneous assumptions can occasionally lead to some conversational awkwardness, though; this was one of those times.

When I explained that Glindy was being trained as an autism service dog, the woman became even more interested. It turned out that she has an adult son with AS/HFA, and has been trying to find a local service dog organization to help him. Since she assumed (incorrectly) that I worked for one of these places, she began asking me a lot of questions that I couldn't really answer, except to commiserate on the appalling lack of resources available to adults on the autism spectrum.

I didn't want to explain my life story to a stranger in the middle of Wal-Mart, and I was reluctant to admit that I'd encouraged her misapprehensions about me and Glindy. Still, I wanted to help her, since service dogs for adults with autistic spectrum disorders is something near and dear to my heart.

I eventually referred her to my blog, so it's quite possible that she's reading this entry right now. If so, I trust she understands why I didn't correct some of her mistaken impressions at the time, and hope that the information in my blog is helpful to her and her son.

Guide dogs are trained to lead their owners around obstacles. I often need to keep my eye on Glindy when we're walking so that she doesn't get run over by shopping carts, step in molten chewing gum on hot pavement, or splash through muddy puddles. This forces me to watch where we're both going, and to be more aware of my environment.

Some service animals are trained to greet people for their owners. Glindy prefers to keep her distance from strangers. This forces me to step forward and interact with them for the both of us.

Many service dogs are trained to eliminate on cue. Glindy can hold it for hours (up to 36 hours, sometimes), and won't go until she's good and ready. This forces me to take her for frequent long walks when travelling.

As a result of these things, some people might consider Glindy a bad fit as a service dog, but she's just what I need to help me be a better person. She makes me more focused, more sociable, and more active--and what could be wrong with that?

I mentioned my Access Challenge Cheat Sheet in my last blog entry. I thought I'd say something about why I put it together.

I'm on a lot of mailing lists, and I'm frequently appalled at how many times folks on these lists are completely flummoxed by an access challenge of any kind, whether it's a legitimate routine inquiry or a case of blatant discrimination. Most people are not adept at self-advocacy, and end up disappointed when the system doesn't seem to work for them.

The system can work, but it requires effort on the part of those most affected. I've learned a few hard lessons in my life; one of the most important is that no one cares more about my problems than me. So, if I want a crusade against injustice, I need to lead the charge, not march at the rear; no one will fight my battles for me.

Being willing to fight for yourself is indispensable, but sometimes knowing how is just as important. So, for those willing to stand up for themselves, but who need a place to start, a bit of direction, or just a way to keep things on track when things get tense, I've provided an initial framework.

Everyone needs to decide for themselves how far they're willing to go to carve out a little justice in their lives, and no one can do it for another person. But then again, no one says we can't give one another a leg up whenever possible--and this is my attempt to do just that.

I've been a little busy lately working on my new Access Challenge Cheat Sheet, so I haven't been doing as much training as I should with Glindy. I'm planning to correct that this evening.

I've made an appointment with my trainer in order to work on a few maneuvering issues. In particular, Glindy and I often have trouble negotiating doorways because she's been trained to allow me to go first--or, at minimum, to walk through with me.

What I'd really like to do is teach her a "front" similar to that used in formal obedience. What I want her to do is to move in front of me, turn around, and sit facing me until I come through the door. This will allow me better control of doors which open towards us, as it is often hard to keep the door from swinging shut on Glindy's tail. Doors which open away from us are much less of an issue, in my experience.

I also want to cement a better left/right finish. Glindy does an exceptional job with hand-targeting, but I'd like to be able to get her to circle behind me to the designated side on voice command. This will be a tremendous help when I need her on one side or the other, and my hands are too busy (e.g. when I'm carrying groceries) to target for her.

And lastly, I think it's time that Glindy and I begin working on our "find/bring Todd" commands. If we can nail those two commands, I'd be much more confident in removing the training patches from her vest.

The x-rays of Benny's bladder and kidneys don't show any signs of stones, so my veterinary team is working under the assumption that his nighttime "sprinkler system" is being triggered by a sub-clinical infection or other bladder irritation caused by the struvite crystals forming in his highly-alkaline urine.

Apparently, a pH balance of 5.5 to 7.0 is considered normal for a dog's urine, whereas Benny's urine is registering at 8.5. Struvite crystals almost always indicate an infection of some kind, and although they couldn't find any evidence of that in his urine sample, we decided to start him on a course of amoxicillin anyway.

