View Full Version : Need Some Help Obtaining a Service Dog Candidate
Let me explain the problem first.
My youngest daughter has a severe allergic reaction to AXE deodorant. When this problem surfaced, the high school she attended had an assembly to announce and address the issue, teachers issue periodic reminders, the school district utilized their calling service to notify all parent of the problem, signs are posted at regular intervals in the school warning kids not to use AXE.
Most of my daughter's class mates have her back, she is constantly receiving texts 'hey there is AXE in the mainhallway in front of B office, don't go that way' but there are some freaking jerks, kids have been caught spraying AXE on the warning signs.
Despite the precautions, my daughter has been exposed several times. As her neurologist predicted, the result of each exposure shows increased severity. My daughter has a very mild case of CP, on her first exposure it seemed that she regressed to toe-walking with a cross gait, as she did before she was diagnosed and we began patterning exercises and stretching, this was accompanied by a migrane. Subsequent exposures resulted in more severe loss of motor skills, increasingly severe headaches, and the last time (yesterday) chest pains. Several exposures have resulted in ambulance rides and ER trips.
My daughter is a junior this year, she is a competitive swimmer, and an accomplished vocalist, she wants to swim in college, and become a nurse.
At this point the only thing we can think of to keep her safe is to get a scent trained, certified service dog. We have talked with several folks who scent train dogs for cadaver work and diabetic alerts. The problem for us is that we feel we need the dog yesterday.
We are looking for an obedience trained 2 year-old dog that can be plugged into the scent training program.
Preferred breeds are Bloodhound (to big?), Basset, Beagle, Labs, Malinois, German Shepherd (small), English Springer.
We have a GSD that just turned one, I don't think he would be a good candidate because of his size and drive. Plus he's still essentially a pup.
We have a feeler out to a guide dog school that farms out lab puppies to be raised and obedience trained by foster families before they return to the school for guide dog training. We hope to intercept and get a dog coming out of that pipeline, but indications are they wouldn't want to lose a potential guide dog.
If you have an idea shot me a PM or reply here.
Thanks,
Dan
If she is in public school, moving to a private school might be a much easier solution.
I don't think you can legally have a school mandate what deodorant students use and it's probably unenforceable if you tried. If a kid puts it on at home before school, how do you prove anything? He can say he shares a room with a sibling who uses it. Are you then going to ask that families of students not be permitted to use AXE deodorants.
I get this is a suck situation and you are trying to protect your daughter and even going to questionable lengths to do so. You are also willing to look at unconventional solutions such as dogs trained to detect a specific deodorant to do anything you can to protect her. But as you've seen, kids are dicks about it sometimes and if you tell them they can't have a peanut butter sandwich because three kids in the school have peanut allergies, some kids will pack four for lunch.
Your daughter seems to qualify as "special needs" so you really need a "special needs" environment. It would be the same as if a kid was severely allergic to chlorine. Would you really support shutting down her swim team and draining the pool forever to protect that other student?
I know this isn't the information / solution you were hoping for, but if it were my daughter I wouldn't trust her health for something with that kind of severity to the student body of a public school. Even if you got a dog that could specifically detect AXE deodorant, kids aren't going to get sent home, suspended or otherwise disciplined simply because a dog "alerted" because of them. And even if you use the dog simply as an avoidance tool, it just takes three or more non compliant kids to box her in to where there is no avenue of avoidance.
I'd also strongly recommend looking into some kind of medication that might prevent her allergic reaction because just living life, even outside of school, carries a strong risk of exposure. That is assuming you aren't already doing that.
While not as severe as what you describe, I probably have mild allergic reactions to a lot of perfumes and colones, especially the heavy floral scented crap old people in Florida seem to bathe in. I have trouble breathing and if I stay long enough I start to break out in hives. More then once I've been in the middle of a good steak only to have to ask for a check and leave everything half eaten because the old lady perfume patrol sat in the booth behind me.
If she is in public school, moving to a private school might be a much easier solution.
There are options, including home schooling, my daughter, who is the one at risk, has made the decision that she wants to continue her high school signing (corrected: singing) and swimming 'career' as well as take some pre-nursing classes that are not options at either private schools, alternative schools, or even online schools.
I don't think you can legally have a school mandate what deodorant students use and it's probably unenforceable if you tried.
The district has one 'scent free' elementary school' we are looking at how they did it - big difference between elemtary and high school though. At my daughter's school, they pull video of the areas and talk to kids if necessary.
