Hey everyone. Today hasn't been so good. Well, Romeo has been behaving very well, that's a very good thing... but I went to my therapist today and he didn't seem to support my decision on having a service dog/service dog in training at all. He thought I would be "dependent on it". He also said Romeo couldn't come in his office even when he is fully trained. I tried to explain that he isn't there for emotional support but to work to help me live a more normal life by doing tasks to help with my bipolar disorder. He didn't seem to understand the concept though. Looks like I'll be changing therapists.
Goal for today: Work on Romeo's "lay down"
Goal for this week: Find a new therapist...
Sincerely, Danielle
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Catching Up
Hi everyone! I thought I'd let you all catch up on Romeo's progress. Let's start of with the first day I got him (about two and a half weeks ago). Romeo was 9 weeks old. We had to drive a long way to get him.
He was very lively and playful right away! He fell asleep for most of the 6 hour car ride, but as soon as he was awake it was play play play! Here is a picture of him on the car ride home:
We had a tag with his name on it made at Petsmart before we got him. You can see it on his collar in the picture.
So after we got back it was late and he went right to sleep in his crate. The next couple of days were mostly just eat, sleep, play, pee, etc. He was being a good normal puppy! By the 4th day I started the socialization. I took him to places where there isn't any food, but that are still public places (Florida has some really nice service dog in training laws. You can bring a service dog in training anywhere a trained service dog can go.) Although he is very young and not yet house trained, I chose to bring him around to select public places because he needs to get used to places like that while he is young.
Here is a video of Romeo playing:
His first outing was to office depot. He did so good right away! I was amazed! He walked right in through the automatic doors, walked on the tile no problem, and let people pet him and give him treats. He was wagging his tail the whole time! It was a very successful socialization day.
The next day we went to a department store in the mall to return something. He did exactly the same thing. He was being a good boy the whole time!
Through out the last two weeks he's been going a lot of places with me, including to my psychiatrist appointment. He did very good there too (as usual!). There were a lot of children in the waiting room and Romeo let them all pet him, and once they were done petting he minded his own business and didn't try to get too much petting. He has such a good balanced personality. Romeo has got to be the most laid back dog I have ever owned! It turns out my psychiatrist grew up with a standard poodle. I have been meeting a lot of spoo lovers!
Here is a picture of Romeo in his modified outward hound pack in the waiting room:
Recently we went to our local medical park (it's the only place in town with stairs and an elevator). Romeo did the elevator just fine, I gave him lots of treats the whole time so he was content. The stairs however, were a big deal for him. He is still small and doesn't like making big jumps.
Here's a video of him going down the stairs for the first time:
Also, Romeo has been working on his "Sit".
Here's a video of his progress after the first 2 days of teaching him to sit:
Well, after all of those adventures, one day I was very stressed out and worried about some things. I was talking to my mom while Romeo was playing with his rope toy. I began to cry and right away Romeo dropped his toy, ran over to me, and started pawing at me and licking me. Once I stopped crying he sat patiently in front of me and looked at me until I gave him lots of treats! He is learning already! I'm hoping the behavior he was expressing while I was crying will turn into an alert one day. (Read the about me section if you don't know what an alert is).
Another very exciting thing that has happened: Romeo is now crate trained! The other day he was playing with his everlasting treat ball (it seems as though he never stops playing at this age... he is 11 weeks now) Well for once he decided he was tired! He walked over to his crate, nudged the door open wider, and walked into his crate and went to sleep! I could not believe my eyes!!
Here is a picture of Romeo chewing on his everlasting treat ball:
That's about it for the adventures that I hadn't yet blogged about. Today Romeo is being very rambunctious, but I think he will calm down soon after some play time.
My goal for today: Socialize Romeo and play with him a lot.
My goal for this week: Socialize Romeo with other dogs that I know are vaccinated and get Romeo groomed.
