MS Service Dog

Balance Assistant, Dropped Item Retrieval, and More

Those of us with MS know that having a companion who will also give us assistance in day to day living is golden.

Many of us have family members to help us on bad days, but sometimes they too need to get away for shopping, other errands, and just for a bit of time for themselves.

That leaves us with a quandary; how do we keep active and safe, without someone there? Enter; Service dogs who are specifically trained to help those with Multiple Sclerosis.

Meet Ash, my service dog in training (or SDIT). Until he is fully trained, he's allowed to go anywhere, even non-pet friendly places such as doctors offices or into government offices that normally don't allow any animals.

This is to help with his socialization and to give him much needed exposure to different things that he normally wouldn't see, such as noises of traffic, more people, odd things like automatic doors and elevators, and confined spaces. The biggest problem so far has been a bit of submission piddling, and people just can't resist talking to him and wanting to pet him!

In time, he will find it old hat, and it won't cause him to have this issue. For a dog that was so easy to potty train, and never messed inside, it surprised me when it happened in the library and at the vets.

He's fully hypoallergenic, I have no allergic reaction to his fur, even when I put my face right in it. He sheds not at all. Which is a crapshoot with any doodle, even those with high percentage of poodle.

I self train, so he's completely adapted to my needs, which are balance assistant, and to pick up dropped items and return them to my hand. He loves to retrieve, and then will bring them back to me - not releasing them so much though! All things with time, he's getting much better with 'drop'.

When I ask him 'help' he will align himself to my left hand side, and I can grab his collar or vest to give me some balance help, not weight bearing, as he is too young, and also too small.

His full adult weight is around 60lbs, so I can't allow him to counter balance or support me.

Training my own MS service dog is something I have wanted to do for many years, it didn't work out with the previous puppy I had, but with Ash, I'm confident that he will give me a new lease on life and help me immensely.

For the future, as my gait is so impeded, I will need to train him to walk beside a scooter or trike, and I will finally be able to go on 'walks' with him.