Cook Family Blog

Shadow came to us shortly after we returned home from vacation in the fall 2013. Her future owners had been picked out, but given her personality, Liz, the trainer, felt she needed to live in a home, away from Liz, prior to going to her permanent residence. She is a doodle, a mix between an Aussie and a poodle. White and brown, with a nubbin of a tail, one blue eye and one brown eye, 25 pounds, and about 14 months old when we got her. She spent about five weeks with us. The first part of her life was spent at a puppy mill. She had already had some pups, the evidence was her swollen teats.

The day before we got her she got fixed, so she was a bit groggy and likely sore the first several days. She was incredibly cautious and timid at first. Several days passed before she decided to eat food rather than go through the motions of burying it. In my attempts at enticing her to eat and find a treat she would work for, I discovered she did not care for peanut butter, but was a huge fan of cheese, even better, cheese whiz! It took over a week for Shadow to work for me. I think she was feeling me out and once she decided I was ok, she would do anything I asked. She was hesitant to sit for a couple weeks. I think this was due to discomfort from her surgery.

The first night she spent in her crate quiet as a mouse. The second night she serenaded us from her crate with a rather large variety of howls, barks, whines, and yips at varying degrees of loudness. It was honestly quite entertaining and we appreciated her variety. She settled down eventually.  In the morning, Peter discovered that she had managed to open the crate door because she was walking around the house. Thinking back, she probably escaped her crate at the time she quieted down.

Shadow didn’t get into much around the house and was most content to be close to me. So we left her out of her crate at night and she was happy to sleep on a dog bed next to our bed.  This ended the serenading. It did not take long for Shadow to become, well, my shadow. She followed me around the house, would howl and cry when I stepped outside to simply get the mail. I could see why Liz wanted Shadow to spend time away from her prior spending a week in training with the new owners. She needed Shadow to bond with someone other than her so the training would be possible.

Shadow definitely bonded to me. She would serenade Peter if I left the house without her. She also grew anxious when I left her. We discovered this one night when I spent the evening with some friends. Peter was still at home. Shadow serenaded Peter for a spell, then quieted down when she found our clothes basket and proceeded to pull out clothes and chew holes in some of them.  Chewing is definitely one of her anxiety actions. One day I put a leash on her so I could ensure she stayed on her “go place.” I gave her a rawhide and she laid down and started chewing on the raw hide, at least that is what I thought. Turns out she chewed through the leash. This little dog is a strong chewer.

One neat thing about our time with Shadow was seeing her personality come out little by little. Each week some additional aspect of her personality would surface.  One of the first things I remember her doing was seeing her reflection in mirrors, front of the dishwasher, in a glass door and giving a deep growl. She is very in tune to noises around the house. Often she would lift her head and cock her ears to a noise.  She didn’t care for loud kitchen appliances – immersion blender, food processor. When I would use them, I’d find her sitting in our bedroom, as far away from the kitchen as she could get.

It took a couple weeks to get Shadow to get up into the car on her own.  This was important because we traveled to training class each week and she would go additional places with me.  I didn’t want to have to pick her up and place her in the car. I wanted her to be willing to get in the car on her own. At first she just froze unsure of what to do. I found I could coax her into the car if I was in the backseat encouraging her to enter. She would climb up one foot at a time. The last week we had her, Shadow found her jumping ability and she jumped into vehicles, she even jumped in the trunk of the car at one point.

Pablo and Shadow never played. They came close a couple times, but they never quite figured it out. They lived together nicely, sharing sun and chewing raw hides together.

Shadow did decide to fetch her last week with us. She would bound after a thrown toy. It was a joy to see her acting playful.

Shadow is not without talent. Liz taught her to smile (lift her upper lip and show her teeth). She would smile in greeting when we returned home and she would smile on command as well. She has quick little steps and when she was crated this became quite obvious. Like a tap dancer! I did see the poodle prance too, she would grab the food bowl and prance into the living room with it.

During walks in the neighborhood, Shadow would gravitate toward any child we passed. She loves children and would greet them all, wagging her little nubbin tail. Shadow is truly a people dog. I took her to a dog park several times and she would greet the people and pay no attention to the dogs.

