would you go into credit card debt for this? - Page 2

[karne]

I was wondering about appealing the ins. co.'s decision as well, or trying to work your way up through the system a bit. I don't know your family situation, but you mentioned that you have a young child you are caring for. My sense is that this means your balance difficulties may present a safety issue for either you or your child. Have you talked about this with the ins. company? I'm sorry, I'm just not that familiar with your disorder, but it seems to me that if you have responsibility for caring for a child that changes the picture a bit.

I also wonder if there is an organization structured around balance difficulties that may be able to offer some support, tips or advocacy to/for you?

[mommy2maya]

My sister is blind. She has had several service dogs in the past ten years. She has ALWAYS had to go to the training place for about a month to do training with her dog. It is very intense- they need to make sure that the dog they give her, based on lots of questions, surveys, and questionaires and interviews, is a good match for her. Also, there was one time that she went thru training with one dog for several weeks before it became apparent that this dog was just not compatible with my sister. She had to start all over again, with a new dog.

This is definitely something to keep in mind as you look further into this. Also it is imperative that the dog is a working dog- not a pet by any means. This is where it comes into play about having other dogs in the home.

[hipmummy]

Originally Posted by bobandjess99

I'm sure I'm going to get called all kinds of heartless, but here goes....am i to understand that if you did not have your 2 dogs, then you could get a dog from an agency for free without having to go to a workshop? if that is the case, I'd re-home your dogs and get a free working dog.
second choice would be to probably do one of the workshops.....even 2-3 weeks of hotels and a full-time babysitter for those weeks would come to WAY LESS than $10K, right?? So that option is viable at much lower cost. If you truly can't be away from dd even for the day quite yet, this option could still be utilized in a few months, right?

:

My neighbor had to do and it was worth it. His new dog saved his life twice!

[mommy2maya]

I think that what a lot of people don't realize is that a service animal is not a pet, not even in the slightest. It is a working animal, and the environment needs to be kept that way. It is initially a shock with how you will have to treat/train a service animal, especially if you were a pet dog own'er in the past. A well trained service animal won't 'play' while on duty either. Really, it is just a completely different type of relationship. There needs to be a 100% commitment to the relationship.

also, I hate to be 'debbie downer' but I've never really heard of a situation where someone just 'trained' their own dog to be a service animal. There is a LOT that goes into it, for YEARS before a person GETS the dog, and does one on one training. As brand new puppies, they are selected based on their personalities, and family lines. Then, the puppies are placed with foster homes to puppy raise them, and socialize them. Then, those dogs who have made it that far are further weeded out before they go onto more intense training. Only the best of the best make it far enough to become a service animal. It is several years of HARD HARD work before a dog is able to be a service animal. To take on a service animal is a HUGE HUGE commitment. HUGE. A whole family commitment.

[Pinoikoi]

there is a program here where inmates train service dogs. The fee to adopt one is nowhere near $10k. In fact, I thought from the recent article I read, they were just looking for applicants to adopt the dogs since they were in their initial trial runs for the program?

I think there are probably other options.

[lil_earthmomma]

YES I WOULD GO INTO DEBT!

I think $5000 is nothing compared to the increased quality of life you will have with a service dog.

Any way you can borrow from parents?

Do you belong to a church that could put on silent auctions, fundraiser dinners, etc.

Many comedy clubs will do fundraisers, just contact the manager.

My friend sells epicure products and they have fundraiser packages...

I hope you get a service dog asap!