Colleen's search for her dog actually began in January of this year. Her neurologist had referred Colleen to HP-SD's founder. Colleen was interviewed and found appropriate for the program. One hundred and four dogs were given consideration for potential Service Dog in Training Candidates. Most were dismissed due to size, behavior problems, age of the dog, inability of HPSD staff to meet with the dog's foster family, or a variety of other reasons. Approximately ten dogs were actually given a hands on interview. Out of that total One-hundred-and-four dogs, Coco emerged as our pick. It was April before I had written the first progress report of our team. Coco had been injured by a flap tear made on one of the toes of a hind paw. That event had occured on the day that the adoption was being finalized. So our team got off to a rough start. The wound healed nicely and over the next three months the pair bond strengthened and Coco had the obedience basics down, and Colleen's work on the task training was well under way. Another health issue showed up in the form of a previously undiagnosed food allergy which had been allowed to go untreated at the previous facility for several weeks. After considerable expense and worry, the problem was diagnosed properly and Coco's appearance changed dramatically for the better. Coco was a stalwart fellow and the learning sessions had continued despite his less than optimal health. The team had made several training field trips in the community, and the dog's stable temperament and easy going manner remained unchanged from the day the decision was made to turn Coco into a Service Dog in Training, (S.D.i.T.).

It is now nearing the end of July, and I am pleased to announce that this team is making very good progress. The climate in the region is a hot and dry one, so most training must take place early in the day. Colleen has been working on specific task commands such as: take it, get whatever, (cane, phone, your leash, dropped item, etc.) The pair has been concentrating on the brace task for stair ascent and descent, as well as for topography uneven path ways. At this point it appears that this team is going to finish their training by the end of the year. I have been delighted by progress reports and had my own spirits lifted at times by news of success. Anyone who has done much in the way of dog training knows how frustrating it is to work through those sessions when it appears that your dog has hit the wall and can go no further. Then, it is as if the lights turn on, and as we say, "the brain fairies pay a visit" and a dog that seemed to never get the point, would all of a sudden start responding to a certain command as if he had been doing it that way for years. We live for those moments, they are what keeps all of us in this often frustrating game known as dog training.

Coco turned out to be a bit of an escape minded individual when Colleen had first brought him home. The first time he took off, it amounted to a few hours, in the middle of the night, of course. Colleen tried to stay calm and thought those thoughts, which we often have when we have no way to control events. “If it is meant to be, then he will come back.” “Oh, you stupid dog, why did you do this to me?” “Don’t do this, come home.” Eventually come home is what he did. Colleen was both relieved and angry at the same time, finding that her thoughts vacillated back and forth from one end to the other.

Many weeks later, our four-legged explorer decided to see what was making unfamiliar sounds, visit the cat, the geese, or whatever it is that dogs go off to do in the middle of the night. Coco had been so very well behaved that Colleen had gotten a little less paranoid about keeping him firmly on a snapped lead, and a momentary lapse led to a very deep feeling of betrayal and rage as her dog headed into the thick set bushes surrounding the patio. This time her anger won out, and she had to avoid her dog lest she take out her disappointment and fear of losing Coco, on the very thing that had won her heart and caused her such woe. This time instead of hours, he returned in only a few moments, but Colleen’s warring emotions could not be pushed aside. Although she understood that she could not punish him for running away, her emotions were stretched too thin; she could not embrace the change of fortune, either.

But this tale of the escaping dog and the miserable owner would take a delightful turn the next time that Coco found himself no longer tethered to Colleen. Colleen lives in a rural area, surrounded by rough gravel roads, and a family member had given her a golf cart to use for moving about the large acreage comprising the property of her family”village.” Taking Coco out for exercise by allowing him to run at the end of a Flexi lead while she drove the cart had become an even that Coco looked forward to everyday. He would pick up the Flexi of his own initiative and ask for a run. Thus started this daily run, but it would have a lightly different ending than their usual return of a cruise back down the steep drive to her living quarters. At a point when they were able to pick up speed, Colleen lost her grip on the Flexi’s handle and Coco was free. He was already running, he could have kept on going, but he stopped instead. Sat there for a moment or so realized that he was not attached to his person, picked up the Flexi’s plastic body and ran back to where Colleen was sitting in the Golf cart, sittin with all sorts of “no no oh no” thoughts flying through her mind. HE CAME BACK! On his own, gave her back the end of the tether which she was supposed to be holding, and waited for the run to get underway again. I am not sure as to what happened next, but soon various callers heard her very ecstatic announcement of “He came back. All by himself, he came back!”

May all of our stories of mischief-making dogs end so well.

As with all things in real life, it is the everyday hero who goes unannounced yet who makes life bearable for the many. Each of these dogs is a hero to his or her partner, day in and day out. The newspaper headliners are the stories that most persons associate with Service Dogs, but it is all of the unheralded tasks that are performed each and every day that make these dogs life savers to their human counter parts. And, their human counter parts in return are heroes to them.

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