Hello Alicia

Don't have a personal experience with service dog but this can help
you perhaps
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Tina


Most people know dogs can be trained to guide the blind and alert the
deaf to sounds. Now service dogs are being taught new ways to help
people with Parkinson's disease, paralysis and even epilepsy.

Independence Dogs Inc. (IDI) of Chadds Ford, Pa., was the first
organization to train "walker dogs," which stabilize balance for
Parkinson's patients and help them walk at a normal pace instead of
shuffling. Today, about a dozen walker dogs are in service with human
partners, said Dave Elms, public relations manager of IDI.

"The dogs provide stability and balance," Elms said. "If someone is
pitching forward or to the side, the dog senses that and
counterbalances them. One man was walking upright but the dog, a
Labrador cross (breed), was leaning away at a 15-degree angle holding
him up."

Walker dogs change the lives of seniors with Parkinson's, Elms
said. "We had one man with Parkinson's who hadn't been out for five
years. Now he walks a couple of miles a day. The dog provides not just
physical support, but also emotional."

Herman Fritzenkotter, 77, a San Diego sculptor, relies on a Great Dane
named Rikki Lee to help with balance problems caused by Parkinson's
disease. For 20 years, Herman walked only with the aid of his wife,
Pat, or crutches. Occasionally he falls and needs help getting up.
Herman also periodically freezes while walking. "It's like your feet
are stuck in cement," he said. "You try to tell them to move and they
won't do it."

For years Pat, also 77, stayed close to support Herman if he needed
help. Then two days after their 50th anniversary, their lives changed
with the arrival of Rikki Lee.

Herman spent three weeks at IDI learning to work with his canine
partner. Now he no longer needs crutches - and Pat doesn't have to
stay constantly by Herman's side.

"Rikki Lee helps Herman and she helps me, too," Pat said. "I don't
always have to be right there."

The dog wears a harness with a handle Herman holds for balance and
stability. He seldom falls now, but when he does, Rikki Lee braces
like a table so Herman can pull himself up. And the freezes are no
longer a problem. On Herman's command, Rikki Lee lightly taps her paw
on her human partner's foot, breaking the spell.

"Freezing is a big thing with me," Herman said. "I can't go through a
doorway without freezing. Rikki Lee helps me with freezing and with my
gait. She helps me walk straighter and faster, and she steadies me and
keeps me from falling."

An additional benefit is her social value. Before Rikki Lee, when
Herman went out in public, people would stare at the way he moved. Now
they stop to chat. "People are looking at the dog now, not the
person," Pat said. "The disability becomes less conspicuous."

In addition to stabilizing balance, service dogs can help pull
wheelchairs, retrieve objects, assist in dressing, open and close
doors, operate alarm devices and alert to medical conditions such as
low blood sugar or oncoming seizures.

Maribel Schumann, 66, uses a wheelchair full-time. Friends and family
pressured her to move into a nursing home, but she chose instead to
stay in her Bryan, Texas, home with the help of a service dog.

Schumann contacted Texas Hearing and Service Dogs in Austin and was
partnered with Honor. The golden retriever picks up dropped items,
answers the door, helps Schumann up if she falls and does many other
tasks. "She is my life," Schumann said. "Without her I would have to
be in assisted living. With her I can live in my own home and be
independent."

Honor also saved Schumann's life. When a porch swing gave way,
knocking Schumann unconscious, Honor licked her face until she
revived, then helped her into her wheelchair. Schumann, severely
disoriented from head trauma and heavy blood loss, then sent Honor to
press the phone button connected to an emergency service. When
dispatchers heard no voice on the line, they checked their records on
Schumann, which told them to call the dog's name. Honor barked in
trained response, signifying serious emergency, and dispatchers sent
an ambulance.

"Without Honor I would not be alive," Schumann said.

Guide dogs
A guide dog walks in harness slightly ahead of its vision-impaired
human partner, avoiding obstacles, stopping at curbs and retracing
familiar routes. Seeing Eye Inc. of Morristown, N.J., trained the
first guide dogs, and many people still refer to all guide dogs
as "Seeing Eye dogs." However, dozens of organizations now train dogs
to assist people with vision loss.

Ed Eames, 70, of Fresno, Calif., is partnered with Echo, his fourth
guide dog. Ed's wife, Toni, 56, also blind, has a guide dog named
Escort. Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Mich., trained both
golden retrievers.

"Ed has an extraordinarily active mind, and that drives him to go
places and do things," Toni said. Last year the Eames entourage - Ed,
Toni and "the boys" - logged 15 states and two Caribbean islands in
their travels. Their guide dogs facilitate this busy lifestyle.

The Eameses lecture at universities and conferences teaching the
veterinary industry how to relate to disabled clients when treating
their service animals and pets. They also teach disability sensitivity
workshops for airline personnel. "The epitome of the human/animal bond
can be seen in the relationship between a disabled person and
assistance dog," Ed said. "Collectively, we have a mission to spread
the word."

Hearing dogs
A hearing dog alerts its deaf human partner to smoke alarms,
doorbells, telephones, someone calling the owner's name and other
significant sounds. The dog touches the person and then indicates the
source of sound.

Training organizations adopt many hearing dog candidates from animal
shelters. The San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SFSPCA) has developed its own Hearing Dog Program, providing
trained hearing dogs to people of all ages, including many seniors.

Martha Hoffman, a trainer for the SFSPCA Hearing Dog Program, selects
the dogs to be trained. "We try to pick dogs that were potential
working dogs from the get-go, even though they're in the shelter,"
Hoffman said. No particular breed excels as hearing dogs, she said.
Eighty percent of the candidates are mixed breeds.

From waking a person when the morning alarm sounds to leading a parent
or grandparent to a crying child, hearing dogs can greatly improve
quality of life for deaf individuals. Many have been credited with
saving the lives of owners who were unaware of emergency warnings.

Think you can't have an assistance dog?
The 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act guarantees disabled people -
including those with assistance animals - access to all public places.
Don't allow these common misperceptions to keep you from considering
an assistance dog:

"My landlord doesn't allow pets." Assistance animals are NOT pets. The
Americans With Disabilities Act permits disabled persons to have
trained assistance dogs live with them, regardless of pet rules.

"Such a highly trained dog must cost a fortune." Training is costly,
but many assistance dog providers, funded by donations, charge
recipients little or nothing for the dogs. Contact the providers and
ask them.

"Dogs chew, bark and jump on people." Not assistance dogs. They
receive training in house and public manners as well as service tasks.

"I can't afford to feed and care for a dog on my fixed income."
Several states offer a monthly stipend to help pay for the care and
feeding of assistance dogs. Contact your state's Department of Social
Services to find out if a stipend is available to you. Also, check
with animal shelters in your area to find local programs that help
people on fixed incomes keep assistance animals and pets





--- In
nobordersforparkinsondisease@yahoogroups.com, "redheadbarngoddess"
<redheadbarngoddess@...> wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any experience with using a service dog for help
with
> Parkinson's? Any info would be appreciated.
>
> Alicia
>