Rocket MAN. I adopted Rocket on January 12th, 2016 from the local animal shelter. He was a Christmas present from the most wonderful people ever put into my life. And I did say put into my life because I believe every person is placed by Divine intervention to be what you need when you need. My foster parents are those people. I’ve had many others come and go but they have been the greatest constant. Rocket was given to me on that cold day in January and when I first saw him I knew I needed him. I told myself he needed me. Maybe it was both but I truly believe that I was the one that was rescued when we walked out of the shelter that day.
When I got Rocket he had been wandering around with another little Chihuahua and I never found out for how long where he had come from or if there was any other history. When he was evaluated by the vet they gave him a clean bill of health and decided he was about 3 years old. A great thing for me he was old enough to have some basic skills but still young enough to integrate into my family. I have two small children and other animals that he would need to interact with closely. I arrived at the shelter at the end of a three month search for the perfect dog to fit my needs. Small, friendly and loyal. Rocket fit the bill. But for some reason I was attracted to his brother Sprocket, who was since then adopted by a wonderful family and renamed. (no sad stories today). When I approached Sprocket. The gentle natured dog that I thought would be a great for me, ended up being just a little to nervous for us to work as a team. I’m so glad that I realized it before it was too late. I was approached by his brother, who came to the gate of his kennel and so desperately wanted me to scratch his booty. He was ultimately the one that fit my personality better. Again that Devine intervention that guides you always gets things right. Sprocket huddled back and Rocket stuck his tiny little booty with his tucked tail up to the gate. I fell in love. Unfortunately he was unadoptable.(again no sad stories today) I had to wait four days. I went home making sure I didn’t get attached to an unsure thing. But as you all can see he was the one that came home with me just four short days later. Papers filed, leash in hand.
After going home the tough part began. I wasn’t all the days of searching it was the paperwork to finalize him being able to be home. That brings me to the reason why I need Rocket. Rocket is a Psychiatric Service Dog that started out as my Emotional Support Animal. Acquiring him as an ESA was quite simple compared to what I needed to do to have him as a service dog. Service animals are task trained to actually do something which mitigates the person’s disability. They are not there to just help you feel better or get you through a tough time. The difference between an Emotional Support Animal and a Psychiatric Service Dog is the hours of training to learn specific tasks to mitigate a persons disability for a person who is daily debilitated in day to day tasks because of that disability. A Service dog and an emotional support animal have there function and there place and both have there pros and cons. The reason that I chose to get Rocket as an Emotional Support animal first was because I wasn’t sure that I needed a service dog and to be honest to do it the correct proper way it is a lot simpler of a process then having a service dog. Also I later benefited doing it that way because I could have him in my house with no problems while I did owner training.
The next point I was to address is training your service dog. Who, What, When, Where and Why. Who should train your dog? What type of training do you need? When should you train your dog, and Why I ultimately chose to owner train my dog.
For me the why was simple one its the law. And second doing training gives your dog the skills to work to there full potential and be safe and enjoy their life as a working dog in a safe knowledgeable manner. Who for me was the tough one. For me I learned a lot about the process as I went. Because I live in small town USA a service dog trainer option wasn’t readily available to me right away. One there are not many in my area and the cost is not cheap. It is a valuable service that I am forever grateful for. When I finally came across a trainer. Thank you Dr. GOOGLE for your referral. It was a wonderful experience from day one. Thank you Ally and all those from Wind River Tails & Tails. If you ever get time please check them out over at Wind River Tails and Trails. They are amazing. They helped me all along the process and helped me figure out one of the most confusing things I’ve ever done. They also helped me figure out that owner training was the best option for me. Rocket was already a ESA and I was using him at home already to cope with anxiety. So sending him off for a Board and Train despite the convenience it was not the best option for me because Rocket was already providing me a service. So we continued with owner training in real life situations. I method I found very affective. But you need to find what works best for you. Ask questions and educate yourself is my best advice for this part of the process.
When do you start training? Some people will tell you to start young and some will tell you to wait. In my life experiences with dogs I’ve learned that the younger you can start the basics the better. Desensitize them and help them have the basics to build on so that no matter what you do with the dog later in life you set them up to have a less stressful life built on success. In the case with Rocket he was 3 when I adopted him so I had no choice but to start then. We started slow first off because he was new to me and his confidence hadn’t come out but also to build building blocks to lead to success. The hands on owner trying working with real life situations built our bond and his confidence for a dog that is good at his job and enjoys it as well. I’m very pleased with my method and process of acquiring and training my service dog Rocket. We saved each other and will have a bond that will last I life time. I love my nontraditional service dog
Gyngergurl and Rocket 