DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Headed to Xenia Ohio

on Monday. Some of you know that 14 yrs ago our son James came to live with us as a foster child and we finally had the adoption go thru about 5 yrs or so ago. For those that don't know about James he has Autism, CP, elpilispy. moderate MR, slow bowel disorder, and he has a VNS implant too help with seizures, and he where's AFO's on both legs.



Well anyways for the last yr we've been raising money for James to get a service dog.. Between the dog and the training stay the money was raised and we were put in the June class to be trained with the dog. James got his e-mail from the dog the other day and he gets a Black lab. The dog has been in training for the last 7 months for James. And now it's our turn to go and be trained.



It will be trained in Autism assitance, mobility, and tracking. At this point James hasn't figured out the alarm system, but just incase he does we will be able to find him. He has snuck out before the alarms went up but we knew most of the local police and they all knew to keep an eye out for him if he was wondering around by himself.



Well anyways we just found out CNN will be at the June class and do interveiws with us. I will do my best to wear some Browns gear that day. They will let us know when it will be aired. And of course the name James picked out to rename his dog was Runner.



If anyone wants to check out where the dog was got all you have to do is check out 4paws for ability. We will be bringing our laptop so maybe i'll be able to talk my wife into posting some pictures. I'll be the one wearing a air cast on my left ankle.

nordawg

Congrats! I always see the people from 4 Paws out walking and working with the dogs when I'm on that side of town.

Here's the e-mail



Hello my friend,

My name is Takoda and that means friend in Indian. You can call me Koda. I am a Black Lab and am a boy since my name is knd of either a boys or girls name. My birthday is 6-21-2007 so I am going to have my birthday while you are here! Can we celebrate? Can I have a Liver flavored cake with milk bones on top? That sounds really good! I want a tennis ball for my birthday okay? Oh, a couple hot dogs on that cake would be good to, and maybe a sardine or two? After we eat cake can we go out and pee on a tree just for fun? Oh, sorry, I forgot humans are not supposed to do such things. Well, you can eat some of my cake can't you? I mean a guy like you who can sneak onto your mom's computer and get your sister in trouble like that, surely you can eat some sardine, hotdog, liver cake? Do you like to play games? ball? Can I sleep in your room? will you be my bestest friend in the whole world? Hurry up and get here James, I am waiting for you! xoxoxoxo Takoda
This is my best pleading face, pleading for you to HURRY and get here

like i said earlier my wife will have to show me how to add pictures.

nordawg

Damn he has less typos than me


KING

i thought this thread was gonna be about tornado's

Hey nordawg, that's great! Best wishes to you and yours!

Thanks OSU and 79.. the countdown is on till Monday..

nordawg

Never knew about your son, nor. Good wishes to you.

Thanks Michelle. We've been to 4 paws twice already. The last time in March just before my ankle replacement. You just don't throw a kid with Autism into something you have to work up to it.

James was going from cage to cage trying to figure out which dog was his. He's really excited about it. He's always had dogs around him as he was growing up, but this is his bestest buddy.

nordawg

Wow....dogs are really man's best friend. I, too, live in Norwalk, but I was unaware of your efforts to raise money for this dog. To that I extend my apologies, because my hubby and I normally like to donate money to locals with good causes. Anyways, good luck with everything, and maybe we'll see you walking around with your new friend.

I never heard the story about your son. Hopefully this dog will bring good things to him.

This may be the most uplifting post I have ever read in this forum.

Great to hear that really good things happen to really wonderful, giving people.

Best of luck to your boy and his new best friend. Woof!

Good luck Nor

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Wow....dogs are really man's best friend. I, too, live in Norwalk, but I was unaware of your efforts to raise money for this dog. To that I extend my apologies, because my hubby and I normally like to donate money to locals with good causes. Anyways, good luck with everything, and maybe we'll see you walking around with your new friend.

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Glad to see another poster from Norwalk. Over the last several yrs the Reflector and Register have done several articles on James. When he was at boyscout camp 2 yrs ago the article in the Register was almost the whole front page and all of the 3rd page.

There should be an article in the Reflector soon about the dog with us leaving and the e-mail and picture of the dog. Also i guess they have a video section on line and when we pratice our tracking they will have that on there.

If you made it out to the community yard sale at the fair grounds at the first of the month we were the ones raffling of Indians tickets, Cedar Point tickets, 50/50 tickets, Tom Petty tickets alone with a host of other things. We may have seen each other. It's hard to believe someone in Norwalk doesn't know James he's kind of a popular little guy

There is an article on the front page of the Reflector this morning, but they didn't mention about where donations can be made and i don't feel it appropreate to post it here, but if you check out the local banks you'll find it.


nordawg

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I never heard the story about your son. Hopefully this dog will bring good things to him.

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James loves animals..As i said earlier he was raised with all sorts of pets. He was in horse therapy with his school which is a MRDD school here in town. They would go to Mansfield for this. And last yr at scouts he got his horsemanship badge.
I was shocked at how well he handled a horse as i never had the opportuinty to see him because of work.

You see alot of kids with disabilities really love animals and the reason is they don't judge on appearances. The kids pickup on this quickly and they can just love their animals to pieces..

nordawg

Ralphie were just regular people trying to give our son every opportunity he can have. The same as most other parents would.

GM thanks.

nordawg

Wow Nor, I had no idea this was the situation,

Nice letter from the dog,, kinda warms my heart if you know what I mean.

Best of luck to your son and your entire family..

