Home for 7 days

The dogs and their bones













How can you not love that face?

















Monty checking on his girl at the Dentist















Margs, Tricia and Monty





















Dr. Waage, Tricia and Monty

Whew, a long day, a week back from 4 paws. Today I woke the house with a seizure at 5 am. Mom and Dad got very excited and tried to get Monty excited and asked him to bark. He just sat there and looked silly, but Miss Emma flew in, heard all the ruckus, and once she heard bark she went wild. They gave her treats for barking, still trying to get Monty to bark. He eventually kinda did, but not like Ems. Perhaps she'll learn to alert, and he can be my pal at school.

Mom and Monty and I hit the SuperTarget at 8 am, cause I didn't have to be to school until 10:45 due to ITBS, I'm too old for that testing. After buying the Halloween candy at Target, we went to Quik Trip for gas and an iced tea for Mom, her favorite. Nice, good, brewed, fresh, non sweet Iced Tea. Then, off to the Dentist to fill my third cavity. Everyone just loved Monty, and he did a great job. He got up once to check on me, I think he's beginning to like me. He goes to my bed to sleep. What a good boy.

Then off to school. Shorter day. Then after school we took Emma and Monty to the vet, my favorite person in the whole world, Denny. I gave him one of my pictures from the Portrait Studio, he said he would put it on his fridge. He liked Monty, and so many people said how handsome he is. He is truly handsome.

I'm off to bed, so I hope you all have a good night and continue to pray that Monty learns to alert to my seizures. He's such a good dog.

Service Dog number 2

Just a few words tonight, because we are all so tired we can hardly breathe. I got my picture taken with my Monty at the mall. Go to www.portraitavenue.com Go to online ordering, click on Mall at Fairfield Commons, enter password 5410.

He passed with flying colors. Jeremy said he is working like a dog that's has been handled for at least one year. And to think he was almost euthanized. Bless those people in Kentucky who pointed him out to Karen and Jeremy. He may be the sweetest dog ever. We will be amazed if he is ever naughty, although he really wanted to play with that cat Zoe at 4 Paws, she and his trainer Kayla were his only distractions.

He did miss one of my bad seizures this morning, so Dad and I worked with him and Kayla after the testing. We'll keep you all posted.

Day 9

This cracks Mom up, its the giant dinosaur at the used car lot by 4 Paws

Monty, me and Dad

Monty hogging the bed, the ears are always there...

Ehlena, Ashley and me

Wow, only one more day of class. Today was lots of lecturing by Jeremy, and I was super tired, so I did crash after lunch. It was a perfect day in Xenia, blue skies, 70 something and the trees are so pretty. Monty does so well, and did well with all the seizure "fakes" today. Mom tested him in the hotel and he came running and barked. What a good boy. Tomorrow morning is the public access testing at the mall. This time Mom will remember the van. (Last year she just walked to the mall, oops) Monty will do well. He did really well at Superwalmart, and did fine in Max and Erma's, he just decided he preferred the aisle over being under the table, so we will work on that, maybe a booth is not the place for him.

He still seems very tired. I guess we all are.

This has been another amazing 4 Paws experience, meeting all sorts of people from all walks of life with kids with a huge range of disabilites. Everyone is unique and precious. Taylor reminds my Mom so much of Matt, who she babysat when she was young, in the way she talks and her special smile. She has such a wonderful family, really, all the kids do.

One more night in Beavercreek, hard to believe. Then the hard work begins. Mom is going to retrain Emma (ha, like that is possible) she never would even behave at 4 Paws, so Monty is the opposite dog, but we can't wait for them to meet and have so much fun.

Day 8

Monty, doing a "lap"

Margs and Monty working on obedience.

Monty, Margs, the cat Zoe, who Monty would like to play with, and Mom

First off, lets clarify something. Jeremy is not a felon, he went to back to prison to check on all the dogs that the prisoners train. I'm not sure how many prisons are used, but if you search on YouTube you will find a news story about 4 Paws dogs being trained by prisoners. They teach them obedience, and they are allowed to sleep in their cell with them. Now, they are not allowed to take them to stores and out in the public, so every 4-6 weeks they trade out, go back to 4 Paws, and are socialized by the staff there, and taught more specific skills by one of the 4 Paws trainers. Jeremy told us that Monty started out in the mens system, but when he decided he might be the dog for Margs, he switched Monty to the womens prison. He has been exposed to everything, but maybe not a school bus.

Today we worked on obedience with Margs telling Monty what to do. Margs will do whatever Jeremy asks her. She did get another hug today, in fact, she went running to him when she spotted him at the mall. He encouraged her to shake her arms like a seizure, and you know what the big guy did? Yup, he barked. He's doing better with the fake seizures. When Mom did a fake seizure for Clarabelle, and Tootsie was close by, Clarabelle touched, and Tootsie barked. Monty was chillin by Margs, so he didn't notice. He's still pretty tired.

