I've Got Those Puppy Raiser Airline Blues

On Feb 4, I posted "Off We Go, Into the Wild, Blue Yonder!" about the positive experiences a pup in training receives visiting an airport and flying. However, there is another side to the story. Unfortunately, some airlines refuse access to service dogs in training. To name a few:  Southwestern, Delta Airlines and American. In a nutshell, since the dog's handler does not have a special need, access is denied. No special need - no access. It's enough to make a puppy raiser sing the blues.

Talking with a Delta Air rep at the airport, I mentioned that denying access denies a service dog in training valuable....training! Those early experiences flying could greatly benefit this dog and its future partner when they fly as a working team for the first time. She stopped short. Never before had this notion crossed her mind. Her expression said, "Hey, that kinda makes sense!"

Flying with Sandy, a Southeastern Guide Dog in training, May 2010. The Atlanta Airport is a huge, bustling hub but Sandy loved every minute of the trip and behaved beautifully. Later that summer Sandy accompanied me to Chicago. Now she works as a guide dog.



Last fall, I started dialoguing with Delta Airlines over their denial of access. Personally, I have a strong interest in Delta changing their policy because: 1) they fly out of the terminal nearest us, 2) they fly to Alaska where our family periodically visits and works, 3) we have a Delta Skymiles credit card and, 4) flying with our service pups is important to us.
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My annotated letter of 9-24-2012 to Delta Airlines customer care/complaint/other:

Case Number 7161582

1. It is important for service dogs in training to get the exposure of working in an airport and flying, since someday their owner with his/her particular disability may need to fly with him. The animal cannot get this valuable training if denied access. Flying as a pet in a carrier in the hold of the plane is no replacement for accompanying a person in the cabin, sitting quietly at the person's feet.

2. Several airlines do allow service dogs in training the same rights/privileges as a service dog. Continental/United changed their policy about 1 year ago. Maybe it is time for Delta to change theirs?

3. Service animals are becoming more necessary and widespread in our society, used to assist people with many types of special needs. Many of these people travel extensively. These people need service animals experienced with traveling on all modes of transportation, whether bus, train or plane, which means training them as young dogs to be familiar with the associated sights, sounds and smells. 

4. As a raiser, I've flown approx. 25 times with 9 different pups in training. Their behavior has never created a disruption or incident in the airport or on the plane. My job as a conscientious puppy raiser is to make sure this experience is positive for the animal as well as for the airline and the public. Most raisers of service dogs are equally conscientious and determined to show the best possible face to the public.

In conclusion, I ask that Delta Airlines reconsider their service animal policy to include service animals in training, granting them the same rights and privileges. It would reflect well on your company and their consideration of people who need service dogs. It would be an action you would not regret! Thank you for your attention!

END OF LETTER.

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Response from Delta Airlines. The final outcome dated Nov. 8 reads:   

Dear Ms. Cole:

We appreciate receiving your suggestion to change Delta's policy on prohibiting service animals in training from flying in the cabin. Many customers share their feedback with us, and these observations oftentimes form the basis for improvements in our service.  At this time, no changes are planned for this policy.  Be assured I will be sharing your suggestion with the responsible leadership team.
Ms. East Cole, I want to thank you, again, for writing with your request to permit service animals in training to travel in the cabin.  We value your business, as a SkyMiles member and appreciate your feedback on our current service animal policy.
Sincerely,
Molly Walton
Coordinator, Corporate Customer Care
Delta Air Lines Case Number 7161582

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Was that a brush-off?....Oh well, at least I tried. Happily, several airlines do allow access, and grant dogs in training the same rights and privileges as service dogs. I applaud their vision. These airlines include:  Continental/United Air, US Airways, Alaska Air and Northwestern Air.

For the future, the pups and I will stick with flying on "service pup-friendly" airlines like United Air. My Delta Skymiles credit card? Guess it's time to cancel it, because I'm tired of singing those Puppy Raiser Airline Blues.

Sorry Kid, He's Already Taken

Wrangell at 9 weeks.

