Category: Service Dog

Posted in bipolar disorder, Service Dog

Invisible

Posted on by debthumanblog

Not all disabilities are visible.

Except for extreme stupidity. Extreme stupidity is usually easy to spot. Attorneys have to sit through seminars in order to keep their licenses. I sat through one about emotional support dogs.  Although emotional support dogs don’t have the access rights that service dogs have, they have more access rights than Fido the Family Pet. Aside from the fact the attorney giving the presentation gave advice that would ensure a landlord would be sued for discrimination, the attorney said that if presented with a letter from a doctor attesting to a person’s disability and you don’t see a disability, the letter is a fake.  Just because you can’t see my disability doesn’t mean I don’t have a disability. I left a scathing review in which I thanked the presenter for teaching people how to discriminate against me.

Is it a real service dog? Or a fake? There is no certification for service dogs although fake certification certificates are sold on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Certificate-Presentation-Customized-Information-Registration/dp/B08DBYX3L1/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1ZW5KG0CEOKDV&keywords=service+dog+certification&qid=1690921545&sprefix=service+dog+certification%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-6

Jim was at physical therapy yesterday. A couple with a small dog came in. The man was getting physical therapy while the woman and the small dog waited. The dog was wearing a vest and was labeled “service dog.” The dog was jumping up and down and playing with the physical therapist.  Fake service dog? Or dog that needs a whole lot more training? Service dogs in training have the same access rights in New Mexico as fully-trained service dogs although service dogs in training should have a label stating service dog in training on the dog’s vest. Neither service dogs nor service dogs in training are required by law to have labels on their vests or even wear a vest.

Amazon also sells patches proclaiming access cannot be denied. https://www.amazon.com/Required-Exceptions-Harnesses-Embroidered-Fastener/dp/B07QPYBZF1/ref=sr_1_5?crid=SF67N733YTQM&keywords=service+dog+access&qid=1690922771&sprefix=service+dog+access%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-5  

That’s not accurate. Although Brady can accompany me in the emergency room, be with me in the psych ward, and be with me in a regular hospital room, she cannot accompany me into the operating room. A service dog can almost never be denied access to a public place, but access can be denied for health and safety reasons.

People who don’t have service dogs don’t understand service dogs. Although most people are familiar with guide dogs for people who are blind or visually impaired and service dogs trained to help veterans who have PTSD, many people have no idea what else a service dog can be trained to do. Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. Dogs can smell changes in glucose levels and service dogs are trained to alert a diabetic human if the glucose level is too high or too low. Dogs can smell mood swings and can be trained to alert the bipolar human when a mood swing starts. Dogs can smell an impending seizure and are trained to alert humans with seizure disorders when they are about to have a seizure. Dogs have been trained to assist people who are autistic, have anxiety and panic disorders, and a whole lot of stuff I haven’t thought of.

Brady is my service dog in training.

She knows when I’m having a rough day, and gets distressed when she can’t figure out what to do to help me. We start that training later this week. I’ve been giving her new experiences such as taking her to a fabric shop she had never visited. We went to the post office when I knew it wasn’t crowded. She has gone with me to see my chiropractor although that wasn’t particularly successful. Brady monitored the door and barked when a patient came in. We’re now working on keeping her from monitoring the door This is done by having her face away from the door and preferably face a corner. There’s a homeless man who frequents our favorite Starbucks. For some reason, she barks at him although she doesn’t bark at other homeless people. We went to Starbucks on a day when the outside temp was 108. Way too hot to sit outside. The only free chair was next to the homeless man. Brady ignored him and faced into the corner. I was both thrilled and relieved. As expected, her training isn’t going in a straight line. She’s ahead of where we think she is in some respects and behind in some other respects.

Do you know the proper etiquette for behavior towards service dogs? I’m discovering many people don’t. Never distract a service dog. Do not talk to a service dog. Do not make eye contact with a service dog. Do not pet a service dog. Distracting a service dog can be deadly for the service dog’s human.

Although there are days when I don’t feel like interacting with people, I have to force myself to remember that any person accompanied by a dog in a public place is going to be asked two questions that ought to be answered: What kind of dog is that? Where did you get your dog? Then I have to force myself to give a polite answer.

