Unleash the Pawsibilities!

Kentucky Dog Laws Information

PUPT — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:00:44 +0000

The Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University’s College of Law has a great database of laws pertaining to dogs in all 50 states, including Kentucky. This is one of the few sites we’ve seen that posts this information in a table format, which makes it so much easier to figure out exactly which statutes you’re looking for and how they affect you and your dog.

Please click here for more information.

Murphy alerted to “fire alarm” today

PUPT — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:29:27 +0000

I had the TV on and Murphy, who never barks unless Molly barks first, was sleeping soundly upstairs and all of a sudden he jumped up and went bananas barking and barking. Molly (who never goes upstairs) immediately ran upstairs and started licking me. It was definitely a different behavior than “someone’s at the door.” Then, I realized that on TV, a fire alarm was sounding! I gave them both lots of big praise. Just another instance of “my dog is smarter that I am.” Thanks to Liz for doing fire drills with the dogs almost two years ago!! I had only practiced at home a couple of times, but never realized they picked up on the sound signal too – I was focused on alerting to smoke smell & flames.

-Kimberly

M. Schneider’s Research showing DAD’s do work!

PUPT — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:38:35 +0000

From M. Schneider, who has been doing a research project to track R.’s blood glucose numbers and determine whether Cooper the diabetes alert service dog is making a difference for R.:

Wanted to let you know that I pulled R’s numbers from the time we got Cooper up until now. I would like to share the numbers with you so that you can “prove” that he works.

While R’s A1c is still in 8′s the main thing, that I’d like for you to know is the fact that when Cooper wakes me up at night he is 99.9% correct. It’s truly amazing! If anyone doubts what these dogs can do, you’ll have absolute proof. These numbers are from her pump.

The reason for this study is that I wrote a grant through first Choice Power based on “how does human energy and animal energy affect each other.” the grant that I wrote specifically spoke to type I Diabetes and Cooper the Service Dog. I was awarded 2,000. to buy 5 computers for my classroom. The final report will be complete by May 20. I’ll send you a copy for you to display there at PUPT if you’re interested. I am going to reapply for the grant again in April and hopefully we’ll be able to continue the project.

M., we look forward to seeing the numbers and your final report! Congrats on finding a way to track and prove that Cooper is really working and helping R! We are grateful that you have taken the time to do this research and track her numbers over time.

KSP Public Complaint Procedures

PUPT — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:53:09 +0000

Part of having a service dog is knowing how to file a complaint with the local law enforcement officials. This basically means calling the police (non-emergency number) that have jurisdiction in your location (for example, be sure to know when you call city or county police departments) and letting them know you need to file a police report. They will send an officer to the scene and you will have the opportunity to have them record the facts of the situation. This is crucial for the civil court process, because the police report is documentation by a public official and is considered admissible evidence for a court case.

What do you do if the officer is part of the problem? For example, if the officer says that you must leave the public facility that’s trying to deny you entry with your well-behaved service dog, despite all the laws that say otherwise? You will then need to contact the department to file a public complaint against the officer. This link explains the procedures you would follow to file that complaint, if you were dealing with an officer or employee of the Kentucky State Police. This should give you an idea of what to expect if you need to file a complaint with your local law enforcement agency.

It is the policy of the Kentucky State Police that all agency personnel shall, upon request, inform citizens of the specific procedures for registering complaints against the agency or its employees.

In order to make this type of information readily available to members of the communities we serve, this fact sheet provides the necessary steps and information pertinent to filing a complaint. Read More

Your service dog can put your homeowner’s insurance at risk

PUPT — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:00:10 +0000

We were recently contacted by someone who had recently gotten a German Shepherd for a service dog and was told by their insurance company that their homeowners insurance would not cover the dog. Another scenario is that the insurance premiums are raised significantly, often beyond the means of the homeowner. Sometimes, the agency will cancel the policy, because they will not insure homes with dogs on their high-risk breeds lists.

This is one of the MANY reasons we do not, will not, and will not even consider using a guard dog breed for any type of SD work. Insurance companies won’t let certain breeds of dogs on homeowner insurance even if they are service dogs. Allstate here in KY won’t. The company doesn’t care how good it is, how well trained, how many test it passes, what bloodline it is out of, whether it is a show dog, or if it is a Service Dog, therapy dog, or even if the handler is a professional dog trainer… they will not… not open for discussion. The same goes for German Sheps and Chows, which are at the top of all agency lists for Homeowner.

