Around the world in 18 doggy days
This is Bhishm
Sometimes he's also referred to as The Bhishm, like The Right Honorable Bhishm.
He's earned the Honorific.
And this is Amba (or Ambalika after the Indian princess)
Bhishm and Amba are both seizure alert dogs.
This means that they are trained to alert me (their handler/charge) before I actually have a seizure and thus can get myself to safety.
Bhishm is nearing his retirement age and is already getting used to his shifts being filled by Amba.
Amba is taking her new responsibilities very seriously and is ready to take on the world.
Although Bhishm will remain part of our doggy-family after his retirement, we're looking into a project that'll give him a proper retirementparty and we're hoping you'd be willing to add your support to our fundraiser below for the project:
"Around the world in 18 doggy days"
to help raise awareness for service dogs
We've seen many instances on social media in the last couple of years of handicapped persons with or without service dogs, not getting the proper and more importantly humane treatment that they deserve, let alone are legally required to receive.
Bhishm and I have been treated wonderfully 99% of the time, receiving excellent care and attention from most if not all flight crews and ground personell, but there's occasionally that one less informed person who's simply not familiar with service dogs, who causes us to miss our flight, connection or otherwise causes us delay.
So what better way for Bhishm to leave his appointed duty by paving the way in his final days of service for the next generation to come?
What's the plan?
Literally going around the world, from major airport to major airport, staying on security side (no trip to Disneyland for us, unless of course Disney asks us to come over) and making airport staff aware of nice and well behaved service dogs like Bhishm, by trawling through the airport, its lounges and hotels, for a couple of hours per day for each scheduled stay and then lifting off again, off to our next destination. We'll be available for meet and greets (on security side) on each airport we visit, for photo-opportunities with The Bhishm and myself of course.
Because a dogs life goes by faster then a human's life, we'll aim for 18 days instead of the regular 80 days as per the Jules Verne novel.
We're aiming for at least 8-10 stops, but are limited to a maximum number of miles allowed, so crossing the equator very often is ill advised. Our current maximised trip encompasses 36811 miles of the 38000 miles allowed for a grand total of €5.134,-.
Because we're aiming to never actually enter the countries we visit, i.e. we're staying in the transfer-zone for international passengers, just like Tom Hanks in The Terminal, we won't have to go through customs each time and adhere to the many health regulations (especially quarantine regulations which would concern Bhishm) that servicedogs sometimes run into, despite those regulations having gotten less stringent during Bhishm's lifetime.
Once we get back to the Netherlands, there'll be a hand-off from Bhishm to Amba, who'll then assume her 24/7 duty and Bhishm will be allowed to start his well-earned pension.
He won't get a gold watch, but we're hoping our international airport side visitors will have gifted him with many many personalised tennisballs setting him up for the rest of his pension and many fond memories of pat downs at the security stations (he thinks of them as perfect opportunities for belly-rubs).
What's your travelplan?
Currently we're leaning towards this itinerary as that one gives us the best usage of our available miles within the rules of the Round The World Ticket:
Start
Amsterdam (NL) (Europe)
Delhi (IN) (Asia)
Tokio (JP) (Asia)
Brisbane (AU) (Australia)
New York (US) (North America)
Montreal (CA) (North America)
Rio de Janeiro (BR) (South America)
Amsterdam (NL) (Europe)
Finish
Should someone make us an offer to we can't refuse to visit a certain airport/city outside this itinerary, then we'd have to look into whether or not additional stopovers are allowed (we're limited in the amount of stopovers / flights as well as miles). Our current flightpath allows for about 1.000 miles of deviation.
When will this happen?
Bhishm's 13th birthday is on the 9th of june 2020, which would be his normal pensioning age. It would be nice to either start on that date - as it's the start of the holiday season - but we could also make it the end of the trip.
I haven't decided yet. If we'd do it before the holiday season, ie: ending on Bhishm's birthday or to do it during the holidayseason, starting on Bhishm's birthday.
The benefits or rather exposure to travelers would be slightly lower but chances of exposure to the press corps would be higher outside the busy holiday season.