Margs got new jammies at the mall, we hit the jackpot on store 3, Sears, where America shops, and found a flannel night shirt with all different colors of teddy bears on it. Perfect.

Dad arrived while we were in the pool with Ehlena. Margs only had a 1 hour nap today, so tonight could be a big test for Monty.

The internet is being ridulous in the hotel, so maybe some more pictures tomorrow. Mom is very frustrated......

Day 7

Monty hangin with me

Ehlena and Wonder

Here is Danielle, Tootsie, me, Kaylynn (she has Dravet too,) and Monty

Lots of dogs in down, Monty is wayyyy over there

I had a rough day. We went to training and Jeremy was gone, gone to prison. Jennifer did the teaching. She had all those dogs plus Connor in a down and it was like a dog crowd. Monty did great, he never got up. I was so tired, I didn't eat my lunch and so Ashley took me back to the hotel for a nap. The afternoon Mom watched a Red Cross dog video about dog first aid. Did you know you can give your dog CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver? But don't forget to muzzle if he or she is hurt, cause the dog might bite.

After my nap, Ashley took me back to 4 paws to get Mom, Stacy, Ehlena, Wonder, Monty and Emily. I got to say hi to Jeremy, he was back from prison. He said he'd see me in the morning. Can you tell I really like Jeremy?

Tonight Ehlena came over to play, she and Wonder are in the room right across the hall. She got the biggest dog, and she's the smallest kid. They look great together.

I'm super tired, so its off to bed. Monty is now barking for Mom when she needs him to, so he just has to tie it all to me when I'm having a seizure and we'll have an alert. He loves to cuddle, he's like a giant teddy bear.

Oh, and Mom has no idea how to delete the picture posted twice, but I really like Tootsie too.

Day 6

Paige doing my hair

Monty supervising the hairdo

Monty the man

a hug

Ashley, me, Paige and Monty, with his eye on the cat Zoe

A beautiful fall day with frost on the grass and the trees ablaze in color. This area is truly beautiful and the back roads to 4 Paws are worth the extra time. Today in class they worked on tethering, and since I'm not much of a flight risk, we won't teather to Monty, but, since a girl wants what everyone has, I asked if I could have one of the red teathering straps like everyone else. Jeremy let me have one, and then he gave me a green training tab to put on the end to hold on to. He is so nice to me. Monty does well when I hold the back leash, and Mom holds the front leash. She took him to the mall for practice, and he's so good. We went to Meijer tonight and he did well too. He is such a good dog. Now for the seizure work. One more round tonight and off to bed. I'm so sad Paige had to leave today, it feels like she was hardly here. I can't wait to take Monty home to introduce him to everyone. They are all gonna love him, and I hope Emma does too.

We are sad our friend Mary left today too, she had to go home to see Max and Doug, who we met last August. She loves to sing to me, and she and Mom sang with the piano guy at Von Maur last night. They said it was great.

Days 4 and 5

Monty in a down at Don Pablos, what a good boy.

Paige, me, Monty and Ashley

Jackie, the birthday cake, and Clarabelle

Jackie, Mary from Michigan (Max's mom from Amazing Augustos), Monty giving kisses, me and Paige

Here I am hugging my Monty.

We are starting to lose track of time. Seriously. What day is it? Paige flew in on Thursday, I was so excited I could hardly take a nap. It has been so great to have her here, and she is flying out tomorrow. We wish she could stay the rest of the time. She thinks Monty is great.

We went to the mall yesterday, and he was so well behaved and did everything so well. Mr. Mellow Monty.

I had another seizure in the wee hours this am, and he didn't get it. We worked alot of seizure work today with Jeremy. He talked about grooming, nails, ears, and all that jazz. We took Monty to a resturant and he did so well, he really is so well behaved. He is still somewhat tired, and we are hoping that he is coming out of his depression from the transition. Mom can get him to bark now, which is great. Clarabelle, one of the other seizure dogs, who is touching and doing her job with Luke, had a birthday. Her mom, Jackie, brought a doggie birthday cake, that she didn't like at all, but Monty LOVES it. Mom is using the rest of it for seizure work tonight. She might order a whole bunch to use at home.

Seizure training, day 3

Margs, Ashley and Monty.

Well, hmmm. Our trainer talked all about seizure training today. Tonight Margs had a major seizure, grand mal into just there for 40 minutes. I tried to get Monty to bark, to react, to something, but he just looked at me. Needless to say I'm somewhat distraught. After she got out of the bed, Monty did sniff the bed quite a bit, so I had him check, got excited, bark. And he did it. I think its time for training in the dark. Just not sure what to do at this point.

Monty is somewhat depressed, he is not sure where he is or who we are. Jeremy said that is typical of GSD's, so hopefully he will come around.

