No Shortage of News... Days 5 - 7, Training at 4 Paws

Wow.  There is a lot to catch up on.  The biggest news happened yesterday (Saturday) morning, a little after 5:00 am.  Bill and I have been sleeping with Alec between us at the hotel.  We both woke up to Alec shaking and jerking his body, drooling profusely, very labored breathing/choking sounds, and dilated pupils.  Yup...his first seizure.  In the back of our minds we were prepared for this possibility.  When males with autism start to get closer to puberty (which Alec has entered early puberty, also common with autism), they are prone to developing a seizure disorder if they haven't had them before.  That is what we may be looking at.  So, 911 was called and Alec was taken to the local children's hospital.  The paramedics and hospital staff were great.  Because this was his first seizure, and we are from out of town, the doctor decided to hold off on any testing, unless he has another seizure while we are still here in Ohio.

I contacted his child psychiatrist by e-mail, thinking that it would be Monday or Tuesday before he could get back to us, but the information was too much to leave on a voicemail.  This is the doctor I like to refer to as "Dr. Awesome" because he responded within a few hours with a game plan for moving forward once we got home!  We've been on a waiting list for a hospital out of our area to do an EEG for seizure activity, but haven't received an appointment yet.  However - now that we have Rafi, we can have this test done at our local children's hospital that Dr. Awesome is affiliated with.  We were waiting on the facility (Strong Hospital in Rochester) that has a better track record for this test on autism spectrum children, but are confident we can get a good result with Rafi's help at Upstate :)

So, the good news is that we are surrounded by parents getting their dogs at 4 Paws whose children have seizure alert dogs.  These parents have been so helpful and supportive to us.  Also, we are not too late in training Rafi in barking to alert for a seizure!  Our biggest concern is that it will happen at home during the night and we won't hear it.  We got the instructions for training in today's class :)  Also found out that prior to Rafi being chosen as Alec's dog, he had some seizure alert training.  Besides the fact that this amazing dog is an excellent tracker for search and rescue, and very strong for tethering, we couldn't have asked for a more perfect match for Alec.  4 Paws delivered, and then some!  These trainers are simply amazing.

Some cute things -- his main trainer Jennifer has a few nicknames for him, and we have adopted one of them because he responds so well to it.  She called him "Fiquers" (from his original name Rafiq).  Pronounced: fee-kers.  It's too cute, so Bill and I have been using it :)  We have also learned that he chases his own tail.  For real - all you have to do is show him his tail and wiggle it!  Adorable...

Here are some photos from the past few days:

Day #4 - Tracking Practice

Last night before Alec fell asleep, he had snuggle time and pet Rafi :)

 

Another great photo from Day #3

 

Rafi hanging out in the passenger seat, waiting for tracking practice!

 

Treats from Alec in the van!

 

 

 

Day #4 was AMAZING!  I wish we had photos from tracking in the park, but it was raining heavily and we do this, rain or shine...  At 9:30 on Thursday morning, we all met at a local park.  Each child and dog waited in their car until it was their turn to track, but many parents watched many of the children's dogs do their tracking.  It was amazing to watch.  Up until yesterday, the dogs were trained to track on of the 4 Paws staff, Rob.  Now we have to re-program the dogs to track their child.  As soon as Rafi's tracking harness was put on, he got very excited.  As Alec and Bill (Daddy) walked away, Rafi was allowed to watch the first couple seconds of them leaving and was barking loudly!  As they went and hid behind a large tree, I took Rafi aside so he couldn't see where they were going.  Then, the magic happened...  A retractable leash is used to allow the dog lots of room to track by scent.  What they are following is the child's skin cells that are shed naturally just by moving.  It didn't take long... Alec and Daddy were found!  It was a beautiful sight.

 

We also learned that tracking and tethering dogs don't wear vests like other service dogs.  They instead wear a harness that is better for these activities.  Today (Day #5) we are going to the mall in the afternoon to practice basic obedience in public.  Once we get the dog's card that goes into the harness, they are OK to go pretty much anywhere as a service dog.  However, we still need to pass the certification test on Friday 4/11 to be able to take Rafi home.  We believe he is the perfect match for Alec and our family.  We love our Rafi! 

