Yesterday morning I emailed my application to the Greater
Dayton Labrador Retriever Rescue (along with my $25 non-refundable application
fee, which is deducted from the $275 adoption fee if I end up adopting a dog
from them), and in the afternoon I received a call from someone with the
rescue. Her name was Renee, and she was
calling because she saw on my application that I was looking for a dog to train
as a service dog and she wanted to make sure I was aware of the service dog
training program that is associated with the rescue.
Of course, I was not aware of the service dog training
program, since there is nothing about it on the rescue website. I went back and looked at the site after
talking to her on the phone, and no, there is nothing. And I did not find any information about it
when I was googling service dog programs in my state, either.
But there is a program, and it is called K-9’s in SpecialService (K.I.S.S.), and they do have a website, although it does not actually provide very much
information. And it turns out that they
are looking for volunteer puppy raisers right now, if anyone is interested in
raising a puppy that will become a service dog for someone in need.
Anyway, she told me some stuff about the program, and it
sounded good. There was a lot of static
on the phone, and I think it was her phone, not mine, because I usually get
pretty good reception and I even went outside in the 92 degree heat to see if I
could hear better but it didn’t really help.
So it was kind of hard to talk to her.
She is supposed to send me an application for the service dog program
and also links to some videos I can watch online of a couple of the dogs
trained by the program. I’m going to try
to do some research and see if I can find out more about the program, including
how satisfied or dissatisfied some of their prior clients are with their
dogs. I’m also going to ask her for a
couple of references so I can talk to some other people that have dogs from
that program.
One of the best things about the program is that their waiting
list is very short. I’m not sure why
that is, though. Does it mean no one
wants dogs from them? Or does it just
mean their program is not very well known yet?
I don’t know. But I could get a
dog in as little as four to six months, if my application is approved. That is just amazing. Most programs have at least two year waiting
lists.
Another good thing is that they are local. They are maybe a 90 minute drive from where I
live. So I could easily go back and
forth to do the training with my dog.
That was a big concern for me with programs in other states. They want you to fly there, stay in a hotel
there for two weeks or so, and train with the dog. I’m thinking that, for someone with anxiety
issues, flying across the country alone, then having to find their way around a
strange city by themselves, well, maybe that would create a little anxiety? I get anxious just thinking about it!
The cost is an issue.
It would cost almost $6000 to get a dog from this program. Which is more money than I have in the bank
right now. And it’s more than many other
programs seem to charge. About $2000
seems to be the norm. But then I started
doing some math. If I got a dog from a
program that charged $2000, but had to fly to Seattle and stay there for two
weeks, paying for a hotel and all my meals and cab fare or a rental car, I’m
guessing that would cost me close to $4000 altogether. Except I really can’t see how I could fly to
Seattle and stay there for two weeks by myself.
If Mike had to go with me, then there would be his airfare and his
meals, and he would have to take two weeks off work, and that would add up to
$6000 at least, easy.
Adopting a dog and training it with a private trainer could
end up costing more than $6000, too.
There would be the vet bills to have the dog checked for hip and elbow dysplasia
(and if the dog ended up having that, I’d have to find a new dog and pay for
the tests all over again), the cost of having the trainer evaluate the dog to
see if it would be a good candidate for a service dog, the adoption fee, the
cost of the obedience classes, and however many hours of private training ended
up being necessary. It could easily add
up to more than $6000.
Of course, the biggest issue with training a dog on my own
is the idea that I might discover, six months or more down the road, that the
dog wasn’t going to be a good service dog after all. Going with a program means that the dog has
already been trained and demonstrated he is suited for the work before I ever
meet him. That is a huge, huge
benefit. Not just in terms of cost, but also
in peace of mind. How expensive, and how
emotionally devastating, would it be to bond with a dog and spend six months or
more training it only to determine that you’d spent all that money and all that
time and were not going to end up with a service dog after all?
I’m really excited at the idea that I could get a service
dog from a program in less than six months.
But I have so much to think about now.
No comments:
Post a Comment