Friday, July 13, 2012

This Could Be Good News!


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.

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