Thursday “Throwback” Thoughts – July 20, 2023 Edition: Dogs Part 12

MAISIE!

As you probably already know, Maisie is my current service dog. And best companion. And entertainment. And cuddle buddy. And I have written so much about her here that I don’t know what to add for this post! Her story is already posted, how I got her, how I trained her, many posts about our daily life…tons of photos, and some video. The mystery is already gone!

To get started learning about Maisie, you can go to my SUPER FIND! and then click on MaisieCurGurl or Service Dog or Rescue Dog or anything pertaining to her (or whatever else I’ve ever written about!)…probably her story would be a good place to start?

Since there is already so much about Maisie on this site, and now you know how to find it, I’m just going to zoom right up to the here and now, our relationship, and what we do as a team.

Let’s start with a typical morning. I wake up, and she’s on the bed next to me. I usually take a picture because she’s so cute when she’s sleeping; I have hundreds of pictures of her sleeping, I’m sure. When I get up she usually stays in bed a while longer since she knows I’m just going to be sitting with my laptop and cup of coffee for a while. I go upstairs to wash up and she comes to me for some cuddling. I put my arm out, bent at the elbow to form a sideways L, my hand down. That is her signal to come to me NOW and get in tight. I use it for when I have vertigo in a sitting position, or otherwise unsteady. Or, lately, when I want to cuddle with her – all the same to her, she comes to my side and presses in to support me.

Once I’m done with my “bath” (at the sink next to the bed) I lay out my clothes on the bed. Typically I drop something in the process, which she patiently picks up and places in my outstretched hand. I put my clothes on and ask her for whichever shoes or slippers I want. She will bring one, look at me, I tell her, “now the other one” and she complies. Then we come downstairs and she will either carry something I ask her to, or go back up to get what I forgot – usually my phone. From that point onward she sticks with me all day.

If nobody is coming over, or if we’re not going out – like to sit in the tent – I don’t bother with her harness. But if we’re going outside I put her harness on then have her “wait” inside the door for me to go outside ahead of her. When I tell her “ok – no pulling” she comes out, passes me by a couple of steps and waits until I take my wheeled outside walker with the seat, tell her “come around” and she goes to my left side. When we walk, I don’t use “heel” – I use “walk easy” and she does. As she’s walking next to me she has an ear turned toward me, and is constantly looking around to make sure nothing is going to take us by surprise. When I stop, she sits of course, and waits for my next command. If I sit down I tell her “come around” again she will come back around to my left again, sit, and wait. Usually once we get to wherever we’re going – to the tent, for example, I will tell her “OK” which is her signal that she can relax. She sticks around until I need her again but may sniff around or lay in the grass or whatever while I do what I’m doing.

When we come back to the house she mostly hangs around me, picks up what I drop (it is a lot) and hands it to me, watches out the windows, naps near me with one eye half open, and is ready for whatever I may need. I take her outside as needed, and give her the “P.P.” command and she will squat…then I tell her “Myrtle” and she goes back up the ramp and stands by the door.

There are many words, of course, that she doesn’t know. And sometimes I need something that doesn’t have a name for. In that case, I will point to the general area and she will touch something, look at me, and I will tell her “YES!”, or “no…” in which case she will move to something else, until I tell her “YES!” then “bring it”. In this way she can really retrieve nearly any object. The ones she knows are phone, ‘mote (remote), shoe, slipper, pillow (I can talk her through the pile to get the one I want), blanket, her toys by name, harness, stick that I can think of right this moment. But of course there are more. She does a lot of retrieval since movement is so painful, and mobility is so difficult, on so many days. In addition, staying stable when I bend over to pick something up is difficult with my vertigo. So yeah, she does a lot of retrieval.

When we were on the road full-time in campgrounds, and I was more mobile, she did a lot more for me when we were out and about that she doesn’t need to do so much these days, though once in a while we will practice, and she still remembers. Examples are “step. stop” as I’m trying to go up or down stairs one at a time…”pull” when I need to walk up an incline or other difficult area…”head up” to keep her from sniffing the ground OR to let her know that something else may be coming up (a sudden sharp turn back for example)…”leave it” if a critter or anything on the ground catches her attention, or anything that she might want to go check out. But we don’t use those much, because I don’t typically take her place where she would need to help me anymore; I am always with Pete or Casey or Leelan or someone else that knows my specific needs. Still, we run through it occasionally, just in case…

Many times I develop pretty severe leg pain. I elevate my legs and put them straight out in front of me in that case, and tell her “legs” – she will lay along the length of my legs, her head usually on my belly, and her body weight and heat will ease the pain and even spasms at times. I wish she could do the same for my spine!

At the end of the day she will often have to help me get ready for bed. Even lifting my arms or legs can be too much at times, so the “pull” command comes in handy once again. (Yes, I use the same “pull” for inclines/hills and for socks and sleeves; she seems to just know the difference.) She will even have to take my hat off sometimes and I think that is her favorite thing to do – she wiggles and grins when she hands it to me afterward :).

One thing that cracks me up is when I drop something small – a hair clip, an earring, or anything else that’s tiny – she will keep it at the front of her mouth, then give it a little tiny “pft” sound as she gently “spits” it into my hand. So stinking cute!

There are other things that don’t have a command, that I never taught her, but that she just does because she knows. She watches and sees things I need, and just does them. I wish I was able to remember them all – but there are so many that I just cant. Many I have shared at the time they happened here on my site, usually in the updates I post. But it is nearly a daily occurrance that she will just do something totally unexpected, but needed.

Maisie isn’t the first dog I’ve trained – not by far. But she’s the first dog I’ve trained to help me with my life and the stuff that I can no longer do. And though I have bonded with every single dog I’ve owned – and even some I haven’t – there hasn’t been a dog like Maisie, who works with me as a team. Who reads me and anticipates my needs at the same time she is depending on me to do the same for her. She makes my life a lot more possible than it was before I had her, and I guess that’s the whole point.

I can’t imagine my life without Maisie.

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