Please pay attention to the information provided in the following article links, and make sure your homeowner’s insurance covers your dog. Remember, the insurance breed ban lists apply to service dogs, as well! Please do your research with your insurance agency BEFORE you bring a service dog into your home.

11 dogs that could raise your insurance costs

By Kay Bell • Bankrate.com

Homeowners insurance is going to the dogs

By Jenny C. McCune • Bankrate.com

“Go Home” brings Grandma home safely!

PUPT — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:26:12 +0000

“Go Home” command is easy as pie – I worked Molly a couple of times on “go home” command when I first arrived in the mountains this week to visit my parents & grandmother. Grandma is getting confused on her outdoor walks and is starting to wander off (early Alzheimer’s). Today, Grandma took Molly out for a walk and used the “go home” command when she got confused. Worked perfectly! It was the first thing Grandma told me when I came back from running errands. She was so happy and Molly did her job so well.

Cheers,

Kimberly

Nov. 2009: T. and Shadow- SD team

PUPT — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:17:57 +0000

Picture of Shadow, T's service dog

I wanted to update you on our darling Shadow….. He is doing amazingly well ~ he is soooo smart! He and T. have become the best of friends and he loves his boy! Shadow has gotten so big, but he is so gentle when it comes to taking care of T. He is amazing to watch. No matter where he is in the house when T has a seizure, he is there in a heartbeat! He usually beats everyone to T, even me! And I thought I was good!! : )

I also wanted to share with you something really cool! Every year T and his sister L work on an art project that T can enter into the Expressions of Courage Art Contest ~ which is artwork created by people with Epilepsy. This year, L helped T with a picture of Shadow and T tore up pieces of paper and glued them on, making a really neat mosaic and guess what!?! The picture won!! So now there is a picture of our sweet Shadow on the Expressions of Courage website, and of course, we mentioned Pawsibilities Unleashed of Frankfort, Kentucky, so your wonderful program got a little bit of free advertising! The website for the contest is: http://www.expressionsofcourage.com/winners2009.html

I hope everything is going well for you in Kentucky and that maybe one day we can take a trip up there again ~ at least to say hi!

Take care,

C and T

PUPT’s Cindy Barker & Domino- new KCCRT team members

PUPT — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:08:30 +0000

Congratulations to Cindy Barker and Domino, who were approved as volunteers for the KCCRT (Kentucky Commumity Crisis Response Team)! We’re proud of you!

M Schneider receives First Choice Power grant

PUPT — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:22:56 +0000

Congratulations to M. Schneider on receiving a grant to document research in whether a dog truly does respond to the blood glucose fluctuations of a diabetic. This is a creative way to include her students in the research, documentation, and analysis of the behaviors of a working service dog. Hopefully, this research will help add documentation and validity to what we know these dogs can do!

This year, First Choice Power awarded $50,000.00 to creative teachers across Texas.

Ms. Schneider received $2,000.00.

The purpose of the grant will be “Can animals sense people’s emotional (endocrinological) energy.” Computers will be bought with the grant to be used by students so that they can track the day to day behaviors of a Service Dog with a Diabetic. Students will have access to actual Blood Glucose Readings and Blogs submitted by R. S., in order to monitor whether or not Cooper, R’s Diabetic Alert Service Dog, reacts to her highs/lows throughout the day. The study will be conducted until the end of the school year and data will be gathered to determine whether or not important markers and goals are being met by R. and Cooper.

Dog Commands- Pick your language

PUPT — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:28:02 +0000

There are a lot of reasons why it might be fun or useful to teach your dog commands in many different languages. Just thinking of a few: for doing therapy work with people who speak languages other than English, to show off how smart your dog is, to use a private signal in public circumstances, and perhaps just because it’s fun! There are several websites that have information about common commands in other languages. While we DO NOT necessarily endorse all the training methods, or even all the commands, that these sites may contain, we are including some links to these webpages for your information. Enjoy.

Extensive list of English/German/French/Czech/Dutch commands.

Sit, down, stay, come, heel in the languages of 37 different countries.