Getting into the service dog world for the first time can feel a lot like jumping into a four-foot-deep pool.
And then you discover that the pool isn’t four feet deep — it’s twelve feet deep. And you have a dependent on your back you’re also trying to keep afloat.
What I’ve discovered is that trainers are the person that teaches you to swim and coaches you on how to stay afloat. What Six Feet to Independence is meant to be is someone that stops you before you jump in and warns you just how deep the pool is, so you can be better prepared and understand why you need the person teaching you how to stay afloat.
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With every adventure, there are twists, turns, and obstacles. What if you knew several of those ahead of time?
Six Feet to Independence talks about six key areas most first-time service dog handlers don’t think about until they’ve started that could go on to cause problems.
There are several big decisions a service dog handler has to make even before they start training the dog. Most don’t know how to best make these decisions — I know I didn’t.
Find out some red and green flags for trainers, systems, and what kind of assistance dog you need.
When you don’t know how long something is going to take, or the steps needed to accomplish that task, getting a general timeline is a difficult thing.
Find out why certain aspects of the service dog life take so long, realistic timelines, and whether there’s a better way for your own personal needs.
The service dog life is hard, y’all. It really is. And, sometimes, one of the most comforting things is to know that it’s not just hard for you.
Six Feet includes stories of when our medical equipment is “more dog than service,” and is real about the hardships and difficulties of this journey.
Most of the time, when a service dog team is having trouble, it doesn’t just come down to the dog. This can be for a multitude of reasons, especially if this is the handler’s first service dog.
Whatever the problem is down the road, starting a journey without knowing what terrain to expect isn’t going to help — you, or your dog.
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