I confess....I rarely pick up the Reflector or the Sandusky Register. What makes it even worse is I do have a distant family member who writes for the reflector regularly, the historian, Henry Timman. I will keep my eyes and ears open now about your son and his new friend, though! Stories like this are so inspiring, and to know it is happening in my hometown makes it even more special. Very good luck to you and your family, and if there will be more fundraisers for your son, please let me know!

I like reading Henry's articles. I wish he was given more room so he could go alittle more in depth...

nordawg

Sounds awesome NorDawg! Great story! Good luck to you guys!

Great stuff all around! I know you're not looking for it, but Kudos and thanks to you and your wife for everything you've done! Same goes to the 4paws program!

Here's to James and Runner having a wonderful bonding experience and developing a great friendship/partnership.

Make sure James gets an extra hug, and Runner gets an extra scratch behind the ears from all of us Dawgtalkers!

I am wishing the best for you Nordawg, hopefully things will get better as time goes on for James as well as your family!

Hang in there man!

What a heck of a weekend. Saturday evening the trans started acting up on the van. It's covered under warranty but the time factor. It won't be ready until next Monday or Tuesday. My pickup was out of the question for lack of room. James has been telling me for yrs i need a 4 door pickup.

If we didn't make this class we couldn't go until Nov. Well anyways we finally got a car to go down. As soon as the van is done i will be driving home to swap out vechicles and drive back to finish training. I sure hope the next 2 weeks go better than the last 48 hrs.

Anyways i'll keep you posted on our proggress with the dog.
We'll be on our way in about 4-5 hrs.

nordawg

You'll be training for two weeks??

Actually 12 days, but like any schooling it will feel more like 2 weeks. And the day i have to come home and drive back will feel like a week just in itself.

I understand we stay somewhere over by Beavercreek not sure on that as all the families stay at the same place. I'll know more before we leave as my wife has all the info. But ya we won't be home until the 28th.

What we have planned is a big 4th meet James dog for everybody that helped and donated.. We expect close to 100-150 people...for the barbeque. Hope someone else is doing the cooking, Of course we already have 5 barbeques aready to go. Should be a good time.

nordawg

Hey DC i'll never type that good...

nordawg

I had a bad week last week....at least I thought so. I know I am blessed and have to remind myself this during some trying times, but it pales in comparison to what James must live every day. It is remarkable people like you and your wife that make this world a better place. I only hope for the best for you and your family.

I would imagine that you'll bounce over from I-70 to Xenia. If you have some time, Yellow Springs is a relatively short drive down US 68 and is a great little town. A few decent restaurants and just a nice place to chill out. I don't know how well James gets around, but Glen Helen and Clifton Gorge are wonderful places to visit. The Gorge can be dangerous however, as the trail is often near the edge with fairly significant vertical drops. They do, however, have some nice overlooks. A few mile further down (south) US 68 is Youngs Dairy. Great food, ice cream and various other items like Putt Putt. James might enjoy the ability to pet / feed the farm animals. If I take you any further south, I would have to meet up with you at Rocky Lakes and show you what a hack I am on the golf course.

God bless nor.

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I would imagine that you'll bounce over from I-70 to Xenia.

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We've been that way and it seeed like it took forever. We're going alittle more comfortable rt. We're taking Rt 4 to 68 into xenia. We'll be staying in Beavercreek i think my wife said the Radison i could be wrong on that but all the families stay in suites with full kitchens, that way we don't have to eat out everynight.

Anyways i'll be packing the car in the next 15 minutes and we should be on our way within the hr,


nordawg

Darn dog spells better than me.....not really suprising though


Best wishes to you & your Family,

Well we made it down and set up house.. I was close we're staying at the Residence Inn. That's pretty close to Rad..

James had a gift waiting for him at the front desk.. Some treats for his dog. It's hard to keep him calm right now. After all tomorrow he get's his dog.. I got to work on that dogs spelling.. After all dog is spelled Dawg..

nordawg

We are confident in your ability to teach him how to spell.

Take lots of pictures! Nor, what route are they taking you from the hotel to Xenia?

Wow, I wasn't going to open this thread b/c all I knew about Xenia was seeing signs for it on my way to Bellbrook. I figured it was something local but I am glad I did. Thats a real nice story Nor. Good luck to you all!

Michelle we're taking from the hotel ....Fairfield to 35 then you just have that turn by between that car dealer and bob evans and were at 4 paws...

To fill everybody in CNN was there yesterday. My wife did most of the talking. She's much better at that than i am. Everybody figured that was it. Well today they were there again. They had me show them some of the stuff that we have gone over with the dog. They did seem kind of surprised that i put Koda threw his sit and down without using the leash.
I don't think they understand these dogs have been trained for several months already. And what were learning at the minute is no differant than things i have taught any of my hunting beagles.

Tomorrow we start tracking and with my ankle it's going to be best if my wife handles the dog and James and i hide. Maybe in a few days i'll be able to handle the tracking. I feel i could do it with a couple pain pills.

Anyways were up to date and i'll keep everybody posted. And Michelle and Jules if we can't make it over your more than welcome to come and visit us. I need a excuse for beer.

nordawg

Thanks for the update, Nor! How does James like his dog? Are they already in love?

Beer sounds good. Maybe we can work something out.

Michelle i have going from bestest bud to just best bud. Ya he's already loves the dog. We do have a blog going for James while at training and that is... www.justbeingjames.blospot.com

My wife will be loading pictures after supper..

nordawg