Our sweet Moochie was trained to do obstacle avoidance for a partially blind client. We trained her to accomplish guiding her handler through a city atmosphere. Moochie is a special dog that had a great temperament for this task. When we brought her to her home, she began to settle into her new surroundings. She learned so much about how to guide in the grocery store, avoiding the fire hydrants so her handler wouldn’t get hit by them and how to be a service dog in a big city. The program trainer was able to go back and forth so Moochie was able to be with her family as she settled into her new life. In the video below, Moochie is learning about natural consequences when guiding her handler.
Moochie’s partially blind handler had to undergo multiple and extensive surgeries intending to stop or slow down the handler’s advancing eye disease. Unfortunately, his eyes couldn’t sustain the repetitive surgeries and he became totally blind. This was not only very traumatic for the handler, it was traumatic for Moochie as well. The team work had to entirely change. The program was able to take Moochie back and the process of retraining began. While Moochie was a fantastic dog for obstacle avoidance, a full seeing eye dog has an entirely different temperament and this became a concern.
In an effort to make the best out of a tough situation, the handler donated Moochie to us and this was the catalyst that started our non-profit. Moochie was matched with a client who needed a psychiatric service dog. She was retrained enabling her to complete the task work required for her new handler. Moochie was able to change work and her previous handler who donated her was able to find a little peace in the fact that she has the best new home and new handler.
Moochie moved to college with her new handler and now spends time on the baseball fields as her handler is a division one pitcher! This environment could not have been more perfect for her because she spent so much time at the baseball fields with the little boys in the trainer’s home. Moochie is a constant companion to her new handler attending classes, dormitory living and of course attending team practice.
Moochie’s story ended happily for all who are involved. Her original handler was so generous to donate her to start Ans Angels Coalition. Moochie’s original handler still checks in on her. Now, Moochie lives her best life at college, flying to games and being a part of the team. We started this journey with kindness and love engrained deep in our training and it continued! We are so lucky to have had Moochie, to have worked with her first handler and now the second. We are ever thankful.