All About Daniel James

Daniel is Amazing!

2008-12-03T12:37:00.004-06:00

The time has come for Daniel to move on . Daniel has passed his Public Access Test, and is living permanently with his new owner and partner Elliott. Dan and Elliott have spent the last six weeks learning all about each other and waiting for the day they will graduate as a certified service dog team. That time has come.
Please continue to check this blog for updates on this new team.

Summer Time Fun!

2008-08-07T13:01:00.004-05:00

Daniel and American Assistance Dogs were invited to put on a demonstration at our local town festival in June. We did a 15 minute demonstration on what things a service dog could do and the process in which they learned to do these things.

We showed how we initially taught the dog to pick up items such as keys. Keys are an especially hard thing to teach along with silverware and other metal objects because most dogs do not like the taste or feel of metal in there mouths.

We also demonstrated how we start teaching nudge and touch with a touch lamp.

After Daniel was over a year of age we started teaching the command BRACE. This is when the dog at a standing position will lock his front and back legs so a person can use the dog to help him return to a standing position if he has fallen.

North Carolina Here We Come

2008-08-07T12:53:00.005-05:00

In June Daniel accompanied a group from my church to North Carolina on a mission trip. Since Dan is a service dog he was able to ride on the plane with us. This was a new experience for Daniel and he did show some signs of stress during the 1st and 2nd take off and landing. He was slightly agitated and panting more than usual. During this time I continued to tell him that it was fine and he was being a good boy. It must have worked because by the time to were on the 3rd, 4th and 5th leg of the trip Daniel did not act any different than if he was loading into a car. Down the ramp he went and curled up at my feet and slept till it was time to get off the plane. During this trip which included around 100 kids in North Carolina Dan went from work site to work site. It was evident that he was always anxious to see what we would be doing next or where the bus would stop. He loved all the people and made many friend young and old by the time we were on our way back to Minnesota.

It's Spring

2008-08-07T12:47:00.003-05:00

Since I last wrote Daniel has been a very busy dog. We have continued basic training with Dan on his obedience and also skills. This included working in public places such as malls and physicians offices. When we are in places such as doctor or dentist offices it is important that Dan stay in one place and just wait.

Public places like this are also great places for the service dog to learn about elevators. Daniel is learning the skill of pushing the up or down button in this next picture.

After All I Am A Dog

2008-04-14T09:53:00.002-05:00

As the title of this little story says, we must always remember that even though service animals are special in so many ways, they are first and foremost in this case a dog.

Last Saturday was Daniels day to take his Canine Good Citizen test. This test is suppose to be just a series of obedience skills that is important for all dogs to have. The dogs are asked to sit, stay, come, walk in a crowd, not get to agitated when left with a total stranger for 3 minutes, let someone else groom them, walk by another dog without any trouble, and greet another person with a dog without causing any trouble. Oh yeah, one last thing! Heel beside you in an area and do a couple of turns..no big deal right? Daniel had no problem with anything except that is HEEL. I have trained Daniel by myself in many places, schools, church, nursing homes to name a few. Dan heels very well without any problems. Now
we are in a school for dogs, someplace he has never been before. Imagine yourself being in a wonderful resturant with smells that drive your senses crazy and being told hold your breath, don't smell. Well, that is what I had to try to convince Daniel to do. Keep his head up and not smell the wonderful smells on that training mat.

Guess who won. I think Daniel picked his head up about once on the first try at heeling and maybe 3 times the second try. Needless to say we did not get our CGC certificate this time.

I would love Daniel to pass this test and I have confidence that he will at a later date.

Especially now that I have signed him up for an advanced obedience class just so he gets the idea that the great places with all the fun smells sometimes mean he still has to focus on me and not the floor. Oh Yeah, it was also pointed out to me that I also was not very professional in the ring , I get very nervous and don't remember things I am suppose to do, so between the two of us Daniel and I have some learning to do.

After the end of this day Daniel decided to take a nap with his house sister Billy our Jack Russell Terrior. Lets take a hint from these two, after a long day unwind with a good rest in the bay windown.

