Armin Giese and Stormy

by Linda Crabtree (1992)

Everyone would like a special friend who loves us no matter what, does things for us in return to a kind word and a pat on the head and doesn't walk out when and if the going gets rough.

I've talked to several of our members who have just this kind of relationship going with what is known as a special skills dog. Here is one such story.

Armin Giese is 26 and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Through the years I've known Armin, he has gone from being exhausted walking to a smiling, fairly rested person using a wheelchair, living on his own and coping well with his CMT with the help of a beautiful big white Labrador retriever cross by the name of Stormy.

According to Armin, he's always wanted a dog but when he was younger was thinking about a Pomeranian because "I wouldn't have to walk it; it could get enough exercise right in the house."

When he was a child, he'd spend summers on the farm of a relative where there were nine dogs to look after and he loved every minute of it. His parents, however, didn't want a dog in their home, and Armin never did have one to call his own until he met me some three years ago. I had heard about special skills dogs from our members over the years, and I got Armin information from the group, Canine Companions for Independence in California and a contact here in Canada with Special Skills Dogs of Canada who supply pretty well the same type of dogs.

In April 1991, Armin put his application in and was requested to supply character references. He was visited by the people who supply the dogs to see how he lived, if his accommodations were suitable for a dog and how he was managing. He passed the inspection and waited.

In May 1992, he was told there was a dog for him and the dog was brought to his home. This is a little different than the organization in the U.S.A. where disabled people actually attend what is a lot like boot camp, living in a motel or hotel nearby.

A trainer worked personally with Armin and Stormy every day for a week teaching Armin how to work the dog and how to train him to do further commands. This was concentrated, personalized work, and in this period the two could be observed together to see if they fit and could relate well to each other. Instruction time then tapered down to half a day for the second week and then a visit once a month for three or four months, and in October of this year, the final inspection.

"We passed!" Armin said, with a huge smile on his face. "He's all mine now."

Armin was not charged for Stormy. All the hand raising from a puppy, the love, the dedication, the training that was done before Armin even met Stormy was done by Jacqueline Harbour and her staff. A donation was asked and given but that was it.

What does Stormy do for Armin? You're going to find the list extensive and you'll see that all of the dogs do pretty well the same basic things along with some special things their owners wish of them.

"Stormy carries things and picks things up. Dogs aren't supposed to like the feel of metal in their mouths but Stormy will pick up a coin off the floor for me and give it to me with no problem. He'll also pick up a spoon or fork or my car keys. It doesn't seem to bother him," Armin said.

Stormy also pulls Armin in his wheelchair and I watched the two of them fly by me as they raced down the road in front of our offices. The dog looked very close to a miniature Arabian stallion as it trotted, legs full out, tail flowing, head erect, pulling Armin who would have caught flies in his huge grin if it hadn't been November. What a team! Stormy also opens doors like refrigerator, cupboards, house doors and closet doors as long as there is something he can either pull down on or grab with his teeth. He turns on and off light switches and pushes elevator buttons. He helps Armin get his clothes off when he's getting ready for bed and even helps Armin lift his legs into the bed. If Armin falls, he can get up off the ground by pulling himself up and then pushing up on Stormy. Armin demonstrated this and I watched Stormy spread and brace his back legs as Armin pushed down on him.

"He's a great companion," Armin said. "He's obedient and protective. He's my best friend."

Has Armin net new people because of Stormy?

"I've met a lot of people, and at first I enjoyed it," he said, "but it's getting to the point now where it is a nuisance. Some people are downright rude even though I try to be as nice as possible when I tell them that Stormy is working and he's not a pet when they want to touch him. If I allow people to treat him like a pet I could lose him."

Armin is right. If he allows Stormy to revert to a pet where he no longer has to work, he isn't any good to Armin or anyone else. He could lose Stormy back to the people who put hundreds of hours into his training and the dog would go to someone who really uses him as a working, special skills dog. He's worth approximately $10,000, and he's a working dog and Armin's best friend, but he does have a job to do and he does it well. Just looking at the two of them together tells me that.