She enjoys a good run. She took to running figure eights in the yard. Just a couple of them and then want to be back in the company of people. Pablo, Shadow and I enjoyed some hiking in Berea one beautiful fall day. It was nice to see Shadow explore on her own some.

Shadow got to take a road trip to PA with us for Thanksgiving. She traveled well and basically slept the entire time. Shadow got to enjoy the snow, a bon fire, an active house, and what I believe was her favorite thing, to make friends with my mom. Shadow enjoyed snuggling with my mom during our time in PA.

A big change for Shadow came after Thanksgiving. She would meet her new family! She is to provide comfort to a young girl named Carli. I was so thrilled to meet this family and get a sense of what Shadow’s job would entail.  It is simply amazing, the more I learned about this family and Shadow’s role in it, the more perfect I realized Shadow is for her job. Her personality, love of children, her desire to be close to people, and receive pets and snuggles will suit her well in her new home.

Shadow’s gentle spirit is something I will always remember. I enjoyed getting to know her and watch her personality bloom over the weeks she spent with us. It was such a blessing to have Shadow as a charge for a short time, knowing she’s got something bigger and better planned for her, then meet her family and hear how Shadow’s has impacted their lives – it just doesn’t get any better than that!

My first charge, a scrawny, 8 pound, 10 week old, black, double doodle puppy, was literally plopped in my lap on July 9, 2013. This little gal would be my first experience at puppy raising for Pawsibilities Unleashed. She would eventually become a service dog for someone who needed her talents. I sat there with this no-named, squirmy pup in my lap not really sure what to think of her. If you are wondering what I am doing with this pup, you might want to read Combining Passions.

We named her Sophie and she proved to be smart, energetic, dramatic, and endlessly entertaining and nothing phases her. Sophie has beady eyes, like you would see on a teddy bear. Her tail is long and slender and eagerly wags when she works on commands. She has long legs like a poodle and her howl, whine and bark are all overly high-pitched and dramatic. Sophie was with us about three months. When she left us, she weighed about 20 pounds and was taller and longer than Pablo.

Puppies are cute right? And it is a good thing, because they are a lot of work. Pablo came to me basically house trained and healthy at about 3-4 months old. With Sophie, I got many new experiences – house training, an ear infection and a bout of worms. All learning experiences that will help with the next puppy in this house.

With Sophie, I realized you have to take a young puppy outside every hour, if not more often, and make a huge deal when they go to the bathroom outside. Eventually the light bulb goes off and the bladder grows up and can handle several hours inside at a time. Hallelujah!

Her ear infection become obvious when she would scoot the side of her head on the carpet and whine. She never scratched her ears excessively with her paws, but she tried to use the carpet for relief. Sophie’s ears are pretty hairy and a trick I learned was to twirled a Q-tip in her ear several times to pull the inner ear hair out to prevent dirt from gathering and infections from setting in.

Sophie seemed so skinny. She just wasn’t gaining much weight and always ferociously eating her food for the first month we had her. About week four or five with us she started throwing up on occasion. With maybe the third episode, I saw spaghetti-like items in her vomit – worms. She has not been treated for worms since we got her and apparently puppies are very susceptible to roundworms. I was so thankful to get those things taken care of, terminate the vomiting, and get some weight on that dog.

I did learn a lot about puppies with Sophie, and with the work came endless entertainment. She is quite curious and one afternoon I found her in the dishwasher cleaning dishes. I couldn’t help but laugh even if it was a behavior I’d rather her not repeat.

Pablo loved playing with her and the two of them romped around the house wrestling and chasing, growling and barking. A result of all this playing and biting was finding baby teeth throughout the house. I think I found the majority of the lost baby teeth from this girl.

Sophie has a fabulous nose. I would tether her to a door and she would lay down patiently waiting for me to hide her kibble around the house, in corners, beside furniture posts, under the corner of rugs, and on a bottom shelf. When I let her go she was off and it would not take her long to find all of her kibble. Pablo usually found a few morsels too. I put some kibble in a big box and she jumped right in. Like I said, nothing phases this dog.

One day on a walk with Sophie and Pablo, I dropped a poop bag on the sidewalk while picking up some additional business. To my surprise, Sophie picked up the poop bag and proudly with the poodle prance carried the bag back to the house. From that day on her job on walks was to carry her poop bag. She took on that task proudly and with enthusiasm.