Amba's 2nd birthday is on July 19th 2020, that could also be an auspicious date to end the campaign.
What will it accomplish?
We'd manage to raise visibility and awareness of the need for equal access for service dogs and their handlers in public transportation on an international level. Our trip could be used as a best practise guideline for airport staff, airline staff, customs and other governmental agents, etc.
How will you try to get the attention, will you have a booth we can visit?
Most airports will have strict regulations disallowing any kind of commercial or even non profit activities without a specific license/permit beforehand. Most airports will be deemed private property which doesn't allow for "protests" and/or busking to happen spontaneously. So I won't be able to put down a booth or something similar, unless some airport affiliated support pops up or a store-owner (like a McDonalds, Apple store, Starbucks or something similar) allows me to do so from inside their store.
For now, we're planning to walk around, wear a vest/whatever that states our objective and have a huge suitcase with me filled with tennisballs + of course, the main act: Bhishm himself. Cause you can bet your furry ass (or his furry ass) that walking around in an airport with a dog in a high vis neon coat tends to attract attention. ,,Look mommy, that doggy's wearing a coat!'' is something you hear ALOT. And also: ,,Awww, he's so cute!!'' Usually that's about Bhishm. Sometimes it's about me .. when I'm wearing a fur-suit ... :D I might wear the fur suit ... to attract more attention, if I can stand the heat in it and if security allows that. Lastly (and that's part of the aim) is the call from security personell, asking whether that dog is with me and why it is here, as my disability isn't apparent (I'm not obviously blind or movement impaired etc. etc.).
Can't you raise awareness another way?
I did. I'm doing that right now, by launching this campaign. I'll keep doing that.
We've helped change (with the indispensable help of several associated law firms!) the Dutch municipal law to allow for service dogs (instead of just allowing for seeing eye dogs) and have gone through several trials/courtcases in the past decades.
We've been to parliament, the home office and our national version of the NHS and the tax agency for all kinds of recognition, tax cuts and benefits for all service dog handlers in the Netherlands.
What amount do you require or hope to raise?
We're aiming to raise €5.000,- for the round the world ticket from KLM / Royal Dutch Airlines, as they're our national provider,
€5.000,- for room and board (as we'll be staying on airporthotels on security side which tends to be kind of expensive) and €2.500,- for incidentals (like visa, permits, official certified translations for medical and other documents, etc.).
If we raise more then the target amount, we'll look into getting some tennisballs printed with either:
"I <3 Bhishm, the service dog"
in baby blue
or
"I <3 Amba, the service dog"
in baby pink,
which we'll ship or carry with us in our excess baggage, to sell on the airports to raise awareness and to use for those tennisball-selfieholders for taking pictures.
The proceeds raised in each country / continent will go to a service dog related charity of our chosing.
For shipping/forwarding such (boxes of) tennisballs, we'll probably require a local / international partner that can receive such goods, to make sure in case of lost luggage, Bhishm's supply of tennisballs never comes up short.
A Starbucks, Apple store or McDonalds or similar worldwide franchise on airports might be willing to help. Their logo could also feature on that same tennisball.
Can I help?
Yes please. We could definitely use some local help for translation purposes, help with the selfies and carrying boxes of tennisballs :P Get in touch and let's figure out how you can become part of #TeamBhishm
If you work on an airport or work at a company or NGO that wants to sponsor this trip, please feel free to get in touch and let's figure out how we can make this happen.
Can you tell us about yourself?
Yes of course.
I am Rabhin S. Jainandunsing, male, 42 years old, single, Person Of Indian Descent.
I've led a very boring life, growing up in fostercare, having had these seizures and cardiac arrythmias since I was 16 years.
On my 18th I was introduced to my first seizure alert dog, Ayla, who's Bhishm's nan.
I was studying to become a doctor, but never finished due to health and safety regulations then (in the late 1990's) that didn't allow for student doctors to do their clinical rotations whilst suffering from seizures. Losely translated for non medical folk: people get antsy about student doctors with scalpels and/or syringes who are likely to suffer seizures, whilst handling that kind of sharp stuff :p Go figure?
