Do you know how to prepare for the leap into the service dog world?
Maybe you are looking for a rescue puppy–to save the one that will save you.
Or, maybe you’re looking for a dog bred by responsible breeders in an attempt to stack the odds in favor of your success.
Or, maybe you are still looking for a trainer, trying to see how long and how much money a commitment to this life would be.
Or, maybe you’re not even sure if a service dog is the right path for you and your personal challenges.
HERE’S WHAT NOT TO DO!
If you are thinking you’ll just figure it out as you go, STOP!
This is far harder than you think it’ll be and most first-time owner-trained dogs wash. A service dog is the WORST medical equipment to “wing.”
Why not have a tour guide, instead. When you have those on your team who have traveled this path before you’ll have people who can give…
- ADVICE about the path now with the future in mind
- COMFORT as you don’t need to travel this path alone
- WISDOM learned from experience you don’t have
- A BASECAMP to unwind and let your pack fall from your shoulders
- EMPATHY from those who have the same aches and pains as you do
- PERSPECTIVE on whether this is really the path you want to take
Why? Because, it’s far easier to travel a path that has ALREADY been broken than need to break one yourself. If you’re just starting out on this path, you have no idea what the road ahead looks like, and that can often be the most dangerous thing.
HIRE A TOUR GUIDE OR JOIN A CARAVAN
Why, because as we learned above, someone who has already traveled the path can give you…
• ADVICE about the path now with the future in mind
• COMFORT as you don’t need to travel this path alone
• WISDOM learned from experience you don’t have
• A BASECAMP to unwind and let your pack fall from your shoulders
• EMPATHY from those who have the same aches and pains as you do
• PERSPECTIVE on whether this is really the path you want to take
PLUS, when you have company that is going through the same things as you…
- You don’t have to apologize for your struggles
- You can stop trying to put up a perfect mask and admit you don’t know what you don’t know.
- You control your mindset–if others have done it, there’s no excuse why you can’t
- You can keep each others’ spirits lifted
- You get true, dirt-on-your-face, raw companionship
Time isn’t going to start flowing backwards–start now!
My name is Lauryn Walton, and I started trying to get a service dog at eighteen. I am now twenty-two. Throughout those four years, I’ve gone through three false starts, and am nearly finished training the fourth dog.
Starting and restarting the training program has been hard and cost me a lot of time, money, and heartache that I’m not going to ever get back.
Over these past 4 years, I’ve seen certain areas that many first-time handlers don’t think to think about. These are realizations about the dog, the lifestyle, the training systems, and more.
HERE’S A DIRTY LITTLE SECRET ABOUT SERVICE DOGS
They’re dogs!
That’s right, they are certainly medical equipment, but they’re also living, breathing animals with their own mind and their own opinions. They have their own quirks and vices, their own talents and struggles. They’re sentient creatures–not robots.
A lot of people see these dogs in public and think they’re perfect little angels all the time, but if you get a puppy–service dog candidate or not, you’re getting a PUPPY. That comes with a whole host of things that those who are expecting to get that perfectly-behaved, golden retriever, seeing-eye dog don’t stop to consider.
Such as…
You’re getting a puppy. Where does the dog go when the kids are at school and the parents are at work? When they’re a fully trained dog they can go with their handler, but not as a puppy. When are you going to get the energy out? How, with your given challenges?
You’re making dinner and your puppy comes parading out of the bathroom with a snotty tissue in its mouth. Or out of your bedroom with your dirty underwear.
The dog you’re training for public access steals a chicken bone out of the trash.
Something happens–it could be just about anything–and now you have an emergency vet bill and medical equipment that can’t work as much.
THE DIFFERENCE HAVING A TOUR GUIDE MAKES. CHECK THIS OUT…
Let’s say someone was thinking of getting a service dog for absence seizures and light mobility. She has a trainer in mind that promises to have her dog fully trained in six months. They told her to go to any rescue and pick out a dog she likes. They will take that dog, train it, and send her the service dog certification when they’re done. All for a thousand dollars.
Not bad, right? You pick out a dog you like, send them to these people, and six months later you have a working dog. Plus, a thousand isn’t a bad deal in comparison to some of the trainers you’ve talked to.
If this young lady had someone who’d been through getting a service dog before, though, numerous red flags would fly up. Let me walk you through a few.
- Six months. This is completely unrealistic. If a trainer can finish in six months, they are either not completely training the dog, or they’re pushing it too hard and it’ll burn out early.
- “Go to any rescue and pick out any dog.” NO NO NO NO NO! Red flags all over the place, here. First, just as there are good breeders and bad breeders, there are good rescues and bad rescues. There are red and green flags from wherever you get the dog. ALSO. Not just any dog will qualify. There is a temperament test that needs to be passed first to see if the dog is worth taking a chance on. And the older the dog is, the shorter work life they’ll have, anyway. A service dog’s working life is 6-8 years. OF AGE. If you pick out a four-year-old, they may have a year or two they’re able to work after training, and that’s if all their genetics are REALLY GOOD, which they likely won’t be if you’re getting them from a rescue. We all love rescue dogs, but the unfortunate truth is, you don’t know what the health of a rescue dog is likely to be. And if this young woman is sending them to a place where they’ll supposedly be trained in six months, that work life is cut down even further.
- “service dog certification”. This ALONE tells me this organization is a scam–there IS no service dog registration. They don’t have to be certified, and anyone who tells you they do doesn’t know their service dog legislation.
- A thousand dollars. Either they’re ripping you off, they’re not completely training the dog, or they’re not going to stay in business for long. Fully-trained service dogs–which is what these people seem to be promising–go for anywhere from $25-35,000.
So, which is better, trying to figure it out yourself, or having someone in your corner who has been there to show you the ropes?
