Today’s prompt is the weekly photo challenge from NaBloPoMo
and The Daily Post: Victory.
How sad and ironic that this prompt should come out just a
day before those terrible terrorist attacks in Paris.
However, I decided to post about a small girl with Morquio’s
Syndrome and her Service Dog, who has enabled her to walk.
I am cutting and pasting a wonderful article by Janine
Jacques about their story, and the story of the Great Dane Service Dog Project
in Ipswich Massachusetts.
Bella &
George: A Great Dane Love Story from the Service Dog Project.
In November 2015, it was announced that George had been
awarded “Service Dog of the Year”. I
suspect that George was the first Great Dane to ever win this prestigious award
because Great Danes have never really been use as service dogs in the
past. George was born and raised at
Service Dog Project. He is a product of
a unique training program and good German breeding.
Here is George's mother, Scarlot, and her newborn litter, of which George is a member.
When Carlene White started the Service Dog Project (SDP) in
2002, she heard many times from many dog training experts that “Great Danes are
too big, too lazy and too stupid to be used as service dogs.” I am not a dog trainer, and even I told
Carlene (my mother) that training Great Danes to do anything but look stately,
lean on people and sleep was useless.
She proved me wrong, VERY WRONG.
Here is George at a few days old
When Carlene went to Germany to get a male Great Dane for
breeding; I accused her of making excuses to go on a European vacation. When she came home with 2 massive puppies
with gigantic paws and began breeding Great Danes; I said why you can’t just
use regular dogs or rescued great danes?
My skepticism continued when she built a whelping box in the kitchen
then dragged all the nice living room furniture to the end of the driveway and
slapped a “Free” sign on it. The barn
was next. The horses were moved to one
end of the barn, and the other was converted to a very elaborate kennel with
heat and air conditioning. Even more
concerning was that she was funding all of this craziness with her retirement
money. My sisters and I began to panic
that she would run out money and we would wind up supporting our crazy mother
and the expense of feeding 40 pet Great Danes.
AGAIN, Wrong.
George and Bella are just ONE of the many successful
graduates of SDP. Every applicant’s
story is different and often the dogs receive specialized training for the
specific needs of the applicant. Their
training begins at birth and within a year they are matched with an
applicant. Graduates of SDP have a
serious job: to provide balance to their owners who will often fall if the dog
fails them.
Matching a balance dog with an applicant is not easy. George was almost a year and had met several
applicants that were just not the right fit for him; no chemistry,
incompatibility, or the wrong size.
Every time he’d been passed over and remained in the kennel. That is
until Bella arrived.
When Bella first came to SDP, none of the dogs liked
her. Her small size, child-like voice
and awkward gait caused the dogs to not only shy away, but several of the
highly trained dogs actually tucked their tails and ran away. George was the only dog that was not
fearful, but was curious when he met Bella.
Bella sat on his dog bed to talk with George. He yawned (loudly) and put his big head in
her lap. He had found his person, and we
found our match for George.
Bella, George and the SDP trainers worked for weeks at SDP
before she and George finally left together.
It was a rocky start. Traveling
through life with a monster-sized dog at your side is a new way of life. Despite his Service Dog vest that clearly
displays “Do Not Touch”, some people just can’t help themselves from touching,
patting, hugging and cooing over a handsome fella like George. However, while George attracts attention and
loves to meet new people; Bella was very uncomfortable meeting and talking to
new people. It would take Bella a
long-time to warm up to someone new. In
contrast, George was instantly warmed up and ready to be adored & admired
in a moments notice.
Meeting new people was a skill Bella had not yet
acquired. She has been disabled and
different since she was 2 ½. Sadly, the
general public doesn’t know how to react to a little girl bound to a
wheelchair. Many avoid eye contact and
limit interactions, which leads disabled people to feel isolated. It’s not that people don’t care or feel
empathetic, they just don’t know how to care and don’t know what to say. George helps people know what to say; mostly
they say “Beautiful Dog” followed by humor “You should just ride that dog!” to
which Bella usually replies “Sometime I do!” And instead of a random stranger
feeling heavy hearted as they pass a disabled child in a wheelchair, and Bella
feeling isolated; both smile and usually George gets a pat from a complete
stranger.