Till Later

Daniel turns 1 year old

2008-04-04T16:46:00.003-05:00

It has been 3 months now since I last wrote. Daniel has grown up in more ways than one.
At the last vet check Dan weighed 60 pounds and was healthy and all was well.
We did go through a slow training stage where he just had no interest in listening to me. At this time I decided it was best to just let Dan be Dan and I stopped all skill training and just concentrated on his behavior in public and of course at home.
After about 8 weeks Dan was ready to learn again. I was surprised how fast he learned.
In a very short time he learned to open and shut drawers and cabinet doors. This was accomplished with ties to the doors and drawers and the instructions to pull or nudge. He loves nudging so much that it is not unusual for him to not allow you to open the door before he has his nose up against and shoving it shut.
Dan and my family have been spending a lot of time at theatrical productions in the last month. We took him to Blue Man Group last week and as I expected neither the noise or commotion gave him any concern.
We also spent time at the state girls basketball tournament. I think Dan liked looking at the jumbo tram. He made the telecast at least twice.
I am starting to work on having Dan really watch what I am doing. At times he really loves the attention that he gets when we are in public. Then there are other times when he only has eyes for me and does not care for the attention. Soon it will be time to politely tell people that Dan is in training and he cannot receive attention from anyone but me at this point. This is not a favorite time in the training for me but it is a necessary part of the training.
Dan has also started having to do skills in public. In the past Dan has basically only been asked to just behave in public but now he has started some skills in public. In the pictures he is handling this very well. This is a slow process and Dan is only asked to do a few things at each outing and if he refuses we go back to retrieving which he will do readily so we end on a good note.
Till next time...Happy Spring from Daniel and Deb

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2007-12-10T13:13:00.001-06:00

VOLLEYBALL

2007-12-10T12:52:00.000-06:00

Daniel is well known in the little town of Jordan. It is unusual when I don't have him healing at my side and when I don't I am asked several times where Daniel is. He continuously lights up the daily lives of so many people.

I took this picture of the Jordan Volley Ball team one night before they started their game. We attended many volleyball games this past fall and he did great. It was not strange for Daniel to actually be watching the game. He also made a few tiny friends who would make their way over to us to say hi and to give out some hugs.

Dan continues his training, we have become a little more stubborn as he heads into his 7th month. This is normal and for Dan anyway it means I have to be more careful about picking his training times. He is the one who tells me at this point when he wants to work and when he does not. I think at about 1 year this will change back again. We continue to work on picking up items such as credit cards and metal items. He is not to thrilled with metal but credit cards and paper money he loves. I have found a brand of toy he can not destroy so we leave that out for him and many times a day he comes to have some fetching time.

In the last 4 weeks Dan has attended plays at the Ordway, Guthrie and Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. In each situation he did great. Crowds and noise are not an issue with Daniel at all.

He did give the ghost of Christmas future a second look at the Guthrie though!

Daniel At Play

2007-11-08T07:52:00.000-06:00

Daniel gets a lot of free time to just be a dog. Sniffing is what he loves to do. Always nose to the ground when he is outside.

Who Is Training Who?

2007-11-08T07:08:00.000-06:00

Recently Daniel had a play mate for a few days. This picture is of Dan and his friend Rocky. They had just finished playing and decided it was time for a nap.

Daniel continues to be a great joy in our life and also a force to be reckoned with. Daniel has hit the infamous six month stage of his life. I knew it was coming and was just waiting for it.

I no longer have to wait.

Now I will explain. At between six and seven months it seems that even the best dog in the world will turn into a bit of a patience tester. The best way I can explain this is don't take your eyes of him for more than a minute or two and by all means if you can't hear him you better go check and see what he is doing NOW!!!

It can be anything from ripping up dog beds, destroying tennis balls, taking clothes off the line piece by piece to taking my shoes out of the shoe bag into his kennel and destroying them in a matter of minutes. ( Good thing Kohls has a sale on this week ).

Funny thing is when they are in this stage of their life's they show no sign of remorse about anything they do. When I caught him with my shoe that he had watched me put in the shoe bag 15 minutes before I asked him to bring it to me in a very stern voice, he looked up as if to say okay this one is done could I have the other one now please. Labs are amazing. I am sure the Good Lord put them on this earth so we would not forget how to laugh long and hard.

Now on to the great stuff he is learning. I had stopped doing any skills training with Dan because it was all going to fast and I was worried that maybe he would be getting confused at his young age with all the things he was learning. I decided to just focus on basic obedience skills.

Dan is a forger. Meaning he wants to walk two steps in front of you not beside you. Especially now in this stage if you give him a foot he will take a yard. So we have been working in the schools where I can walk him right up next to a wall on my left side for the heel command or on my right for the side command. If he does not have anything to sniff at like on a walk outside he is coming along great on a leash. Okay back to skills. Yesterday I took him to work with me and decided to work on shutting the door, in this case pulling it shut. I tied a soft piece of fleece to the door handle and asked him to take it and tug. After a second of trying to figure out why I was not at the other end of the cloth he decided to do it. He took the cloth pulled hard and shut the door. Yeah! I acted like a crazy woman and praised him up and down and loved him up.

So I asked him to do it again. This time he looked at me, turned around got his ball and said I did it once now time to play, so we did. At my office Daniel is passed around from person to person so it is not uncommon for a co-worker to take Dan and try a lesson or two. He had been on a errand with a co-worker and she decided to try and get him to shut the door. She used the same language I did, asked him to tug and poof the door was shut. She asked him to do it again and he went to his drawer got his ball and said time to play. So she did! Who is training who?

