Great consultation with the dog behavioralist/trainer for Sunny!
 

I met with the trainer this morning and she was wonderful! For those that didn't read my other thread, Sunny is the Golden pup that we got for my son with a genetic disorder. We are having him trained as a therapy dog. She was so kind and informative and generous! When I explained everything about Ethan to her, she offered to do one on one classes with him for the same price as group classes! She told us we need to bring Sunny EVERYWHERE with us (obviously within reason) and I told her I have been taking him to and from school and took him to Petco once, but I didn't think I could bring him everywhere because he wasn't formally trained or in a program yet. I didn't think anyplace would allow it. So she is trying to get him a vest so I can bring him everywhere and said that no one should have a problem with that. She also said that she wants the school really involved as well. She said that I should bring Sunny up there to visit as often as possible and even said she would go to the school and teach the students the proper behavior around service dogs! We obviously live in a not-very populated area, and my kids go to a small charter school, so going up there isn't too overwhelming for Sunny. She was even telling me about different types of competitions that Ethan can be in with Sunny. Ethan wants so badly to be involved in something, and he loves sports, but they are very challenging for him, so this could give him a giant boost in confidence. Also, she wants Ethan to be the one training him, so Ethan and I are going to his classes together. We talked a lot and I really like her. She has a lot of experience training dogs and children with dogs. She is from the Netherlands and has 4 little girls.
It was so much to take in because there was so much information and I was getting so excited about it, lol. So I need to set up the days of the week and times that we are available so we can start his classes! Cost is a bit of an issue, but I am going to try to budget as much as possible to make this happen for Ethan. I am just so thankful she offered one on one classes for the same price as a group class.
They also do a daycare up there, so if I wanted or needed to leave Sunny up there for a few hours or so, they don't just let them out to run unsupervised, they actually work on training with them and take them around obsticals that might frighten other dogs so they can get used to that sort of thing. The price is really not terrible for that, just $13 for 4 hours, and $19 for a whole day. Not something I would do all the time, obviously, but good to know it's there!
Oh and she also thought that Sunny's temperment was perfect for Ethan. He is the most laid back and passive guy. He is not hyper in the least.

That is so wonderful. It gave me goosebumps just reading it. Ethan's life is going to be so enriched thru Sunny. You have so much on you plate with the skin & furkids....how wonderful you are for taking one one more responsibility for your son.

:bravo:

Aww, thanks! I am the kind of person that is bored if I am not really busy, lol. I was hoping the insurance company would help cover the cost of training, as training a pup vs paying for a fully trained dog is MUCH cheaper, but they said they don't. They did say however, that if I get a pre-authorization from his doctor and submit it, it will probably be turned down, but I can contest it, and it may be covered, so we are going that route, what do we have to lose?
I have to call our 4-H leader to see how the whole showing dogs thing works for 4-H. We know the whole livestock routine, but this is completely different. Ethan really wants to show Sunny in 4-H, but we will see what all it entails. I don't want it to interfere with his training at all, which I wouldn't think it would, but it depends on the scheduling I suppose.