Sunday, October 25, 2009

Introducing.......Team Riley!!


It is official. We officially have put together Team Riley with what I believe to three of the TOP trainers in the area! All of them came VERY highly recommended by numerous Dog trainers. Team Riley consists of Trisha Jennings Golden Retriever Breeder, http://www.sunsetgoldensoforegon.com/ Mary Lou Cook from All is Pawsible Service Dog School, Cindy Bruckart from Puppy Playhouse http://www.thepuppyplayhouse.com/ , and Denise Mullinex of BEHAVE http://www.behavetraining.com/.


Trisha is the breeder of our dog. :) Mary Lou is obviously the Service Dog Trainer, Cindy will be providing puppy training, obedience, back up, local support etc, and Denise has signed on to be our tracking and scenting trainer. We will be attending Public and Private lessons with Cindy and Private only with Denise. We will be working with them for at least the next two years. I am sure we will get to know eachother well!


Check out their websites if you are looking for training for your dog! Excellent!!


Here is a clip of Denise on KATU AM Northwest http://www.katu.com/amnw/segments/40711437.html



P.S. Check out Trisha at Sunset Goldens of Oregon's website if you are looking for a Golden Retriever pup! She has up and coming litters due in Dec. http://www.sunsetgoldensoforegon.com/

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Michael's Place -Horse Stables




Recently we met the parents of a remarkable young man name Michael. Marvin and Cash Stucki invited us out for a private tour of the facilities at Michael's Place-a place where people with developmental disabilities and special needs can celebrate life and the health benefits of working and caring for horses. Michael was also born with Down Syndrome. This place is exquisite! By far the cleanest stable I have ever seen. Spotless grounds. And an awesome place! They let our kids take the horses out in the buggies! Our kids loved it. They let Riley explore and being parents of a son with Down Syndrome....they understood us. It was such a fun experience for us! To see what the Stucki's have done for people with Developmental Disabilities is remarkable! Thanks for letting us have a behind the scenes tour Marvin and Cash! To check out Michael's Place please visit www. michaelsplace.org

Wow! I went MIA.....Busy, Busy October......

Vacation October 2009







I have to apologize, October has been nuts for our family. Many new and exciting things happening. I am going to try my best to recap the month. :) Warning.......PICTURE HEAVY!We attended the Buddy Walk again this year. We had the opportunity of setting up a table there and spreading the word about Service Dogs to the Down Syndrome Population for the Portland/Salem area. Again a great Buddy Walk. Team Riley grew this year! We had Trisha Jennings and family of Sunset Goldens of Oregon there with Butter to support us, The Breck and Sara Meyer family also attended with their 8 children who all love Riley dearly. Also ran into Jenny and Tarik who stayed with us! Highlight of this trip was the fact that Riley got his face painted. You all have NO idea what that meant. Riley is highly sensitive. He hates his hair, face, etc touched, messed with. He would scream if you would try and get his face painted. Riley calmly sat for about 40 minutes with Crystal Meyer and watched as other children got their faces painted by Blossom the Clown. Finally it was his turn. He got up, sat in the Blossom's chair and got his face painted into a puppy! Blossom was calm, and very gentle with him. I could see that she "understood" him. The fear was in his eyes. She brought herself to his level and worked through it with him. When he needed a break she would break. It brought tears to my eyes. This is a HUGE break through! I was so proud of him. And he was proud too. :) Blossom won't ever know it but she played a huge part in therapy for him. Thank you!
We also started the month going to the NHS play "The Butler Did it Again" it was FABULOUS! We were invited backstage to meet all of the actors! They greeted Riley and our other children and loved him! They played with him, autographed a picture for him, let him be silly, hugged him, it was incredible. These kids seriously went out of their way to make this an incredible experience for our family. Riley had never been to a play, or movie, or anything of the sort. Sitting still and quiet is difficult. Duh. But...he sat through this entire play. Laughed when others laughed, clapped when he was supposed to clap etc. We LOVED IT! Thanks so much to all of you for giving us this opportunity! A portion of the proceeds will benefit Riley. INCREDIBLE!
Riley participated in his Mabel Rush Elementary Lion Walk! He loved it! We joined him and walked with him. He loved Maru the Lion and kept pushing his brother around the track in the stroller. Riley made it a 3/4 of a mile and starting slowing down.....finally at the last bend before the mile mark his decided he was going to sit in the double stroller and hitch a ride to the finish line! :) Silly guy. He knows what he is doing! It was a fun day!
Riley is having a great time at school this year. He loves his teachers, bus drivers, and fellow students.Seriously...he LOVES it! Runs to the bus every morning and jumps in his seat and loves to go. He even stays in his seat without a lock and drumroll please.....keeps his freaking shoes on! This is HUGE. I went and "spied" on him at school a couple of weeks ago. He was getting breakfast like a big boy at the cafeteria with his helpers! It was so cute! Good thing he didn't see me though! It would have been OVER. When I show up at school no matter what time it is, he thinks it's time to go!
Riley proved at the play that he could manage a movie. So.....he went and saw Where the Wild Things Are with Morgan and the kids! He loved it and sat again through the whole thing. :) I'm sure this will be the first of many movies for Riley!
Today I heard the door bell ring. I went to the door to find my neighbor down the street standing at the front door, with Riley. I gasped, my heart sank and instantly felt anxious. I feel so guilty. When Riley goes missing I always know. I ALWAYS know. This time, I didn't. I had no idea. I thought he was still watching Sesame Street in my bedroom while I was doing dishes. We are still trying to figure out if the door wasn't latched or if he scaled a fence. My dear neighbor down the street found him in her backyard knocking on her back door. :( Feeling pretty bad tonight about this.