Getting back on track

Posted on May 13, 2014 by jeffcuz

J.P. went to surgery Tuesday morning to repair his shunt, and everyone is hoping that will settle his stomach and allow him to get back to dog training in time for graduation Saturday.

Dr. Eric Trumble performed the surgery and said it was the same issue we were dealing with a year ago when J.P.’s catheter from his shunt was clogged by brain matter. The catheter has again been replaced, and J.P. should be feeling better soon.

The recovery process now begins, and I’m so glad J.P. has been able to stay off oxygen since he arrived at the hospital Saturday. His doctors hope to restart his feeds this afternoon. If he can keep his food down, discharge could be just a day or two away if there are no complications.

Meanwhile, team training continues at Canine Companions for Independence. The class was scheduled to take another field trip and eat lunch out with the dogs.

There was only one lecture on Monday about advanced learning theory which can allow us to tweak the way dogs respond to commands they have learned and even learn new commands after things settle down at home. The trainers will go over all of that with us when we get back.

More time is being spent this week with one-on-one instruction between the teams and the trainers. They want to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each team and make sure everyone is successful in their pairings. The recipients were told Monday that all the matches were solid, so no dogs will be switched out before graduation.

I’m hoping the detours we’ve faced since team training began are over. Meeting the puppy raiser of J.P.’s skilled companion dog, Karina, would be very special, as well as seeing him able to attend the graduation ceremony at SeaWorld. I’ve learned over the years that it’s really out of my hands at this point. We’ll just wait and see — and hope for the best.

Thanks for your prayers and well wishes. They mean a lot to us.