Akita Flies

This summer my Akita Service Dog Coco and I flew on South West Airlines this summer.  We had a wonderful flight.


SWA was very helpful.  When I called to find out what suggestions they had, so Coco and I would be properly prepared, I took notes.  I listened to what they said and Coco and I brought the proper paperwork and we also went through some special training so we would be okay to fly.

I fed Coco four hours before the flight and then about an hour and a half later we went for a nice hour long walk.  And an hour and a half before takeoff I gave her a Pepto Bismo and a Benadryl.  I wanted to make sure her stomach was coated and to help her stay calm, in case she got nervous.  I take real good care of her health and make all of her food and decided to splurg and buy her a bone she just loves. I thought, I'll give her half so she can chew on it when we take off and the other half when we are getting ready to land.  I also asked the light attendant for a few ice cubes to give to Coco after we took off and they did.

When we were taking off and we heard the engines I told her I hear it, its loud, we're safe; our training exercise for about two months before we left, and she was reassured and fine.
Coco liked having her head on my knee most of the time.  And then she laid down and she rested her head on her two front paws and then she feel asleep.  She slept almost the whole time.  And she enjoyed looking out the windows before we took off and after we landed.  I decided to close the window until after we were in the air and then again when we were landing.

Coco was great the during the TSA exam.  The agent asked me if she was okay and I said she was trained for this and she would be fine.  They could do whatever they needed to do to make their job easier.  When the agent was finished examining her and her vest Coco gave her a kiss on the cheek.

We also took the People Mover floor thingy.  We walked all the way to the gate because I've never been able to get on those.  But when we got to PA they had them and my cousin held onto my right arm and Coco did her job and we nailed it.  No problem.

This was the first time I have been able to travel on my own since the headon crash when someone came into our land going about 80 mph and left me with a Traumatic Brain Injury. Coco has been my service dog for six years.  I trust her with my life and she trusts me with hers.

Here are some additional pictures...

 Coco and I are ready to board the plane.

 

Coco and I are waiting to walk into the plane.

Coco and I are officially on the plane.
Coco enjoyed putting her head on my lap when we were in flight.  Until she decided to take a nap.

Coco is looking out the window.  And to the right we are taking the people mover.

  

Here is Coco and me after we landed in PA.

This is Coco and me making our very first Selfie after we landed in PA.

And here is Coco and me after we landed in Chicago.  Taking a picture with the pilot.  The other pilot is the one who took the picture.  And I think Coco is sneaking in a great big old smile.

 

I think Coco deserves some wings patches, one for her each of her two vests!

Coco My Akita Service Dog

Whenever Coco and I go out to run errands people come to see her.  Some times they come out of their stores to see her.  She is so kind and sweet with them.  Some times people know she is an Akita and some times they want to know what kind of dog she is.  Every now and then I've heard people say, I've never seen an Akita Service Dog.  And they ask what she does to help me and I tell them our story.

I have wondered about why Akitas aren't used more and this past year I came to an understanding about it.  Clarified by the recent raccoon incident in the backyard.

In the States a potential service dog is kept with a foster family or person.  They are taken everywhere and socialized and during that first year they learn basic obedience.  And then they are tested for temperament and those who will not do well in all public situations do not go any further in their training.  The next year they are usually trained in a facility where they are kept in kennels.  And depending on their training this could last another year or a little longer. 

My first two Akitas were my service dogs without any training.  They watched me and knew when I needed help.  And they knew what to do about it.  My first Akita, Angel, would walk in tight circles around me and take me into the house if she thought I had been out in the garden too long.  She decided all on her own whether I needed to go to a chair or my bed. And of course, she was always right.  Bear was the same why when I got dizzy and was having a hard time walking.  As Bear aged I realized I was going to need to put my name on the list for a service dog.  I couldn't find any training organizations that trained Akitas.  I had published a book and was showing artwork and was getting ready for a book tour and I knew this time around, without the acres of farm land around me, I would need a service dog.  But I knew that my Akitas were amazing and I felt that they could have been trained.  I read books, watched dvds and then one miraculous day, while I had been waiting for years for my service dog, someone offered to donate an Akita to me to be my service dog.  I decided to try because I knew their heart.  Their heart.

