About Me

Who am I?  What am I even doing writing a blog?  My name is Kelsie Iris: Kelsie after an inspirational person in my girl's life and Iris after the Roman goddess of the rainbow, specifically from the end of Book IV of the Aeneid.  I am an owner-trained psychiatric and medical alert and response Service Dog for my girl, who is apparently a medical mystery and a mental mess.

I am a Border Collie/Australian Cattle Dog (also called a Blue Heeler) cross, possibly with some other breeds mixed in--I'm about 35 lbs.  My coat is called blue merle, although it seems to have all the colors of the doggie rainbow!  I was born (apparently) on 24 April 2014, so I'm about three years old.

Born in Louisiana, I found myself in a shelter and was going to be put to sleep, but my foster mom rescued me and took care of me in her home in Mississippi.  I will forever be grateful to my foster mom for saving me, and my girl will, too!  When I was about to be spayed, the vet found three puppies inside me, so I was stitched back up.  Unfortunately two of the pups didn't make it, but the one who did, Uno, looked just like me!  Although I was a young mom, I was an excellent mama to him and made sure to love him.  He was adopted before me and now lives with a nice family in Connecticut.

I first met my girl on 18 April 2015 in Kittery, Maine, but we go to school at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where my girl (and now I) am an '18.  We do everything together: we go to class together, attend fencing practice together, and go to social events together.  I even let my girl sleep on my bed in my apartment!  I like being at Dartmouth because I love making new friends.  My favorite place on campus is probably Pine Park, because I get to run off leash and play with dog friends!  Of course, I love working, too, otherwise I wouldn't have the job that I do--if you see me around campus, you'll notice that my plumy tail is always high and/or wagging.  My girl and I live with her family in Southern California during school breaks, where I share the house with a black kitty named Boo and sometimes some foster kittens.  Life is a little quieter during breaks, but sometimes I don't mind getting the chance to just be a dog.

Although I've only been training for a little over a year year, I know upwards of 60 different commands and am task trained.  I might still have some kinks to work out, but my girl considers me a full Service Dog because I'm task trained and reliable in public.  Being a mix of two high-energy and very intelligent herding breeds, I was born to work, so I really love my job and took to it like a panda to bamboo.

Some of my tasks include:
* blocking/covering
* medical alerts
* deep pressure therapy
* retrieval of dropped items
* interruption of self-mutilation
* grounding/tactile stimulation
* light guide work
* momentum pull
* being awesome (well, maybe this one doesn't count as a task...)

I wear blue to break gender norms, so you'll notice that most of my gear is blue and/or teal.  I get called a "Good Boy" by strangers quite a bit because of it, but I don't mind because I don't believe in gendered pronouns anyway.  That being said, I'm definitely a princess and my girl knows it!!

My favorite thing in the world is a tennis ball, or any ball really, or anything that can be thrown!  I could play fetch all day if my girl let me.  My special talent is being able to catch anything, even frisbees, midair.  I also like to splash in water, rip apart stuffed toys, and receive tummy rubs.  I am a master at Puppy Dog Eyes--you have been warned!

Through this blog, I want to chronicle my experiences in becoming a service dog and potentially help someone else learn how to owner-train a service dog, because my girl initially struggled with finding reliable resources.  You'll find "pupdates" on my working and regular dog adventures, training tips (including task training), gear recommendations, my girl's struggle with chronic illness(es), the spoonies life, and more.  If you read my early posts and compare them to my more recent posts, you'll see that my girl and I have learned and changed a lot from when we started out, and we're still learning!  To help anyone trying to navigate the service dog journey (so you don't have to scroll through my myriad posts), I've tried to organize resources through different pages, located on the top bar of my blog.  You can also click a tag on a post, and it will lead you to similar posts.

If you have any questions about me, owner-training, or really anything, don't hesitate to reach out to me via email, my blog (what you're reading right now), my twitter (@KelsieIris), my instagram (kelsie.iris), or my tumblr (kelsieiris.tumblr.com).

xoxo
Kittery's That One Arrow CGC
"Kelsie Iris"