Service Guide Dog Needed Desperately
Donation protected
UPDATE 4: accountability check!
Through your efforts, and some private donations (it’s me, I’m working so much overtime ) we have managed to raise just over 14,000$ (around 14,200.00 CAD)!!!
I have now signed my contracts with the training org, paid my deposit and breeder deposit… and in 8 or 9 days final puppy picks will be made by the trainer!!!
It’s getting real!!
I need so much more support. Starting Aug 1, 2023 my monthly payments will begin. It’s just over $1,500.00 CAD per month for 24 months.
Any amount helps! Spread the word! And thank you, thank you, thank you!!! ✨
UPDATE 3! I was able to get to one of the dog training locations to meet one of the trainers and audit a class. It was great! I got to cuddle a 13 week old golden retriever, how awful! Worst job! It was great being back in a room full of dogs, and seeing the training being done is the same style of training I used when I was (able to be) a dog trainer and behaviorist, myself! I’ve got a short list of names, and I’ll share it with a photo update when the pups are born this Spring! Stay tuned and thank you for all of your help UPDATE 2: again, so humbled. Continue to share, every bit helps, thank you all so much I’ll be signing the contract soon, and visiting the training facility soon, too! I’ve been watching the current litters grow and there breeder is really incredible. UPDATE: wow!! I’m so understatedly grateful for all these generous donations I truly am, for every single dollar!! There’s nearly enough to cover my hold-the-spot fee plus the cost of the dog from the breeders!! Every share and every dollar is helping me so much. Thank you all. Original text: I was going to have my friend post this on my behalf, because of the shame I feel in asking for this help. But I think it’s really important to face that, myself. After a 15 year career in animal welfare, working predominantly in canine behaviour, in USA and Canada, in several animal shelters and as an animal cruelty and rescue officer at one point, working in veterinary clinics, helping thousands of animals, professionally, I made a career pivot. While working as a first responder in an ER, helping predominantly folks in acute psychiatric distress, I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), a thoracic and cervical spinal injury and was left with chronic balance issues, 24/7 severe status migrainous, vision and hearing issues, cognitive disruptions, seizures, trigeminal neuralgia… You get the picture. Let’s not forget the complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, too. “Complex” due to this being the second time someone experiencing psychosis attempted to kill me, and about my 15th head trauma (most being mild TBIs, concussions). Returning to work as soon as I could, 2 ½ years into recovery, I again turned towards “helping” others. I now help seniors obtain as many benefits as I can qualify them for. It’s so rewarding, and I want to continue to be able to serve. Now, after a decade of physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, psychiatric care, exercise / sports therapy, massage therapy, art therapy… I need more help. I need more help than conventional medicine and therapy models, alone, can offer. I need the kind of help I have offered others. Compassionate, rehabilitative care. Not in a hospital, not from medications that cause even more problems, because for me, I need those sorts, and something more. The one constant in my life, the positive one, has been animals. A dog trained specifically to help not just my physical disabilities, but who can transform my depression, anxiety and panic, ground my dissociation, keep me literally upright, perform tasks such as emergency medication retrieval, picking up objects, guiding me safely to the floor, etc. I have saved and rehabilitated so many, now I’m hoping one can do similar for me. Adding to all I have been dealing with, said and unsaid, last year I suffered a lumbar spinal injury from progression of a congenital disease, and neurosurgery has recently confirmed that the damage was too severe and the paralysis to my left foot that was hopefully recoverable, will be permanent. Service Guide Dogs are very expensive. The cost of the 2 year training program is 35,000CAD, and the breeder / dog fee is an additional $3,300CAD. Any additional funds raised would go toward total lifetime care issues such as routine veterinary care, premium ingredient dog food, and equipment for the dog and I such as practical harness and ergonomic adaptations, leashes, wet / cold weather clothing (winter coat, booties, raincoat - this is Canada, people!!!) I have been approved through an excellent program, and am taking first steps. My pup will be born this Spring! Thank you for reading, and if you can, for helping. If not, a share will still help!
