Canine Freestyle Can be Enjoyed by All
Debi Davis, who lent her
expertise to our project, challenges us all by
 her unwavering spirit in the face of
adversity. Debi has a service dog due to a vascular insufficiency and being a double leg
amputee. Because bending over makes Debi dizzy, her dogs have been trained to do the
physical lower level tasks, such as picking things up when she drops them. In 1999, her
Peek won the Delta Society's Beyond Limits National Service Dog of the Year Award, the
first toy breed dog & click trained dog in history to have won this honor.
We filmed Debi, along with Carolyn &
Rookie, during the P.A.W.S. for Service Dogs' first operant conditioning Service Dog
Seminar specifically for Mobility Assistance Dogs. It was inspiring to see the melding of freestyle and
service dog training, as both share in their application of positive motivational
training. And, how heartwarming it was to see service dog persons experience the pure joy
that only moving this way with your dog can provide! In order for Carolyn to have a better
understanding of the particular needs and possible moves for persons dancing from
wheelchairs, she was given a motorized chair to work from. Once she figured out how to
drive, she experimented with Rookie. Amazingly, this Golden gem never missed a beat,
easily working along her side, chair and all.
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For You & Yours
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