Service Dog in Training- Luna, Week 4

This week started pretty normal and easy. Luna didn't have many new things going on for her. We went to physical therapy, she is almost a pro at walking in and laying under my table. I am spending part of every day teaching her basic commands like sit, stay, and heal. Oddly enough we have to spend time wearing her vest and being on a leash because that is the biggest thing she is struggling with. She also is not liking the car rides, so we are taking her everywhere we go to get her adjusted to being in the car.

At the end of the week, I had an orthodontic appointment. Luna has been to the office before because it is where Christy works, but she has never gone with me for treatment. She was not sure about all the smells and sounds. Christy even threw her off more because she was treating me and could not pet or pay attention to Luna. Ultimately I had to let her lay in my lap, where she easily fell asleep and waited for the weird day to be over. She did very well at the appointment in all. I am sure she would have sat in her spot if Christy was not in the room talking.

I am also making some repairs for Christy at her office. This is the first time Luna has seen me working with tools and doing one of the things I love. She sat patiently watching me and evaluating the situation. This weekend will be a big fun weekend with the hot air balloon festival and hiking. I am looking forward to seeing how she does in these environments.
-Juan Perez

College Bound

Let me start this blog post with another little insight into my life. I have seven children. Three older children from my first marriage, two kiddos with my current wife, and we adopted 2 children. Their ages range from 23 to 7. This past May my youngest child from my first marriage graduated from high school. This event was difficult for me. Gabrielle is the youngest of my older set of children and her graduation means she will be leaving for college soon. It literally marks an end to one very large chapter in my life. 

Fast forward to this weekend. Gabrielle is leaving for college Sunday. I am having a hard time processing this. Christy and Gabrielle are at the table Saturday discussing the plans for Sunday. We have decided that with Lunas allergic reaction and the Prednisone making her pee every 30 minutes, that it would be a bad idea to take her with us. I am struggling once again with the change in plans. I had planned to take her with me and caring for her will be a distraction from the sadness that is dropping my baby off at college. Now I realize I will not have that distraction. I will not have that tiny dog that requires my attention and I will have to be present in this process. The reality makes me mad. I spend Saturday night being difficult to be around- picking small fights with my wife and kids to keep from really thinking about the next day. 

Sunday morning, we get up and go to the gym early. I know I need to work off some of this anxiety. We head home and I go about taking care of Luna. Getting her fed, getting her meds. I shower and it’s time to leave. Today is going to be a tough day. I am very sad that Luna is not going but I am grateful she will be waiting for me when I get home. I am also grateful that my wife is with me and I do not have to face this alone. We pack up Gabrielle’s things and head to Boulder. 

The day goes pretty well. We get there about two hours early, so we have time to spend exploring the campus a little and getting some souvenirs. We unload the car and Christy stays with Gabrielle to unpack while her Mom and I go park our cars. When I am stressed, my OCD kicks in. I want to organize everything. I want to color sort her clothes, fold and sort her drawers, scrub the room from top to bottom. I want to fix and make a difference with so many things; however, Gabrielle wants to be an adult and do all these things herself. Christy spends part of the time stopping me from doing things Gabrielle doesn’t want me to do. She has spent the better part of 13 years mediating my relationship with my kids and ex-wife. Today she does it in a gentle way knowing that I am really struggling. It is finally time for us to leave because Gabrielle has a meeting and we can’t be there with her for it. Christy is a photographer and often captures moments when we are not looking. This moment was one that I was dreading, I did not want to let my baby girl go. 

 

We leave Gabrielle in Boulder as an adult. This is the first time she doesn’t have to move from one house to another. This is the first time she will stay at one house for an extended period. I am proud and sad all at the same time. We drive home and realize we are now a home with only 3 small children. All the older kids are grown and moved out, and the era of little's has begun. I get in comfortable CU Boulder apparel and snuggle my puppy and wife. This day has been emotional and draining, and all I want to do is sleep.

-Juan P.

A Day of Firsts

Today was Luna's 1st vet visit. Today was a lot of firsts for Miss Luna. We had been a little concerned that she wasn't eating enough and we were a bit anxious about this visit altogether. We dropped the kids off to school; however, today of all days my wife had to go into the school. Talk about bad timing. Sometimes I believe that there are days when my wife knows that the actions she takes are going to trigger my PTSD and she still does them anyhow. Today was one of those days. I know that there was no way for her to get around going in, I also know that in my mind I have a clear set plan and her being at the school till 8:30 on the day we must be at the vet for my baby at 8:40 is not on my agenda. I worked hard at not showing my frustration, but I know she can feel it. Christy has a way of being able to read me even when I am trying not to express it.

We arrive at the vet at 8:37 and Christy has already completed all the forms and has the records ready for the vet office as requested. We are precisely on time and prepared for our appointment at 8:40. I am still anxious and hold Luna in my lap. She doesn't really seem to be feeling my anxiety as she sits and lets the vet techs pet her and talk to her. This is a new experience for her, and she is doing great. The vet says she is 14 lbs. now and a little thinner than he would like, but she is a boxer, and they tend to be thinner because they are so active. He suggests we supplement her food with some soft food for calories and help her put on a little weight. The vet says she is looking great, gives her shots and a de-wormer and she is good for a month.