 On February 28, our Lab Wrangell will turn 8 years old. Time marches ever on. With his roots in Guide Dogs of the Desert, Wrangell was our very first guide dog puppy, raised as a 4-H project by daughter Lena when she was 15 and 16. Our first glimpse of him was at 9 weeks of age as he toddled out of his shipping crate. He was shipped courtesy of Alaska Airlines from Palm Springs, California to Fairbanks, Alaska. 

 







Resisting temptation from a biscuit by learning "Leave It".  4 months old.

Lena and Wrangell in Valdez in summer, 2006 with Columbia Glacier in the background.

Wrangell's daddy was an English champion, a school breeding experiment. Unfortunately, neither Wrangell nor any of his siblings ever became a guide dog. And so he became a permanent member of the Cole family. 

Alaskan puppy raiser meeting, winter 2005/6. This photo was taken about 2 pm. Yes, it's dusk outside! Wrangell and Lena are in the middle. His brother KV is on the right. The PR on the left is a colonel from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

 
Wherever Wrangell goes he turns heads. He has the classic boxy head, deep chest and solid football player build of the English Lab. With liquid brown eyes framed by distinctive eyebrows, looking into his eyes is like a window into his soul. Charisma.


Lena and Wrangell check out an Alaskan grizzly at Univ. of Alaska Museum. Good, now he's had his bear exposure. That is on the checklist, right?



Wrangell is a living testimony that a dog's life is anything but over when he gets career-changed. Instead Wrangell has been somewhat of a canine jack-of-all-trades. After his career change he turned to Search and Rescue training for over a year, finding subjects and rappelling from ropes. But that was not his true calling. 

Wrangell hangs from a harness 4-5' off the ground, while I walk/rappel down a steep slope next to him. This is valuable training for SAR K-9's who may be asked to search in extremely rugged country.

Next was the stage. As Annie's dog Sandy, Wrangell starred in 2 productions of the play "Annie," basking in the applause. But an actor's life is a fickle one, and soon he was "back on the streets" living the life of a pet. 


The Hooverville Scene. We rubbed ashes on Wrangell so he would look like a street dog.

Curtain call! Wrangell totally loved the stage. He didn't want it to end.

Yet of all the jobs on Wrangell's list, his most important has been his daily service helping our family raise six guide dog puppies. Since he knows the rules and is a canine to boot, Wrangell's solid presence sets the bar for the pups in our household. As a guide puppy crosses our threshold for the first time, Wrangell looks at me as if to say, "Well boss, here we go again!"          
        
 

Almost every day for 6 years Wrangell has faithfully mentored guide dog puppies. Here he and little Allen curl up in a tent on a backpacking trip in Alaska, summer 2007. Wrangell makes my job so much easier.

With surrogate uncle Wrangell the puppies adapt more easily to our home. And his snoring is a bonus, better than a ticking clock.



Recently Wrangell was certified as a therapy dog, so that periodically he serves in coat at nursing homes and the Chatham Public Library. It is a known fact that reluctant readers can excel given a program where they read to a dog. In the presence of a therapy dog, many children learn a love of books and reading who wouldn't otherwise. Stretched out with his massive Lab head leaning against a child's leg, Wrangell looks like a cross between Simba the Lion King and a Teddy Bear floor pillow. Children stroke his tawny sides and marvel at his big paws. He exudes calm, gentle strength. Many of these children have no dog at home; for some this is their first positive dog experience.

Wrangell listens to this reader who is a regular at the library. She stated that Wrangell is her new best friend.









Two sisters come into the library reading room, a little afraid, yet curious. I let them know they're welcome and soon they are cuddled on the floor between Dorian and Wrangell. While the bigger sister reads "Green Eggs and Ham" the little one reverently touches the hide of Wrangell the Lion-Dog. Suddenly she interrupts her sister's reading with a Great Idea. "Can you give me this dog? I will walk him every day. He can sleep by my bed!" I smile and keep listening to her sister read. But what I really want to say is, 
"I'm sorry Kid, but he's already taken."

Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder!

