At Pawsibilities Unleashed in Frankfort Kentucky to see our TMAU service puppy

Liz Norris is preparing Vallie for us to take her to the meetup in Nashville for the weekend. Liz spent so much of her valuable time teaching us how to handle and train Vallie, along with the harness, Service Dog bags and official SD documents, food, treats, toy and literature, including pictures and writeups of Vallie's prize winning extended family.

Vallie is a very happy energetic puppy who LOVES to train with Liz (and now with us), and want to keep on doing it even after Liz stops. Liz and Vallie gave us a demonstration on the training technique utilizing a treadmill to teach Vallie how to walk on a moving sidewalk. They also showed us how she works in tunnels and slides for find and rescue jobs, and to play with children on a slide. Vallie kept returning to the tunnels and slide even after the training session ended. SHE LOVES IT!

I was so discretely moved to tears with Vallie's beauty and potential for our community. Vallie noticed because of the scent of odorous compounds in tears, and she stopped what she was doing and came over to me to give me some love and to cheer me up! Talking about a Mental Health Service Dog! This came spontaneously from within her! It was an innate nurturing response to sadness, depression, happiness, and joy all bundled up together into a swelling tear in each of my eyes. WE NEED HER SO MUCH! We need many more like her too.

Vallie was naturally drawn to a specific body odor emitted from one of us. We noticed and Liz confirmed it without us having asked. Liz says that when a dog detects an odor, it doesn't matter whether it is detected by others or by scientific equipment - THE ODOR IS PRESENT! The dogs don't ever mistake this. A scent is a scent, is a scent, not to be confused by any other scent or denied, as it is real because the dog detected it. A trained service dog can be of great research and diagnostic assistance.

Vallie was naturally attracted to a scent I could not detect

Tomorrow we bring Vallie to our meetup. Let's see what she discovers in us at all levels, physically and emotionally. AND SHE'S ONLY 4 MONTHS OLD! Imagine when she's one year old, two years old, etc.

to be continued tomorrow...
Maria and Vallie

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

TMAU SERVICE DOG PROGRAM BLOG
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