I've been a shepherd for about 10 years tending to a nature preserve with a flock. Like many farmers/nature preservers, I've spent a fair share of my time in the courts, which eventually led to my current job.
In the last 10 years I've worked as a court appointed mediator / negotiator, helping parties settle all kinds of conflicts, amongst which family court situations with kids, divorces, custody, estates, business cases, restorative justice/penal justice mediations, medical malpractise cases and so forth.
Workwise I still do some mediations and other consultancy work, where more lenience timewise is possible as I require around 12-16 hours of sleep each day unfortunately, again due to the cardiac degeneration.
Currently due to worsening of my cardiac situation I've had to take a step back from my work and focus more on my health, so nowadays Bhishm (or Amba) and me are found in our local gym every other day, to keep my cardiac health up. During the trip this'll mean that I'll also be required to find gyms to do my daily cardio and fitness regime, whilst Bhishm keeps an eye on me.
My workout currently consists of running on the treadmill for 20 min's with a 5 min cooling down, aiming to get 3 km's in. Then we do some cycling on the hometrainer for 30 min's, aiming to keep at a 100 Watt output for 30 min's with a 5 min cooling down again, at a steady 60-70 RPM. On the fitness floor I do about 80 prone leg curls (18 kg), 80 leg extensions (20 kg) and 80 leg presses (45 kg) and do arm/torso excercises: shoulder press (14 kg), lateral diverging pull down (25 kg) and lateral pull down (triceps) (14 kg). I finish by doing 105 abdominal crunches (36 kg), cause that sixpack isn't going to appear magically without me putting in the effort. Recently I've added 1-2 second hyper-extensions for the lower back muscles with about 20 ish reps, hoping to get that number up to the target of 100 soon.
I'm 1.75 m tall and weigh about 77 kg. I'll probably have to add protein shakes and whatnot if I drop below 73 kg's (I'm still losing weight) and will have to address issues if I drop below 66 kg's, which I'm nowhere near yet. I'm not anorexic or boulimic or have other body image issues. Don't worry :P
I switch between arms and legs to rest the other muscles between the workouts/machines and the total workout takes me about 2-2,5 hrs, depending on whether I need a break or not, because of overexertion, which sometimes happens. If my heartrate spikes above 175, the servicedog with me (either Bhishm or Amba) alerts me of this fact and asks me to take it easy. Same goes for a sudden onset seizure. Then the servicedog and me have a quiet sit down or even lie down to recover. I'm aiming to increase the output on all the machines as I've already done in the past few months, as the regime is meant to create more large muscle tissue that automatically also creates more veins/volume for bloodstorage.
I've had seizures several times and have been carted off in an ambulance from the gym only once (as of writing this), cause when the the EMS connect the ECG to my chest, the machine automatically says: he's dieing, go to the ER now, because of the necrotic left ventricle.
For medical purposes I'm in the NYHA category III A. My left ventricle has become necrotic after my first infarction in 2017, which required a stent to be placed and will require me to get a heart transplant eventually. My LVEF is <30%, which means that basically that part of my heart isn't doing a lot and the rest of the heart needs to compensate for the lack of that functionality, which takes ALOT of energy.
As such we're frequent visitors to our local emergency ward at our local hospital and a lot of the EMS staff know Bhishm and / or Amba. The nurses (m/f) at the heartward usually tend to do a daily lottery who gets to walk the dog when I'm confined to quarters there, due to being connected to the holter meter, monitoring my ecg.
In my freetime, I like to play World of Warcraft, spend waaaay too much time online on sites like Imgur and other social media, and really really love having long hot baths. I have waaay too many pictures of the dogs where the pictures are taken in my bathroom with a lot of bubbles visible from the bathtub :D
I've bred border collies since 2000 and have been passionate about these dogs ever since meeting my first. Currently I have 6 border collies, including Amba and Bhishm and 1 black and white cat who thinks he's a border collie too (he fetches ... ). We have a small flock of sheep and a single cow that we can herd and practise our craft on.
I'm a vegetarian by choice (have eaten meat for extended period measurable in years) and have been eating a keto-style diet to keep the incidence (ie. interval and magnitude) of seizures to a minimum, for the last 10 or so years.
