I am having trouble posting a video people so I am just going to add the links to You-Tube where Konas videos are posted. Please remember to make a comment it is appreciated
4 months old Kona Automatic Door Button
4 months old Kona Small Automatic Door button
3.5 months old Kona Retrieving Pen from Floor for Bernie
3.5 months old Kona Picking up Credit Card type ID Card from floor
3.5 months old Kona picking up loonie (one dollar coin for non Canadians) off floor
4/13/10
Kona Update!
Well it has been a while since my last post things have been crazy busy here in the Cullen family. We have had some illnesses, some visitors, big and small events, milestones in Kona's training and activities....OH boy I am tired just thinking about it all again.
On an amazing note however, Kona has been the most spectacular little girl. She learns so fast, so fast in fact that it seems like she has her grandmothers DNA linked right into her memory. We have had so many adventures and had some great outings which I will post photo's and details in some future posts. Kona has also alerted and responded to thee seizures now and it is a pretty great feeling thinking that as she matures we will have some peace of mind knowing that Bern will not have to worry so much when he needs to be somewhere else. Kona has been actively working with me now at work. If I drop something no matter what she is doing, sleeping, getting a hello pat from clients, eating her lunch; she stops and comes to assist me and picks whatever I dropped up and returns it to me.
Kona's new array of skills include:Retrieving dropped items: pens, scissors, coins, credit cards, bottles of medication, even the occasional treat which she reluctantly gives to me only to get it right back again LOL)
Opening Automatic Doors: Kona does this by pushing the automatic door button with her paws occasionally her nose but her preferred method is paws as she so rarely gets to use them
Go To *****: This is command given by either Bernie or I at this point to direct Kona to go to one of us i.e. "Go to Lisa" to "Go to Bernie" At some point this will be expanded to other people she will have frequent contact with like the girls at work. We will use this to bring items back and forth like medication pouch or water bottle, memo's you name it; also for locating help if I were unable to get up or was in a serious situation and later on it will be able to be used to find me if this is needed
Seizure Work: Kona has been taught to lay across my chest (if I am laying) or get onto my lap and press against my chest(if I am sitting) if I seizure, this does several things from preventing me crashing forward when in a sitting position and going into a seizure, preventing anyone form interfering if I am down with a seizure. Injuries can happen with good Samaritans who have the best of intentions but may not be well versed in seizure first aid, also people have robbed persons when in a seizure this is a discouragement, though the dog will not attack she will not move, she even pushes Bernie out of the way now...he is getting used to the idea realizing it is not to cut him out of my care but to make sure when he is not there I am safe. This also prevents me from getting up from a seizure in a post-ictal state, this is the state after a seizure but before clear conciseness or awareness, some of my seizures I appear aware and even will say yes, when asked if I am ok but I could walk into traffic, Kona will be able to prevent this or prevent me from thrashing about hurting myself. This is one of the most important reasons a seizure dog will make my life more normal you can see why I can't be left alone with out a way to prevent serious or life threatening injury as I am not aware of my surroundings when these seizures hit.
Licks: Yes, licks (though she comes by this one easily) Kona has now been encouraged to lick my cheek when I start to come out of a seizure, this is a consistent action when done repeatedly after a seizure helps the brain ground to something familiar and repetitive, even if I am not fully aware the brain recognizes the action and this seems to help ease stress when coming out of a seizure. (I am not sure of the science or action behind this or if any data has been done, however this has been relayed to me by many people who have SD's that re trained in this manner as well Bernie tells me there is a significant difference in my anxiety/panic/stress when coming out I seem more confused than stressed in these instances, I know I was told the same thing with Java once I had her also, I would love to see a study done on the affects of brain waves with this stimulus and without....anyone from Harvard Neurological or St Mike's out there reading??? )
Laundry Skills: YES LADIES laundry, you may not be able to get your teens to do their own wash or your hubby or hubbette (have to be fair to both sexes since mine does do laundry) to sort the whites for the darks but KONA is learning to do this. Her grandmother was a wiz at laundry eventually even learning to help me fold items like towels and sheets (I swear it is true! She was even featured on the television show "Healing With Animals" and shown doing the laundry. Any way once again I digress a common theme with me when talking about my dogs....who am I kidding when talking writing or thinking of just about everything. So, Kona is right now learning to pick up laundry and place it in a laundry basket as directed this is step one and she quite likes it....so much so that she gets excited about getting another item and forgets to open her mouth to drop the first item sometimes....the look on her face is a riot when she tried to discern why this piece of laundry is following her back to the pile...she soon gets it and all goes smoothly for about four or five pieces and then again a rogue sock or face cloth follows her back again and she whirls around to see if the others are also breaking loose from their confinement. I can hardly wait till she tried to figure out how to get the clothes out of the dryer or washer LOL!
All in all it has been an eventful few months. think with time constraints and such Kona and i will reserve our blog post of a once a week highlight reel! Though we have lots of catching up to do to show you some of Kona's adventures over the last couple of months and lots of video and pictures to add to the site. Here is where it really gets interesting as Kona is just a little sponge right now and loving learning every new thing we show her.
