REX UNLEASHED

Ting Ting

The sound of bells jingled by the front door.

Ting Ting

"Ugh" She thought to herself, as the sound of bells rang out again.

Ting Ting

"Alright, I'm coming" Sarah said out loud as she looked up over the kitchen counter, to see her dog, Rex, impatiently waiting by the front door.

He needed to go to the bathroom.

Living in an apartment meant Rex had no place to go out by himself. There was no place for the grey and white American Bulldog, to run around, play, or just be a dog. And Sarah was feeling the strain as much as Rex was.

Ever since her husband's accident, John could no longer handle taking Rex out. He couldn't hold a leash tight, let alone deal with 80 lbs of excited dog, pulling him around to check out every smell in the small courtyard. This made Sarah the only caregiver for both of them, and 30 seconds to herself was no longer an option. She would love to be able to let Rex out, sit and drink a cup of coffee, and just have a moment to herself.

Feeling drained and exhausted, Sarah grabbed the leash and clipped it to Rex's collar before opening the front door, and heading outside. Just as expected, Sarah barely closed the door, when she was jerked to attention by Rex yanking her to his favorite spot. Sarah spent the next 20 minutes getting yanked around the courtyard, while neighbors gave her and her "vicious Pitbull" dirty looks. She couldn't blame Rex, he was just happy to be outside.

The next morning, Sarah awoke to a knock on her door. Blearily making her way to the door while throwing on a shirt, she opened the door to… no one. She looked down, but no, there weren't any packages. Confused, she began to close the door when she noticed it. There was an envelope taped to her door. Sarah knew exactly what this was going to be about. Another new neighbor, another complaint about her dog. The manager knew her dog, knew he wasn't a Pitbull, and knew he was an Emotional Support Animal but, she guessed, he had to make it look like he was doing something about "that vicious dog" to make the other tenants happy. It didn't matter that Rex wasn't a Pitbull. It didn't matter that Pitties are not the vicious dogs they are made out to be. Everyone mistook Rex for a Pitbull, and everyone mistakenly thinks Pitbulls are vicious. Nevermind the fact that he runs around with a huge smile & wagging tail. Nevermind the fact that one of the tenants has this demon of a chiuaua, who barks 24/7 and tries to attack anyone or anything that comes within eyesight of this monster, Her dog was the ire of the neighborhood Karens in the area.

Sarah had enough. This was going to be the hill she was willing to die on. She called the office to talk about the letter, and just as she thought, he only left the letter to make the other tenants feel better. He then said something that made Sarah realise she was going to have to fight back.

…"But, if we get too many complaints, we may have to look into the nuisance clause, and we may not renew your lease".

Now, Sarah was not one for confrontation, she preferred to handle things passive-aggressively, but Sarah knew she had to say something.

"So, even though my dog has done nothing, except exist, you want us out, but you're not going to do anything about that barking rat upstairs? I dare you to try."

She hung up, then immediately started looking up the laws in her area.

The first thing Sarah learned was an ESA was not entitled to the same exemptions as a Service Dog. She then learned that she could train her dog to be a service dog herself. This is it! Rex already performed tasks for her husband that a service dog would. Rex was in tune to his PTSD, and knew when a panic attack was coming. Rex would also pick up items John dropped. If only he acted like a service dog in public.

That's when she started looking into obedience training, and found the perfect thing. a 3-week long board & train program. She emailed them for more information and after finding out that they have an off-leash training program, she signed Rex up.

2 weeks later Rex was off to school.

With Rex away at school, Sarah thought she would have some peace. She'd finally get a moment to herself. She was right, but yet completely wrong at the same time. She finally had time to herself, but it wasn't the same with Rex gone. Did she make a mistake? She missed Rex so much and now she had time with her own thoughts. When her youngest child went off to college, it was hard on Sarah but she never realized that having Rex to take care of made that easier. Now she had no children to take care of, even if one of them was a four-legged furry one.

Over the next 3 weeks a couple things happened. Sarah and John decided not to renew their lease. They also decided they wanted to travel and bought one-way tickets to England. They were going to spend the next 2 months on a road trip around the United States, before heading to England and eventually a road trip around Europe.

