I think chis make excellant SD's. I've tried the bigger dogs and was just not comfortable having a big dog in the house. My first SD came about by accident realy. I am Deaf and had several times looked into professionally trained SD's but they had rules I just couldn't live with, plus the fact that they are so expensive! I had my first chi at the time and we were always together and one day it kinda dawned on me that he was realy tuned into the sounds I was missing and that he would always let me know when someone was calling my name or knocking on the door, ect and that he always went directly to the source of the sound. I realised with a little fine tuning, he could easily be trained to alert. And he was the BEST alert dog! I left home for the first time to move out of state to attend school....I knew no one there and was terrified, but with Joe by my side, I adjusted to imdependance and not relaying on anyone else. During my seond year of law school, Joe had a stroke and the vets told me he had maybe 6 months to live. I was terrified all over again!!! There was no one I could depend on and suddenly I was going to be alone??!!! MY landlord put me in touch with prison puppies in Ohio...a program that where inmates train dogs in basic obedience. I got a dog from them with hopes of training it to alert. No go. I finally had to let the dog go back. I then knew that a chi was the only type of SD I would be comfortable with, so I begin my hunt for another chi to train. Pepper was my second chi and he was 4 months old when I got him. MY plans was to wait till he was about 6 months old, begin basic obedience, and then after he mastered that, to begin alert training. I never got the chance! Pepper did what all pups do and imitated the older dog in the house. He started doing everything Joe would do. Joe was crippled, but he was still alerting. He started slowly letting Pepper take over. If there was a sound, Joe would ignore it at first and if Pepper responded, he never, if Pepper failed to alert, Joe did. Joe had Pepper trained before I even knew what was happening!!! Joe ended up living another 4 years, but he never alerted anymore after he was sure Pepper was up to par.
Pepper was attacked by another chi about a yr and a half ago. He already had back problems and was needing to be retired, but the attack sent him into instant retirement. He is still with me, but no longer does the job and does suffer from mental issues now...he doesn't always know who I am. But he took good care of me for years, so now I am doing my best to take good care of him. I realy do need to get another dog trained. MArsha > I actually only discovered small breed Service Dogs myself about two > years ago. I was at Disneyland and a friend of a friend had a small Chi > Service Dog. She had a seizure disorder and told me that she didn't > need a big breed dog to warn her of an oncoming seizure. It was such an > obvious fact, but one I had never thought of. It was great timing > because my pulmonary Drs had been discussing the fact that I needed a > companion to go to school with me if I planned to continue my education > because of the severity of my breathing problems. They were thinking > about a nurse. I suggested a dog. LoL. They thought I was crazy at > first. Dog hair? Allergies? LoL. But then we started to discuss small > breed dogs and eventually found Lizzie. She is self-trained, which just > means that we didn't purchase or recieve her through an > organization--though there are organizations with small breed service > dogs out there. I found that training her myself, with help from > professsionals, made it easier to train her to my specific needs, rather > than having her trained and then given to me. She has passed all public > access tests and is tagged as a service dog by the state. She's small > enough to travel easily with me everywhere, to ride with me on my > electric scooter when I need to use it, and to sit comfortably in a bag > (labeled service dog) in resturaunts. Her size makes her so convenient. > > But she does have a big job. She can tell when my heart rate > is elevated, when I'm having trouble breathing, when I'm just > feeling bad. She is trained to alert me when my breathing > changes, and if I do not take appropriate action--or my meds > aren't working--she is trained to alert to members of my > family. Her real job is when I'm out in the world without my > family. She alerts to me, but if I am unable to speak and > need help, she is trained to unhook her leash and find help. > She carries my emergancy medication and medical information. > We're a great team, and I don't know what I would do without > her. I hope this answers your questions! If you have any > more, feel free to ask. Lizzie and I love to spread the word > about great Service Dog teams--especially Chi partners. > > --- In [email protected], "Marina" <mcburge...@...> wrote: >> >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/photos/album/52330304/pic/179101632/view >> >> Hey everyone, >> >> Just wanted to introduce myself and my little girl. Lizzie is going >> to be four this year, and for the last two years she and I have worked >> together as a Service Dog team. She's my Super Service Chihuahua. >> LoL. She's Medical Alert, which means that she lets me know when I >> need medication, and she also lets others know that I am in need of >> help when I can not speak for myself. She's a wonderful comapanion >> and partner. There are a few pictures of her on the job, if you >> follow the link. I'll probably add some more! >> >> Thanks for this great Chihuahua group! >> >> Marina This email contains correspondence from an attorney and may contain privileged information. If you are not the intended receipient, please delete. Do not tell god how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is. http://taylorstots.tripod.com/ ------------------------------------ " Lets talk about our wonderful little friends! Join today! " Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
