I have had 4 dogs in my adult life. Bella, my psychiatric service dog, is my fourth (thanks to SDTSI and some good, hard work). Bella is a rescue and quite the handful when I first got her. I still had the basic training that I used with my other dogs, plus lots of research, but at 8 months and almost right after I got her, she went through heat, which was another challenge. She would jump on the side of the house on the brick, and she would jump on my wall for some reason. I had a clock there, so maybe she was trying to knock it down. I would be putting my arms up to hold off traffic as Bella would pull me across the road, my neighbors were scared as she was quite wild.

I love dogs and would not give up on her. Many people told me she is too much for you, so let her go. With time, patience, lots of exercise, and a good sense of humor, Bella improved, but I would never take her with me anywhere other than for exercise and walks. Even with her improvements, they were still an adventure, almost every time. Bella was special, I knew it, and she was a great comfort to me when my husband died, 4 years ago. Bella was all I had. I would not give up. I loved her, knew she was intelligent. I just did not know exactly what to teach her after the basics.

Through all this, I still had my mental disabilities, and they were starting to get worse after my husband died. Bella helped, but I started to give up on myself. I stopped going for therapy, took my meds only periodically, and never wanted to see friends or go out. Except for Bella, she was the whole reason for me to go on. I heard of STDSI from a lady at the dog park. I knew that was what I needed, and I was going to make Bella my service dog. This course was amazing! It took me a year to do it, with the help, advice, training, and, of course, patience from SDTSI. Bella took to the training right away, and if there was an issue, the trainer would tell me another way to do it.

The thought of ever giving up never crossed my mind. Bella is now a psychiatric service dog. My neighbors tell me they have never seen a dog change so much in one year. I take Bella everywhere and am going out more and more with Bella. I feel safe with her. I even have a dog training (by me) engagement for the beginning of July for one of my neighbors!