Service dog handler lobby

[Justmehere]

Try contacting your local humane society for low cost or sliding scale clinics and check out the resources here: Dead Link Removed

 

[littleoc]

Try contacting your local humane society for low cost or sliding scale clinics and check out the res...

Thank you for that link.

And I will check out the local Humane Society

Thank you thank you

 

[joeylittle]

I was supposed to have pet insurance on her but I don’t.

Just FYI - pet insurance doesn’t change the cost; it works either like a credit card - so, turns the fee into a payment plan - or like a flexible spending account, where you would have deposited money in advance.

(Just so you don’t feel too badly for not having it).

 

[littleoc]

Just FYI - pet insurance doesn’t change the cost; it works either like a credit card - so, turns t...

Thank you, that does help.

The money I gave for it went to food, so I really can’t be bitter about it, but it is upsetting. But knowing this helps, so thank you

 

[littleoc]

Good news for people who like updates: my dog is going to be okay.

It is a tumor but it's a fatty tumor, so even if steroids don't help it, a surgery would. It's on the outside of her chest cavity wall, so it isn't messing with anything important, no matter how big and stuck it gets.

She's doing great :D

Thanks for the help, it helped a ton

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Yay! Such good news @littleoc! It's so scary when medical things go wrong with our service dogs. I'm wondering, did you call anyone for financial help? Was just wondering for future refrence for myself.

I do plan to get Geico pet insurence. They are on every blog as one of the few worth it and it will be cheaper due to them being my car insurer but, that said, vet care is still not cheap. Chopper's new vet is both amazing and reasonable but still, not cheap.

What I did in KS (because I could) was start a pet checking account. I put $25 off the top of each pay check in it and that's where all vets were paid from but also where I bought their food and other pet needs. I want to do that again for just Chopper as well as service dog needs/gear but I just don't have anything to spare yet. I'm hoping that MTurk can eventually be it as a few dollars a day adds up but for now, it's not doable but for those that may even have $5 a month, it's something that adds up that can really help. Just an idea of a tried and true method I used a long time ago to always have money for vets (or at least partial payments/amount for vets).

 

[littleoc]

did you call anyone for financial help

I did -- in that link that @Justmehere gave, there were more than three organizations that I immediately found helpful. I called one and they said to take my dog to the vet and get a diagnosis and get an estimate on surgery or other treatments.

While I was in the vet's office though, I was able to do quite a bit. It was an animal hospital that was nonprofit (and related to but not the same as the Humane Society), and they let me set a budget at the front desk. I thankfully have a savings account, and also a mom willing to help me with groceries if I need it, so I told them to start with $100 but that I was willing to work with that if we needed to go over. They did an x-ray, got a sample of the tumor with a needle, and gave me a steroid to give her for a month in varying doses. They also gave me a discount of about $80 after doing a little bit of paperwork related to the agencies above. Also something about them wanting to support a service friend. Was about $130. If the steroid doesn't work, I'm looking at about $500-600 for a surgery (long story short) but if that's the case, the agencies @Justmehere shared seem willing to help with at least part of it.

That money is barely missed at all, and the rest wouldn't be missed either. I'll gladly go hungry to protect her -- so I feel less anxious about future possible visits now because I didn't realize I wouldn't miss the funds. But I also have a mother willing to help me out with food, so that may be part of it. But still

Geico pet insurence. They are on every blog as one of the few worth it

Oh, I hadn't heard of that

Just an idea of a tried and true method I used a long time ago to always have money for vets (or at least partial payments/amount for vets).

I shove most my money into a general savings account -- since otherwise I'm tempted to buy toys I don't need and also I have student loans to pay up soon, so I need some cushion. I like the idea of having another account for that. I haven't made a budget for myself yet, so doing that may help me get started :)

Thanks :) :) :)

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I did -- in that link that @Justmehere gave, there were more than three organizations that I immediately found helpful

Awesome! And thank you @Justmehere! I bookmarked the site when you posted it. That can be of amazing help in many situations! Good medical is so important for service dogs! I'm lucky that I found a great vet but still, would I have the money to take him today? Nope. Not unless they do smaller payment plans. Less then $100. So, having a resource of agencies that can help is invalueable in my opinion!