If a kid puts it on at home before school, how do you prove anything? He can say he shares a room with a sibling who uses it. Are you then going to ask that families of students not be permitted to use AXE deodorants.
The problem is not so much with wearing it, it is spraying the shit at school in lieu of showering after gym. Most of her exposures come from bathrooms and locker rooms. Yesterday her exposure came when she walked into a girls restroom (they have AXE for gals). A dog would have alerted her.
I get this is a suck situation and you are trying to protect your daughter and even going to questionable lengths to do so.
I don't understand what is questionable about the lengths we are going to. Everything that has been done at the school has the full approval of the building administrators, superintendent and school board.
You are also willing to look at unconventional solutions such as dogs trained to detect a specific deodorant to do anything you can to protect her. But as you've seen, kids are dicks about it sometimes and if you tell them they can't have a peanut butter sandwich because three kids in the school have peanut allergies, some kids will pack four for lunch.
I don't know if you have children, it seems you don't understand that she is not going to be in a semi-protected environment the rest of her life, she can't walk around in a bubble, she has to live.
Your daughter seems to qualify as "special needs" so you really need a "special needs" environment.
Thanks, did not have a clue (sarcasm). My wife has a masters in sped and the equivalent of another masters in 'blind shit' (as I say) she has worked with blind/visually impaired kids for most of her career and is the go to within the district for writing 504's and IEP's, she knows how to work within the system.
It would be the same as if a kid was severely allergic to chlorine. Would you really support shutting down her swim team and draining the pool forever to protect that other student?
No, and that is not a valid comparison, the student in your example could avoid the pool. My daughter has no idea of what areas to avoid and when.
I know this isn't the information / solution you were hoping for, but if it were my daughter I wouldn't trust her health for something with that kind of severity to the student body of a public school. Even if you got a dog that could specifically detect AXE deodorant, kids aren't going to get sent home, suspended or otherwise disciplined simply because a dog "alerted" because of them.
Again, you are not tracking, while we want to get the dog yesterday, she is going to have to live life in the wide open world, the dog will supply a modicum of safety.
And even if you use the dog simply as an avoidance tool, it just takes three or more non compliant kids to box her in to where there is no avenue of avoidance.
Aside from the fact that they would be criminally liable, they will get to see what daddy's do in such situations.
I'd also strongly recommend looking into some kind of medication that might prevent her allergic reaction because just living life, even outside of school, carries a strong risk of exposure. That is assuming you aren't already doing that.
Yeah, we've been sitting on our thumbs. She's been to several specialists, up to the KU Med School, and has been seen since she was 4 or 5 by a pediatric neurologist, who seems to have the best handle on it. There is no known medication or antidote. There are numerous folks across the country who are affected the same way by AXE. My wife belongs to a support group of parents.
While not as severe as what you describe, I probably have mild allergic reactions to a lot of perfumes and colones, especially the heavy floral scented crap old people in Florida seem to bathe in. I have trouble breathing and if I stay long enough I start to break out in hives. More then once I've been in the middle of a good steak only to have to ask for a check and leave everything half eaten because the old lady perfume patrol sat in the booth behind me.
As you might have picked up, I do not appreciate the tenor of some of your statements.
I asked to see if anyone had a handle on someone I could contact for an obedience trained dog to plug into a scent dog training program. This would enable us to have the dog in place for her senior year, instead of her first year of college.
And, yes, for anyone concerned, I understand what the dog will likely cost.
I don't know if you've heard about them, but the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore does a lot of research on neurological disorders. It took two years to get my son diagnosed when he was a baby/toddler, and they were the ones who were able to. My son is 21 now, so we've seen our fair share of neurologists. Kennedy Krieger works a lot on the research side.
https://www.kennedykrieger.org/
I'm no help on the service dog. I can definitely see where a service dog would be able to help her avoid a problem areas, and would be a definite asset. I've never heard of allergic reactions to AXE until today. That is utterly friggin' insane!
Kudo's on not making her live in a bubble. We know several other kids with serious neurological disabilities that never go anywhere but to the doctors office and home. That's not living at all. I'll let my kid do anything that won't kill him. You only live once!
I know someone that might be able to help. Check your PM
As you might have picked up, I do not appreciate the tenor of some of your statements.
I asked to see if anyone had a handle on someone I could contact for an obedience trained dog to plug into a scent dog training program. This would enable us to have the dog in place for her senior year, instead of her first year of college.
And, yes, for anyone concerned, I understand what the dog will likely cost.
