Sunnydaze, I am so sorry about your spinal problem. I remember your post about falling and cutting your hand. As to service dogs, I think anyone that feels they need help in any way by their dog should be able to get it whether it is emotional or physical needs.

Yes since my fall, which was very scary for me as I could not get to the phone, I have been starting Gizmo ahead of time, till I can have him trained properly in a service dog class. I have first taught him to do high five, and we are now practicing using that high five action with hitting my emergency response button on the system we have installed in the house. This I and my dr as well believe is a very important task to train him. It could be a matter of life or death for me if the situation were even worse than the fall I already had. He will once trained definitely qualify as a service dog, as my dr and I have already checked it out with my state. His specific tasks he will be trained in once he is old enough to be enrolled in training will be emergency alert. There have been several times I have found myself, from falling, not being able to get help. That was the reason my dr pushed so hard for me to rescue a dog to have trained.

I guess I got a bit emotional in my post last night because I am one of those people, that really tries not to show I am disabled, and most people can't tell as I hide it well, and the conversation of judging just by looking at someone I guess just got to me. I too have allergic reactions to things that I go into anaphylactic shock and is always a major concern while I am home alone, as well as the many infections in the last five years that have made me septic, which are a matter of life or death for me within 20 to 30 mins., and this is all besides the loss of use within my body, so yes having a dog trained to alert a medical emergency is very important to myself, my family and my physical therapist.

Thank you so much for your kind words. For the first 2 years of being a paraplegic I didn't even want to live, it took so long to get over the anger I had, that I had lost the life I knew. Now I just past my five year anniversary of my injury, and try to stay more positive mentally, but obviously lol, there are still certain things that can bring those feelings I first felt back. It's very difficult to be the way I am and the average person would never know my house is stacked to the brim with the amount of medical supplies in my home just to keep me alive. It's just not always what you can see on a person, that their live can be much worse than the disability on another person on the outside. For instance I had to have surgery last April to have part of my abdomen removed, as well as part of my bladder removed because it had died off, but with clothing on, nobody could see what horrible pain I was in for months, much worse than my daily pain, and that's already bad.

Sorry for the long explanation, but maybe it will make others think a bit longer bout what someone might be going through. I truly cannot stand the thought of people having dogs registered that don't need it. I wish I didn't :-)

Is it doable for you to get one of those emergency alert buttons that you hang on your neck?

Sounds like you've got a good plan in place and a little dog that is willing to assist you :) I didn't know this, from your past posts in this thread, so that's all I was trying to emphasize :) Wasn't at all implying you didn't NEED a service dog, just wanted to clarify that- from the posts prior, I was just trying to add information, so that others who possibly come and read this thread understand the rules regarding SD's (and the differences with ESAs). In no way do I think you're not deserving to have one! Just wanted to let you know though, sorry if my posts came off brash, I was hocked up on cold meds last night when I typing and couldn't sleep so I probably just didn't explain myself clearly LOL...

I truly deeply feel for your situation and honestly can't even fathom. I am so glad you have your pup as a companion and to aid you with your troubles.

I do have that one as well, but half the time after bathing I forget to put it back on, so training Gizmo will be a very good back up, plus they don't work outside of the house and I am constantly forgetting my cell when I leave, so I will also have some type of training done for Gizmo to alert strangers in case something happens outside the home as well.

I remember in my first year of my injury I was walking at a park by myself, and fell as I was just learning to walk somewhat again, and I fell. It was amazing how many people walked past me with no offer of help. Out of nowhere came the sweetest older homeless lady, that helped me back up to my feet. I was truly amazed at this :-) I ended up walking her back to my house with me, which was right next to the park, and fed her as well as let her wash her clothing and shower before she went on her way. That was another day I also learned never to judge a book by its cover :-)

It's all good :-) I too should probably never post at night, as I am on more pain medication before bed, because during the day I take my meds every 4 hours, but right before bed I have to take an extra dose of another stronger med, and I posted after I had taken it, so I was probably being more sensitive, and probably reacted more quickly without thinking lol. XOXO I do tend to be very sensitive because of comments I get on a day to day Basis from people who don't understand my type of paralysis :-)