Freja

Mother to Mother #13

with  Mavis H. MacDowell

            I wrote last time about my son John.  All parents of disabled children worry  about what would happen to  them without us.  My husband and I are leaving him  money but that’s no guarantee he will  be cared for. His future  could be hazardous as it was in the past.   His  brother who  will  care for him   is in the Navy. We all know that means he may not be able to have John close enough to take care of his affairs.     

John is so attached to  his old friend Teddy it concerned me.  I   wanted a dog to replace his elderly Pekinese when the inevitable happens.  About six months ago I started checking out breeders of Dobermans on the internet. I had bred Dobermans in the past and know  how gentle, loyal, and intelligent they are.  I made the decision to get my son a service dog to  warn him if someone is approaching the house when he is alone.  She will help with mobility, directionality, PTSD, and alert me when he has a seizure at night.   The timing wasn’t great with him just recovering from hip  replacement and me from  double foot surgery. But our puppy we   ordered before her birth August 5^th arrived. She is a white Doberman with the prettiest blue eyes I’ve ever seen on a dog. I’ll attach a photo.  We named her Freja.   Freja is the name of the Viking  princess of  love and war. I think it suits her. The first night we had her my husband had built a barricaide to keep her  in the kitchen. I was climbing over it when my night gown caught and I fell to the floor.  I was bruised and didn’t get up immediately. Freja came to me and instinctually curled up in my arms to comfort me.    I was in the hospital all the next day for foot surgery so we missed a day of training. Things are coming along fairly well with her adjusting to the family. She tends to play too rough with our younger  Pekinese, who holds her own in the play,  so we have to keep an eye on them.  

 I volunteer with Michael’s Angel Paws a new organization that trains service dogs. Right now they have a fully trained service dog named  ‘Freedom’ available to a wounded warrior free of charge. Donations have paid for everything. The first year of dog food is even paid for.  Freedom  is a yellow lab who can perform  close to 90 behaviors to assist her veteran.   Freedom is trained to nuzzle his wounded warrior when he is feeling  depressed.  The veteran must be able to care for the dog.   They are taking applications now. They will select the best match  for veteran and dog.

I have chosen them to train our puppy.  The  formal training begins next week.  It won’t be free for us but we think she is worth every penny and moment it takes to train her.  She is close to being potty trained. Freja is a couch potato, who loves to snuggle up to family members on the couch. Our goal is to train her to alert us when someone is approaching the house. Also to aide my son with  mobility,  directionality, keeping fit with  twice daily walks. Give our son a  sense of security so he will be  more comfortable  participating in public events. If possible train her to alert me if John is having a seizure at night. The most important function is that she provides companionship and is able to help John turn his thoughts to having fun with her  rather than remembering  the past.  It’s been a rough year for my son because two of his friends have moved to  Utah and his third friend is dying of pancreatic cancer. So this delightful puppy has her mission here. I am very grateful for her affectionate ways and intelligence to learn how to help my son.

I will write  about our adventures turning a puppy into a service dog and life long companion.   Maybe  that will help you make the decision  if you want a service dog for your child?