Everybody needs a Kolo!

I know you all have probably been wondering how Kolo, my service dog is doing.  Here is a fun little update!

Words Kolo Knows:

1. Heel
2. No
3. Sit
4. stay
5. up
6. down
7. off
8. lay down
9. bathroom
10. no lick
11. no bark
12. kennel
13. ball
14. duck
15. treat
16. outside/play
17. eat/hungry
18. basket
19. phone
20. Mom
21. Dad
22. Laci
23. Sam

Commands:

1. Push – Push a door closed
2. Pull- pull a blasket or a door closed/open
3. Grab my phone- retrieves my phone. Will not stop until she finds it. When it rings, she does this without a command.
4. Grab it- Follow a point to pick something up off the floor, or something across the room. (ie. Remote, clothing, paper, coins, pens, cord to my charger) She grabs based on popularity if I point to a pile. She hands me the most commonly asked for item first. If I drop something, and she is aware, she picks it up without a command and gives it to me. (ie. Keys, folded socks, silverware from the dishwasher, phone, clicker) She is very smart, if she starts looking somewhere too high, sometimes I can say 'down' and she looks down.. She is very good at following where I point. I can say up, and she jumps and looks up.
   For example, if something is on the bed, I point to it and say grab it, she still doesn't see it. I can say, 'up on the bed...grab it' and she will jump up on the bed and look.
5. In the basket- Place object in the basket. Most common item, shoes and braces. She puts my shoes away for me, as she also retrieves them for me when I am getting ready each day.
6. Take- Carry and object (ie purse, keys, phone, leash, water bottle, grocery bag, empty box)
7. Follow- follow behind me in tight spaces (ie. doors)

I take words she knows and turn them into commands. For example:

“Grab the basket, bring it to me” (She can pull a basket of laundry behind me)

“Take it to ____(Dad, Sam, Laci, Mom)

“Grab your duck”

I love her Personality!

A lot of times if I stay in one place for a period of time (ie. The computer) she will bring her toys in, and play with one til she gets bored and get another. In consequence, I end up with all her toys right behind me when I go to back up. I can then say, “grab your duck” Hence the convenience for this command.

She is very eager to learn, and works well for treats. In fact, just yesterday, I was in the kitchen doing something. Kolo randomly jumped up on the washer across the room, and grabbed a bag of treats I had left there earlier, and brought them to me. Handed them to me, and sat eagerly. Even right now while I type this she did the same thing, and is laying next to me with her treat bag in tow, waiting for me to notice.

Kolo is very aware. She kinda reminds me of Samantha. Only in dog version. Sam was always very concerened for me, even at a very very young age. Kolo is the same way. She seems to understand more than she should. She knows she is helping me.

This past weekend, Bryan had a tooth pulled, so he spent a lot of time relaxing. We have two recliners at our house. One is a big lazyboy type, and it is mine. The other is leather and a bit smaller, and it is Bryan's. It is well known at our house that Kolo prefers my chair. Its big and comfy. There is room for both her and I on it. Well after a while, because Kolo refuses to lay with Bryan on his chair, he switched to mine, hoping she would stay with him. She did, for a while. I discovered, that be cause I was up and about doing things around the house, Kolo didn't stay put. She would get up and come check on me, follow me for a while, and go back to Bryan. And she continued to do that.

So, it seems, that my dog is just perfectly concerned about me. If I were sitting in my recliner, you better bet, she wouldn't move at all, expect to get a drink. She is always watching what I am doing, looking for opportunities to help, and get treats.

I feel so blessed, she is the companion I never knew I needed this much.  And I can't picture life without her!