Coco and I began our lives together and every night she slept on the pillow next to my head.  I had lots of amazing advice from trainers all over the world (thanks to YouTube) and Coco and I were inseparable.  And I realized an Akita could never go through staying with a family and then be taken from them and kenneled and then go to someone else.  Their need to bond begins at birth and it is as important as the air they breathe.

Coco has protected me twice from large loose dogs.  The first time she flipped the dog over on its side and jumped back at heel as soon as the owner gave his dog a kick and yelled at him to come. The second time she laid across my body and her eyes never looked away from me, even when the dogs were grabbing at her.  That time I went away in an ambulance and Coco was taken away in a police car.  When she realized we were going in separate places her ears went down and still she never took her eyes away from me.  I had to go to the hospital for a week.  She stayed with me in the hospital and my family took her for walks.  She was kind with everyone who cared for me and listened intently to the doctors when they were explaining my brain injury to me.

The other night a raccoon got into our yard.  A few steps into the house I heard terrible barking and screams in the backyard and I knew something bad was happening.  I grabbed a broom and put my clogs on and ventured out.  It was still pretty dark outside though the sun was beginning to rise.  I saw Coco was fighting with a raccoon.  I called her but she was still protecting me.  Protecting our safe refuge in the back yard.  I took the broom and got it in between their bodies and kept calling her to me.  The raccoon scurried up a tree and Coco again came to my side.  This time we were a team.  And a little later that is when I realized that while our Akitas love treats and they love praise and they love moving in sync on a leash; there is no greater joy to an Akita than knowing that they are connected with their human; their need to share a reciprocal understanding with us.  And when this is realized they are elated.  For those of us who have experienced this understanding and who appreciate the great treasure we have in our midst, everyday, Coco and I would like to say... isn't life a beautiful thing? 

Have a great day.  Enjoy your Akitas and walk in harmony with them.  Always let them know you see what they are telling you and they will tell you even more.

This is a video of Coco having fun with me.

Long Leash Training Akita Service Dog

Here is an updated post on long leash training my Akita Service Dog.
Most of the time Coco is on a six foot leash.  Most of the time she is working when we are out and she is at heel.  Some times I put her on the long leash to give her some freedom of movement, especially on nice days in the park and it also had a result in our training I didn't anticipate.

I used to tug on the leash and couldn't even process the timing of giving her verbal cues before giving her a correction, like changing directions when she wasn't paying attention to where we are going.

This wasn't just obedience training but necessary because I have peripheral blindness from a Traumatic Brain Injury and Coco is trained to keep me from walking out in front of cars.  Something that I rely on her to do and something she does diligently, even when I am distracted and don't see a car coming.

The long leash helped because I had more time to think.  It is a 33 foot long leash and it only cost about $15.  A GREAT investment!

In an earlier post I showed what it was like from the first day Coco and I used the long leash throughout the summer of that same year.  I'm going to put that here for a reference.

Now, a little more than a year later, watch how Coco keeps a watch for me usually before she gets to the end of the long leash and when she feels the slightest resistance.  How we got here was so natural.  I had time to give her a command or a sound to let her know she needed to watch me to see which way we were going.  If she ignored me because she was distracted by looking at another dog I just calmly went in the other direction and she figured it out all on her own.  Her focus has to be on where we are going at all times.

Here is the video I took of her recently.

As you can see Coco is so sensitive to my every move.  One technique that made a huge difference occurred completely by accident.  One of Coco's rescue commands is follow me.  Some times I need her to go first, most of the time she is by my side and on a rare occasion she needs to follow me.  Maybe it is getting on a train or through an area where we can only go one at a time, so it is an important command.

So Coco started letting me know what she wanted when she wanted me to follow her.  Here is a video of her doing that.  Its too cute.

