Yunah my service dog

Before anything else, I will introduce myself to you. I am Yunah, a black Labrador/Frisian Stabij mix, born on December 11th 2005.

 The first 16 months of my life, I spent with my fosterfamily, Renate, her husband and children. I also shared the house with a bunny and 2 guinea pigs. During this time I have learned so many things thanks to Renate. And now I am ready to become a real Service Dog...

Soon, July the 11th, I will move to a new home to do what I was trained to do. I will go live with Saskia and I will help her with all kinds of things because she uses a wheelchair...and well, some help would be more then welcome  We already met a few times prior to me moving there and I think we will become the best of friends in the future..that is, if Saskia will forget our very first memorable meeting..    

Dis Bonjour, Yunah  

The first week of August...

was filled with all sorts of things. For starters, I have enrolled Yunah and myself for a course in "dog massage". The course will be given in September and will take 2 evenings. I am really looking forward to this  It will be a great way to intensify the bond between Yunah and myself in a totally different way. And besides, Yunah's life is definately a more intense life then that of the average dog, so she deserves it  

On Wednesday, we were followed home by a little Maltheser. The little doggy was determined to follow us home and since he looked so shabby, I let him  

Once home, I first cleaned the little fellow up a bit. His fur was a mess, his eyes were very filthy and underneath his fur he was soooo skinny, the poor thing   I gave him some food and water and called the local animal rescue people. This was very hard because I was soooo tempted to keep him myself...I always want to keep the animals I find, that are hurt or injured. But this was a none neutered male, not able to control his "urges", humping everything and everyone in sight and lifting his hindleg everywhere to "mark" everything   So, for Yunah's sake, and for my interiors sake, I had to crate him till the rescue people came to pick him up.

Friday Markus came again. I showed him how Yunah mastered the footrest trick and how she opened the curtains. Markus was so very pleased with how well Yunah and myself work together, that he said there was nothing more to train or teach and that the next step would be to officially hand Yunah over to me   This is a small but official ceremony to mark the fact that dog and owner are ready to go out in the world as a well performing team. So as soon as I know with how many people they will come to attend this festive occassion and which dates are suitable for them....I will make reservations at a beautiful place for all of us to go to and have coffee and cake

Apart from our usual training, going shopping, going to the library and such, we spent most of our time just having fun. Yunah is more and more at ease at the doggy playground, knowing her place there, so we spent hours and hours at the playground, Yunah having fun with the other dogs and I enjoying the company of the other dogowners and the lovely evening hours...

Yunah with Don, the Beagle...

Yunah with Kay, a Fox mix and Don the beagle again..

Yunah and Don again...those 2 get along real well

Yunah and Kay, pulling at a tiny twig

Yunah done playing, for now..

Saskia and Yunah

The curtains...

Since Yunah is mastering the "lift the footrest" trick beautifully, I was thinking of another trick to teach her. And the one thing that came to mind right away, was opening and closing the curtains  I originally was planning on waiting for Markus to come again this week, but this morning I decided to go ahead and start teaching Yunah myself. After all, I had managed to teach Sogno this trick all by myself...so why not Yunah?

And sure thing, within no time she knew what was expected of her...bravo Yunah, well done

Saskia and Yunah

This past week...

was yet again a wonderful week. Yunah has perfected the art of showing visitors out and she has learned a new trick   She can now lift the footrests on my wheelchair.

First one....

Then the other...

Clever girl

On our way to the supermarket there's a treetrunk and since Yunah used to do some agility, I was curious to see if I could get her to jump on the treetrunk....

...and sure thing, she jumped on the treetrunk, over it, off of it...a real star Yunah is

And of course, we spent a lot of time on the doggy playground. Yunah is getting to know her position within "the pack" and feeling more and more at ease there. 

She loves to run and play chase...

Yunah truly is a sweetheart. She often reminds me of a cat, the way she maintains her fur, the way she curls up on my lap..

Saskia and Yunah

Yunah showing my guests out...

First she opens the door...

all the way...

She then lays down beside the door so they can pass...

and closes the door behind them.

Way to go, Yunahhhhhh....

Saskia

Meeting new friends...

The past couple of days have been filled with so much joy. Yunah is behaving so examplary...I couldn't have wished for a better dog

Some of my friends and their dogs stopped by to get to know Yunah. Of course there's Marianne and Jill, her 4 year old female Rhodesian Ridgeback. Both ladies got along very well much to our delight  Yunah was very good, sharing waterbowl, toys and blankets.. 

Jill and Yunah...

Then there's Natasha and Dogan, a 3 year old intact male Rottweiler. Dogan is quite impressive and I was curious to see how Yunah would react. Sogno used to be very impressed by Dogan and kept his distance... But not Yunah, ha!

Yunah meeting and greeting Dogan...

Apart from having fun with her new friends, we also took some time to train of course. Yunah now is showing my visitors out. She'll open the door, as they leave and sits beside the open door to wave them goodbye   So funny!!

We went to different stores, all without a problem. Been training her to be left alone and she can stay alone at the house for 10 minutes now, without a sound...so I suspect that with a bit more time, she'll be totally able to stay alone at home  

So really, there's not a thing I can think of that doesn't go well...in fact, things are going so well that the trainer, who was supposed to come last Wednesday for our first training, cancelled the appointment...there was no need to come at all  Instead, they asked me if I wanted to enroll Yunah and myself for the "Pet of the Year" election..on national tv but I really don't like being in the spotlights..  Yunah's here for only 9 days today...but they seem to think we are such an incredable couple...that Yunah would really make a serious candidate for the title...

