On Friday, we had a fellow family from Eanes came to share their story. I was captivated & so were the children.
Kelsey was born with Spina bifida, but do not think that it holds her back in any way. She came with her mother, a powerful power point & the lovely the service dog Amelia.
I learned so much from their presentation about the selction process of service dogs. Roughly 3/10 of dogs who enter the program actually pass 3 years later to become a service dog. Loren asked a great question at the end of the session. Did Kelsey get to pick her dog? Not exactly....
After the dog passes service school, it goes into a 2 week preference process with the people who will receive their service dog. (They too had to go through a rigorous process to prove they really need such a special, well trained service dog.) Then, in the last stage, they go through all kinds of rounds of tests & evaluations with the candidates. The trainers take into consideration the people & the dogs wishes (since they can read the dogs behavior around their human counterpart).
Kelsey who is a paraplegic weightlifting champion said that Amelia was not even a dog she wanted or preffed. Funny, how everything always works out for the best, even when it is not a part of "our plan." She says now that Kelsey was & is the perfect dog for her.
Kelsey was born with Spina bifida, but do not think that it holds her back in any way. She came with her mother, a powerful power point & the lovely the service dog Amelia.
I learned so much from their presentation about the selction process of service dogs. Roughly 3/10 of dogs who enter the program actually pass 3 years later to become a service dog. Loren asked a great question at the end of the session. Did Kelsey get to pick her dog? Not exactly....
After the dog passes service school, it goes into a 2 week preference process with the people who will receive their service dog. (They too had to go through a rigorous process to prove they really need such a special, well trained service dog.) Then, in the last stage, they go through all kinds of rounds of tests & evaluations with the candidates. The trainers take into consideration the people & the dogs wishes (since they can read the dogs behavior around their human counterpart).
Kelsey who is a paraplegic weightlifting champion said that Amelia was not even a dog she wanted or preffed. Funny, how everything always works out for the best, even when it is not a part of "our plan." She says now that Kelsey was & is the perfect dog for her.