 

Day 3: Photos only... I'm too tired to post commentary! :)

Our magic moment!  Alec was not afraid to give treats! 

He was also able to attend part of today's class!  Happy tears...

This is Rafi hanging out with his pal "007" - aka Dubs!

A few minutes of bonding time before Alec fell asleep...

Rafi staying put in a down command on his new Mutt Mat :)

Day 2 of Training!

Rafi in his "down" command

Still in "down"

Training is hard work!!!

Today I (Christina/Mom) attended Day 2 of training by myself.  It turns out that Alec was extremely upset that Rafi wasn't staying at our hotel yet!  So, when Daddy picked me up at 4:00, I brought Alec in to 4 Paws to say hello to Rafi and give him some treats!  Alec was so happy to see him and vice-versa :)  Looks like although Alec may not be able to attend a lot of the training, we are getting some great ideas on how to get the pair to bond, especially when we bring Rafi back to our hotel tomorrow (Wednesday) night.  Happy and hopeful!

Dayna had a playdate with another 4 Paws sibling, Juliette, and was successfully distracted playing with her new friend!  Another win!  Thank you Kalis family for adopting her for the day!

Tomorrow, we will all start out at training and if Bill needs to take Alec back to the hotel, he can do that.  Once Rafi is back at the hotel, I can catch Bill up with all the training I have learned.  Bill has lots of experience with dogs since he used to work at a Vet Hospital, and even though we've had dogs in our family, I need lots of practice as a handler and being "respected" by Rafi as we transfer handlers from 4 Paws staff to the Stearns family :)

What have we learned on Day 2?  We continued practicing the following commands: Sit, Down, and Free.  We then practiced keeping the dogs in the down position while their favorite treats were dropped on the floor around them, and tennis balls were bounced as well :)  I am so proud of Rafi for keeping his down command the whole time!  Toward the end, we learned the command Heel to have the dogs walk in position they need to hold in public as they are working.

What else?  These dogs know many "tricks" so that they can interact socially with their children.  We learned Shake/Gimme Five/High Five.  Rafi is skilled in all :)  There are more tricks but we ran out of time...lol.

SUCCESSFUL DAY #2! 

3/31/14: Day 1 of Training

Today was our first day of official training at 4 Paws for Ability.  It was so exciting to meet Alec's service dog, as well as the other families and their dogs.  What we were not prepared for was Alec's reaction to Rafi.  He did a lot of talking about Rafi and showed interest prior to the trip, but once he met his dog, he needed to be forced to pet him and didn't want much to do with giving him treats or attention.  His behavior was out of control and we needed to go to the play area outdoors.  Thank God there was a playground and outdoor trampoline. 

After talking to the trainers, we are only going to bring Alec to training when it's absolutely necessary.  There is at least one other family that needs to take this approach as well.  As the handlers, Bill and I will need to concentrate and learn all we can while we're here.  One of us will always be at training class.  The bonding process will take longer than we hoped, but we need to be educated handlers. 

We also have a very upset little Dayna.  Reminding her that her dog is Buster (at home) isn't really helping.  This is a hard time for her :(

Toward the end of the day, Rafi decided to move closer to Alec and then gave him a lick/kiss on the hand.  That was a nice little moment and so desperately needed :)  We are told that we have a resilient dog, and we are confident that he will be able to handle Alec.  However, he is such a sweet and gentle dog too.  The perfect combination!!!

Signing off for today...an exhausted Stearns Family!

Alec's Service Dog: Meet Rafi

Meet "Rafi" - Alec's 4 Paws Service Dog!  We will be meeting him in less than two days!  The journey to 4 Paws begins tomorrow.  Follow along with us as we post photos and (hopefully) video, and narrative of our training experience!  We are so excited that this day is a reality!  <3

Waiting Game

As of tomorrow morning...March 19th, the Stearns Family will be meeting Alec's 4 Paws service dog in 12 DAYS!  Also, sometime in the next week or so, the March/April class will be receiving their service dog matches by e-mail!  Once we have the dog's photo, name, and story -- we will be posting to share with everyone!  What an exciting time!  STAY TUNED :)