One more thing about Daniel. We forgot to tell him he is not a lap dog. There is nothing he enjoys more than climbing up in your lap and taking a nap. For a dog that is close to 50#s you would think this would not be comfortable. To Daniel it the next best thing to chewing up my tennis shoe.

Resturant Work?!

2007-10-22T08:59:00.000-05:00

Recently two of American Assistance Dogs met up for lunch. Well actually we were out on a training session in Eden Prairie and the handlers got hungry. So since restaurants are a great place to meet new people and hear new noises we decided it was time to eat.

The dogs were welcomed and some interesting questions were asked. Then it was time to get down to the business of keeping the dogs out of the way, quite and relaxed. Blade chose a nice comfy place near the water the waiter had brought the dogs and Daniel chose to go under the table. The staff was wonderful and as you can see by this picture were more than happy to get a nice hug in before we left for home.

Weddings & Weddings

2007-10-22T08:50:00.000-05:00

Daniel has been stealing the scene at three weddings this late summer into fall. He has been learning patience and manners by attending these functions. Walking through crowds, laying under tables for extended periods of time or leaving dropped food on the floor are all part of Daniels training at weddings and receptions. We have had one funny experience while taking Dan to weddings.

A few weeks ago we attended my nephews wedding, just as my nephew was to say he took his new wife as his bride Daniel barked three nice barks. He was sleeping at my feet and must have had a dream because he woke up barking. Later when I apologized to my new niece she just thanked me and actually said it brought her back to reality so she could say her vows. Good Job Daniel.

Daniel is a work in progress!! His favorite part of weddings is the dance. Once the little kids get on the dance floor he is all eyes. He does not try to join them but does enjoy watching all those little feet.

BEING A THERAPY PUPPY

2007-08-30T09:06:00.000-05:00

I am one lucky dog. Each week I get to go to a nursing home and say Hello to many people. Some of them are in the home for only a short time and are really missing their own pets. Others are there for a very long time and I bring back memories of pets they have had in the past. I really bring joy to so many people during my visits.

When I am at the nursing home I just have to be a good dog and let all the people pet me. Sometimes I have to be good a very long time while Deb and the people tell stories. This isn't so bad because I usually have a set of hands petting me the whole time. Deb has also brought bags of treats to many of the people so they feed me the right kind of snacks when we are visiting.

While I am there the nurses are good at teasing me. They make sure they make a bit of noise or bring a cart next to me so I can learn that noise is okay. Today I got to go in the rehab room and look at different machines that make noise and move in funny ways.

All in a days play for me at the nursing home.

I AM GROWING!

2007-08-30T08:49:00.001-05:00

It is time I let everyone see how big I am getting. I am starting to out grow my bed. I do share it on occasion with my house sister Billy but it is getting just a bit crowded. Deb is working each day on my obedience training. I must say she is pleased with me. I am very attentive during training and I continue to come even if I am hot on the trail of a frog or a grasshopper. I can sit and stay, wait and come, now I am learning to lay down on command and come up to a sit once I have on been on a down. Another couple of weeks of this and Deb is going to start a command called touch. With this command I will be learning the basics of opening up a handicap door.

I will continue to have the puppy mentality for a long time yet so Deb is going to take it easy on the skills commands so as not to confuse me and also to let me have a lot of fun. I have to go now. I think I see a toad.

The Lessons Daniel Has Learned

2007-08-08T07:54:00.000-05:00

The whole is never big enough! I don't think Daniel is a natural digger but he cannot resist exploring a whole made by Thomas our greyhound. Of course after that digging a nap is in order.

This morning I was called outside to have a look at Daniel. Turns out Dan had discovered a toad and at the time I looked out the door he was foaming a great deal at the mouth. I never did find the toad but I think he got the upper hand or mouth. I can't wait to see if he learned his lesson.

Daniel has been going on many outings lately. I have been getting him use to the sights and sounds of stores, churches and libraries. Last week we were at the Mall of America and after about 2 hours he was very tired but still being a great dog.

Training is consisting of sit, wait ( he has to wait before he gets to go in his kennel to eat, he has to wait at the door before he gets let outside and also before he can come inside, this teaches Daniel not to charge the door and possible run someone over) , the down command is being introduced slowly. What we work on the most is fetching and this is always done in a very up beat way. When Daniel is finished in his mind with this we stop the exercise so he only knows ending on a good note.

Puppies Need their Own Space

2007-07-06T20:11:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of where Daniel goes when he gets tired. This bed gets moved from room to room and at night is moved to his kennel where he sleeps. This provides Daniel with his own space where he feels comfortable.

Daniel learns to tug

2007-07-06T19:56:00.000-05:00

Isaac decided to show Daniel how it's done..."tug Dan, tug!" Younger dogs often learn from their elders. Not only how to have fun as in this picture, but also manners. It is not uncommon for one of Daniel's older brothers to scold him if he tries to take a treasure away from them. In this respect he is learning his place in the pack.