Through your efforts, and some private donations (it’s me, I’m working so much overtime ) we have managed to raise just over 14,000$ (around 14,200.00 CAD)!!!
I have now signed my contracts with the training org, paid my deposit and breeder deposit… and in 8 or 9 days final puppy picks will be made by the trainer!!!
It’s getting real!!
I need so much more support. Starting Aug 1, 2023 my monthly payments will begin. It’s just over $1,500.00 CAD per month for 24 months.
Any amount helps! Spread the word! And thank you, thank you, thank you!!! ✨
UPDATE 3! I was able to get to one of the dog training locations to meet one of the trainers and audit a class. It was great! I got to cuddle a 13 week old golden retriever, how awful! Worst job! It was great being back in a room full of dogs, and seeing the training being done is the same style of training I used when I was (able to be) a dog trainer and behaviorist, myself! I’ve got a short list of names, and I’ll share it with a photo update when the pups are born this Spring! Stay tuned and thank you for all of your help UPDATE 2: again, so humbled. Continue to share, every bit helps, thank you all so much I’ll be signing the contract soon, and visiting the training facility soon, too! I’ve been watching the current litters grow and there breeder is really incredible. UPDATE: wow!! I’m so understatedly grateful for all these generous donations I truly am, for every single dollar!! There’s nearly enough to cover my hold-the-spot fee plus the cost of the dog from the breeders!! Every share and every dollar is helping me so much. Thank you all. Original text: I was going to have my friend post this on my behalf, because of the shame I feel in asking for this help. But I think it’s really important to face that, myself. After a 15 year career in animal welfare, working predominantly in canine behaviour, in USA and Canada, in several animal shelters and as an animal cruelty and rescue officer at one point, working in veterinary clinics, helping thousands of animals, professionally, I made a career pivot. While working as a first responder in an ER, helping predominantly folks in acute psychiatric distress, I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), a thoracic and cervical spinal injury and was left with chronic balance issues, 24/7 severe status migrainous, vision and hearing issues, cognitive disruptions, seizures, trigeminal neuralgia… You get the picture. Let’s not forget the complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, too. “Complex” due to this being the second time someone experiencing psychosis attempted to kill me, and about my 15th head trauma (most being mild TBIs, concussions). Returning to work as soon as I could, 2 ½ years into recovery, I again turned towards “helping” others. I now help seniors obtain as many benefits as I can qualify them for. It’s so rewarding, and I want to continue to be able to serve. Now, after a decade of physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy, psychiatric care, exercise / sports therapy, massage therapy, art therapy… I need more help. I need more help than conventional medicine and therapy models, alone, can offer. I need the kind of help I have offered others. Compassionate, rehabilitative care. Not in a hospital, not from medications that cause even more problems, because for me, I need those sorts, and something more. The one constant in my life, the positive one, has been animals. A dog trained specifically to help not just my physical disabilities, but who can transform my depression, anxiety and panic, ground my dissociation, keep me literally upright, perform tasks such as emergency medication retrieval, picking up objects, guiding me safely to the floor, etc. I have saved and rehabilitated so many, now I’m hoping one can do similar for me. Adding to all I have been dealing with, said and unsaid, last year I suffered a lumbar spinal injury from progression of a congenital disease, and neurosurgery has recently confirmed that the damage was too severe and the paralysis to my left foot that was hopefully recoverable, will be permanent. Service Guide Dogs are very expensive. The cost of the 2 year training program is 35,000CAD, and the breeder / dog fee is an additional $3,300CAD. Any additional funds raised would go toward total lifetime care issues such as routine veterinary care, premium ingredient dog food, and equipment for the dog and I such as practical harness and ergonomic adaptations, leashes, wet / cold weather clothing (winter coat, booties, raincoat - this is Canada, people!!!) I have been approved through an excellent program, and am taking first steps. My pup will be born this Spring! Thank you for reading, and if you can, for helping. If not, a share will still help!
Co-organizers (2)
Christopher (Callum) Tate
Organizer
Toronto, ON
Hanna Wheeler
Co-organizer