It has been a rough few years for Rachel. She suffers from Bipolar Disorder. This mental illness has plagued her for most of her life, but it has been particularly difficult of late.
In January of 2020, Rachel had to quit her job due to persistent anxiety and panic attacks. This eventually worsened to her being unable to even leave the house. Multiple medicine combinations were attempted by her doctors, but none were able to provide more than temporary relief. For months, she found herself unable to sleep, or would sleep during the day and walk the house at night. She was a ghost in her own home.
She attempted to go back to work multiple times, to no avail. So, the year-long process of applying for Social Security Disability Insurance began. In the Fall of 2022, she was finally accepted for SSDI. Through this time and the year that followed, her doctors tried a number of different medications and combinations thereof. It was even suggested that she go into in-patient care at the local hospital. Still, nothing worked for more than a month or two. She would always become that ghost again, a watcher of the rest of the world.
After so many unsuccessful medicine combinations, and the general worsening of her isolation, even within her own home to the point of only sitting in three locations in the house and not being able to step foot into her beloved library. If you know Rachel, you know her love of books. Not being able to even set foot into her library was quite the blow. Her mind would not even let her eat anything outside of four different food- rice, noodles, cauliflower bites and zucchini fries. Realizing she was worsening and no combination of medications seemed to be helping, in August of 2023, she went into in-patient care. After nine days, she was deemed well enough to step down to partial hospitalization. The is a six hours, five days a week program. She is now, finally, at home and undergoing virtual group therapy.
One thing has become clear during this last year. Rachel's condition has reached a level where medication, alone, cannot solve the problem. The anxiety, fear of crowds and strangers and all the rest is still present while on those medications and there is nothing to lean on outside of me (her husband) accompanying her anywhere outside of the house. This is where a support system with four legs comes into the picture. Specifically, a psychiatric service dog.
While we have two dogs, each is too old to undergo the training required and their personalities are not suitable for service work. This is where a dog, bred and trained specifically for service work, comes into the picture. Such a dog (again, fully trained and not just wearing a patch bought from Amazon) offers a host of abilities to both support and protect Rachel in those times where medication alone has failed her. Some of the things a fully trained service dog can do are:
- Detect heightened heart rate (ie: panic attacks)
- Guide owner to a quiet area
- Deep Pressure Therapy
- Blocking/Orbiting/Watch My Six (circling or interposing to provide a buffer from passersby)
- Remind to take medication
- Interruption (interrupting anxiety-related behaviors)
To be clear, despite being able to buy dog vests or patches that say "Emotional Support Animal" or even "Service Dog", that does not magically make the animal wearing it a trained service animal. A true service dog requires training. A lot of training, if I am being honest. That's why this GoFundMe is necessary. On average, a minimum of two years of training is required for a dog to be truly ready to fulfill the role of Service Animal. Many will (and have) claim that they can train their dogs to do all these things by themselves. No. This (and those damned Amazon vests) is why you will often see dogs in public spaces, wearing such a vest and yet they are not calm. They are not obedient. In short, they are certainly not true service dogs. This is not an attempt to get a new pet. This is a medical tool that just happens to be a dog.
So what we are asking for is assistance to cover those training costs and the purchase of the puppy. A deposit has already been placed on a German Shepherd puppy due to be born in the Spring of 2024.
The training and costs are as follows:
Puppy - $2,000
First Year
Puppy Training - $149
Beginner Training - $149
Intermediate Training - $149
Advanced Training - $149
Second Year
Board and Train (3 months - $3,600)
More may be required as evaluated
AKC Evaluations
Canine Good Citizen - $50
Canine Good Citizen (Advanced) - $60
Canine Good Citizen (Urban) - $60
Areas this money will NOT be spent
Food/treats/toys
Vet bills
Grooming
Travel expenses
Vest/collar/leash