Not many pictures today.

Day 2

Lab puppies sleeping at 4 Paws, aren't they sooo cute?

Me sleeping at 4 Paws during training, I'm pretty far gone.

The cool dog Monty

Good morning, the internet was down in the hotel last night, so Mom could not post anything. Thank goodness she could catch up this morning and post a report. Yesterday was a good day, we worked on sit, down, heel, roll over, high five, give five, shake, and seizure work. When the trainer Kayla showed us how she trained Monty, he barked really well. Mom went into the bedroom at the hotel, when Monty was snoozing, and acted like she was having a seizure, he heard her, got up, went into the room to see what was going on. She praised him and did it some more, gave him a treat, and had him check one of my shirts. He didn't full out bark, but he made the little almost barking noise, so its a step in the right direction. Mom is very hopeful.

Have a great day.

Monty the dog

Isn't he cool looking with those big ears?

Here I am talking to Kristy on the phone, telling her about Monty

Here we are hanging out on the floor

Here he is giving me kisses

Wow! I have my Monty. He is so calm and sweet and obedient. What a great dog. He stayed on his place the whole time I ate my dinner. He laid down by us the whole class, never stole another dogs treats, and never barked. What a cool dude. Now for the pictures. Its time for bed and he's in the bed with me. We are watching Barney, what else would best friends do?

Keep praying that he learns his job, to alert Mom and Dad or anyone to my seizures.

Thanks,

Margs

Tomorrow is the big day!

I really wanted to swim tonight, but we went to the 1/2 price book store and I got some books and a bingo game. Mom dropped some shirts off at the Homewood and got to meet Noah and Taylor, and their Moms and Taylor's family. I cannot wait until 10 am tomorrow to meet Monty. Mom went to Muncie today to visit Claudia, Amy, Christopher and Stitch. She had a great day, and saw the most beautiful fall trees. I hung out with Dad and Ashley, had a nap and did my puzzles.

Mom will try to work with the new camera and have pictures tomorrow.

Off to bed.

Made it to Ohio

Hi, we are in Beavercreek. I'm sleeping with Dad, and Mom is in the other room, typing away on her laptop that Uncle Craig had to emergency fix. Dad did a great job driving all day, the weather was fine. It is cold, but it was cold at home. We all are missing Emma, but we are glad she gets to play with her dog friends at the Woodruffs for a few days. Ashley and Mom went to Meijer to buy supplies, and now Mom thinks our fridge in the room might be on the fritz. That would be bad, cause we are all moved in and we really don't want to move to another room.

One more day and we meet Monty! I had 2 seizures today, so he really needs to learn his job. I need to get all rested up for Tuesday.

Love,
Margaret

Can Tuesday please come?

I am driving my mom crazy. I want to go get Monty. I really could have used him today, it was a long day, still not over. I had a nasty seizure at 6:30 am, then slept for a while. I had a 10 am 6 month dental check, where Dr. Waage found 3 cavities, in my 12 year molars. Nuts. He only fixed 2 because he didn't want to give me anymore novacaine since I'd had a seizure this morning. Trisha, my best buddy at the dentist who cleans my teeth and spoils me, can't wait to meet Monty. She read the Seizure Alert dog book and saw Monty's picture. I will take him with me when I go back October 28th to get my other cavity filled. Its hard to brush my teeth, and those in the wayyy back are the hardest. I also told them I wanted braces, cause I want to be like the other kids, but they told me not today.

I took a short nap and missed my lesson on my horse Freckles. What a day.

My new dog, Monty

Hi Everyone! We got the word last night, and my Mom and Dad are in KC and I'm at Paige's house, but I got my letter from my new best friend, Monty. He is a black German Sheperd dog and is one year old. He came from Kentucky, and that's where my Mom and Dad went to school! Go Cats! Anyway, here is my letter from Monty:

Dear Margaret
Hello there! I know all about you! I had many a conversations with my good friend Emma before she left. I am so excited today because not only do I get to be your partner but I get to see my buddy Emma again. That is way cool. I hear tail that you are the best partner and that I am the luckiest dog in the class! I have been working so very hard to learn my job. I spend hours studying those smells so that I can get everything right. I promise you I will certainly do my very best to be all that you need and more. Karen says I am the sweetest German Shepherd she has met in a long time. In fact she said I was just like Lady. WOW is that an honor because she is famous. She is a famous Seizure Alert Dog and has even been to the White House with her partner, Alex. they wrote a book about seizure dogs and 4 Paws is in there and of course their famous seizure dog, Lady is all over that book, even the cover. She says we are just alike in personality so she knows I can be the best at my job! It is good people have such faith in me! My name is Monty and I am a year old! xoxoxoxoxo Monty PS Karen says I have eyes like her Ben, who was also a Black GSD and that makes me special.