My online store, Deb Thuman Art, featuring really cool, deluxe dog bandanas is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

Posted in Fiber, Jewelry, Photography, Quilts, Service Dog, Sketchbook

I Can See Again!!!

Posted on by debthumanblog

Both eyes are fixed and I’m seeing in stereo again. This is good. I’m learning to grab reading glasses when I need to see the computer, read or sew. I used to be able to read and sew without glasses. My eyes have been corrected to overcome the extreme nearsightedness. The right eye, the one that was fixed first, was tested last week. 20/25. The left eye was fixed this past Friday and, although fuzzy, my eye was 20/70. The fuzziness has now disappeared. The vision in my left eye will improve. I’m left-eye dominant so I’m back to being able to look at the world from the left rather than try to look from the right. I need to relearn how to use my camera. For wildlife and landscapes, I would wear prescription sunglasses that were single vision for distance. I’d look underneath my glasses to see the camera settings. Now, I cannot see the settings without reading glasses. This relearning is going to take a while. 

I just put 42 new designs into my Spoonflower shop. I’ve ordered proofs for 42 whole cloth quilt designs. I find writing tags for my designs tedious, and finally decided to skip writing tags to say what the design could be used for. Fabric is fabric. You want to make lingerie from fabric that has a street sign pattern? Go ahead. There are no lingerie police. You want your yoga pants to match your wallpaper? Go ahead. There are no yoga pants police or wallpaper police. You decide what you want to make from my designs. I’m now writing tags just to list the colors and explain the design.  

I ordered proofs of 42 whole cloth quilts on Friday. I should be getting my proofs in a couple weeks. I’m excited about putting them in my Spoonflower shop. 

I’ve been working on figuring out how I want to quilt Ketamine Brain.

I thought about using a different color thread for each quilting design, but now that I see it, I don’t like that idea. I’ll have to look at this for a bit before I make any decisions. If I go with this design, it will be the most complicated quilting design I’ve ever done.

While I was looking for an empty page in my sketchbook, I came across this sketch.

I’m not sure if I want to turn it into a quilt.

I’ve been working on fabric designs again.

I need to think about adding jewelry to my on-line store, Deb Thuman Art. I had intended to sell my latest creations at the local farmers & craft market this month. That’s not going to happen. Jim had surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff a couple weeks ago. He’s not going to be in any shape to put up an EZ-Up. Don’t let the name fool you – it’s only “easy” if two people are getting it set up. Brady isn’t ready to be at the farmers & craft market. Too many people, too many dogs, too many interesting smells. We can’t leave her home because we will be gone about eight hours. That’s too long to leave her in her crate without her having an accident. I’m not interested in finding a gallery in which to sell my work. I, and everyone else I know, has had a miserable experience with galleries. Damaged work. Payments not made. It’s not worth the headache. 

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.comI’m linking with Nina Marie here: 

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

My on-line store is here: http://wwwDebThumanArt.com

Posted in anxiety, bipolar disorder, Brady, Fiber, Photography, Psych meds, Sciatica, Service Dog

Up, Down & Fuzzy

Posted on by debthumanblog

I’m having a rough day. There’s no particular reason for it; it’s just part of being bipolar. I have limited energy, but I seem to be manic. Bipolar disorder doesn’t have to make sense, but I have to live with bipolar disorder. Meds help dull the extremes, but they don’t cure bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is always with me. Sometimes just under the surface. Sometimes exploding through the surface. 

Brady, the Australian labradoodle puppy I have, did something remarkable today. She could smell my distress and instinctively leaned up against me – something psychiatric service dogs are trained to do. Of course a couple hours later, she decorated the kitchen floor with poop and pee. It’s not easy being a puppy. Not easy being the puppy’s human, either. 

Good thing Brady didn’t like the doggy wading pool Jim found in the garbage. The pool grew legs the other day. Now, there’s a security camera covering the back of the house.

The sciatica is still hanging around. I’m able to walk farther, but farther is a relative term. It means I can walk out the back door with Brady, so 10 feet to her potty spot, and then come back in the house. I need to exercise. Brady gets separation anxiety whenever I leave the kitchen. She’s not ready yet to have the run of the house so I have to keep her in the kitchen. I’m sure the healing process has stretched out because of how inactive I’ve been.