In training class, we learned basic commands, sit, down, stand, wait, heel, among other things. I also taught her some commands just for fun. She could right shake and left shake.

Sophie is a poodle and her coat needs grooming. I recall the first time I took her for a puppy grooming and she came back with a bow in her hair!

I was called up north to work for several days in Ohio shortly after Sophie came to live with us. So she learned how to travel and travel well. She would chill in her crate and sleep during the drive. During our stay in a hotel I discovered the long hallways in hotels are great for practicing heeling. She also accompanied my friend, Stephanie, and I on a road trip to PA, MD, and VA. True to her curious, independent nature, she would explore and enjoy every stop and experience along the way. Sophie’s travel highlights included spotting a lion statue at a job site (she barked at the lion), meeting numerous strangers, family, friends, children, dogs, cats and horses, getting a ride in a wagon, and dipping her paws in the Potomac River.

I have to be honest and admit it took months before Sophie made her way into my heart. I think it was partly the Lord shielding my heart, partly the focus and work involved with a puppy, and partly that she was nothing like I expected. I laugh now when I think about telling Peter my guess was that the dog we would get would be white and brown with no black. Oh how often our expectations are way off base! But I remember exactly when I looked at Sophie and thought, this is a dog I am proud of, and my heart smiled. It was a training class in September and Sophie was rock solid. She was focused, attentive, spot on with all the exercises. It was as if she had left the puppy at home that night and boy, was I ever proud of the young dog she had become.

We had a vacation planned in October and could not take Sophie. So we made arrangements for her to stay at the trainer’s farm. I would be given a second dog after our return from vacation, but was fortunate enough to make arrangements to see Sophie again. She came to training class to meet us. Sophie had filled out some, found a wild side of herself (I imagine farm life would do that to any dog), but was excited to see us and still knew all her commands. Sophie was matched with a family and tasked with rounding up and keeping tabs on a child who has a tendency to bolt. I have no doubt she is providing a priceless service to this family. Thank you Sophie for the introduction into the world of puppy raising.

For the past year I had been praying and brain storming about finding a ministry that encompassed my passions.  I had been observing people in ministry, and when you see a person that throws their whole heart and energy into their particular ministry, there is no doubt they were made for what they are doing. I wanted to have that passion and excitement for something.  After thinking about it, I wanted to find a ministry that combined my love of animals, bent toward service, and ultimately helped people.

I recalled a friend of mine who fostered and trained a service dog several years ago. I wanted to run with this idea. I chatted with my friend about her experience, what she liked, disliked, and what challenges she encountered. I could tell in my heart this was something I should pursue. A Google search lead me to Pawsibilities Unleashed, an organization in Frankfort, KY, that among other things, trains service dogs.  One of the great things about this organization is that they will train any breed of dog that passes a temperament test and has characteristics needed for a service dog. Dogs come to this organization by all sorts of paths.

After an interview with the organization and blessing from Peter, I made arrangements to take on a dog in July 2013. I wasn’t sure what all this entailed, only that I was to attend a training class once a week with the dog I was charged with. I had no idea if I would like this, if I could handle it, what all was involved, or whether this was the ministry I had been praying for, but I did know I was excited for this new adventure.

I should start this little story by telling you that Pablo is my training partner. He walks, runs and hikes with me when I have set fitness goals for myself. We often set out at a location which allows him to run off leash. He explores while I walk, hike or run and he comes by to “check in” every so often.

So today we were out training. Mid-run I threw my sweatshirt over a fence to pick up on the way back of an out-and-back route. Pablo “checked in” around mile 1 of a 3.5 mile run. I kept plugging along and realized it had been a while since Pablo had “checked in.”  I figured I would spot him at some point on my way back.

I made it 1.75 miles out and turned around. No sign of Pablo. Got back to the point he last “checked in.” Still no Pablo. I kept my eyes peeled for the mischievous charge of mine. I turn a bend and there he was patiently sitting on the trial next to the spot I had thrown my sweatshirt on the fence around 0.75 miles. When he realized the jogger coming toward him was me, you would have thought he hadn’t seen me in a week. What excitement and joy Pablo displayed with his jumping and running! That just warms my heart and demonstrates that dogs are a companion for life, man’s best friend, and a guard of their owner’s sweatshirt!

Recreation of Pablo waiting for his master