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Mary Ann, I will certainly keep you posted. I am starting to look into a couple of "train your own" programs right now. Bouvs are really nice dogs and I can see the benefit of their size to the PD patient. I am training an Airedale and while he is a very nice, stable dog, probably would be too "frenetic" for a formal SD program also. The first benefit of a PD service dog that I see is in the retrieving/picking items up. While I am not yet experiencing balance difficulty, at least not that I am totally aware, that my dog can retrieve his own leash (and I taught him to retrieve a cane!), etc helps alot for the future. Two other things that I have noticed from one experiencing symptoms is that it is a definite advantage to have trained my dog to a soft voice (as my husband keeps asking me to speak up and repeat things - -I thought his hearing was getting worse!) and also that my dog seems to be very tuned into when my symptoms are worse and adjusts his activity level to meet my needs. I have a long way to go, but can't imagine doing it without a dog as I have been training and competing for 25 yrs. I am really fortunate in that I always work and compete with only one dog at a time, so the dog and I bond as a working team. Will make the service dog training a little easier. > Fran, if you could discover an assistance dog training program specific to > PD I know it would be much appreciated by our family. We have a Bouvier > (Vaclav Havel) who has learned to assist my husband in getting up from his > chair. There are only certain instances where his > assistance is required. Perhaps, as you become more conscious of the > symptoms of PD, you'll be able to determine what exercises PD assistance > dogs should master in an effort to help their PD owners. > ---- > God bless > Mary Ann (CG Jamie 60/20) Fran Peck Email: [log in to unmask] _______________________________________________________ Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite Visit http://freelane.excite.com/freeisp