Making airplane reservations is always a daunting task, but especially when you factor in flying with a guide dog in training! Nevertheless, this week Dorian (pup in training) and I managed to secure our reservations. In March we will fly from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina to Los Angeles for a 10-day visit with my Dad, sisters and brother. For me as a puppy raiser, this now makes about 25 air commutes where I am accompanied by coated canines. The majority of the flights were long coast-to-coast trips:  Alaska - North Carolina, or North Carolina - California. A few were shorter - to Chicago or Tampa, Florida.





Ready to begin his journey to Alaska, 6-1/2 month Dorian (Southeastern Guide Dogs) is on a down / stay outside a Raleigh-Durham Airport terminal. This picture was taken last July.




What a great education air travel is for both puppy and raiser! For the puppy it is a non-stop day of training. Airport sights, sounds and smells abound, from the clack-clack-clack of suitcase wheels in the terminals to the crush of entering and riding on trams and elevators, to the sensory experience of "busying" in designated airport pet relief areas.


In the security lines, the pup gets another lesson in waiting patiently. The line moves slowly but suddenly it's time and the raiser is depositing shoes, backpack and laptop, emptying pockets, etc. into the bins and onto the carousel. Because the leash and collar contain metal, they come off too. Then it's time to go thru the x-ray scan:  first the pup is put on a down/stay while the handler goes thru, then the handler calls the pup thru. Sometimes the puppy is given a once-over examination by security (dog reads:  petting), an experience they love!





Husband Frank with Dave, our Southeastern Guide Dog pup in training, 2008. We have just flown into Chicago O'Hare Airport. Now that his plane flight is over Dave gets his food and water, which explains why his coat is off.








You might think this would all be sensory overload to a young service dog in training, but I've found the opposite to be true. As long as you are calm and matter-of-fact, the pup takes his cue from you. All eight service dogs we've flown with have taken the experience in stride, and many have thoroughly enjoyed it! As we quickly walk through the terminal, I glance down to check the pup's reaction to all the comings and goings. His body language tells you all is OK:  the shine in his eyes, the proud carriage of his tail and the smart trot all say to me, "Hey, this is cool! What an adventure we're having!"
 

By the time you board the plane your dog is ready to curl up and take a long snooze while the low rumble of the jet engines sings him to sleep.
"Sleep tight, Davey, we'll wake you on touchdown!"

Peter Pan Puppy

Disney's Peter Pan

As a repeat puppy raiser, you quickly discover each puppy is uniquely different.  One puppy is serene and laid-back. Another is constantly busy. One is assertive and tries to take charge. Another is happy to be told what to do. One sticks like glue to your side, another wants to explore - far! One pup may never dream of hopping on the couch, the next just knows couches are for him. The bottom line is each puppy teaches you as much as you teach it. What works teaching one puppy may not - often will not - work with another. Each puppy takes you to new heights of puppy raising.


Dorian, my current guide puppy-in-training, is my Peter Pan Puppy. Peter Pan was one of my favorite storybook characters. Wild and free, he never grew up. Peter was happy to stay a boy forever. And just like Peter Pan, my guide pup does not seem to want to grow up. Dorian is curious, playful and full of life. Even as I patiently drill him to be calm and not jump and have good manners and listen to me and the numerous Good Things that a service dog must be, there is a part of him that still insists he wants to be a puppy. 

A shadow image of Peter Pan, standing in the open window of a London house. The city of London is lit up behind him by the full moon.




 
I am trying to be patient and give Dorian time. I enjoy the sharp sparkle in his eyes, his wild skitters through the house, and the comical way he pounces on his toys just for fun. His zest for life answers a deep call in me to not want to grow up myself! As Peter Pan called to Wendy, Michael and John, so Dorian calls to me. And I love him for that. 

Dorian looking up and grinning.

