I have a very important job. I am a Service Dog. This means that I assist my Mom to do "daily life activities." In other words, Mom and I go everywhere together and I get to do fun things like retrieve things she drops and pull her wheelchair. I wear a pack and carry her stuff. (Sometimes she jokingly calls me a purse on feet.)

My Mom has a "disability." In Mom's case, this means that periodically she is in a lot of pain and needs help. She gets vertigo spells. She falls down. She isn't able to get out of bed or play frisbee. These "flare ups" occur when Mom has done too much, or if she is too out of shape. I help her to negotiate the fine line between doing too much and doing too little.

While Mom isn't always aware that she is doing too much, I am always aware of her activity level and when she needs to stop. I tell her to stop what she is doing, even when we're doing fun things. A few moments of fun aren't worth it if your Mom gets broken. At the same time, Mom sometimes doesn't want to exercise because, silly human that she is, she thinks it isn't fun. I help to make exercise fun for her. I also make her feel safer doing things because I am there to help her with her balance when she is walking, to pull her when she is wheeling, to help her up when she falls, to do what she cannot. In this way I encourage her to do things that she might have hesitated to do, enabling Mom to do as much as she possibly can with confidence.

Mom and I work together to make sure that she can get the important things done. She delegates some of the simpler responsibilities to me, so that she has the energy to do the most important or more complex things. In the grocery store, I pull her around in her wheelchair, getting her from point A to point B, leaving Mom the energy to get the food and to cook it when she gets home. At home, I do the laundry so that Mom has the energy to pottery. I'm learning to find things for Mom. I already know how to find my Dad, even though I'm only to go looking for him in "safe" places (i.e. places where its OK for me to be off leash) or if I'm pulling Mom in her wheelchair. Last time we went shopping in the mall with my Aunt Meris, Mom and Aunt Meris split up and Mom put me in charge of finding Aunt Meris when we needed to reunite. In the parking lot I am learning to find my car. I know how to find the cordless phone (for when Mom needs to call for help but can't get to the phone) and to find Mom's keys (which she is constantly losing)

Mom trained me to help her with the assistance of several private trainers. We've been together since I was a young pup of 9 weeks. In the years that I spent in training, I learned many many things. I learned to ignore other dogs. I learned not to knock over displays, even if that means not wagging my tail. I learned not to get mad when people yell at my Mom. I've undergone extensive temperament testing to make sure that I will not bite anyone even under extreme circumstances. Now that I am fully trained, Federal Law (The ADA)protects Mom's right to take me with her into all public spaces. I've done a down while she has had cavities filled. I've ridden with her in NYC Taxis, on Amtrak trains, in subways, on planes. I've gone to the mall, to the grocery store, to restaurants. I've watched her have blood taken. I've slept through ice hockey games.

I love to help my Mom, to go with her where she goes, to see what she sees, to be useful.

- Fergus

copyright 2000 Samantha Fogg All Rights Reserved