Will let you know what happens and what I decide...

Saskia and Yunah

Grocerie shopping...

After a nice and calm weekend with mainly lots of fun, I decided that today we were going to take things a bit more seriously. I put Yunah's vest on and off we went to the supermarket  

The walk to the supermarket went very well, Yunah heeled perfectly, sat (and stayed seated) while waiting for trafficlights and ignored most things around her.

Once inside the supermarket, she behaved beautifully. She sat calmly beside my chair when I was looking at products, focussing on me...  

So far, not a cloud in the sky...

Till.... a lady came marching around a corner, her hands full with groceries, saying in a loud voice... "awwwwww, aren't you the sweetest thing ever?"

Yunah freaked (this lady was really in her face) and with a real loud bark, she jumped up in the air....

The lady in return, freaked when Yunah barked...and she jumped even higher in the air as Yunah had done before her...groceries flying around, total chaos!!

After each and everyone had settled down again, the lady appologized for her very "confronting" way to admire and greet Yunah. Luckily, all her groceries were of the "unbreakable" kind, so after gathering them all back, she left for the counter

Yunah was a bit overwhelmed by the entire experience, so I took her to a calm corner of the supermarket, had her sit there for a while, till she settled down as well...and we finished our groceries  

After this, we returned home. Yunah was ready for a nice treat and I could do with a cup of coffee...

Saskia and Yunah

Yunah playing...

Saskia

Weekend...

Things continue to go incredably well with Yunah  But due to the hot weather here right now, we are taking things a bit slow. In the early morning we go for a long walk, play with balls and frisbees so that the rest of the day we can relax and stay cool in the shade

yeahhhh Yunah....  

This morning, during our walk, we ran into the Scottish Highlanders that roam the park freely...Yunah was spooked by the animals  

I figured Yunah needed a bit more space between her and the cows, so I took Yunah to see the Scottish Highlanders from behind the wire, creating some more distance and "safety", in order for Yunah to get to know these beautiful "redheads"

It didn't take her long to feel comfortable, watching the cows from behind the wire....

and soon, she lost interest for the cows and was more interested in her surroundings, way to go girl!!! 

When we returned home again, Yunah quickly figured out what she needed for the rest of the day.....

..some quality time in the shade, in the backyard

Saskia and Yunah

And another wonderful day...

We had yet another wonderful day today   After a good night sleep, Yunah in her crate and me in my bed  we went for our morning walk. This time I wanted to take Yunah a bit further away and went to town. This way we had to do crossroads, trafficlights, cyclingpaths and traffic and it went very well. Yunah sat and waited whenever we had to stop for a trafficlight or crossroad, didn't pay attention to the other traffic, she is really an amazing dog!!

Back home again, one of the maids was already there and after an initial bark at her, Yunah ignored her pressence for the rest of the morning and just snoozed, letting Ingrid do her work   

Around noon, it was time again to go visit the doggy playground and Yunah again behaved very well within the pack.

 After she played for a while, she laid down beside my chair, so at ease, calmly observing everything....clearly seeing it as "her place", beside me   I decided to try and see how far I could take it with Yunah, how far she was willing to go. So I slowly started to move my wheelchair and drove off...not saying anything and Yunah, Yunah stood up and followed me, still unleashed   Seeing how well it went, I decided to take it a step further and started giving her commands..like "sit"...and Yunah would go sit. For the next 10 minutes I drove around, from left to right, making turns, stopping, continueing again, had Yunah sit and lie down...and she would do everything I asked. All this, unleashed, heeling perfectly and only 48 hours after she came to live with me   Not in my wildest dreams would I have believed that she would be able to perform this brilliantly...that any dog would be able to perform this brilliantly!!!

Back home again, Yunah helped me getting undressed and we had a nice nap. After our nap, she helped me getting dressed again and we played some together. I gave her a good brush, which she loved...and we ended with a huge cuddle

The rest of the day went equally well, our walks  are easy and fun, she helps me around the house with a lot of pleasure...in short, it's one huge party having Yunah in my life...I am so very blessed to have her,

Saskia and Yunah

Day two...

After a lovely morning we went for our "noon" walk. Yunah did very well and was most of the time walking exactly as and where I wanted her to, on a loose leash 

Towards the end of our walk, we came passed the doggy playground. There were still dogs and owners on the field and well...of course I had to go show Yunah

Yunah was very excited and clearly wanted to go play with the other dogs...but...oh dear, she was with me for 24 hours only...would I dare letting her off leash???   I struggled a bit with this question but in the end I decided I had enough trust in Yunah...and myself...to let her go and play

She was sooooo good. She mingled with the other dogs effortlessly...not a snarl or growl from any of the dogs. And I have often seen new dogs trying to find their way into a new "pack" accompanied with much more "problems".

Yunah chased balls, ran and chased other dogs and the best thing of it all was that she would regularly come and check in with me. She simply sat down beside my chair, would look at me...and I would give her a cuddle and sometimes a treat...and off she went again to play some more...till the next time she would come to check in  

After this wonderful time on the doggy playground, we went home and Yunah went right to sleep, exhausted with all the running and the new friends she made

Saskia and Yunah