Bhishm and Amba eat regular (meat based) kibble (dry dog food) for working dogs and get occasional meals of fresh meat from either our own flock or other animals.
Because of my work as a mediator / negotiator / consultant, I opt not to divulge too much information regarding my personal life. So questions regarding sexuality, religion, political preferences and other divisive subjects I'd rather leave unanswered as they're private and should remain so as they have no bearing on the subject of this fundraiser. 
Can you tell us more about (The) Bhishm?
Bhishm is a border collie / working sheepdog.
He's been bred, raised and trained by me from birth.
He's the third generation of seizure alert dog in his line.
He's obviously a boy
He's been named after the fierce yet benevolent warrior Bhishm from the Mahabharat epos from India.
He's 12 years old now and will be celebrating his 13th birthday on June 9th, 2020
He's longhaired/rough-coated, with silky smooth hair.
His coat doesn't have most of the regular border collie markings, his toetips are white and there are 3 errant white hairs where with the classic pattern he'd have a white neck collar. Same goes for the blaze on his head. There's some white hairs there.
He started his career as a puppy on the children's ward at our local hospital, being cuddled and getting used to hospital smells.
He's spent a significant amount of time in the hospital with me, during longer (overnight) stays as well as during clinical visits for whatever consultations.
His tennisball is his favorite toy.
In our pack he's currently (still) the lead / alpha boy, besides his sister (Radha) who's the lead / alpha girl.
When herding sheep/cattle/hogs/whatever, his style is deliberate, powerful and consistent. Currently he's my favorite/go-to dog in our pack for herding and educational purposes as he gets the job done and has a very good instinct/stocksense at what I'm expecting of him, without me having to speak to him.
Can you tell us more about (The?) Amba(-lika)?
Amba is a border collie / working sheepdog.
She's been bred by the Moel Kennel in Wales, which is the continuation of the Blwch lines of Glynn Jones. She's been picked up at 9 weeks old from her breeders and had to wait till she was 13 wks old before she was old enough to have her rabies shot and was allowed to travel abroad. She spent those first couple of weeks with a family who have dogs bred by us in Wales. In October 2018 she was allowed to enter the European Union having a valid rabies vaccination and was taken along her first trip on the Stena line from Harwich to Hoek van Holland. She's been raised afterwards by me.
She's the first generation of seizure alert dog in this line.
She's obviously a girl.
She's been named after the fierce yet benevolent warrior-princess reborn Ambalika, who was taken from the kingdom of Kashi by Bhishm from the Mahabharat epos from India.
She's about 18 months old now and will be celebrating her 2nd birthday on July 19th, 2020
She's longhaired/rough-coated, with silky smooth hair.
Her coat does have most of the regular border collie markings
She started her career as a puppy on the physical therapy /rehabilitation heart ward at our local hospital (= exercising whilst being monitored for cardiac patients to rebuild cardiac and other lost muscle mass ), being cuddled and getting used to hospital smells.
She's spent a significant amount of time in the hospital with me at the physical therapy/rehab and during clinical visits for whatever consultations.
Her Kong is her favorite toy.
In our pack she's currently working her way up, but is still in awe of the current alpha-position holders: Radha and Bhishm, deferring to them as parent figures.
When herding sheep/cattle, her style is still in development being tentative, inquisitive, sometimes naughty and very eager at all times. She'll do well in due time.
Aren't you putting yourself (AND Bhishm) at risk by doing all this traveling?
One of the purposes of employing a service dog is to allow the handler/charge a semblance of normalcy to their life. A healthy person could go to the airport in the next hour, take a last minute flight and then when there go skydiving and bungee jumping. Such freedom isn't available for most handicapped people. I've checked with Bhishm, but he's adamant. The thought of skydiving scares the crap out of him. And he's not doing that :D
Still, skydiving aside, there's a lot of freedom when roaming the world with a service dog. This question provides its own answer. Yes: there is a risk. But that's life. And Bhishm loves the travel and the attention he gets when travelling (or anywhere for that matter). He loves his work. And he wouldn't have it any other way. Would you?