When it came time to pick Rex up, Sarah and John were ready to head off on their trip, looking forward to Rex's reaction. He loved his car rides, and Rex was in for the biggest car ride of his life.. There was just 1 thing to do first. Sarah & John had to learn how to parent a fully trained Rex.

The trainer first met with Sarah and John, without Rex. She went over his training schedule, what commands he learned, and how they needed to keep up his training. This is also when Sarah learned they used an e-collar to train Rex. Sarah was against the use of things like this. She hated prong and shock collars, and thought they were inhumane. Sarah was pissed. Did she leave her dog with these people, for him to be abused at their hands?

The trainer took out the collar, and before Sarah had a chance to say a word, the trainer handed Sarah the collar and said

"Before we ever put this on a dog, we test it on ourselves first. While they appear inhumane and cruel, when used properly, it's a gentle reminder that also distances you from being associated with causing pain to your dog."

This got Sarah's attention.

The trainer continued…

"When you are the one correcting your dog when they do something wrong, they associate you as the one causing pain. Even if it's just a light swat on the snout. With this collar, you are never wanting a dog to experience pain, and you are no longer the one they associate with causing that pain.

Here, hold this in the palm of your hand."

Sarah placed the prongs on her palm.

"Now this button will cause the collar to vibrate, not shock."

Sarah pressed the button, and felt a quick vibration. It didn't hurt.

…"This button is the shock button. We will start it out at 5 and slowly go up until you can feel it."

Sarah held the collar to her palm, and over a couple seconds, she felt a light tingle.

"Okay I feel it" Sarah told the trainer

Showing the transmitter to Sarah, She noticed that the collar was turned up to 23.

"You want to set the collar where Rex will notice it, but it doesn't cause him pain. Let me get Rex, so we can demonstrate how to use the collar with him."

As the trainer walked off, Sarah read over the paperwork the trainer gave them, thinking to herself that maybe she was wrong about e-collars.

When the trainer returned with Rex, he was still the happy go lucky dog he was before.

The trainer showed Sarah how to place the collar on Rex.

"When you adjust the shock level, you want to adjust it, until you see him notice it. For Rex, you want to look for an ear twitch. If he snaps at it, or shakes his head, it's too high & causing pain."

The trainer started with the vibration, and sure enough, Rex just twitched his ear. She then started adjusting the shock. Eventually Rex gave a small ear twitch, and when Sarah looked at the transmitter, it was at 23.

The next 2 hours were spent with Sarah, John and Rex working together and going over commands until they were working together like a well-oiled machine and the 3 of them headed home.

The next day, Sarah was in the kitchen when she heard the familiar jingle of the bells on the front door. Rex needed to go out.

Sarah grabbed the leash, clipped it to his collar and headed out the door. Then something magical happened. Sarah didn't get yanked the minute the door closed. Rex still went to his favorite spots, and was still the excited happy dog, but he didn't try to pull Sarah everywhere. Sarah then decided to unclip the leash. Rex wandered around, smelling everything, marking his scent everywhere, but didn't run off. He stayed by her side. He didn't run off after the cat that ran by. He even ignored the neighbor's demon dog when it started barking.

For the next 2 days, Sarah would sit on her patio with a cup of coffee, while Rex ran around the courtyard. She really hoped to get another letter from the office. and finally on the third day, there was a letter taped to her door.

Sarah walked with Rex to the office, without a leash. The manager started to talk about leash laws, the nuisance clause, and the complaints. The whole time Rex sat next to her, not on a leash, and behaving like a service dog. It was almost as if Rex knew what was going on, and was on his best behavior.

Sarah then handed the manager 3 letters of her own. The first letter was from John's doctor, advising that due to his disability John requires a service dog to help with daily tasks. The second was a letter recognizing Rex's training as fully recognized with Assistance Dogs International, and finally the third letter was paperwork saying that Rex is exempt from leash laws due to John's disability (The ADA has a clause that exempts Service animals from leash laws, if the person's disability prevents use of a leash).

Two days later they set off on their road trip and Rex was loving every minute of it. He went everywhere with them. Inside restaurants, gas stations, stores and every tourist spot they went to. Sarah got to enjoy her dog again, and John was able to get back some normalcy. Rex got to live his best doggo life, thanks to being; unleashed.