Back at His Day Job: School Dog

I have been out of school for two weeks (my mom had open heart surgery (she came through it like a trooper and is doing great!)) and then I went straight to Baltimore for a library conference.  So it has been quite a hectic time for me.  Coach and Fred and Willow have been on their own with a very changed routine, which can be a little stressful.

But, last Monday, I was back and Coach started back to school.  He fell into his school routine quite well.  Monday I didn't have any research classes, but Tuesday we began the Health Cross Fire Debates!

Coach is in a down stay in front of students who are busy researching at the tables.

Our first couple of days, the students are doing research on the various topics they are assigned to debate.  On the third day, they will be watching a demo of the debate and will begin writing their speeches.

During free time, when Coach's coat is off, students can pet him and relieve some stress.

I think our students were glad to have him back as exams are approaching and he is a bit of a stress reliever for some kids.  After all, research has shown that that petting a dog (actually, just interaction with a dog!) will lower your cortisol levels and increase your endorphin levels.  So, goodbye stress and hello happiness (click on the link to read more!).  That's why school's like Emory, Harvard, Yale and our Berkeley Prep know the value of having a service dog on campus.

Coach gets comfortable at the all school congo.

I was really excited about Coach's stellar behavior at the all school convocation on Friday!  He slept through the concert band performance and several choral productions!  Woohoo!

Coach sleeps through the concert band performance.

Keep in mind how he acted at the ballet.  It wasn't good.  Now, we have a more mature Coach who can lie down and go to sleep and be comfortable through the whole performance.

Did we stay for the pipe and drum band's performance?  No.  I know he doesn't like the sound of the bagpipes and he wouldn't have been a good boy.  So, we left when they took the stage.  You have to know when to leave and make the event a success.

It was a good week for Southeastern Guide dog in training Coach!

Shots in the Head

 Today I went in to see the migraine doctor.  And I took Coach in with me.  Normally, this might give me a fair amount of stress (bringing Jam did), but Coach is really laid back and he actually was very good in the waiting room.

Coach staring out from under the chair into the waiting room.

 There's kind of a funny phenomenom when you are out with a guide dog in training: people usually smile at you, strangers will strike up conversations, and many will talk to you about their dogs.  Today I learned about keeshonds.  The lady a few chairs down had a keeshond puppy that she wanted to show me (Kaia was her puppy's name) and that puppy was amazingly gorgeous.  I don't think I have ever seen a keeshond.  So, I got to learn all about one as I waited for my name to be called.

Coach sat peacefully under the chair.  Fairly soon, my name was called and I went back with Coach.

He went under the chair quietly and soon fell asleep.

Coach, asleep under the chair I am sitting on.

The nurse taking my blood pressure commented on how good he was and how it must be having a great effect on my blood pressure.  (Well, that's awesome.  Yea Coach!)  She said Dr. Vollbracht would be in to see me in a few minutes.

Coach woke up.

Coach looking at the camera.

I thought that it wouldn't be a good thing for Coach to act up in front of Dr. Vollbracht.  He is a very nice doctor, but he is rather no nonsense and I didn't think he would be very happy.  I took a deep breath.  Coach laid back down and went to sleep. I let my breath out.

Dr. Vollbracht and his nurse Darlene came in.  We chatted about migraines and stress and decided that I needed some shots in the back of my head.  This procedure would involve me putting my head on the seat of the chair, essentially flipping all my hair over and being in an "L".  Dr. Vollbracht, who was very impressed with Coach said that he would just step over Coach and give me the shots.

Hmmm. OK.

I flipped my hair.  I bent into an "L".  I got two shots into the back of my head.  

Coach never moved.  Darlene and Dr. Vollbracht were in love.

Coach and Darlene.

Now if I could just do something about all the stress.

I know!  More Coach.  More Coach.

Lavender Can Ease a Puppy's Stress

When we took Jam back in for training on Saturday, we heard from David Brady, Training Kennel Manager at Southeastern Guide Dogs (you can also follow David's dog Fozzy who is on facebook), who told us that they were filling the kennels and massage rooms (yes, Southeastern Guide Dogs do get massages!) with the scent of lavender in order to ease the kennel stress of the pups as part of kennel enrichment.  He told us there were studies that indicated that lavender decreased stress, and in fact, I found an article by Narda G. Robinson, DO, DVM, MS, from Colorado State University that talked about a recent study indicating lavender oil "diffused into the atmosphere, produced significant effects on dogs’ behavior." Evidently lavender and chamomile essential oils (and this is from a 2005 article, Robinson states) when used in the shelters had the pleasing results of dogs exposed to those oils moving around less and barking less.  The opposite was true when peppermint and rosemary oils were used.  (This study sounded a lot like the one David told us about.)

Photo of lavender and blue bottle from Istockphoto.

Now, before you go thinking that Southeastern Guide Dog are stressed, the CEO of Southeastern told us at IFT also that they did a baseline study of the dogs and the average dog has an cortisol level of 3, while the average for a Southeastern dog was 2. Pretty darn stress free! In spite of the low scores, Southeastern will with kennel enrichment programs to maintain that low score and seek ways to constantly better the life of dogs while they stay in the kennels.

Robinson's article stated that "the second study, published in the September 15, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that ambient odor of  lavender may be beneficial in calming dogs susceptible to travel-induced  excitement. That is, dogs who would otherwise bark and exhibit restlessness during car rides calmed significantly after exposure to 5 milliliters of lavender oil  sprayed onto a flannel cloth."  I find this very interesting as Coach does seem to exhibit a bit of restlessness in the car.  I will be switching out my car fragrance to lavender.

In fact, Colorado State University Veterinarians even go so far as to give the recommendation of giving lavender scented tissues to a stressed dog as part of their Tips for Helping Pets Through Trauma and Disaster: "Lavender aromatherapy, provided as  easily as applying a few drops of pure essential oil to a tissue near the animal, calms both pets and people."  (I would note, that you want to make sure that the tissue is somewhere that your dog isn't going to eat it.  Jam and HRH Berkeley were very into paper napkins and tissues.)

Coach just arrived.  Jam just left for IFT.  Willow doesn't know who is coming or going.  So, I went out immediately and bought two lavender diffusers: one for upstairs and one for downstairs.

I like to think things are much calmer around here. If nothing else, it smells nice.  It is a little thing I can do to make it less stressful here.

[Note: The diffusers that David Brady at Southeastern uses are FanFuser Diffusers.  The lavender oil he uses is from Jedwards International. FYI.]