Like a Good Neighbor, Isaac Is There

Isaac is very popular among our new neighbors.  Most of them, anyway.  There is one woman that lives here that does not seem to like him.  Twice he's tried to sniff her hand and she yanked her hand away like she was disgusted.  That's OK, though.  I know not everyone likes dogs.  I keep  him away from her now.

But everyone else seems to love him.  I think it's funny because several of them think Isaac loves them especially much.  They want him to snuggle them and give them kisses, and he's happy to oblige, but then they say things like, "Oh, he just loves me doesn't he?"  And, "He doesn't do this with anyone else, does he?"  And I'm thinking, "Well, yeah, he does love you, but he loves everyone, and yeah, actually, he does this with anyone that will let him."  I don't say that, though.  I just say, "Yep, he loves you a lot."

There is a patio on the side of my apartment building and some of my neighbors like to sit out there and now that Isaac has figured out there are often people out there, every time we go outside he makes a beeline for the patio to see whose there and socialize with them a bit before we take our walk.  He also entertains them by rolling around on the grass, crawling under the picnic table on his belly, and just looking silly.

Isaac likes plastic soda bottles and a few of my neighbors discovered this when one of them was drinking drinking from a plastic water bottle and he caught sight of it and start barking and begging for it.  He finally poured out the rest of  his water, the nice guy, and gave Isaac the bottle.  I'm not sure why Isaac likes those bottles so much.  I think part of it is the noise they make when he bites them.  He got so excited about that bottle, he pulled the leash out of my hand and raced around the lawn in circles.  My neighbors got a big kick out of that.  Now, they save their soda bottles for him.  A new guy just moved into the building and the other neighbors have informed him that he should save his soda bottles for Isaac.  Isaac is a super spoiled doggie.

I like it that they all like Isaac so much and I think he is good for them, too.  Everyone in my apartment building is disabled.  A number of them are also elderly.  I think they are probably a little lonely and bored.  The unconditional love of a super snuggly doggie must be a good thing for them.  He's sort of like an unofficial therapy dog or something.

National PTSD Awareness Day

Today is National PTSD Awareness Day. 

Here are some things you  might not know about PTSD:

• Military veterans are not the only people that get PTSD (although the rate of PTSD in vets returning from the Middle East is frighteningly high).
• PTSD is not something people can "just get over."
• Telling people with PTSD to "stop dwelling on" the traumatic experience is not helpful.
• There is treatment for PTSD, which is fairly effective for most people.  However, it can take a long time and it's expensive.  Even with good treatment, symptoms may not go away completely.
• PTSD can be extremely debilitating.
• You can't tell just by looking at someone if they have PTSD.  Someone can seem pretty "normal" and still have PTSD.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post them.

Embarrassed to Be Seen with Someone with a Service Dog

I've never had this problem.  Or maybe some people do prefer not to be seen with me with my service dog and I'm just oblivious to it because, well, I don't really care.  But mostly I assume that if someone needs a service dog or a wheelchair or a cane or hearing aids or an interpreter or whatever, that should be just fine with everyone around them because, well, why wouldn't it be all right?

But this is an issue I hear about kind of often from other people that have service dogs.  Their mom or their sister or their girlfriend or whomever wants them to go to the grocery store or out to eat or someplace with them, but does not want them to bring their service dog.  They are embarrassed about being seen with someone with a service dog. 

And  yes, in some cases, those same people are embarrassed to be seen with someone that uses a walker or a wheelchair or some other assistive device.  Someone recently talked about her girlfriend wanting to go to the mall, but wanting her to leave her walker at home because she was embarrassed to be seen with someone that wasn't elderly but used a walker.  Apparently she thought only elderly people should use walkers.

This type of thinking really confuses me.  Apparently a fair number of people think like that, but I don't get it.  Why wouldn't you want your girlfriend or your family member or whomever to enjoy their trip to the mall with you and be glad they had a walker or whatever device they needed that would allow them to do that?  Why would you prefer they leave the walker at home and get tired out or maybe even fall and hurt themselves?  And I'm sure it's not that the girlfriend wanted this person to get tired out or fall and get hurt.  But if you don't want that to happen, why wouldn't you welcome the walker or whatever other device would help prevent that from happening?

When you go into a grocery store or restaurant with a service dog, you often get some attention.  I guess that embarrasses some people.  It doesn't embarrass me, but I don't really like it, either.  I would rather people leave me alone. 

But the attention isn't usually that bad, and people aren't paying attention to whomever I am with.  They are looking at my dog, and sometimes, at me.  I doubt they even notice my human companion, they are so busy looking at the dog.  And sometimes people do ask me questions, like if I am training Isaac for a blind person or why I have a service dog, but they don't ask questions of my companion.  I deal with any questions or comments as needed.   My companion doesn't have to deal with them.

I guess I don't see why someone should care if my service dog is with me, because it doesn't seem to me that it affects them very much.

Service Dogs Actually Get Petted A Lot

Someone I know that has a service dog told me that the other day, someone in the grocery store said to her, "It must be hard for you not to pet your dog."  The person knew that people aren't supposed to pet service dogs when they are working, and somehow assumed, based on that, that service dogs aren't supposed to be petted at all, not even by their owners.

One of my neighbors, who absolutely loves Isaac and pets him every chance she gets, thinks no one but the dog's owner is supposed to ever pet a service dog.  She has told me several times that I am not really supposed to let other people pet him. 

Now, all of my neighbors seemed to know that you aren't supposed to pet service dogs when they are working, so when  Isaac and I first moved in, they asked if they were allowed to pet him.  I explained that when they see us in the elevator or the lobby or outside taking a walk, that he's not working and it's fine to pet him.  I said that when he is wearing his service dog vest, or if we are in the laundry room and he's unloading the dryer for me, then he is working and those are not good times to pet him.  And I thanked them for asking, and reminded them that they should always ask before petting any dog, even if it's not a service dog, just to make sure it's friendly and won't bite.

But this one neighbor thinks no one but the dog's owner is supposed to ever pet a service dog.  She tells me that all the time, but at the same time, she pets Isaac every time she can because she loves him.  She tells him she loves him and encourages him to kiss her face.

Anyway.  My point is, service dogs are absolutely allowed to be petted.  Most of them probably get petted a lot.  Isaac is with me almost all the time, so I pet him a lot.  I bet he gets petted more than the typical pet dog, whose owner goes to work all day and leaves the dog home alone.  Isaac also gets petted by his dog walker, by my neighbors (on a daily basis), by friends when they come over (which admittedly isn't that often), sometimes by children when we go on walks, and occasionally by people at the store or other public places, if they ask and if I say yes.  Trust me, he does not suffer from lack of physical affection.  He certainly gets petted a lot more than I do!

Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt (for Doggies)

Combine two parts plain Greek  yogurt with one part creamy peanut butter in a bowl and mix well.  Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a sheet of aluminum foil and stick in the freezer for a few hours.  Then you can take the blobs of frozen yogurt off the foil and store them in a sealed container with a lid.  Serve one at a time when your doggie needs a cool treat.  You can also let your doggie lick the bowl - Isaac loves that!