08/25/2026
An Ollie update! Our first 2 weeks with Ollie The Service Dog 💕
Lots of change, learning, adjustment. And many, many dog treats! 🐾
This new chapter in our journey has been a long time coming, and only the beginning. Truthfully we didn't quite know what to expect with all the change of having my service dog, and with each day we're learning what it means to trust and be connected to him. Focusing on patience, working together, and repetition.
My trainer Miranda brought him from Iowa two weeks ago today. Kicking things off by showing us what Ollie is capable of. At our first meal together he was already alerting her to the changes in my body, and about 15 minutes after his alert I had a narcolepsy crash. Which is AMAZING!! We spent the days with Miranda teaching us basic commands, working on public access, and learning how to continue training with him now that he's here. She warned us that now that Ollie is home with us, we are in a big transition that comes with its own challenges with lots of new things to get used to.
It feels slightly strange, having such an energetic dog so close to saying goodbye to our senior basset hound Charlie which brings it's own set of emotions. When Ollie’s at home he’s much more of a puppy but when we bring out his leash, he knows it’s time to work! He's already learned specific items that he wasn't able to physically train with while he was Iowa before this. For example he knows “my meds” which is a small pill box that holds morning wakefulness medications that help me function. He is excited to retrieve and bring it now that he knows it's place. He does occasionally bring socks to us unprompted. We still have lots to learn, and at the start of September I'll begin the continued training with my trainer via zoom. This is almost like a full time job trying to remember commands, doing many reps, and constantly communicating, I'm certainly not used that in my day to day, but it will get easier with time and as we grow.
We are slowly taking him to our regular places starting with my art studio, but we learned we can't rush this process. It's a lot of baby steps, and working very hard as a team of Ollie, Me, and Trevor.
We do still need help to meet our financial goal for his additional needs/ training. We're currently working on an Amazon registry if anyone wants to help in that way by getting training treats, toys, or other doggie items.
Thank you again everyone who has been part of helping us this far, we are so so so grateful! 🐾💕