My cardiologist is of course OK with me travelling and I keep my medical records with me at all times, including translated versions for the countries I'll be visiting. Actually the cardiologist has encouraged me to do this trip now, before we go to the next stage of degradation of the ventricle and the process and recovery from a heart transplant might make travelling more complicated.
And the Vet's OK with Bhishm travelling and will OK him before we disembark, as we have to get a "fit for travel" stamp in his passport each time before we travel anyway.
What if something happens to you or Bhishm during the trip?
We're Dutch, which means: we have excellent health coverage. We'll be treated and stabilised locally and repatriated as soon as opportunity provides, without landing us in crippling debt. And as Bhishm is a service dog (ie. not an emotional support animal) he gets to travel with me to the hospitals, OR's and in the planes, trains and automobiles that we happen to require or encounter.
Should something happen to Bhishm during the trip, then vets are available in all the cities that we plan to land in and details how to get there are already logged in my phone and available through other means.
Can we meet for an interview / pictures / a meet and greet before the trip?
Get in touch and we can see if we can arrange something. We'll probably be able to schedule an appointment in the gym, so bring your workout clothes, running shoes and a towel :P
Why should we pay for your vacation?
It's not a vacation. We'll be working fulltime raising awareness to an international audience in a non-intrusive way and hoping you'll want to donate to this cause. If you feel it's not the type of cause you'd like to donate to, that's no problem. Feel free to find another cause. Spend twice the amount there and tell us about it, just to spite us.
€12.500,-?? Are you serious?! That's too much!!
Well, actually, yes, you're right, it's a lot of money. Then again, if you do the math, €12.500,- divided by 34.000 miles, it's surprisingly economical, it works out to about €0,36 per mile travelled.
If any corporate sponsor would like to get involved and make a sponsor deal, they'd get charged for that, allowing them to become a shirt sponsor or in some other way tie in their name to the effort. Fees will vary according to target audience and global exposure (a local dogfood company based in the US wouldn't be interested in advertising in Australia) requirements and whatnot.
Can we accompany Bhishm and you?
That'll depend on if we hit it off on a personal level.
Bhishm and me have a good working relation and we don't require a chaperone.
But if you'd like to join us as a friend for part or the entire trip, we'd love to have you travel with us, again providing we hit it of on a personal level.
Get in touch early to see if this is possible.
Are you trying to set a world record?
Yes. I'm hoping - if we can get all the logistics and financial hurdles taken care of - to get a Guiness Book of Records entry for Bhishm for most consecutive miles travelled as a service dog around the world in airline travel. The record should then of course be in Bhishm's name.
And/Or: service dog who received most belly rubs by security staff on airports worldwide?
And/Or: service dog on most selfies with airportcrew/flightcrews?
And/Or: #BestBoyAroundTheWorldin18Days?
Unfortunately it'll have to be such a specific record, as probably the Queen's Corgis have many more frequent flyer miles then Bhishm can accrue in his final months of active duty.
Does Bhishm (and do you?) get resting days between travel?
Yes. The itinerary currently has 11 stops and takes 18 days total. That allows for 1 rest day before every next flight.
The longest flight is clocked at around 12-14 hours. Bhishm is trained to relieve himself on cue and could use a (large) sanitary napkin on the floor of an airline toilet, which can then be disposed of hygienically, should the need arise to do so. Normally, before we board an aircraft, he gets to relieve himself and usually we tend to keep his stomach as empty as possible, to keep the urge to eliminate as low as possible.
What will you be packing in your suitcase for yourself and Bhishm?
My passport and Bhishm's animal passport
My toothbrush and my toothpaste and Bhishm's toothbrush and his toothpaste with liverflavor
Other assorted toiletries that aren't standard in hotelrooms (shaving kit etc.)
Ideally we'll get dogfood-catering on the airports/at the hotels we'll visit, which'll mean I won't have to bring 18 days worth of kibble with me in my suitcase, which'll safe me about 4,5 kg's of my weight allowance.
I'll require a couple of changes of light clothes and my workout clothing + shoes, as I'm not expecting many of the hotels to have overnight washing services. I'll bring along a spare vest + collar for Bhishm, for emergencies.
