August 2000
As we where just about to finalize the paperwork to buy mobile home in Evergreen Trailer Park, but the sale got blocked because of our Service Dogs. We did not think we would have any problem because if you looked out the Kitchen Window there was a Sign for a Breeding Kennel. When I said that I was told that was not true they went to check it out and found out it was true, but they only make them take down the sign but still allowed them to stay. Here we sit having no other choices but to find a place to rent. It is now six weeks after and we still do not have our deposit back. We are settling into a new house, which we are renting for the time being. All the dogs are doing good and have dealt with the stress of moving and the stress in our home because my father had a major stroke, with me so very upset they all feed off of Smokey. Even with this entire going on we had the six puppies to the vet's to be Spay and nurtured this did not slow these guys down at all. Home from the vets they where all running around jumping and just being dogs, so much for keeping them quite. I cannot wait to have a Law here so that this kind of thing will not happen again. There have been cases of Guide Dog users being evicted other have been denied access, Children are not aloud to have their Service Dogs in School, the list can go on and on. The sad fact is that not only Service Dogs are having access trouble but Guide Dog user who got their dogs from Schools that are not on the list of school from thee Guide Dog Act.
September 2000
We are working on opening doors, and heeling without being on leash. Some of them are getting better than others. Pluto now thinks that he must bring me something every time he comes in. We are also working on the tug command and they all have that one down pretty good. The 27 to 29 of Sept. there will be a crew from CBC TV Toronto coming to do footage of us and to do our fight for the law. I will post the day and time that it will air. I truly hope that this will go along way to help us get the law we need so badly. Zeke has gone for what was to be a two stay with his new partner but the bond these two have is so very strong. Zeke has gone from looking in the shower to make sure Kayla is OK to going in the shower and sitting beside her until she is done. I will not be bringing him home I will how ever be going down to him and working with him there. Zeke's partner has Autism and is not verbal but I am sure these two will develop their own language.
October 2000
We spent a good part of this month working on heeling and opening the screen door it seams our labs still do not want to open the door. They are all growing and they all have very different personality. These guys are like having a group of children if you do for one you must do for all. When I am grooming them everyone wants to be first. Nov 2000 I took Smokey, Loui, and Poncho with me to the Calgary Pet Expo. Loui went to spend the weekend with the little boy he will be working for and they took him to the Great Cerbal Palsy Stationary bike challenge. Loui did well he behaved; the only problem they had with him was the fact he thought he could use the house to do his business. I will need to work on that one. Poncho went to spend the night with the boy he will be working for this was their first meeting This was also Poncho's first time around that many people he did great and was a big ham. Poncho did really well at his new partner's. Both my boy's made me very proud. Smokey were her wonderful self-making people falling in love with her. On Sunday I sent all the dogs home and stayed to do some work with Zeke and also I did a live radio call in show QR 77 (Calgary) and I was also at the Calgary Epilepsy assoc to let them know about our seizure alert response dog. This trip was busy but in many ways a very rewarding one.
December 2000
We have added one more dog to the pack her name is Belle and she is a Red Heeler. Wonderful women named Angel rescued belle. Angel brought Belle up to Edmonton from Calgary and one of Angel's clients paid for her gas. These three very wonderful people have given me the chance to change someone's life for the better. Thank you will never be enough. Belle is fitting in great and she has taken quite the shine to Poncho who is five times her size but he is just as gentle with her and they loved to play. The other dogs are all doing well they are growing. When I am out cleaning the yard I usually have one of them with me and we are playing ball most of them are doing good at returning the ball to me but some would really rather keep the ball.
January 2001
Here we are in a new year. Sammy, Shadow, Pluto and Hewy will be turning this month. We have watched them grow and change over the last yr from cute puppies to teenagers. These guys just hate it when they cannot see me of at the very least hear my voice, this was a very hard thing to break because for months they where in my office and then for almost 6 weeks they where in the same room with me 24/7. These guy love to play with each other and if we put all of them out together you can bet that a least one dog will get picked on by the others and they all get their turn at being picked on. We cannot put Smokey out with them any more because she chases them on to the deck. I do know that the day these guys leave for their new homes will be a sad day as much as I know what a wonderful lives they will have, I am still attached to all of them.
May 2001
As we where trying to get the foundation register we encountered a problem getting our name excepted so we have changed it from Smokey' Helping Paws Foundation To Smokey's Assistance Dogs Foundation
June and July 2001
This year has brought alot of changes not only for the foundation but for me as well. In many ways I am even more commented to change the law s that we can improve the lives of all our wonderful clients. This last few months has seen some of our dogs go to their new working homes, new dogs have come in to help meet the very large waiting list we have.
We have had alot of trouble with the city of Edmonton because of the number of dogs I have living with me. We have chosen not to use puppy raisers because with out a law it has made training alot harder and I could not in good faith subject anyone else to the hardship that we have faced. It is not only embracing but maddening as well. So we keep forging ahead. We have six dogs working; five of them are from the first ones we got to train. They are all doing well and have changed the lives of not only the person they are working for but the lives of the other family members. The other three are still working at getting ready to work, by the end of this yr we should have them ready to go. As hard as it was for me to make the choice to breed, because we are having trouble getting quality dogs. As we do the research for breeding we have undercover some very interested facts. We are looking at a breed that is being developed Australia called the Labradoodle which is a cross of the Lab and Standard Poodle they are saying that they are getting the coat of the poodle and the size and build of the Lab. The program was started to answer the question of allergies that had been in countered in the Guide Dog School. If you would like more info please check out the site at: Tegan Park.
Are trouble with the city is going to be an on going thing until we either get a law passed or I admit they are right and I am wrong. It would ideally be our hope that we could have worked out a deal with the city that would have make everyone happy. In my journey to work things out have been met with closed doors and threats to stop me at all cost. I will never understand why we have met so many roadblocks.
We have not asked the city to cover our expenses, but what we have asked for was understood and cooperation. I will throw mud and I will not comment on what has been said by other schools or persons who have made public or written comments about me or our school, with the exception to the fact that a school from another province in which has gotten from the city they live in what we can not. That city is working with that school not against them.
September 2001
We are still working very hard to get a new law in place so that a person with a disability will have the right to be treated the same as everyone else does.
October 2001
October find us getting ready for the Calgary Pet Expo, however days before I was schedule to leave I took a few bad falls which made it to unsafe for me to travel alone. The dogs where great they are all learning to brace.
November 2001
November we attended a provincial meeting to make changes to the Blind Persons Right Act to give Assistance/Service dogs the same legal rights as Guide dogs now enjoy. This meeting was one of five meetings and we hold out little hope that any thing will change
December 2001
As we waited for Baby Belle to have her puppies we where placing dogs with new clients. On December 20/21, 2001 Belle had (10) Ten puppies. Three Boys and Seven Girls sticking with our theme of Disney names we have picked Goofy, Mushu, Happy, Tramp and Nula, Mulan, Jasmine, Snow White, Lady, Pocahontas. You can see them and what them grow up on our new puppy page
We have also start a new program called adopt a Service Puppy where the general public or groups can help cover the cost of getting a puppy ready to start their working life. If you would like more info on this new program please feel free to email us.
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Smokey's Assistance Dogs Foundation
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Revised: June 26, 2005
