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Changing Lives 4 Paws at a Time

Zach the Prep Service Dog

Hello World!

Meet Zach. Zach is my prep service dog. Since the term “”prep service dog”" is an unusual term, I usually try to explain to the public (when they ask) that Zach is my “”temporary”" service dog. The word “”temporary”" is a term that most people are familiar with. However, temporary still doesn’t fully define the function of Zach in my life.

Working with a prep service dog is part of the training program of CCDT Training (the service dog training organization who trained Molly and Zach). While unorthodox to some in the service dog community, this method of training is extremely effective and rewarding. The first piece of information that is necessary is knowing is that CCDT Training trains customized service dogs. This means that Cat (CCDT’s head trainer) selects a specific dog (based on her years 30 years of experience) for the service dog handler. This process generally starts with a puppy. The puppy is selected specifically for the handler based on the handlers personality and disposition, and type of disability. Then that puppy is trained by Cat from start to finish and customized for the handler’s specific needs and abilities. While Cat is training the puppy, the handler also gets to work with the puppy so the handler

The Purpose of a Prep Service Dog

Working with a prep dog happens approximately mid way through the preparation process for obtaining your custom service dog. Before Zach came to live in my house I had to fulfill some preliminary requirements first. One of the appealing aspects of acquiring a service dog through CCDT Training was that CCDT allows the disabled handler to keep existing pets: provided that the pets can complete the basic obedience program and they will be able to live peacefully with a service dog. In this case my existing pets are 2 dogs. After going through the basic obedience training with my existing pets, I know why most organizations do not permit their service dog handlers to keep their pets. It is a lot of work to get pets ready to peacefully live with a service dog. But it was so worth the work, in my opinion, because my relationship with my dogs is much better than it was before their training.

All of these things I mention in this post usually happen simultaneously. For instance: while working with my pet dogs, my family learns how to maintain the rules and boundaries set up with in our house. CDDT’s training program is based on forming a relationship with your animal through praise and discipline verses traditional treat training. While my family and I are learning the ins and outs or working with our pet dogs, I am fundraising, and training with Molly and Zach. And while training with Molly and Zach, Cat learns exactly how to customize my permanent service dog to my exact needs.

Once all of the preliminary details were fulfilled, my household was ready for Zach. Zach is a service dog trained with the standard service dog skills including basic obedience, opening and closing doors, carrying items to heavy for me to carry, pushing and pulling carts. The primary difference between Zach and Molly is that Molly has more skills that are customized to my need. However the reason Molly can have these custom skills is because of the work Zach and I do together. People ask me all the time, “”Is Molly better than Zach?”" And my answer is always a resounding, “”No.”" Zach’s purpose is to help Cat identify the customized skills for me. Zach is amazing at his job.

Working with Zach helps Cat obtain information she needs to fine-tune Molly’s training and he also continues to teach me as well. Because I have Zach I get constant opportunities to learn to praise and discipline him and my pet dogs too. I am learning the timing and intensity of praising Zach. I am learning how to troubleshoot situations with Zach. I am learning how to educate the public about service dogs in a diplomatic and sensitive way. I am learning how to listen to my dog and communicate with him. For example: for about month I thought I was having trouble with Zach breaking his commands. We would be in class together and suddenly he would jump up from his waiting position, turn in circles real fast and start licking me. I tried with all the methods Cat is teaching me to get him to lay back down and nothing was working. This behavior appeared to come from no where. After a month of trying to work out this issues with Zach, Cat advised me to journal about what was going on in my body at the time. After a few weeks of doing this, I began to see an amazing pattern. I saw that 10-15 minutes after Zach started turning in circles and licking me that I would have a very severe pain attach. Once Cat and I learned that Zach was alerting me to pending pain attach I was able to take medicine at the right time before the pain attack, and adjust my body position to relieve the pressure on my back and shoulders. Chronic pain can be unpredictable. As a result of the unpredictability of pain, often the pain suffer is afraid to do things because they never know when their pain is going to spike to levels that prevent function. Because Zach has learned to alert me, the quality of my life has increased drastically.

At the beginning of this service dog process it did not occur to me to use a dog as a medical alert dog. My goal was to acquire a service dog to help me with all of the lifting, pushing, and pulling that my disability does not allow me to do. However, because of our training we have a relationship that allows Zach to figure out the pain in my body and warn me ahead of time. Now that Cat has this information, she will be able to further fine tune Molly’s training to alert me as well.

The last benefit of the prep service dog process is that I have a service dog to help me with some of the things that I need help with while completing the final fundraising process.

Is this process easy? No. Getting to the point in the process where I was ready to use a prep service dog was a lot of hard work. There is so much to learn. I often tell people that it’s a lot of work at the beginning. But so is learning to drive a car. And like driving a car, after some practice you just know how to do certain things without thinking.

I am proud to report that all of the necessary pieces are in place and I am ready to start my life with Molly. And Molly is definitely ready to start her life with me. Over this past year I have worked hard and trained hard to prepare for my life with my permanent service dog, Molly. I have done everything within my power to prepare. Now we just need one more piece of the puzzle….Funding. This is where we need your help. The sooner we raise the money, the sooner Molly will get to live her life with me.