Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Service Dog - For Me?

Well, Saturday was THE day. The woman from the dog organization came to do an in-home interview to see if I "fit" their profile of people to get one of their dogs. I've done all I can to make the house acceptable, but the master bath and my office are still in a mess, and there is a corner of the Ol' Curmudgeon's office dedicated to my clutter-stuff. I need to toss out 3/4 of it all and find "places" for the rest "to live."

She was very nice. So was her husband who came along also. The Ol' Curmudgeon waxed eloquent as only he can, and I spoke to my perception of my needs. She had me demonstrate grip strength, gently squeezed my hands to elicit pain level, and watched me walk and function at a couple of tasks. She looked at the (currently leaf covered) back yard approvingly.

So, now my "case" will be presented to their Board tomorrow (Tuesday). If approved, it will not mean a service dog tomorrow. First, we will have to raise funds. Not necessarily directly "pay" for the dog (to the tune of $7000), but literally fund-raise - find new donors to help support the service dog organization - a non-profit, 501c organization. The Ol' Curmudgeon is going to submit their corporate package to his place of business, and I'm going to submit it to several of the larger law firms I work with.

After doing the fund raising, or while that is going on, there will be a waiting period for me of between 1 and 5 years while they find a "match" for me. The dog has to meet my needs and be compatible with both me and the Ol' Curmudgeon. Then, when a likely dog has been found, it will have to be trained to the particular tasks I need done. All that takes time. Not to mention, there probably are people of higher priority ahead of me.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

No comments: