Terry and Skyler

Skyler, a black Standard Poodle, helps Terry to cope with Chronic Fatigue Immunodeficiency Syndrome (CFIDS).  Terry is a veterinarian who is unable to practice her profession at present due to the severity of her symptoms.  At her request, we worked closely with her for eight months to help her accomplish her training goals.  The four-year-old Standard Poodle learned how to provide balance support, carry in groceries, retrieve dropped items, bring the portable phone up a flight of stairs, take a message to Terry's husband in another part of the house if he was home and perform other useful service dog tasks.  

Skyler also received schooling for public access work so she could accompany Terry on errands and on visits to Terry's mother, who resides in a nearby assisted living facility for the elderly.  Although Skyler started out like most dogs, wanting to sniff merchandise and other shoppers, paying little attention to the person on the other end of the leash, by the time they finished our Service Dog Team Education Course, she only had eyes for Terry.  We were delighted to see the wonderful rapport that evolved through months of schooling between this intelligent dog and her partner.  The flare up of symptoms sometimes made things difficult for Terry, but she persevered till Skyler's manners in public were exceptional.  The pretty black poodle even mastered off-leash work around our dogs-in-training on mall outings in the final stage of training. 

Terry and her service dog graduated as a certified team in July 2003.