Foundation's grant clears way for dog to stay with family
By Kathy Johnson, Correspondent
Article Launched: 02/17/2008 09:56:21 PM PST

A little boy with autism was recently given a partial grant by the DogWish Foundation to train and retain his 9-month-old black Labrador companion. Kindergartener Gilbert "Gilly" Valenzuela was diagnosed about three years ago with autism spectrum disorder and has faced many obstacles in his young life, creating the need for a companion dog. A canine companion requires $20,000 in specialized training. The 5-year-old's wish was to keep Princess being trained as a special Certified Service Assistance canine provided by the DogWish Foundation, which will pay for half of the training costs. Regardless of the $10,000 price tag over the next two years, which Gilly's parents must find a way to cover, the boy will be able to keep his canine. Paying the training tab will require some help, and the family is seeking donations.

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(Specifically as they involve Jacob Saecker and his K9 Thor)

There are numerous functions that the K9 Thor provides for Jacob Seacker, which have greatly benefited him and improved his life. However, there are specific physical functions Thor is trained to do for Jacob that have made his presence with Jacob indispensable.

• Thor is trained to detect when Jacobs is projecting stress, and physically alert Jacob by getting his attention through physical contact, whining, or barking at Jacob.
• Thor is trained to be alert to the physical and social world around Jacob, and to help Jacob be more aware of things around him that could cause him physical and emotional harm.
• Thor is trained to detect, recognize, and find Jacob's scent. He can search out Jacob, and bring Jacob home.
• Thor is trained to detect extreme toxic environments, and avoid them.

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Volume 13, Number 6 / Updated: June 6, 2007               by John Hahn, D.P.M., N.D.

"We founded DOGWISH because the need is great... for these special animals." - Renowned dog trainer Bob Taylor - "Our Humanitarian for 2007"

The seemingly well-considered, carefully determined choices made by adults are often heavily influenced, subconsciously, by childhood experience. For example, Bob Taylor, of Phelan, California, may be one of the most respected dog trainers in the nation today simply because his father gave away the family dog when Bob was just five years old. And if that wasn't traumatic enough, his second dog-a stray Labrador mix who "adopted" Bob one year later, meeting him after school and following him home-was also brought to the pound. "It broke my heart," recalls the world-renowned trainer. "Those two dogs were the only friends I had as a child."

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Unusual method of dog training produces extraordinary animals to help disabled.

Chase Wienenga, 6, doesn't walk - he runs, from a snow-white dog with a wagging tail to a chocolate-brown dog that sits patiently while Chase pets him. Before his mom, Heather, can catch up, he's already dashing off to another dog. "I want this one," Chase says about every dog he sees.

But for trainer Bob Taylor, President of DOGWISH FOUNDATION based in Phelan, there is just one dog for Chase, although he doesn't know which one yet. "Chase is here for us to meet him, to evaluate him," Taylor says. "We want to see him, what he's like, what his personality is like. I don't really know what kind of dog is right for him until I get to know him better."

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1. The puppy needs a place of their own where they can feel comfortable, away from the stress of other animals, human or not. This enclosed area should offer relief from heat, wind, and other harassments, and should always have a fresh bucket of water.
2. The puppy, which has only know its mother, and its whelping area will at first feel a little lonely and confused, but should adapt quickly.
3. Take the puppy out of the area only with you. You should carefully introduce the pup to the rest of its environment.
4. It is a common occurrence that pups that are started off in the house grow up much more destructive in the yard than those who started in an outside area.
5. Also, those pups that are started off in house have a harder time learning to void outside than those started as explained.
6. Do not take the pup to areas where other dogs have been or are until it has been with you a minimum of three weeks, and has had a full set of shots from your Veterinarian.

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From the moment you obtain your dog, a very intense, exact, and detailed phenomenon begins to take shape that will immediately start to set the parameters for the quality of life you will enjoy with your pet from them on. From the first second you claim your dog a relationship has begun that will continue to develop, as both of you focus, contribute, and allow it to grow. Each of you brings many elements into this relationship, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically, creating a foundational "Arena of Behavior" within which you will contend for perspective, control, and responsiveness. According to the wheel of your experience, through every decision and action you commit, or omit, you will be teaching your dog. Weather or not you are ready for the relationship, or regardless of your own mental mind-set, you have begun a journey with a living, intelligent creature. One thing will become very clear, very quickly. Whoever has the best, most enduring, most usable strategy will control the relationship. Usually, it does not take long for us to realize that, WE are the ones who will need help!

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We have for some thirty years now, through the process we use to train, (which is totally unique in the field of dog training), created a phenomenon that has boosted the performance in our dogs and given us an ability to produce a quality of behavior and performance in our dogs that is dynamic. It isn't that our personal abilities to train are of a higher quality than other trainers, it is our background and education, the understanding we have developed of the brain, its' parts and processes, and how they relate with body functions, and the strategy and processes that we use to teach dogs, that makes all the difference. The knowledge and understanding of each dogs' mentality, and how to motivate them to use their intelligence dynamically, have given us a heightened ability to produce K9s that can out perform any other dog in their related field.

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By Sharna Johnson: Freedom Newspapers / May 12, 2007 10:34 PM

A practiced calm settled over Casper as he stood ready to make his rounds. As the 4-year-old Akita strutted down the halls at Plains Regional Medical Center, heads turned.

"Hey, Casper" and "Hello, beautiful boy," mingled with "oohs" and "aahs." The dog's owner, PRMC surgical director David Kelso, walked steadily beside him.

Arriving at a patient's door, Casper announced himself, tilting his head back and issuing a resounding howl, like a single, low note from a horn. The greeting elicited laughter from surgical patient Norma Hovde and her husband. Hovde instantly held her arms out to him, welcoming him to her bedside. Casper's tall, 110-pound frame, which reached just above the edge of the bed, was well suited for the scenario. He laid his head across the blankets so she could pet him.

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