Getting To Know You
- Lisa Vaught
- May 26, 2015
- 2 min read
This picture of Frax and I is one of my very favorites. It shows how a bond starts at training school after the dog makes its choice. That's right, you read correctly. The dog makes the choice~not the human. He decides who he will help for the rest of his life. That is so profound. It really is a wonderment how this happens. Twice I've been through the process and both times have shook my head in absolute amazement.
When I went down to CA in Alpharetta the second time, to receive my gift of a service dog everything was different. I was still mourning the loss of Jet and I came down with the flu the night we drove in. The flu or any cold that raises the core temperature is a big deal when you have MS. Every deficit you have ever experienced comes back...with a vengeance!
My hubby Bill went out and dosed me with flu medications and then needed the proverbial crowbar in the morning to get me up. I'm not sure exactly how he got me ready and plopped me in my pink wheelchair 'pinkie', but I'm so glad he did! I was very concerned that none of the dogs would be able to figure out whether to pick me or not...since I was sick as a dog (no pun intended!).
Somehow Frax filtered through all those obstacles...and miracle of miracles, picked me!
In our class there was another team that a little miracle occurred to. A trainer walked a lovely black lab/golden hybrid to a recipient to see if they would match. The pup did an unprecedented thing~ she slipped her collar and dashed back to a young man confined in a wheelchair! She leapt into his lap and started licking his face as hard as she could, then snuggled into his chest. There wasn't a dry eye in the training room. Her trainer reassured the original recipient that she would start to work with another pup in just a minute, since it seemed that this particular canine had made her decision of who her master would be!
Just another example of how dogs 'know'.
Later...
LV, FX & JT
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