New Service Dog

For those of you who don’t know me or my current Service Dog Ludo, here is a bit about me and the importance of the help I receive from my SD. 

A little over 7 years ago I had an accident while on the job that lead to having a right knee arthroscopy that same night. The procedure itself was said to have gone without incident and for the most part things seemed on track to gaining a full recovery just like anybody else but instead I ended up developing a somewhat rare nerve disorder called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. In short hand I refer to it as CRPS/RSD. Since then I’ve been on a long and painful journey trying different medications, physical therapy, desensitization, trial studies for new medications, emotional trauma........the list goes on and on. I could no longer be the fiercely independent, outgoing and hardworking person that I had built myself into over the previous 23 years. 

After a few years, a ton of research and some encouragement from my doctors and some close friends and family I took the plunge and got myself a Saint Bernard puppy and started training him to become my Service Dog for mobility related issues. Knowing my disease was going to continue to get worse over the years I felt it best that the dog and I would need to work together to keep up with certain needs that weren’t already known at the start. It was a lot of hard work but Ludo proved to be ready for the challenge and even taught himself certain tasks and also was able to alert me to a new medical condition dealing with my heart. 

Ludo alerts me to changes in the weather that will cause me to have a flare up, he helps keep me upright when we walk together at events or while shopping, he helps me get in and out of bed and will also push me into bed or onto the couch if he knows I’m hurting and I have been standing up doing too much, signals to me when my heart starts beating too fast and continues to remain in tachycardia, turns me over and wakes me if I faint and if I fall he helps me get back up again. Ludo also helps me be more social and allows me the luxury to go to events, see friends and live a more normal life. 

The downside to having such a large dog is that they don’t have very long life spans and in order to make sure that I don’t eventually hurt him I need to retire him by a certain age. On top of that my RSD is still continuing to change which means I need help with more daily tasks. Because of these two factors it is time to start training the next dog to take over for Ludo and help me with my day to day life. Some of the new tasks that the next dog will learn are assistance with laundry loading and unloading, medicine reminders, pick up dropped items, bring me my phone in an emergency, help with clothing removal and hand me items like socks and underwear, open and close doors inside the house and at doctor appointments, press the handicap buttons on doors to buildings, turn the lights on and off in the house via switch, help bring grocery bags inside from the car, grab items I can’t bend down and grab while in stores, and hopefully I can train it for carting so they can pull a small wagon behind them for when we are at larger events. 

I am asking for your help today because even though I can afford the typical day to day care of another dog I simply just don’t have the same income I had when I first got Ludo. The $800 goal will help with the purchase price of the new pup, the first major vet bill(spay/neuter, first boosters/rabies/blah blah blah), and a few new necessities like the first working harness, items to help it learn its new tasks(like ropes and balls to work with doors)and possibly stretch it enough to get a couple of lessons to make sure that as a new team we are properly communicating to learn these new tasks together. 

Any and all donations are greatly appreciated from $1 to sharing on FB or with your community. Can’t donate right now or if you wish to donate something else like training treats or traveling dishes or whatever you think could help feel free to message me privately at [email protected]

Thank you all so much for helping me try to live as independently as possible!