The key is experience and a thousand little tips and tricks and facts to separate the trustworthy trainers, breeders, and rescues from the scams, or people that are trying, but just don’t know their stuff, yet. A thousand little tips, tricks, and facts that I couldn’t find anywhere when I was starting.
When you can know for sure that this is–or isn’t–the right path for you, and how to avoid the most common pitfalls, the chances of a washed dog drop drastically. This saves both you and a dog the heartache of trying so hard only for it not to work out.
Better still, when you have someone else’s notated roadmap before you get started, you don’t have to pour as much money or valuable time into something that may ultimately not work out just to get the information they could give you in that map.
The more money you save from not needing to start over, the more money you can put into things like treats and dog food, or other meds for your personal struggle.
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE DOG? IF THEY’RE ALL DIFFERENT, WHAT GOOD IS A TOUR GUIDE–THEY WON’T KNOW MY DOG.
Great question! Here’s the best part.
Six Feet to Independence is NOT a training how-to guide. I don’t need to know your dog to know the world you’re getting into. I can tell you common occurrences (teething stages, stealing tissues, having accidents,) and what to expect without needing to know everything about the dog you’re getting. I can tell you red and green flags for a breeder, rescue, or trainer without knowing the exact ones you’re looking at, because those flags are what come from any humane, ethical breeder, rescue, or trainer. AND because these are red and green flags given to me by people who have been in the dog world far longer than I have, and have seen them in action. And… well… here’s a big part of the secret to getting as close to a guaranteed service dog as it’s possible to get. “DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL–FIND SOMEONE WITH THE RIGHT ANSWERS (IDEALLY, YOUR TRAINER) AND LISTEN TO THEM.”
In the book, I give you stories and examples on what a difference this makes.
That’s right, the best advice I can give you is to, basically, get the answers to the test before the test. With what I’ll show you in the book you’ll have, to continue the metaphor, the gist of the answers written on your hand.
You read that right, I’m going to show you exactly how to prepare for these rough “life happens” moments!
Once you learn how to do this, your life will be forever changed. You’ll be able to address the challenges you didn’t think to prepare for. And you’ll be able to do it calmly.
Just imagine the relief you’ll feel and the freedom when you understand and master this secret of dealing with these moments and surprises. You’ll be able to confidently continue your path, whether that’s finding a trainer and dog, or choosing not to get a service dog.
You will be able to stand tall and move forward with no regrets.
YOU CAN DO THIS VERY, VERY QUICKLY!
And these are pros and cons you can learn in just a matter of hours.
As a matter of fact, because I’ve gone to trainers and handlers and breeders who have been immersed in the dog world for years, as well as taking my experience with three false starts, I’ve been able to boil 4 years of starting and stopping, down into six major areas, in a book you can read in a single day.
You can read my book in one sitting if you like, in a single day, and then start considering what these “feet” mean for you and your journey with your personal challenges.
The good news is that it won’t cost you thousands of dollars like it would if you had to learn it all first-hand with your own dogs.
Oh, and it also won’t suck up 4 years of your life.
And, even if you were to go to all that trouble, time and expense, you still may not know everything in here–there was advice and input these experts gave me that I didn’t know before they said it.
The good news is that you can save those 4 years and thousands of dollars and have something FAR MORE VALUABLE than just another restart.
You can invest only $7.95 today, save yourself thousands, and have a cheat sheet that you can use for every service dog you get. Or, you can invest that $7.95, and come away with the knowledge that you also saved yourself the years and emotional toll of getting close to a dog only to realize this isn’t the best avenue of healing for you.
There are dogs out there who have been adopted with the hope that they’ll become service dogs, but wash from training. This is a devastating emotional blow to both the dog and the handler. I want to save as many people and dogs from that as I can. There’s enough hurt in the world, let’s not add more to it by trying to do something that could result in collateral damage.
That is why I’ve put together my “Six Feet to Independence: Understanding Life with a Service Dog” book.
I want you to use it to peek behind the curtain and decide for yourself if this is a good road for you to take.
Throughout this revolutionary book, we will be focusing on how bringing a service dog–whether it’s fully trained or still a puppy–into your life changes your lifestyle. How to successfully integrate four more feet into your being for you to stride on to your independence.
And by the end of the book, you will have a list of 6 areas to narrow in on and focus on being prepared for. You’ll also know how to find good, ethical, and humane trainers, rescues, and breeders.
I will walk you through every area in detail…
1. We will focus on how to prepare your mindset…
2. The first and most important thing to find before you start your journey (and why it’s the most important)…
3. How to find and approach the right people (and exactly what to look for to make sure they’re trustworthy and humane in their business practices)…
4. How to handle the public…
5. And a few ways about dealing with family (including outright letters to, and quotes about, both supportive and unsupportive family members) by “more official” sources, such as a #1 new release author and a trainer who has worked in the dog world since time out of mind…
And it’s all laid out in an already-notated road map tailored just for people exploring this world for the first time.
So if you are ready to get honest about what you can and can’t handle, take action, and decide your road forward once and for all – claim your copy of the Six Feet to Independence book right now.
I am so excited to share this journey with you…because I know the independence and potential those four extra feet can give you, as well as the impact it can make to others around you.
Imagine what’s possible when you start with the knowledge and experience of 4 years, along with the wisdom and experience of so many others. Experience cut down into 6 highly tactical, easy to read, and concise areas, and leave you ready to move forward with your first (or next) service dog prospect.
What would it mean to you to not only see this process from the inside…
But also be armed to make firm decisions about the way forward through the support and guidance in this highly tactical but extremely approachable and easy to read book with simple, powerful, proven pitfalls and hidden traps pointed out to you step-by-step.
Click the button below and claim your book TODAY!
To your freedom,
– Lauryn