George makes life better for Bella and anyone he meets along
the way.
However, not everyone is happy to see George and Bella. When George first arrived at Bella’s
elementary school, he was not welcome.
In fact, he was asked to leave.
Massachusetts state law dictates that the school has the right to ask
George to leave if he misbehaves, or if his service is not required. Bella’s parents were asked to take George
home and Bella would use wheelchair at school instead.
Failure is not an option at SDP. The volunteers and trainers thrive on hard
work and understand that perseverance is expected. They rallied to figure out why George was
not behaving at the school. He had
been trained & tested in all types of scenarios; trains, buses, taxis,
offices, elevators, hospitals, shopping (and more), but nothing quite prepares
any dog for the chaos of 100+ very excited 5th graders bounding around the
school hallways.
George for the most part kept his composure, except during lunch. In the cafeteria, it was decided that it was
best to have the dog sit on a matt right inside the door while Bella ate her
lunch 20 feet away at the table. Logic
would say that a 165 lb Great Dane comingling with young children holding large
trays of food was not a good idea.
However, without Bella at his side to tell him what to do, George would
get very anxious and on several occasions he jumped up and ran out of the
cafeteria and disappeared down the hall with several children and staff chasing
after him. He was usually found under
the desk of the school nurse. For some
reason, George found that underneath the school nurse’s desk was a SAFE place
for him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have
found a worse place to be safe as the school nurse had a raging allergy to
dogs. The school nurse became accustomed
to finding George under her desk and then spending the afternoon broken out in
hives.
The Principal called SDP’s head trainer (Megan) who spent
the next 2 weeks back in the 5th grade micromanaging George’s every move, and
also brushing up on her long-forgotten history, english and math. It was not long before the excitement of
being surrounded by school children became part of George’s normal
routine. The lunchroom issue was solved
immediately when Megan suggested George stay with Bella. She watched George carefully navigate through
the maze of children and lunch trays and knew he was better at Bella’s side,
than with the nurse. By this time,
George had become so attached to Bella that his safe place was next to Bella
wherever she was – next to Bella was where he felt most comfortable.
Yes, a wheelchair is a more logical solution in school than
a 165 lb service dog; but the benefits of George for Bella defy logic.
George makes Bella feel less like the special-needs child
and more like a special person.
George gives Bella balance and independence. She is not confined to a wheelchair where she
needs help getting in & out. George
gives her strength. He enables her use
her legs to walk and with every step her muscles grow stronger, instead of
atrophying by sitting idle in a wheelchair.
George is now welcome in school. He sleeps quietly behind Bella in the
classroom. You wouldn’t even know he was
there except that George snores, often loudly.
And if you wake him from a deep slumber he yawns loudly. A strange yawn that sounds somewhere between
a lion roar and squeezing a potbelly pig.
George now sits next to Bella in the lunchroom and gets his own snack
lunch. While in some cultures it is
polite to burp loudly after a meal to show appreciation, George does not seem
to understand that the school lunchroom is not a place to show this type of
appreciation. He burps loudly after his
lunch to the delight of the school children at the table.
Bella and George have good days and bad days. On a good day,
they will have a normal play day; bikes, sledding, and time with family or
friends. On a bad day, George will sit
patiently beside Bella as she receives medical care (often transfusions) in the
hospital. The good news is George is
always cheerful as he balances Bella through her life and physical challenges;
and after a long bad day, George is always ready to curl up next to Bella and
take up most of the bed space, snore and steal the covers.
The
Service Dog Project is a 501c3 charity, funded by the kindness and generosity
of people like you. Please consider making a Donation. Even one dollar in
the mail is welcome. All
proceeds go to SDP so they can grow dogs to help other little girls, veterans
and mobility impaired.
Visit their website: http://www.servicedogproject.com/http://www.servicedogproject.com/
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