Now we have a specific language.  Coco lets me know if she wants me to follow her because she forgot her toy in my bedroom or maybe she wants to go outside or maybe she wants to show me something in the park or maybe she just wants me to sit with her while she's eating.  She has done this a few times and I went into the kitchen and sat on the floor by her while she ate her dinner.  She doesn't do this often but now and then, she likes the company and maybe she just likes it that I understand what she wants too.

So I decided to let her know I was going to follow her at the park when she was on the long leash.  And off she'd go and I'd say Mama following Coco.  And she was constantly checking to make sure I was still following her.  It was so interesting because I noticed right away that when she was following me we walked on the trails and when I was following her she always walked on the lawns.  She liked smelling everything.  She like walking along the fence line.  She was communicating to me what she liked as well.

Now we are in concert.  I can tell her left or right or forward and she goes in those directions.  If we haven't done this in a couple of weeks she may start to wander and I'll tell her watch me and give her a hand signal.  I rarely give her a command.  Our language is more unspoken these days.  Its more by feel or a sense about where we are going.  There is no more tug of war, regardless how long the leash is that I'm using, because we want to go with each other.  And it doesn't matter if there is another dog around or people around she behaves exactly same way.  Its a beautiful thing.

One last thing, it always bothers me when I see dogs off leash. Especially, in a public park that we all share. I don't care if the dog is large or small, well behaved or not. Most people think they can control their dogs off leash and they are wrong. Dogs are dogs. They see other dogs and they want to run and check them out. I had Coco on a long leash this past month and didn't see anyone in the park. It was getting cold and so I was zipping up my coat and wasn't holding onto the leash with two hands, like I usually do. I looked around and thought oh, its okay. I didn't see any people or dogs around. But Coco saw a couple of Lhasa Apsos on leashes with a man and she wanted to go say hi. We have a neighbor who has one that she loves to play with. It all happened so fast.

Coco started to run and the leash popped right out of my hand. With my brain injury, when things happen fast my ability to process what is happening slows down. I couldn't think of saying stop or heel or even my good old standby hey! She ran over and was doing her cute moves and wanting to say hi and the man was fantastic but my heart was pounding. I was so afraid of her being loose and so afraid something bad would happen. Now Coco is beautifully trained and loves dogs and people and she didn't try to run off. In fact, she was waiting for me to come and see the dogs. But for me, I was a mess. My heart was racing and I couldn't hardly speak. I was glad it all worked out okay. But what if it was an aggressive dog? What if it was a sick dog? Or the owner of that dog had heart problems?

When we are in the public domain we share that space with each other. And it is absolutely crucial for everyone's safety that we keep our dogs on leashes. If a person wants to work their dog off leash, great. But as soon as they see someone else in the park walking in their direction their dog should be brought back to a heel and put back on a leash. Because, even the best trained dogs can get all excited and we don't know anything about the other dog or person involved.

Last year I was walking Coco over to our favorite park.  It has a nice sized pond and it was just a pleasure to walk around it.  People were good about keeping their dogs on leashes and we had many lovely days walking to the park and back.  But one day a young man had three dogs.  One was a Leonberger and one was a Belgian Shepherd and one was a brown dog.  They were all off leash. It is important to remember that all dogs are dogs.  And multiple dogs have a pack mentality and this can make them dangerous.

Coco and I were leaving the park and we were close to road and the man kept coming over toward us.  I said, please get your dogs, I have a heart problem.  Coco had her service dog vest on and because my eyes are sensitive to light I had my dark glasses on.  But he did nothing.  So the dogs swarmed us.  I fell down, which is incredibly dangerous for me with my brain injury.  Coco was standing between these dogs and me and when I fell down she turned and laid across me.  She was looking into my eyes and protecting my body and my neck.  These other dogs grabbed at her and left wet marks all over her but she never once turned to look at them.  Finally, a neighbor boy that came to the park with us and his little sister got between us and the dogs with his bicycle and he told the man to get his dogs.