We seem to be surrounded by randy quail. So far, I’ve counted four batches of day-old baby quail. When I shoot quail, I have to do it through the sliding glass door. As long as the quail aren’t aware of me, they don’t run off. While I would have liked to have my 150-600mm lens on the camera, what was on the camera was my 18-400mm lens. Taking the time to change lenses would have meant missing the shots. I played around with cropping the shot when I was editing. The John Prine fuzz on the baby quail’s head cracks me up. 

The original shot. While this is the quail version of Where’s Waldo, it’s easy to see how tiny day-old quail are.

The first crop. Quail are easier to find, but they look bigger than they are in real life.

The second crop. Almost there. There’s more detail, but the edit didn’t seem right.

The third crop.

My Spoonflower order is now about 40 miles away and I likely won’t get my package until Monday. Sigh. I really want to start making undies although my time in the sewing room is limited to when Jim is home. There are too many places in the sewing room where Brady can get into trouble. I’d go into the sewing room, which is off the kitchen, and close the door, but Brady has severe separation anxiety. I’m trying to help her with that, but I don’t seem to have made much progress.

Brady likes to hide out in the pet carrier in the kitchen. I think it’s because it’s dark inside the carrier and she feels safe in her den. She’s not fond of the crate we have for her. I decided to make the crate more den like. I took a sheet, crudely attached the sheet to the crate, and created a darkened den. I put Brady’s toys in her new den. She refuses to go inside the den.

I’ve been playing around with designs that might make interesting fabric. Here’s the latest:

My Spoonflower shop is here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

My on-line store, Deb Thuman Art is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Posted in bipolar disorder, Photography, Service Dog

Starting Down The Road to Being Normal

Posted on by debthumanblog

I suppose there was a time when I wasn’t mentally ill, but I have no memory of that time. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out where I am in relation to center. Above center is manic. Below center is depressed. Depression has levels. Depressed, suicidal, below suicidal where I’d have to feel better in order to kill myself.

I’ve been wanting a service dog. I searched the internet for service dogs. The one-size-fits-no one pre-trained service dogs aren’t trained for bipolar disorder. Eventually, someone took pity on me and recommended a trainer in Alamogordo (about an hour north of where I live). The trainer comes to your home and trains both you and the dog simultaneously. Brady’s puppy training starts tomorrow.

Once I found a trainer, I needed to find a dog. I tried looking in the local animal shelter. Every dog in there was 2 years old. Yeah, sure. Every dog was part pit bull. I’ve seen how vicious pit bulls can be and they aren’t appropriate for service dogs. Eventually, I decided on a labradoodle. The first labradoodles were bred to be a service dog for a woman who was visually impaired and whose husband was allergic to dogs. I contacted a breeder about three hours north of where I live. That breeder refused to sell a puppy to anyone who had never had a puppy. That’s like saying you can’t eat broccoli because you’ve never eaten broccoli. Eventually, I found a breeder near Pueblo, Colorado. Quite a few of her puppies have gone on to be service dogs.

This is Brady.

She is now 9 weeks old and we got her this past Saturday. It was a 9-hour drive home and I’m surprised how well behaved she was. I had gotten her a Snuggle Puppy and I made the heart beat. It’s supposed to mimic the mother’s heart.

For a few days, she was calm. That changed yesterday. She discovered her legs are made of springs. She decided to pee all over the kitchen floor. I can’t put down piddle pads because Brady thinks they are chew toys. Today, she seems more calm.

Jim brought home a tennis ball for her. She likes bounding and prancing after it as it bounces across the room.

Nap time.

At the moment, I have a sciatica attack down my left leg. It’s getting better, but I’m still pushing a walker around. Between the walker and a new puppy, I haven’t been able to do much creatively. Bleah.

I did manage to photograph some weather.

Rain on the mountain.

End of the blooms on the ocotillo bushes.

I sold one of my fabric designs in my Spoonflower shop this week. You can find my Spoonflower shop here: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/deb_thuman

I’m linking with Nina Marie here: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Looking for a great gift or something special for yourself? My store, Deb Thuman Art is here: http://www.DebThumanArt.com