I'm Ariel, I'm a 22 year old who, in stark contrast to Jeanene, has only had dogs for a portion of my life. I was always incredibly passionate about animals as I rode horses for over a decade and owned many small animals (including fish, snails, hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets, hedgehogs, and a rabbit) as pets prior to dogs. A family dog appeared in my life when I was 10, though my first personal dog entered my life and my heart when I was 17. He was the one who taught me to love dog training, and to think about furthering my life by using the help of a dog to aid with my disabilities and inabilities.
I knew truly nothing when I started with him. I worked hard with the family pet dog to prove dog ownership was not a phase, and then went on Petfinder to pick a dog. I managed to pick out the only dog in a hoarding type Pit Bull rescue that had absolutely no bully anything in him. He had allergies, was overweight, had no idea what housebreaking was or how to walk on a leash. Most of the things I've learned about basic obedience training were learned right along side him.
I have cultivated my skill and knowledge of the laws, etiquette and training of service dogs over the past 5 years, most of those with the help of Jeanene. The first service dog I'd ever had a chance to intimately interact with was her retired Border Collie service dog Happy. The two of them, along with several other trainers, both incredibly helpful and detrimental, shaped me into both the dog (and most specifically service dog) trainer and handler that I am today.
That is far enough about me I think, my dogs are my life and I have way more fun introducing and talking about them. So, without further adieu, here is my crew:
Aliases - Rock Man, Old Man, Rock Rock, Rockadoo
Breed- Border Collie/Corgi X
Color - Black and White
Rocko is my first dog, I got him when I was 17. This silly, sweet, sometimes neurotic dog has gotten me through a lot of tough days. He's now 10, so I can actually mean it when I call him Old Man, though he's had that nickname for years. He adores any and all toys. He loves to go around squeaking and disemboweling them. He is a proud toy tester for one of the tough toy companies. Once a month he gets a toy sent straight to him. He always seems to know when the mail has come for him and not me!
Aliases - Moch-Moch, Mochismo, Cheesy, Cheddars, Squeeze Cheese, Mochmeister
Breed- Who Knows Mutt??
Color - Black and White with Tan Points
Mochi is a Craigslist dog. I refer to her as "the best $75 I ever spent." She is my retired service dog. She never worked long term at full capacity and was retired due to recurrent fear issues I thought we had squashed early on, but she taught me a ton about handling a service dog and how it felt to actually walk alongside a dog in a store. Although she doesn't do very well in public anymore, she is a fabulous at home service dog. She happily jumps in to watch me and snuggle up to me when I come home while Saxon, my current service dog, goes to rest and decompress.
"Saxon"
Aliases - Sax, Sax Sax, Saxy, Saxy Girl, Snax, Snaxers
Breed- Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Color - Deadgrass (Ash)
Saxon came to me as a socialized year old dog. She's taught me a lot about living with, training with, and working with a high energy, moderate drive dog, as she is more dog than I was used to previously living with. Now that I've had her though, I'm not sure I'll ever have a dog who doesn't remind me of Saxon in some way. Her work ethic is awesome. She wakes up ready to go out and start the day and ends it looking forward to tomorrow. She enjoys racing me to perform tasks or cues before I have asked them. She is a fabulous partner and we have just celebrated a year together as a team. Hopefully we will have many more years to enjoy and look forward to.
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