Gradually, I know, he is growing up inside. As I work him week-by-week I see the subtle changes. For the first time in three weeks, Dorian and I join the therapy dog group and visit a nursing home in Danville. That's when it dawns on me that I am not working as hard to keep him in line. He accepts the distractions of the therapy dogs working nearby in stride, whereas before I had to use all my wiles and skills to stop the curious sniffing and his trying to play "catch up" with them in the halls. I see the glimmer of possibilities of the service dog Dorian will be some day. With only three months left before Dorian goes back, I know time will fly - faster than Peter to Never-Never Land.

The Case of the Disappearing Leash

Just when you think you know your puppy and let your guard down, he or she will do something you thought not possible. This can shock you back to the reality of puppy raising. The puppy's act can be a Good Surprise or.....a Bad Surprise.

Such was the case today, when Dorian chewed thru my favorite leather leash in the back seat while we were driving to town. Dorian turned 1 year-old this month. I thought he had left the "chewing leash" phase behind about 100 light years ago. Well, OK, at least 6 months ago. But there was the soggy, sodden area just below the end loop chewed almost clean thru.

Dorian's leather leash where it was repaired and restitched just below the leash loop after he almost chewed thru it. The shoe repairman fixed it the same day.

"Well," I think, "things could be worse!" I recall the time about a year ago when CeCe, my previous guide pup-in-training did not merely chew the leash, she ate it! Incredibly it happened while I was sitting in a restaurant booth with the leash's loop end under my leg. This would have been embarrassing enough except that several other dog-savvy people were present and we had just finished commenting on how "good and quiet" CeCe was under the table, and how mature her behavior was becoming. Finishing my coffee, I rose and tugged on the leash handle. To my surprise there was no weight or resistance. Dangling from my hand was only the tiniest strip of leather still attached to the loop!

I called CeCe out from under the dark cave of the table. Attached to CeCe's collar was the clip and a short 6" piece of leather leash. That piece plus my loop end accounted for about 1 foot. But where was the other 3 feet? Surely under the table somewhere? Yet after a hard search there was no accounting for the rest of the leash. Unless...it dawned slowly...unless it was inside CeCe.

Leaving the coffee shop, I called my vet, who suggested I give CeCe a dose of hydrogen peroxide. Since I was stuck in town, I went to a nearby pharmacy, bought a bottle and oral syringe, and gave her a dose. In an grassy lot we started walking around and waiting. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, up came her breakfast, along with some white foam and many small pieces of leather. What a huge relief to know the disappearing leash had been recovered! Case closed!

Conclusive evidence in the Case of the Missing Leash:  To the bottom left is a pile of CeCe's barely digested breakfast mixed with foam from the hydrogen peroxide. Notice it is tinged pink from the leather dye. In the upper right corner is the sorted-out pieces of the leather leash. There must be at least 20 pieces, they are uniformly about 1" long and very slimy.

To this day it amazes me the level of stealth CeCe displayed (did not display?) under that table. She pulled off the disappearing leash job inches away from me, the leash-holder, and all those dog people. The joke was on us! In fact every so often, my dog friends still recall that incident. We laugh and shake our heads. So does the waitress at the coffee shop. 

CeCe in the spring of 2012, doing her favorite thing, retrieving her Wubba.

CeCe poses in front of a service dog memorial at the Virginia Tech Veterinary Teaching Hospital in spring, 2012. The sign reads "Ready To Serve." Shortly after this picture was taken, she went back to Southeastern Guide Dogs to finish her training.

She was career-changed in fall, 2012 and now lives with a family in Long Island, New York. CeCe was a challenging puppy to raise but remains my very, very special girl.

Please Don't Pet Me, I'm Working!

Being a puppy raiser, everyone asks about the difficulty of giving up a puppy after nurturing them like your own child. "How can you do it?" they query. A few eye me up and down as if I have the sensitivity of a reptile. Yet honestly, what I struggle with more on a day-to-day basis, is telling people they can't pet the puppy!

The patch sewn on Dorian's guide dog-in-training coat. It is meant to discourage people from petting him. Although it is rather prominently displayed, many people don't notice or read it.



  

Two puppy raisers with their guide dogs in training, both black Labs. We are exposing the pups to busy streets at a bus stop in downtown Charlotte, NC.

