Update

We got a total this week, we are up another $1,025 for a total of $8,175 that we have raised for 4 Paws! We are making a lot of progress. Thanks to all who made donations!

Grant update!

We received confirmation today that Williams Natural Gas will be awarding us a grant for $5000! It should arrive in a few days...we are very excited that we are now at a total of $7,150 (including a cash donation that was made recently). That means we only have $5,850 to go. We are hoping that our next fund raiser will be a big success and get us even closer to our goal.

Update

Hello Again!

We got a new total this week. It was $2050. We have received another $100 that will be mailed in this week. We sent out an email, hoping that it will get us some more "small" donations. Every little bit counts. If you get the email--please pass it on!

We are still waiting to hear back from Williams and the grant that we applied for there. We'll let you know ASAP when that happens!

We are out of school, and have been working on potty training, and it has gone MUCH better than expected. The only catch is that he has to be nude all day. If he is nude he goes on his own, but if he has clothes on he just goes in his clothes, then runs to the bathroom. But its summer, so he can run around naked for a while :)

We are in the beginning stages of planning an event for July 19th. We still need to OK the location, but if all goes well, we should have a successful event. We are planning to have a massive yard sale with donations from church members, and a can drive/drop-off. We are also hoping to have a auction/dinner/raffle soon afterwards--so we can use the yard sale to advertise and sell tickets. its about 6 weeks out, so we have some time to plan. Hopefully it will go off without too much trouble!

Thanks for all fo the help, love and support!

Last Day of School

Dallon's last day of school was yesterday. We made a gift for his teachers and used this image for the Thank you cards. He wouldn't show me his face behind the sign, so I had to use an extra picture from a different day.

He really seemed to enjoy school this year more than last year. I think it was because he had a lot more time to get use to the routine of it. The last couple of days were pretty rough, I think he was a little burned out. He hasn't had a break from his regular classroom days since March. Wednesday when I picked him up, he REALLY wanted to ride the bus with his friends. When the bus door closed he fell to his knees and said,"Oh no! Bus!" He was soooo disappointed, it was heart breaking to watch him be so sad about riding the bus. I guess next year we'll have to consider letting him ride the bus to school.

His teacher will be moving to Astoria for next school year, and I am sad. She has been a great teacher for him. He had her last year also, so that makes it even harder to think of taking him to school with a new teacher. We will really miss her. We are hoping he will have some of the same aids for next year, he has really responded to them also.

New total

We are offically up to $2000 now. And with the pending grant from Williams, we may have as much as $7000 by the end of next month for sure. We need to get some solid plans in place for more fundraisers, but I'm guessing it will be summer before that actually happens. Summer is coming a little earlier than expected. Dallon's last day of school with be the 22nd instead of the 29th. It only cuts the school year short by 2 days, and I'm not sure the reasoning behind it. On the brighter side, we'll have more time to put toward fundraising and other activities at home. We'll be doing the STAR program at home with Dallon over the summer. I am excited to get it started--it seems like it will be perfect for us.

Update

I applied for a "Home Grown Giving" grant from Chris' employer (Williams Natural Gas), and it sounds like we might be able to get the maximum amount, $5000! We'll know within 20 days. We did get a total yesterday, and unfortunately it is the same as the last one..$1580. Nothing else has cleared the banks since the 18th. Hopefully I'll get more grant work done this week. We have also distributed more flyers throughout the community. We focused on the veterinary clinics, pet groomers, and main street businesses. Maybe we'll get a boost of interest from all of that.

Differences between Service dogs and Therapy dogs

I wanted to clarify something for all of those who are confused about the type of dog we are receiving from 4 Paws. We are getting a Service Dog, not a Therapy Dog. There are a number of differences between the two types, so I thought I would share some of the major points.

Seeing Eye dogs and Autism Assistance dogs are both types service dogs. They are specifically trained to help one person who is disabled under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) mitigate their disability to gain independence. Therapy dogs are trained to interact with many people, but not one particular person.

SD generally receive training of 200 hours to be certified. 4 Paws dogs each receive over 500 hours of advanced training after their basic training is complete. Seeing eye dogs receive over two years of training! TD, on the other hand, need to show aptitude but do not require any formal training.

SD are very expensive to train. There are few organizations with 501c3 designation that are recognized to do so. TD can be trained through 4H! The dog gets trained and the kid gets a ribbon - sounds like a win/win.

Access tests must be passed in order for your dog to be given SD status. TD have temperament scales, but there are no tests.

There are many different types of SDs. Some of the specific types include seeing eye, hearing ear, autism assistance, drug traffic alert, mobility assistance, bomb sniffing, and seizure alert dogs. There are not specific types of therapy dogs, as they are not trained to assist someone with a specific disability.

SD live with the same person who they are trained to assist. This does not mean they are always "on the job." It means they are "on call." TD live with handlers (generally) who take their TD to hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc. to enrich those peoples' lives at scheduled times.

Therapy dogs are NOT granted Carte Blanche public access. Deny a certified Service Dog access to any public place and you will be looking at a law suit. There are laws that protect and grant access to SDs. They are Federal Laws, so individual states cannot interfere with them, and it isn't good PR to deny access to a diabled person and their highly trained service dog.

SDs are required to be highly intelligent, adaptable, problem solving, lovable companions to one person that helps them mitigate their disability. SDs are working dogs. They have a Doggie Doctorate. TDs are lovable but do not necessarily have to be little Einsteins! TDs are wonderful pets who are often shared with other people who benefit from their companionship.

Hope that clears some things up for anyone with any doubts as to why this dog is so expensive, and why we have to travel to Ohio to get it. We are very enthusiastic about the day when we will have this great resource available to us 24/7 !!