When I got up I was so dizzy and my heart was pounding so fast I couldn't breathe.  Every breath was a gasp, an audible gasp.  I went maybe twenty feet and fell.  I couldn't see.  Everything was spinning.  My neighbor called his Mom and she called an ambulance and when it came Coco allowed them to put me on the stretcher.  A policeman took Coco and put her in his back seat.  My neighbor was going to take the policeman to our house and put her in the yard and call my daughter.  When Coco saw me going into the ambulance and she realized that we weren't going together he ears went down.  She was so sad.

Because of my brain injury my speech was very slurred and I was having a hard time understanding what the EMT's were asking me.  So when we got to the hospital they ran all kinds of tests on me.  My niece went to get Coco and bring her to me and my daughter got there quickly too.  When I was okay we went home.  That little trip to the hospital cost about $5000.  The man disappeared when he saw the police come.  He lived in one of the nice houses along the water.  And I had heard since that he often still let his dogs run loose there.  Coco and I never go to that park anymore.  And it took me at least six months to work her out of being distracted when she saw other dogs anywhere.  All could have been avoided if that man had taken responsibility for his dogs.  And no, I never sued anybody.

Now I know one thing.  If a person is a good trainer/handler they are also responsible about making sure their dogs are not running loose when other dogs or people are around.  I often see good trainers in the park and they are always aware and act responsibly with their dogs.  Its people who think they know what their dogs will do because they listen to them in their house or yard that cause a lot of problems.  So remember, dogs are dogs.  They can be threatened by each other with a quick glance.  They are going to want to protect you and they may see a potential threat where there isn't one.  You are the one walking your dog and you are the one that is responsible for the safety of your dog and your own safety.  Assuming a dog won't run or act or react like a dog is a silly as, always assuming you can roll a stop sign or run a yellow light or text while you are driving.  You may do those things a million times and nothing bad may happen and then bam, you may do it and cause a serious car accident.  Being responsible isn't a penalty, it is an honorable choice we all can make everyday.

July 4th 2010 Immersion Training Technique

During our last training class our trainer was talking with us about an immersion training technique. A couple of weeks before class we had a few severe storms. One night one of our big trees in the backyard got hit. It was incredibly loud and there was a sudden very bright white light at the same time. It unnerved Coco and me. What was interesting was that Coco tried to get me up and follow her a few minutes earlier. I was tired and telling her it's okay. It's just a bad storm. When I got up she insisted on walking me down to the basement. It is where we have gone when there has been a tornado warning.

After that night we had a few more stormy nights, even a tornado warning with sirens and everything. It is important that Coco can handle a scary situation and still be focused on me and being able to stay calm.

I realized saying, it's okay or all right wasn't cutting it. She was taking this as an it's okay to be nervous. So I started saying, "We're safe." When we went to the July 4th festivities it was the perfect opportunity to get her used to a new situation with sudden loud noises and her knew cues to feel okay..."It's safe." "Your safe." She stayed close and leaned into me and I don't think she was really keen on the loud noises but she wasn't skiddish or anxious. Despite the mock gunfire and canon fire and sirens from our fire department and bands from the local high schools.

When we left we walked past a couple of dobermans, she saw them and didn't give them any of her attention. She stayed focused on me and where we were going. There was no pulling at all and no nervous trying to rush.

I had put the prong collar on Coco just to make sure if she started to pull I'd be able to handle it because my wrists are weak and this was going to be a big challenge for both of us. I had my earplugs in and dark wrap sunglasses and a hat. So we were all set. If I needed to take one step and rest and then take another, she was calm and fine. We did great on our solo trip to a July 4th daytime parade.

Today when vacuuming, Coco was laying down and staying calm. She isn't afraid of it at all. I never teased her with it. But this time I decided to use the words, "Your safe." Especially, at a time when I knew she already felt safe. Just to make it clear that no matter what the sounds are, whether she understands them or not, when she hears me say she is safe, she will remain calm.

The bond, the trust has grown even stronger. I'm so grateful to the Morris Service Dog Program and our trainer Sarah for helping us bring our service dogs into this type of understanding and bond with us. It's amazing.