Yeah, you took most of that the wrong way. I was trying to be real world, but it seems you thought I was just giving you a hard time. I would suggest that it's possibly a matter of you unable to being objective to see what I was saying but you'd probably take that as an insult as well.
I had no idea of your wifes background, the number of specialists you've seen or any of that. I just think trying to conform the school to your daughters needs is ultimately a losing game and offered that opinion because it didn't sound like you have arrived at that realization.
The only think I actually take issue with is I wonder if a student really can be held criminally liable for his choice in deodorant and I worry about the "taking actions into your own hands comment" and hope you wouldn't honestly start a physical confrontation or worse with a student who decided he was free to use whatever deodorant he felt he liked.
But the bottom line of my entire post was I understand this is your daughter and you are probably willing to go to extremes including practical, questionable and even untenable to protect your daughter. I thought I had at least made that clear.
Again, if it was my daughter, and the health issue was that significant, I wouldn't be able to trust the student body to look out for her.
Adrenaline_6
03-09-18, 09:30
Wouldn't your daughter's physician and even you and your daughter want to know what particular chemical is causing the reaction? Sure, right now you know Axe deodorant is causing it, but what exact compound in there is the one that is causing it. That way she will know what to avoid and not run into it by accident with another product that will cause the same reaction. It might be a whole bunch of stuff that she needs to watch out for and therefore almost impossible to stay away from in a public school environment.
The only think I actually take issue with is I wonder if a student really can be held criminally liable for his choice in deodorant and I worry about the "taking actions into your own hands comment" and hope you wouldn't honestly start a physical confrontation or worse with a student who decided he was free to use whatever deodorant he felt he liked.
The scenario you described goes well beyond merely wearing AXE. You described several students cornering her and spraying her knowing she would have a reaction, that rises to the level of criminal action.
Again, the scenario you described goes beyond deciding to wear the deodorant you want and enters the intent to harm arena, at that point they become responsible for their actions.
Wouldn't your daughter's physician and even you and your daughter want to know what particular chemical is causing the reaction? Sure, right now you know Axe deodorant is causing it, but what exact compound in there is the one that is causing it. That way she will know what to avoid and not run into it by accident with another product that will cause the same reaction. It might be a whole bunch of stuff that she needs to watch out for and therefore almost impossible to stay away from in a public school environment.
We've been to several specialists, they can't nail it down. There are hundreds of folks who have similar reactions to this product. As of yet no one has been able to nail down the chemical. As I mentioned there are support groups for individuals and parents affected by this product.
The manufacturer, Unilever, is aware of the problem, just as the tobacco companies were aware of the problems with smoking.
ramairthree
03-09-18, 13:13
Based on your location, I unfortunately do not know of anyone.
The reality is the world is not going to conform to your daughter’s needs and the plan you have is well thought out. I do know of dogs to alert/warn to scents being used by some people. Not specially the same that you need, but the same concept.
When you say allergic reaction I think many people here are thinking of classic histamine mediated reactions usually rapidly treatable with a handful of common medications. This is not so much a got stung by a bee, ate some shrimp kind of allergic reaction.
This is more along the lines of she is more susceptible to the neurological effects of a petrochemical used to make a synthetic scent.
They don’t understand she is dealing with complex neurological, neuropsychological, and extrapyramidal functions that are exacerbated by exposures to some synthetic scents that are based on petrochemicals.
So, if any of you are not already familiar with the recreational and adverse effects of some petrochemicals on people with 100% normal/perfect neurological systems, take a few minutes to get the gist of it. Now imagine if there was some mild issues with part of that system how that could make you way more sensitive.
Think of it as like your grandfather had a mild stroke. He seems fine now. But when he gets dehydrated, has pneumonia, or something, some of the symptoms seem to come back. Heck, just filling his tank with gas on a hot day may make him woozy and have some of the symptoms. Then when that is taken care of he gets back to seeming fine. But it may take hours or days to take care of it.
Not as simple as a few puffs on an inhaler or a quick epipen shot.
The scenario you described goes well beyond merely wearing AXE. You described several students cornering her and spraying her knowing she would have a reaction, that rises to the level of criminal action.
Again, the scenario you described goes beyond deciding to wear the deodorant you want and enters the intent to harm arena, at that point they become responsible for their actions.
Is that actually happening? If so that is a completely different situation than what you initially described.
Adrenaline_6
03-09-18, 16:02
We've been to several specialists, they can't nail it down. There are hundreds of folks who have similar reactions to this product. As of yet no one has been able to nail down the chemical. As I mentioned there are support groups for individuals and parents affected by this product.
