Hearing Dog Snow helps Wayne Wicklund with his work as a computer tech and webmaster.In the International Assistance Dog Week newsletter, we’ve been asking people to share their stories of their dogs in the workplace. Anne Wicklund wrote in from Arizona about her husband Wayne’s hearing dog, Snow, and Snow’s successor, Snow Shadow.
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I have to tell you how valuable our service dog is to my husband. He is always at his side – of course – and has saved his life many times. Our Snow passed in September and his successor Snow Shadow is only 10 months old and already bossing his dad around.
Shadow:
• makes sure my husband goes to bed by 8 pm because HE knows Wayne is ill and/or tired,
• Shadow won’t let Wayne walk when he knows Wayne is too ill and too tired, and drags Wayne home
• When Wayne is away from home and becomes disoriented and confused, Shadow sits and waits for Wayne to recover then pulls him home or to the car
• Shadow alerts Wayne when needs his meds or inhaler
• Shadow alerts on sounds and danger, and people too close for comfort
• Shadow alerts on smells, allergic reactions and chemicals that shut down Wayne’s lungs
• Shadow braces Wayne until he regains his balance
Wayne works from home and volunteers at our local Museum –he is webmaster for the website, tech for all their computers, and volunteers at the VA for Viet Nam Veterans. Wayne and Shadow attend numerous political functions locally and around the world and travel extensively
Snow Prince and Snow Shadow have inspired the writing and publication of two books: “My Ears Have a Wet Nose: Acquiring, Training & Loving a Hearing Dog,” and “I Have a Wet Nose . . . and I have a job,” an educational coloring book about service dogs. The next book will be published in 2014, which is a “Handbook for Service Dogs: The do’s and don’ts.”
Read about Snow the chamber ambassador
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International Assistance Dog Week 2014 is August 3-9. Learn more about IADW and subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.assistancedogweek.org/about/.
Tell us how your assistance dog helped you to get and/or keep your job. Send in photos of you and your assistance dog at work. You can send your stories and photos to [email protected].
