totally OT - doing laundry with my service dog
A number of people have asked me about how my service dog Isaac helps me do laundry (among other things), so I did a blog post about it. If you're interested, here it is. There are pictures, too.
http://storyofmyservicedog.blogspot.com/2013/01/doing-laundr y-with-isaac.html
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Thanks. I think he's gorgeous! People often mistakenly think he's a girl. I think maybe that's because he's such a pretty boy.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Oh, I did not do much of the training. He was placed with me by a program that trains service dogs for people with disabilities. I did train him to take clothes out of the dryer, but he already knew the command "get it," which I use to tell him to pick something up for me, like if I drop my car keys or something. So it was just a matter of telling him to "get it" out of the dryer. To encourage him to get the clothes out of the very back of the dryer, I just rewarded him with his favorite treat every time he did it for a while (his favorite treat is hot dogs, he thinks they are the best thing in the whole world). I trained him to pull the laundry basket, but he already knew the command "tug" because he was trained to pull the same kind of rope to open a door, like a refrigerator door. So I just used the same command, but pointed to the laundry basket instead of the fridge. But he got most of his training before I got him.
It takes about 18 months to two years to fully train a service dog. I would have no clue how to do it starting from the beginning.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
Wow....that's a long time for training.....I'm glad you were able to get him! These dogs have to be really smart, and he has to love you so much. It never ceases to amaze me the love dogs have for their masters...my two follow me everywhere, but they want me to work (pet them all the time...lol). You certainly have a keeper 
Isaac follows me everywhere too. I can't go to the bathroom by myself. He wants me to pet him most of the time, too, unless he's busy doing something else, like getting clothes out of the dryer or unless I'm taking him for a walk or throwing a squeaky toy for him to fetch. He wants almost constant attention. It gets on my nerves sometimes.
But I am lucky to have him.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
He's a yellow lab, or at least, mostly yellow lab. There may be something else mixed in there. He was a rescue dog so I don't think anyone knows for sure.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