Sincerely, Danielle
He was very lively and playful right away! He fell asleep for most of the 6 hour car ride, but as soon as he was awake it was play play play! Here is a picture of him on the car ride home:
We had a tag with his name on it made at Petsmart before we got him. You can see it on his collar in the picture.
So after we got back it was late and he went right to sleep in his crate. The next couple of days were mostly just eat, sleep, play, pee, etc. He was being a good normal puppy! By the 4th day I started the socialization. I took him to places where there isn't any food, but that are still public places (Florida has some really nice service dog in training laws. You can bring a service dog in training anywhere a trained service dog can go.) Although he is very young and not yet house trained, I chose to bring him around to select public places because he needs to get used to places like that while he is young.
Here is a video of Romeo playing:
His first outing was to office depot. He did so good right away! I was amazed! He walked right in through the automatic doors, walked on the tile no problem, and let people pet him and give him treats. He was wagging his tail the whole time! It was a very successful socialization day.
The next day we went to a department store in the mall to return something. He did exactly the same thing. He was being a good boy the whole time!
Through out the last two weeks he's been going a lot of places with me, including to my psychiatrist appointment. He did very good there too (as usual!). There were a lot of children in the waiting room and Romeo let them all pet him, and once they were done petting he minded his own business and didn't try to get too much petting. He has such a good balanced personality. Romeo has got to be the most laid back dog I have ever owned! It turns out my psychiatrist grew up with a standard poodle. I have been meeting a lot of spoo lovers!
Here is a picture of Romeo in his modified outward hound pack in the waiting room:
Recently we went to our local medical park (it's the only place in town with stairs and an elevator). Romeo did the elevator just fine, I gave him lots of treats the whole time so he was content. The stairs however, were a big deal for him. He is still small and doesn't like making big jumps.
Here's a video of him going down the stairs for the first time:
Also, Romeo has been working on his "Sit".
Here's a video of his progress after the first 2 days of teaching him to sit:
Well, after all of those adventures, one day I was very stressed out and worried about some things. I was talking to my mom while Romeo was playing with his rope toy. I began to cry and right away Romeo dropped his toy, ran over to me, and started pawing at me and licking me. Once I stopped crying he sat patiently in front of me and looked at me until I gave him lots of treats! He is learning already! I'm hoping the behavior he was expressing while I was crying will turn into an alert one day. (Read the about me section if you don't know what an alert is).
Another very exciting thing that has happened: Romeo is now crate trained! The other day he was playing with his everlasting treat ball (it seems as though he never stops playing at this age... he is 11 weeks now) Well for once he decided he was tired! He walked over to his crate, nudged the door open wider, and walked into his crate and went to sleep! I could not believe my eyes!!
Here is a picture of Romeo chewing on his everlasting treat ball:
That's about it for the adventures that I hadn't yet blogged about. Today Romeo is being very rambunctious, but I think he will calm down soon after some play time.
My goal for today: Socialize Romeo and play with him a lot.
My goal for this week: Socialize Romeo with other dogs that I know are vaccinated and get Romeo groomed.
Sincerely, Danielle
Monday, January 10, 2011
First Post
Hello everyone! I'm not quite finished designing this blog but I'll go ahead and make my first post explaining some of the things i'll be adding to it. First of all, I'll be adding an "About Me" section to the right side of the blog ---->
This "About Me" section will be explaining service dogs and what Romeo is being trained to do for me.
I'll be adding links, videos, and pictures later on too. Second, I'm going to make a youtube channel just for the videos of Romeo's training (I will attach each video to the blog, but you will be able to look them up on youtube also). And last, I'll be posting a blog post everyday telling you about the progress of Romeo and I.
Sincerely, Danielle
This "About Me" section will be explaining service dogs and what Romeo is being trained to do for me.
I'll be adding links, videos, and pictures later on too. Second, I'm going to make a youtube channel just for the videos of Romeo's training (I will attach each video to the blog, but you will be able to look them up on youtube also). And last, I'll be posting a blog post everyday telling you about the progress of Romeo and I.
Sincerely, Danielle
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