Kona making friends with the goats at the Midland Winter Fair in February 2010. She was fascinated with the
goats no idea what it was about them but she sure did like them, even when one tried to head butt her to play she seemed to want to hang with them. She was not however as trilled with the llama (at least I think it was a llama may have been one of the other similar critters but you get the idea). Kona was 4 feet from the big draft horses as they pulled wagons of people and she never even cared even though one of their hooves were bigger than her whole body at the time you would have thought she saw them every day. The funny thing is we just found out a few weeks ago that the man leading those teams of horses was the father of one of the clinic staff Candace, he recognized Kona one day at the clinic when they picked up their dog we groomed.....small town living gotta love it
On an amazing note however, Kona has been the most spectacular little girl. She learns so fast, so fast in fact that it seems like she has her grandmothers DNA linked right into her memory. We have had so many adventures and had some great outings which I will post photo's and details in some future posts. Kona has also alerted and responded to thee seizures now and it is a pretty great feeling thinking that as she matures we will have some peace of mind knowing that Bern will not have to worry so much when he needs to be somewhere else. Kona has been actively working with me now at work. If I drop something no matter what she is doing, sleeping, getting a hello pat from clients, eating her lunch; she stops and comes to assist me and picks whatever I dropped up and returns it to me.
Kona's new array of skills include:Retrieving dropped items: pens, scissors, coins, credit cards, bottles of medication, even the occasional treat which she reluctantly gives to me only to get it right back again LOL)
Opening Automatic Doors: Kona does this by pushing the automatic door button with her paws occasionally her nose but her preferred method is paws as she so rarely gets to use them
Go To *****: This is command given by either Bernie or I at this point to direct Kona to go to one of us i.e. "Go to Lisa" to "Go to Bernie" At some point this will be expanded to other people she will have frequent contact with like the girls at work. We will use this to bring items back and forth like medication pouch or water bottle, memo's you name it; also for locating help if I were unable to get up or was in a serious situation and later on it will be able to be used to find me if this is needed
Seizure Work: Kona has been taught to lay across my chest (if I am laying) or get onto my lap and press against my chest(if I am sitting) if I seizure, this does several things from preventing me crashing forward when in a sitting position and going into a seizure, preventing anyone form interfering if I am down with a seizure. Injuries can happen with good Samaritans who have the best of intentions but may not be well versed in seizure first aid, also people have robbed persons when in a seizure this is a discouragement, though the dog will not attack she will not move, she even pushes Bernie out of the way now...he is getting used to the idea realizing it is not to cut him out of my care but to make sure when he is not there I am safe. This also prevents me from getting up from a seizure in a post-ictal state, this is the state after a seizure but before clear conciseness or awareness, some of my seizures I appear aware and even will say yes, when asked if I am ok but I could walk into traffic, Kona will be able to prevent this or prevent me from thrashing about hurting myself. This is one of the most important reasons a seizure dog will make my life more normal you can see why I can't be left alone with out a way to prevent serious or life threatening injury as I am not aware of my surroundings when these seizures hit.
Licks: Yes, licks (though she comes by this one easily) Kona has now been encouraged to lick my cheek when I start to come out of a seizure, this is a consistent action when done repeatedly after a seizure helps the brain ground to something familiar and repetitive, even if I am not fully aware the brain recognizes the action and this seems to help ease stress when coming out of a seizure. (I am not sure of the science or action behind this or if any data has been done, however this has been relayed to me by many people who have SD's that re trained in this manner as well Bernie tells me there is a significant difference in my anxiety/panic/stress when coming out I seem more confused than stressed in these instances, I know I was told the same thing with Java once I had her also, I would love to see a study done on the affects of brain waves with this stimulus and without....anyone from Harvard Neurological or St Mike's out there reading??? )
Laundry Skills: YES LADIES laundry, you may not be able to get your teens to do their own wash or your hubby or hubbette (have to be fair to both sexes since mine does do laundry) to sort the whites for the darks but KONA is learning to do this. Her grandmother was a wiz at laundry eventually even learning to help me fold items like towels and sheets (I swear it is true! She was even featured on the television show "Healing With Animals" and shown doing the laundry. Any way once again I digress a common theme with me when talking about my dogs....who am I kidding when talking writing or thinking of just about everything. So, Kona is right now learning to pick up laundry and place it in a laundry basket as directed this is step one and she quite likes it....so much so that she gets excited about getting another item and forgets to open her mouth to drop the first item sometimes....the look on her face is a riot when she tried to discern why this piece of laundry is following her back to the pile...she soon gets it and all goes smoothly for about four or five pieces and then again a rogue sock or face cloth follows her back again and she whirls around to see if the others are also breaking loose from their confinement. I can hardly wait till she tried to figure out how to get the clothes out of the dryer or washer LOL!
All in all it has been an eventful few months. think with time constraints and such Kona and i will reserve our blog post of a once a week highlight reel! Though we have lots of catching up to do to show you some of Kona's adventures over the last couple of months and lots of video and pictures to add to the site. Here is where it really gets interesting as Kona is just a little sponge right now and loving learning every new thing we show her.
Kona making friends with the goats at the Midland Winter Fair in February 2010. She was fascinated with the
goats no idea what it was about them but she sure did like them, even when one tried to head butt her to play she seemed to want to hang with them. She was not however as trilled with the llama (at least I think it was a llama may have been one of the other similar critters but you get the idea). Kona was 4 feet from the big draft horses as they pulled wagons of people and she never even cared even though one of their hooves were bigger than her whole body at the time you would have thought she saw them every day. The funny thing is we just found out a few weeks ago that the man leading those teams of horses was the father of one of the clinic staff Candace, he recognized Kona one day at the clinic when they picked up their dog we groomed.....small town living gotta love it
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
