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| - I am adding to my review from a few months ago.
Our service dog Aerys, a two-year-old German Shepherd, has made leaps and bounds since that time.
Just last month, he completed all four of his American Kennel Club certifications (which we spaced out over the course of a year) by passing the Canine Good Citizen Urban test. And also, even more exciting and such a huge deal for both him and myself, he finally passed his Public Access Test. So now he is a full-fledged service dog!
With his maturity comes heightened awareness, that continues to surprise me on a near-daily basis.
Recently, he picked up on more skills that add to his growing list of service tasks. Early detection of panic attacks and mood swings, as well as nightmare wakings. Just two nights ago, he nursed my husband back to health by staying up with him all night, offering himself for my husband to lean on whenever he needed to get up, staying right by his side in case he loses balance from dizziness, and even herding the cats away so they don't pester him, allowing him to rest more fully, to where his fever broke before morning.
We are now working on getting him acquainted to being touched by other people, which was discouraged during his entire life of service dog training. We are aiming for him to be a therapy dog as well.
We owe Ira much gratitude for his guidance, on honing Aerys' attention, as well as learning how to target and build upon his intuition. His confidence is growing rapidly, and he's much more inclined now to act upon what comes naturally to him when it comes to offering assistance.
Also greatly appreciated is the lifetime Saturday group sessions, which are great for Aerys even though he is fully trained, because as all good handlers should know - the training never stops!
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