I'll gladly go hungry to protect her

I would as well. I think we all would to be honest. I think we all see the value in our dogs and will go to the end of the earth to protect them and keep them healthy.

I shove most my money into a general savings account -- since otherwise I'm tempted to buy toys I don't need and also I have student loans to pay up soon, so I need some cushion. I like the idea of having another account for that. I haven't made a budget for myself yet, so doing that may help me get started

Well, a savings account is the same idea. The only benefit of a checking account rather then a savings is you don't have to move money around and get a seperate debit card. Came in handy when buying stuff like food where I didn't have to go move small amounts of money to pay for things. I guess if you are a big spender it wouldn't be good to have a debit card connected to that money but since I was paying for everything associated with the animals from that account (food, flea/tick, heartworm prevenative, treats - anything animal related) it was just easier to not have to keep moving money around and be able to pay for it right there.

I don't have a 2nd account today but plan to make one as soon as I have money to put in it. I think if the debit cards look the same that could potionally be an issue. They didn't when I had this 2nd account so it was easy but if you have it at the same bank as your primary account I can see mixing up the debit cards as they will likely look identical and that could be an issue. You'd have to keep it in another place in your wallet or something.

A budget will def help. The way I budget is I round up the bills and round down the income. This way I am always on top. Works for me.

 

[Strangelongtrip]

I feel just so stupid. I have no idea if Korra is doing okay or not. One day we're out for almost four hours and she's acting like she's a fully trained service dog, tasking and heeling within 6 inches of me, not sniffing, not pulling, working on a flat, settling for a half hour or so. The next day she's acting up and being bad and I feel like I've done no training with her. And I also have no sense of reality if she's really being that bad or not because every time I see her do something it seems exaggerated. Like, my mom will record us doing something and I think we look horrible and like she's an untrained pet in a store sniffing everything and jumping and I'll look back on the video and she put her head down for .2 seconds and has been in a perfect heel the whole time. Or I think she's panting too much to the point I record her constantly to see if she's anxious and wants to stop and I'll look back on the video and she's not even panting or like half of what I think or it's just heat. But then some days she's a mess and even though it doesn't look like a mess to the outside I feel awful. Some days I feel so out of my depth and other days I feel like I'm doing an amazing job. My dad (who was even against it as first) was like Brooke stop beating yourself up she was raised as a pet for 3 years of course she isn't perfect after 7 months. I guess I just get thrown off because sometimes she does act like she's been doing this her whole life.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I feel just so stupid. I have no idea if Korra is doing okay or not. One day we're out for almo...

Remember that we as handlers see things that the general public don't. If you feel she may need more training, back up and do that training then move foward. There's nothing wrong with backing up in dog training. There's nothing shameful about that. Work on one thing at a time. And I agree, don't beat yourself up. Service dog training is hard!

 

[Strangelongtrip]

Remember that we as handlers see things that the general public don't.

Thank you, I’m having a rough time too because it’s my first week off of antidepressants on over 4 years. My moods are so sharing. It’s so funny she’ll like be not in the right position in an aisle and someone will come up to me and tell me she’s so well behaved and calm! And I’m like nooo haha but she does do a really good job.

 

[littleoc]

Be patient as you can. Your friend has to be confident, but to a point so do you.

That said, I completely understand. But five years later, I can say my doggo is very well trained and handles nearly everything. It takes practice on both ends. And no one’s perfect.

My dog has been eyeing all squirrels ever since she got attacked by one on July 4th (she thought it was awesome)

@lostforgottensoul has videos that are really helpful!

What kind of personality does your dog have?