The veterinary team also wanted to put Benny on a more acidic diet, in order to dissolve the crystals before they become stones. However, the foods they wanted to provide were all highly-processed kibbles, and I wasn't comfortable with that. So, I did a bit of research for BARF-diet alternatives, and found that Wysong sells a freeze-dried raw prescription diet called Struvitrol which is intended to lower his pH balance to between 6.0 and 6.2, as well as a supplement called Biotic pH- which can be added to other non-prescription foods. Both are high in DL-Methionine, which increases acidity. I'm also planning to add Solid Gold Berry Balance, which is high in hippicuric acid from cranberries and blueberries, to his morning meals if the Struvitrol isn't enough on its own. We'll have to monitor his urine pH closely on this new diet, though, to make sure that we aren't making him acidotic in the process.

It also turns out that the Dentatreat has alkaline properties which may be counter-indicated for Benny. While it's good for his teeth, since his body chemistry is out of whack, I will not be giving it to him anymore. It's a good product, and I think it does a good job with the other dogs, but I think I'll trust to the raw diet to keep his teeth clean, if the alternative is bladder stones.

So, a couple of weeks of antibiotics and a minor change in diet may be all that's necessary to stave off bigger problems. By mid-summer, I should know if this is going to be a lifelong problem for Benny, or just a transient problem caused by the poor diet he received from his previous owners.

Let's hope for the latter.

Sunday afternoon, I zipped over to my local GNC store with Glindy to snag some low-carb stuff before they closed. I knew exactly what I wanted, so I grabbed a few high-protein drinks off the shelf, and headed straight for the counter. The girl at the counter rang me up, and that was it: mission accomplished! Elapsed time in the store was around four minutes at that point.

As we turned to leave, though, the girl at the counter said: "Next time, leave your dog outside."

Now, when something like this happens, I typically assume that people haven't noticed Glindy's service vest, or are ignorant of the laws which protect service animals other than guide dogs. So, I politely told her that Glindy was a service dog, and was allowed to accompany me by law.

The clerk was unpersuaded. "I'm allergic to dogs. You need to leave your dog outside," she insisted.

"I'm genuinely sorry to hear you're allergic," I replied, "but the law is quite clear that my dog may accompany me. If you have any questions about how to handle this situation in future, I suggest you speak to your manager."

At this point, of course, the store clerk was exacerbating any allergy issues she may have had by dragging out my time in the store. Still, I thought it had been dealt with sufficiently, so I thanked her for her help and began walking towards the door again. However, instead of letting it go, she sent me on my way with a final snide comment: "Thank you so much for giving me an allergic reaction."

I didn't say anything more to the young lady, but I did call the store manager the following day. I explained what had happened. It turns out that the clerk had reported most of the incident to her manager, but had neglected to mention the rude parting comment.

The manager was polite to me, agreed that the clerk's comments were uncalled for, and told me that she'd explained the laws to her the previous evening after the incident. The manager stopped short of saying that she'd reprimand the girl, and didn't actually apologize to me for the problems I'd encountered, but I still finished the conversation feeling that the incident was unlikely to be repeated at this particular store.

The RuffWear Beacon strobe that I mentioned in yesterday's entry didn't even make it two hours without getting lost. At one point, I'd attached it to my leash with the tension clip, and the next time I checked it had vanished without a trace.

RuffWear makes good stuff, so I think my mistake was relying on the tension clip instead of the notched D-ring clip. I am considering getting a vest with a D-ring from The Raspberry Field, and seeing if that works a bit better.

Meanwhile, I've found that the Bling Bling Blinkers fit nicely on the pull-tabs of Glindy's vest pockets, so I've bought enough to put one on each side, and one on her collar. Short of shining a spotlight on her, I'm not sure how I can make her any more visible.

Benny's in-house marking behavior has gotten significantly better since I've started using MarkOut Wraps, but he's still occasionally urinating during the night--enough to soak his wraps all the way through. Before assuming that this was simply a behavior problem, I took him to the veterinarian for a thorough examination.

The vet took a urine sample and several cultures, and found a few problems. Firstly, Benny's urine is alkaline instead of acidic, which may indicate a problem with his body chemistry. Secondly, urinalysis showed crystals in his urine, which may be an indication of kidney or bladder stones.