In the background is a working guide dog, a golden retriever, with her owner/handler in the pink shirt. Notice how alert the working guide dog is as she sits at the busy curb. 

You would not want to distract this dog by talking to her or trying to pet her!







I think back on a recent day when I was in Lowe's Building Supplies with 10 month-old Dorian. We are at the check-out counter. Now, Dorian and I have had our moments in the environment of the check-out counter. While I am simultaneously handling my merchandise, doing transactions with cash or credit card, zipping up my mini purse and navigating the shopping cart, Dorian finds this setting offers great potential for Getting Away with Things! But today Dorian is being very good, laying down and staying nicely.

The check-out counter is also a Very Bad Place for starry-eyed lovers of canines to make their advances. Today it is a middle-aged, very tall man, who has just entered the store. Using his most surprised and delighted voice, he immediately calls to Dorian. Dorian, on cue, leaps out of his down/stay, his leash sliding out from under my foot, and trots to the man. To my dismay, as I stand with credit card in hand and my purse wide open, the man invites Dorian to jump on him and then rewards with a vigorous head massage!

Now I have manged to round up my exuberant young charge. My attempts to correct Dorian are pretty feeble, since he really was being good until the man walked in. Meanwhile the man is saying things like "Oh, don't worry, I'm used to dogs jumping on me," and "Dogs just naturally love me." Hmm...this guy could be a poster child demonstrating what not to do when seeing a service dog! Somehow, I am struck speechless. I just can't find the words to explain to him service dog protocol. Meanwhile, the man has had his dog fix and happily saunters off to the hardware aisle.

I mumble an apology to the check-out lady and the people behind me in line. They look sympathetic. As Dorian and I head towards the door I glance down. Yes, it's still there, right across the back of Dorian's blue service cape. A big white patch with red and black lettering, which states, "Please Don't Pet Me, I'm Working."

Here the "Please Don't Pet Me" patch is shown rather prominently on Dorian's coat. It also pictures a hand with a slash through it in the patch's center, in case the person can't read English.

Bed of Roses .... or Battleground?

For Christmas the dogs got an awesome new  bed. Actually the official name is a Kakadu Elevated Pet Cot, with legs which stand several inches off the ground. Stretched tightly across the metal framework is a piece of tough, canvas-like material fastened with Velcro. The canvas can be removed and washed.

Initially we got an extra-large size for $47, which turned out to be spacious enough to hold two Lab-sized dogs comfortably. Only problem is...our living/family room doesn't have a space big enough to hold it, since it's 4 feet long and 3 feet wide! 

Wrangell and Dorian share the extra-large pet cot which was 4' x 3'. It was great for two Labs. Too bad the cot didn't fit our little family room and had to be returned.

Sadly, we returned it and got a size large. This fits nicely in a niche between the couch and the wall. To say the dogs love it is an understatement. Wrangell snores away as if on a bed of roses during the day.  Eventually Wrangell has to get up to eat or go outside or play and Hazel quickly slips in. She is not willing to give it up when Dorian comes over. Her low growls are meant to discourage Dorian but being a 1 year old Lab he doesn't get it and attempts to squeeze in.

Here is Wrangell curled up sleeping on the size large pet cot. He obviously is quite comfortable. In fact, the snore decibel level has definitely gone up lately. This size fits one 70-lb Lab nicely and works better for our small house. He still has to take turns with the other two dogs.

So now we have a battleground - 3 dogs and only one awesome comfy cot. Recently we have ordered a second cot in a size medium ($28) for Hazel. Since she is a little smaller at 55 lbs, she should fit on it nicely and the two big boys can still curl up on it. We think it will be just the right size to fit under the kitchen table against the wall.

Here it is - the new size medium cot which fits nicely under the kitchen table. As you can see Dorian, the 66-lb Lab, just fits but still finds it just fine. Because the cot is so lightweight it is very easy to move around the house.

  We will still have a battleground, I'm guessing. Three dogs and two cots! But they will just have to take turns. There are always the floor blankets....