Busy Week!

 There has been lots going on this week.  Yesterday Cable celebrated her 6 month birthday!

This week also marks her fourth month of training at RuffSport.  

Her Christmas stocking was delayed due to COVID but was finally delivered and she has been enjoying chewing on the slipper that was inside!

Kira helped Amanda mark Bullying Awareness Day this week, as well;  Amanda had the pink shirt.  Kira wore the pink mask.  

And Amanda and Kira continue to walk about Newmarket and Aurora earning medals in the Virtual Race events.  Keeping active and healthy!  Hope you are too!

Please share our links with friends, family and social media contacts!  Thank you!

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/posts/

BLOG

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

GO FUND ME

Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica St. Valentine “is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics and beekeepers.”  An interesting combination!! It seems fitting, therefore, on this occasion to share some photos of Cable, and shine the light on this puppy who is training to become a seizure-response dog at RuffSport.

 

Cable has had 4 excellent months of training with Heather McLeod.  Please share our links with friends and family who may be interested in helping us fund the next 20 months!

 

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/posts/

BLOG

https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

GO FUND ME

Donate here:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

                                     Valentine's Photo Shoot at RuffSport.

                                        Rockin' the Valentine's sunglasses.

                                                                        Good sit, Cable!

                                                                 Exercise time!

Amanda's epilepsy cannot be cured, but her seizure-response dogs give her the best quality of life she can hope for!  Thank you for supporting "Cable's Calling:  Born to be a Service Dog."

           Kira is not a Search and Rescue Dog, but she IS Amanda's "Dog on Duty" all the time!

Cable pulling sled 1

Happy Groundhog Day!

 

It’s Groundhog Day, and if you’ve seen the movie by the same name you’ll know why I think today is the perfect time to talk about “déjà vu.”

Déjà vu is the strong feeling that something has already happened before.  It is a common feeling for many people who have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.  Temporal Lobe Epilepsy is one of the most common types of epilepsy, affecting about 60% of people with epilepsy. In TLE, people generally retain consciousness, but have seizures presenting as repetitive movements such as lip smacking, chewing, staring, swallowing or rubbing their hands together.  These seizures may follow an aura, which is often the sense of déjà vu. There are many treatment options for TLE including medications, surgery, VNS, RNS, and dietary treatment.  It’s always a challenge to find a balance between treatment and side effects.  The déjà vu sensation at the onset of the seizure occurs because of the location of the seizure focus, which may be in the hippocampus which controls memory.

 

February is a short month, but there is a lot going on in the epilepsy world!  We have included clips from the Epilepsy York Region February newsletter to let you know about International Epilepsy Day next Monday.  Check the photos to read up about it.

 

As well, check out the “50 Million Steps for Epilepsy” event… we all need exercise and you can help the International Bureau for Epilepsy to reach their goal by adding your daily steps to their count! They hope to reach 50 million steps by Monday February 8^th! 

 

Enjoy the photo of Amanda and Kira getting their exercise by running the bases, and

the video of Cable having some winter fun getting her own exercise in the snow. 

 

As always, please share our links.  You have helped us to raise over $15,000 to train Cable as Amanda’s next service dog.  We’re almost half way to our goal.  Every share makes it possible for more people to learn about and contribute to Cable’s Calling:  Born to be a Service Dog!

 

GO FUND ME:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

BLOG:  https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/?view_public_for=101555021631826BLOG

Community Involvement

 Being part of a service dog team allows Amanda to safely go out and live her life.

 

She has given back to the community by being a part of Relay for Life events, both as a team member and as a team captain. 

 

She has spread awareness through speaking engagements about seizure-response dogs and their value at Epilepsy York Region and Epilepsy Ontario meetings, and has spoken about epilepsy and service dogs at elementary schools and at seniors’ homes. 

 

Amanda and her family represent Epilepsy York Region at an international epilepsy expo in California every year, with last year being an exception due to the pandemic. Epilepsy Awareness Day At Disneyland is an annual expo attended by more than 5000 registered participants from around the world.  While at this conference Amanda's responsibilities include manning a booth where she answers questions and shares information with attendees.  She also attends speaker presentations on a variety of topics, and brings back current and innovative information to Epilepsy York Region to be shared with their members.

Amanda has also been an invited speaker at the Basic Income Symposium and has contributed to two books on the topic of Universal Basic Income.

 

Her service dog gives her the freedom to do all of these things without any worries.

                    

                                      Amanda speaking at the Basic Income Symposium in Hamilton.

With the EADDL Expo founders, Candy and Sofie Levy in Anaheim, California. (Missing from photo, Event Co- Founder, Brad Levy.)

                      Providing information to attendees of the EADDL Expo in California.

   Manning the booth at the Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland Expo, a two day event.

Speaking about service dogs at an Epilepsy York Region Annual meeting.

                 Part of a Relay for Life team in Milton, ON, honouring her Aunt Nancy Robar.

Captain of a Relay for Life team in Newmarket, ON, in honour of her Aunt Loren-Lea P. Hodgson.

In the News

Back in mid October, it was quite an exciting time for our family, especially Amanda and Kira.  Snapd newspaper and Global Pet Foods put together the “Walking for Woofs” fundraiser for Cable’s training.

Now Snapd has assembled an album on their website where you can follow Cable’s journey.  Click below to follow along!

 https://newmarket.snapd.com/events/view/1338933

 

This month, Amanda was interviewed on the chapter she wrote for the anthology, “Broken Trust, Empowering Stories of Healing.” To hear about her talk about her life with epilepsy and her service dogs, highlight the following link and right click, then click on the "Go to" option:  

https://www.facebook.com/505133869/posts/10158031649663870/?d=n

 

As always, please share our links with friends and organizations that might be interested in helping support Amanda with Cable’s training!

GO FUND ME:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

BLOG:  https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/?view_public_for=101555021631826BLOG

Shaping the Behaviours and Skills of a Service Dog

 

As we settle in for longer periods of lockdown, now is a great time to read a little more about Amanda, Kira and Cable. 

 

In the photo below you will see Cable exploring, learning and growing alongside RuffSport dogs Pink, Diesel and Bracket. The dogs are being rewarded for different good behaviors, for example Pink for not barking, Cable for not visiting Diesel. Diesel and Bracket are distractions that the puppies must learn to ignore.  It’s important for Cable to learn that her attention must be focused strictly on her handler.

🐾

You can also see a video of Cable beginning to learn the emergency button task!  Baby steps.  First she learns to press the button.  Later she will learn to connect seeing a generalized seizure to the action of pressing the emergency button. Thanks again to Amanda’s brother, Xander Robar, for building the emergency button system for her.

As always, we encourage you to share our links with friends, family and organizations that might be interested in helping Amanda to raise the funds for the training of this invaluable service dog.

GO FUND ME:  https://bit.ly/3fvYtxd

BLOG:  https://cablescalling.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/Cables-Calling-Born-to-be-a-Service-Dog-101555021631826/?view_public_for=101555021631826BLOG