I've got another appointment for him on Monday, where the vet will take some X-rays to check for uroliths and other abnormalities. If Benny is stone-free, then we'll need to examine other possibilities.

Meanwhile, I'm crating Benny at night without his wrap, and making a point to take him out at least once in the middle of the night. Hopefully, in a few more days, I'll know more about what's going on with him.

The other evening, I was having dinner at Outback Steakhouse. As usual, Glindy was curled up at my feet under the booth. The young lady taking my order knelt down to use the table as a writing surface, and practically jumped out of her skin when she saw Glindy peering up at her from the darkness under the table.

She hadn't really been expecting to see a dog there, as she hadn't been present when we were seated. That's perfectly understandable, really. Even when you like dogs, you can still be surprised to find one in an unexpected place--especially at eye level.

This isn't the first time that's happened. For Glindy's safety in dark restaurants, and for the cardiac care of future wait staff, I decided I needed to do something about it.

Naturally, I went shopping.

I bought a bunch of different stuff from my favorite place, SitStay.com, in order to make Glindy a more visible--and less-surprising--restaurant patron. Here's what I bought:

PolyBrite Lighted Safety Collar

A battery-powered, fluorescent collar that glows red. It works reasonably well, and the steady glowing is less obnoxious than some of the other things I've tried. The downside is that the glow strip on the medium-sized collar is only nine inches long, centered on the D-ring; that leaves 8-12" of matte black webbing centered on the plastic buckle. This works great when you're walking the dog and the D-ring is up top, but when used with a heavy leash clasp like the Buddy System, the glowing strip can end up facing the floor; then, when Glindy is laying down under the table, the glow is further obscured by her body. In short, I like it, but it's not sufficient by itself.

White/Blue Bling Bling Blinker

This is a rather obnoxious strobing LED. It is highly visible, but I find it too distracting for prolonged use. I don't know how Glindy feels about it, but I find the rapid strobing creates a visual sensory overload for me. I'd still recommend it for high-visibility needs, though, because it will get attention.

The Beacon

So far, I like this strobe the best, although we haven't finished putting it through its real-world paces yet. It's not as eye-catching as the Bling Bling Blinker, and is a bit large, but it provides a slow, steady red pulse that is visible without being distracting. It also has three different methods for attaching to things: a top-clip with notch for D-rings, a tension side-clip, and a small split-ring for connecting to dog tags or other connection points. My plan is to use its side-clip to attach the strobe to the trailing edge of Glindy's service vest, which should make her quite visible under tables unless she happens to roll onto her back, or somehow knocks it off. We'll see how it goes.

Each of these products has pros and cons, and it is my expectation that they will work better in conjunction--for example, pairing the lighted collar with a flashing strobe. In the end, success shall be measured in decibels--waitresses can scream pretty loudly--and by the absence of accidental tail-stomping.

I don't often have wake-up-in-a-panic nightmares, but I do often have bad dreams which repeat endlessly during the night, becoming more and more discomforting each time through the loop. I had one of those last night, and although I can't remember the details now that I'm awake, I know it was one of the more macabre ones.

At one point, though, I woke in the small hours before dawn to find Glindy in bed beside me, resting her head reassuringly on my legs. This was pretty unusual; Glindy usually prefers to sleep downstairs at night, and typically only joins me upstairs after daybreak.

I'm not sure why she decided to join me this particular morning, but I was glad of it. Her quiet presence sent me back to sleep once more--this time peacefully--and I was able to get a little restful sleep before starting my day.

I've been working with Glindy to get her more comfortable with her Furminator. Glindy sheds a lot, so I need to get her to tolerate longer sessions with a shedding tool so that we can strip out all that loose hair before going out in public.

Glindy has traditionally avoiding grooming like it was a punishment of some sort. So, I needed to modify her associations a bit, so that she'd look forward to grooming instead of running off to her crate every time I showed up with a brush.

What I've been doing for the past week or so is clicking and treating for grooming. I started out with one reward per brush stroke, but am now up to 4-6 strokes per treat. My goal is to eventually get her to sit still for a full five minutes while I groom her uninterrupted, but we're nowhere close to that yet.

Still, thanks to her newly-changed associations, I can usually get at the worst of her loose fur now. Progress comes from little steps like this.