Our next stop is for my physical therapy. Christy goes with me to start some exposure training. Luna is too little to start service training, but we want to start exposing her to my environments so that when we start her training, it is a much more straightforward process. Christy keeps her on a leash and shows her around the office. We work on sit and stay when we are allowing people to talk to and pet her. When she is working, people will not be able to pet her, but for now, we want her to be familiar and friendly with people, so exposure is the best plan. Luna and Christy do great at the physical therapy office.

Car rides are not Luna's favorite thing, but the car ride back to the house is a little different today. Luna seems groggy and very whiny. When we get home, Christy takes Luna to lay down and notices a quarter-sized knot where Luna's shot was given. Maybe a slight reaction to the vaccine. They lay down and take a nap while I am working. When Christy wakes up she calls me upstairs, the knot has grown from quarter size to mandarin orange size. We decide to call the vet. The spot is very tender, and the vet asks us to come back in. Luna has had an allergic reaction to the shot and must go on a steroid medication to combat the allergy.

Luna is tired and groggy the rest of the night. She is very whiny and won’t lay down without someone cuddling her. I give in, and we spent the evening watching movies in my chair. It was a busy, emotional day for us both.

-Juan P.

Sleepless Nights

Sleepless nights are a thing again for my wife and me. I have insomnia, so it isn’t a big issue for me, but the wife is not happy that Luna is not sleeping through the night. I also forgot how much a puppy sleeps. This spoiled puppy has to be snuggling someone or she will not stay sleeping and will cry. I work from home so that means sometimes I have to work from the recliner so that she will sleep while I am conducting online training. On the off time that I cannot sit with her, my kids are more than happy to be her snuggle buddy.

When you have a 10-week old puppy and a 2-year-old St Bernard/Golden retriever mix, it's hard to know what is playing and what is sibling aggression. The last week we have been getting our existing dogs adjusted to the new baby in the house. Lola, our 100lb Golden Saint, loves her little sister, but sometimes her way of showing love is the puppy’s entire head in her mouth and a not so gentle shake of the head. I cannot tell you the amount of anxiety this is causing me. Having a puppy is hard work. Having a puppy and a not so gentle giant is one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed. As the weeks go on they are getting better at playing and knowing each other’s limitations. Our Shi Tzu wants nothing to do with the puppy. He is a grumpy 7-year-old and could care less as long as she is not near him.

We have our first Vet visit on Friday. Luna’s current weight is 11.8 lbs, and she is growing quicker than we can keep up. I am not sure if it is because she will soon become my constant companion, but I am hyper-vigilant about everything that has to do with her. Even the growth that has caused her to seem too skinny this last week, has me researching her food intake and if I am caring for her properly.  My wife feels like the puppy is triggering PTSD symptoms and we are being cautious to make sure we are tracking the symptoms. I am not sure that I was fully prepared for the wear and care of a new puppy, but I don’t think anyone is ever fully ready for important things that come into their lives and change their world.

-Juan Perez

A New Addition for the Perez Family

This day has been 20 months in the making- the day I picked up my boxer baby who will train to be my service dog. To understand the importance of this day, you must understand why this specific dog is so important to me. On November 4th, 2016, we lost our 6 year old boxer to cancer. We had fought the cancer for 6 months and she finally succumbed to the terrible disease. Lilly was an unofficial service dog for me. She was my constant companion because I work from home. Lilly knew when I was struggling and would stay close to me or push against me to get me to sit down and pet her. She would crawl up and sit on top of me when the cluster headaches were bad almost like she knew that I would sit still and not move with her sitting on me. Lilly was very important to me and her loss was very hard on our entire family. I knew that one day I would want another boxer and this time I would want to train the boxer to be an official service dog.

About 6 months after Lilly passed I had found a breeder that I wanted to go with and I put a deposit on a litter. I was very specific. I wanted a sealed brindle female boxer. I love the reverse brindle like Lilly, but I didn’t think I wanted to have the exact same color on our new puppy. I didn’t want the new puppy to replace Lilly and this to me meant she couldn’t look like Lilly. A sealed boxer is a black or mixed black and white boxer. We went through 3 litters before they finally had a boxer puppy that met my requirements. Every litter- they would let me know they had other options but no sealed female. I was becoming impatient.

At the beginning of June, the breeder contacted me and sent me 4 photos of the puppies from the May 29th litter. One single flashy, sealed female boxer was born and she was all mine if I chose her. I did not even hesitate. I showed my wife and sent the e-mail stating that I absolutely wanted her and I could not wait to bring her home. Her name was going to be Luna. I had picked out the name months ago when I made the deposit. I would pick her up July 24th, she would be 8 weeks old. I would get 1 set of photos of Luna at 6 weeks and they would let us know if there were any complications. That was the longest 8 weeks of my life.

July 24th, 2018: Pick-up day. I could not sleep the night before because I was so excited! My son, his girlfriend and I went to pick her up. I got there 45 minutes early and had to wait in my truck until it was 10:00 A.M. When they brought Luna to me, I knew the wait was worth it. Luna and I instantly bonded. She was the baby I had been waiting for so long.  Luna and I will start puppy training in 4 weeks and continue for the next 2 years training her to become the service dog I know she was born to be. For now, we are bonding and getting her adjusted to our other dogs and the family. She is the perfect fit for our family and we couldn’t be happier we waited for Miss Luna Perez.
-Juan Perez, Assistant Director of the Heroes Thanking Heroes program