We received the gear before the new year, but a sudden influx of the flu caused me to be unable to set up any pictures for the new gear. This morning I decided to try to get some pictures that would show off the gear with Dougal.
I was asked to help design the gear and knew I would want to fall back on my military background and what Dougal does for me. So, "This We Will Defend" the US Army Motto should be prominent, and the teal ribbon, which is used for PTSD awareness. This was going to be for the collar and the guys at Whispering Spirit Ranch said "No problem" and even set it so that when Dougal is on lead the ribbon shows at the top of the neck. Love it! Also, I wanted to make sure that it was obvious that Dougal and I were a service dog team, so what better to put that on the traffic lead they sent? One side shows our names, I do not care if the public as a whole knows my dog's name. On the opposite side it has stamped "Service Dog Team". This I thought would accomplish a couple of things. 1) I might be able to drop the vest and 2) Might reduce the number of questions to our validity while in public.
I was a little nervous about dropping the vest as Dougal has always been trained with his vest and knows that when the vest is on it means best behavior. Well. I am very happy to report he has done very well with just the collar and lead. We have yet to be questioned about his service dog work so far, but we have only been around to our normal hangouts where most people know us as a team.
If you are looking for new gear for your dog, please visit Whispering Spirit Ranch! Their work is top-notch, I highly recommend them! Oh, and drop our names!
