Sunday, May 4, 2014

Plans change

 Wednesday evening I was scrolling the FB pages I am on before settling in for the night. I happened to pop in on a page and saw a post about a family needing to rehome two of their dogs due to their child's severe allergies to them. One was a dog that had already found a home with my friends sister and this 16 week old Shepherd Collie Mix was still needing a home. I know we had been talking about getting our puppy through TADSAW (Train a Dog Save a Warrior), however no one up here was able to take on a foster pup in our area and most with their foster families were establishing a bond and going to be placed with them. We had been told we could get our own dog and as long as it passed the temperament testing we could go forth with the actual training.
I ended up sending a message to the family to get more information to share with Chris, who was already asleep. I figured if I got the information first it would help base my decision  to even let him know about it to see what he wanted to do. After gathering my information I decided to wake him up and share the information I had come across. He was very interested and we set up a meeting for the following evening to see how they bonded. I was very excited and sent the message to our trainer to let him know what we were wanting to do. Its good to know he was supporting our new plans.
Thursday after gymnastics we headed over to Petsmart to meet the family and Hemi. The attraction was instant and we knew that this was meant to be. We were unable to take Hemi home that night due to needing to get a new kennel and other supplies. We all walked into Petsmart since we needed get one item for our GP and price out some items we would need for our addition. We would be picking her up the following evening. As we walked through the store Hemi was in a cart and when Chris was no longer in her site she jumped from the cart and ran to Chris' side. At that moment we all knew this was going to be his service dog.
The following evening Hemi was picked up while I was at a disability conference near by. Chris was very excited by it and you could tell. He took tons of pictures and videos of his new pal. I was greeted by Hemi when I was picked up and she was making herself comfy in the backseat with H. She was enjoying the car ride and glad to see me. We headed over to Petsmart for some socialization and training. She did great and we saw quickly things we can work on to improve. She loves to be right by Chris side so that is a big plus.
Today Hemi snuggled up at on Chris feet during a impromptu nap time in our sick household today. When he sleeps she is right up next to him. Eventually she will be trained to wake and or calm him Chris when he has nightmares. Chris slept very soundly having her right there. When he was sitting on the couch and was getting irritated with H being hyper she jumped right up into his lap and laid down. Chris relaxed and finished eating his lunch.
I am not sure when our official training will start but I am excited to start seeing this bond between the grow and blossom. I am eager to see the progress and the training to see first hand just how much this dog is going to not only change Chris' life but our families. I truly saw this past week that God works in mysterious ways and when we think that the door has closed that there is always another door, not always right away. but another door awaiting to be opened with maybe an equally as good if not better opportunity.