Tennisball. (very important piece of equipment :P )
Emergency tennisball + Kong
Laptop, phone, charger, additional battery, adapter to change to international plugs, usb cords, headset (wired and wireless)
Doggy poo bags
Rubbing alcohol for hand sanitizing.
Sunglasses and perhaps one of those sleeping masks as we'll be shifting timezones quite often, changing 4 hours each time we do a major stop.
Bhishm's protective eyewear
Medication (mine) + medical details in English
Comb to get the tangles out of our hair (we share the same comb :P )
Teddybear (yes I sleep with a teddybear, judge me all you want)
Perhaps I should also bring surgical masks if we land in heavy smog and the airport areas aren't all climate controlled.
I think that's about it. Do you have suggestions? Remember when suggesting stuff to bring along, that due to quarantine, import restrictions and health and safety regulations it's probably best not to bring foodstuffs or other stuff that could harm the native wildlife/ecosystems, with you when crossing borders.
Has Bhishm flown before?
Yes. We've had many flights to and from the UK. He's used to cabin sounds, airpressure changes and airport protocols. He's very much willing to suffer a full pat down to check for drugs, he especially likes it when TSA agents check his belly for contraband and presents his belly willingly.
Aren't your dogs Border Collies? Working Sheepdogs?
Isn't that breed wholly unsuitable for service dog-work because of their demanding working instincts?
Yes, they are Border Collies or Working Sheepdogs.
Yes, they are perfectly suitable for any kind of work environment as they have proven in the last couple of decades.
They have herded sheep (and other livestock) with me. They've worked as my service dogs. They've even performed in commercials and as circus dogs in the children's circus that we were part of. No job is too small for them. They perform each task as meticulous as any other.
And no, they're definitely not too hyper, when working as service dogs, as they wouldn't similarly be too jittery when working sheep. They're perfectly behaved and 99% of the time people won't even know there's a dog in the same room.
Are you secretly trying to smuggle drugs or other stuff like government secrets or are you trying to defect to some third country or get asylum?
You've been reading too many spy novels.
And no.
And to put your mind at ease: I'm aiming to remain on the airport / security side. That way I never actually enter the country nor does anything that comes with me, should I have been smuggling goods.
Not many people have to flee FROM The Netherlands to avoid persecution ... it's usually the other way around.
I have another question? Can you contact me?
Yes. Just leave me your contact details and I'll try to get to you as soon as possible.
Why do I have to donate to be able to comment?
It's an effective filter to keep out the trolls. Or at least, to make the trolls pay for the time they take up.
Can I accompany you with my service dog?
Bhishm is well behaved and won't interact with your dog during his working hours. If you'd like to join forces, by all means feel free to do so.
Let's fill that 747 with 300 service dogs. That could be a whole other Guinnes Book of Records attempt :D
Why aren't you visiting [Insert Country, City, Continent, Disney world]?
Whilst compiling the itinerary selection criteria have been:
- General societal acceptance of (service) dogs in the culture
- My own fluency in languages of the population should English not suffice
- MRSA status and other healthcare related issues that could lead to trouble down the road by simply visiting such countries/places
- Number of miles and stops allowed according to Round the World ticket of KLM / SKY TEAM
- My personal preferences
If someone can convince me of the need to divert my itinerary then by all means, try to do so and perhaps if your argument is convincing I can divert. Or I can arrange for an additional stop in your country, providing some financial, medical and other necessities are taken care of beforehand.
You've mentioned Disney World several times now, would you (and more importantly Bhishm) like to go?
Yes! Of course!
Who wouldn't?
Bhishm's been to several amusement parks and is used to standing in the long queues. He's not a big fan of rollercoasters :D But he did like the haunted houses. All those yummy bones on display. Finally something that peaked his interest too.
So yes, we'd love to visit (any) of the Disney parks ... or WB movie parks .. or wherever (The Harry Potter one sounds awesome too), but it might be better suited to append that to the trip at the end and for now focus on the main purpose of the trip: raising awareness. Afterwards, we'd love to have some fun in such a park.
