Christina Dodd's Blog - Posts Tagged "assistance-dog"
Christina Dodd and the Almost-Assistance Dog
On January 4, Ritter turned fifteen years old (105 in dog years!) Here is his story…
Meet our dog, Ritter. All dogs are special, but Ritter was special in a different way. In 2003, my husband suggested we train an assistance dog for Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that provides trained assistance dogs for children and adults with disabilities. We knew it would be a lot of work, but the reward was providing a dog to help someone in a wheelchair live a full, joyful life.
CCI breeds and provides the dogs. Ritter was our assignment. We got him when he was eleven weeks old and hell-dog. The first thing we were told about him was that he’d eaten a towel and we should watch to make sure he’d pass it. (It’s stuff like this, folks, that makes me realize that I’m the living embodiment of romance.) He wrestled with our own personal dog, Lizzie, who didn’t understand why she wasn’t still an only dog. We had to teach him over thirty commands including “Visit” which had him put his head into your lap so you could pet him and “Hurry” which was the “go to the bathroom” command. (Yes, romance! I’m surrounded by romance!)
We took him to restaurants and to grocery stores to teach him how to behave in public, and he grew into a wonderful, sweet, polite dog who everyone loved and who would be a great companion to anyone in a wheelchair.
In August 2004, when he was nineteen months, we took him to San Diego for advanced training at CCI. Walking away from him was a gut-wrenching moment. My husband tried to be stoic and said that we’d sent two children to college and this wasn’t any different. I knew Ritter, and it was different — I knew he would never call or write.
We got monthly reports from his trainers telling us how he was doing, and while they always said he was smart and wanted to please, they were concerned about how excitable he was and that he had a fear of (don’t laugh) Care Bears. (You’re laughing!) Yes, it’s true… READ MORE HERE: http://www.christinadodd.com/photo/ch...
Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of
THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T SCREAM Out now!
DEAD GIRL RUNNING APRIL 24, 2018
Printable Book List
Books by Series and in Order
Meet our dog, Ritter. All dogs are special, but Ritter was special in a different way. In 2003, my husband suggested we train an assistance dog for Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that provides trained assistance dogs for children and adults with disabilities. We knew it would be a lot of work, but the reward was providing a dog to help someone in a wheelchair live a full, joyful life.
CCI breeds and provides the dogs. Ritter was our assignment. We got him when he was eleven weeks old and hell-dog. The first thing we were told about him was that he’d eaten a towel and we should watch to make sure he’d pass it. (It’s stuff like this, folks, that makes me realize that I’m the living embodiment of romance.) He wrestled with our own personal dog, Lizzie, who didn’t understand why she wasn’t still an only dog. We had to teach him over thirty commands including “Visit” which had him put his head into your lap so you could pet him and “Hurry” which was the “go to the bathroom” command. (Yes, romance! I’m surrounded by romance!)
We took him to restaurants and to grocery stores to teach him how to behave in public, and he grew into a wonderful, sweet, polite dog who everyone loved and who would be a great companion to anyone in a wheelchair.
In August 2004, when he was nineteen months, we took him to San Diego for advanced training at CCI. Walking away from him was a gut-wrenching moment. My husband tried to be stoic and said that we’d sent two children to college and this wasn’t any different. I knew Ritter, and it was different — I knew he would never call or write.
We got monthly reports from his trainers telling us how he was doing, and while they always said he was smart and wanted to please, they were concerned about how excitable he was and that he had a fear of (don’t laugh) Care Bears. (You’re laughing!) Yes, it’s true… READ MORE HERE: http://www.christinadodd.com/photo/ch...
Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of
THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T SCREAM Out now!
DEAD GIRL RUNNING APRIL 24, 2018
Printable Book List
Books by Series and in Order
