May 5, 2015
Sir Thomas has a new business card. It explains that he has a job to do. My job is getting it in the hands of people before they get a their hands on him.
April 30, 2015
In the midst of the food court’s strutting teens and screeching toddlers, Sir Thomas folded onto his mat in that sphinx-like move that Danes do and gazed those soulful eyes at me. I instantly aimed my phone at that regal pose (he’d even crossed his front paws!). But instead of his handsome image appearing on my screen, a message popped up: “Cannot Take Photo.” Apparently there’s a limit to how many I can store on my phone. Namely, 2,990, according to the count at the top of the icon. Smells of pan-fried, deep-fried and stir-fried lunch surrounded us as I focused on getting that picture. I deleted 277 blurry selfies and inside-of-my-purse auto-shots. But the phone insisted I was still out of storage space. Thomas let out a deep sigh, uncrossed his front legs and lowered his heavy head to rest between them. His message seemed clear: stop struggling to […]
April 14, 2015
April marks Parkinson’s Awareness Month and as I move through speaking engagements and presentations, Sir Thomas and I advocate for each other. April 7: Sister, Sister! The Dames with Danes presented the “A, B, Cs of Service Dogs” to a Parkinson’s support group. We talked about A=All the Good, B=Be Sure to Consider such things as cost, commitment, change in lifestyle, C=Caution (which included discussion of vet care, what a 24/7 partnership means, reconsider if you’re more of a cat person). It was a great crowd with many thoughtful questions and respect for the Do Not Pet/Do Not Distract on both Danes’ vests. Our initial entrance to the building, however, met with quite the opposite awareness of the two dogs at work. The appearance of a pair of giant dogs in harnesses inside a city building (where the support group happened to be meeting) speaks of working dogs. We’d been in […]
March 7, 2015
This is for those who think it’s okay to slip a service vest on their dogs so they can slip into restaurants or onto planes with their pet. This is for those who wave “authentic” registered-certified-licensed service dog papers so that store owners, hotel managers or theater ticket-takers will wave them inside, doggie, too. This is for those who see no harm in pretending Fluffy is a guide, cane, hearing aid, medicine reminder for their pretend disabilities. Perhaps your furry companion will behave during the flight or sleep through dinner. Perhaps he won’t. The vest won’t keep your dog from trying to play with mine while mine is busy keeping me from falling. The documents you purchased or printed off the internet won’t keep your dog from lunging, barking, biting at strangers. Your dog would never lunge, bark or bite? Even while a stranger straps an arm down and stabs you with a needle? Or pries open […]