The manufacturer, Unilever, is aware of the problem, just as the tobacco companies were aware of the problems with smoking.
Wow. That sounds a little fishy to me. It should be simple testing since the company knows exactly what they put in it. I hope someone gets to the bottom of it for your daughters sake.
Based on your location, I unfortunately do not know of anyone.
The reality is the world is not going to conform to your daughter’s needs and the plan you have is well thought out. I do know of dogs to alert/warn to scents being used by some people. Not specially the same that you need, but the same concept.
When you say allergic reaction I think many people here are thinking of classic histamine mediated reactions usually rapidly treatable with a handful of common medications. This is not so much a got stung by a bee, ate some shrimp kind of allergic reaction.....
Not as simple as a few puffs on an inhaler or a quick epipen shot.
Thanks for that, you nailed it.
Is that actually happening? If so that is a completely different situation than what you initially described.
No, it hasn't.
I took your statement with the 'box her in' to mean an intentional act: it just takes three or more non compliant kids to box her in to where there is no avenue of avoidance.
Wow. That sounds a little fishy to me. It should be simple testing since the company knows exactly what they put in it. I hope someone gets to the bottom of it for your daughters sake.
My son likes that Axe spray so after reading this I checked the ingredients on the can. That stuff has propane and butane in it among other things. I took it away and told him he is not going to use it anymore, and he agreed.
No, it hasn't.
I took your statement with the 'box her in' to mean an intentional act: it just takes three or more non compliant kids to box her in to where there is no avenue of avoidance.
I meant "unintentionally" box her in. Just takes a handful of oblivious "non compliant" individuals in the right place at the right time to leave her no avenue of avoidance. The spraying of signs is a genuine dick move and indicative of what you are up against.
I've spent many years tilting windmills against the odds because I believed I was "in the right", but what I've learned is if enough people simply don't care it doesn't matter who is right or wrong. I really was just trying to point out that reality. If I had it to do all over again, I would have not wasted time, trouble, money and effort in the past simply because I was being "wronged."
Your situation is of course, much more serious and given enough DGAF among the student body (and it doesn't take much) the service dog solution might prove to be as impractical as it is expensive and your daughter could still be at risk and given what you describe in terms of consequences to her health, if I was in your shoes I'd be looking at a "somewhere else" solution despite her ties to the swim team and things like that.
I fully understand this is a personal issue with you and it is easy to mistake what was intended as objectivity for something else, but again that wasn't my purpose. I also know that people pointing out problems when you are asking for solutions is at best frustrating, but lacking any real world solutions that is all I had.
That is the problem with the internet - if we were talking in person either party could ask clarifying questions, something that is obviously missing on the internet.
I get that it may seem as if the solution is to find a different school environment. The problem is that teenagers seem to bath in AXE. Another school, private or public, could present the same problems.
Ahhh, if only life was simple.
http://www.hutchnews.com/news/20170902/hutchinson-high-still-has-axe-to-grind
http://www.kwch.com/content/news/USD-308-asks-student-not-to-wear-Axe-Body-Spray-399742511.html
http://www.medicaldaily.com/axe-body-spray-banned-after-severe-allergic-reaction-pennsylvania-school-244721
https://www.womensvoices.org/2016/04/29/proprietary-ingredients-should-not-come-before-childrens-health-ever/
https://dailyhealthpost.com/axe-products/
Anecdotal, can't attribute:
1. “It is news when said inappropriate Axe use causes a school-wide shutdown.
Eight students were hospitalized, and two others were taken to their own doctors, after someone released the especially pungent body spray in a sixth grade classroom at 1 p.m. Emergency crews rushed to Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Brooklyn to investigate the “hazardous” smell."
This isn’t the first time Axe body spray has terrorized educational facilities.
A Pennsylvania high school had to ban the spray in March after a student was hospitalized after exposure to its fumes. A year earlier, Connecticut high school officials said that a fire alarm went off after a student’s “overabundance” of Axe spraying in a locker room.” ~ TIME magazine
2. “According to the official complaint, J.Z. has never suffered an anaphylactic reaction outside of the school grounds and “can tolerate exposure to the normal scents found in contemporary American society, and reacts only to freshly sprayed perfumes, colognes, and body sprays (such as Axe) lingering in the air.” ~ abc NEWS 2010
That is the problem with the internet - if we were talking in person either party could ask clarifying questions, something that is obviously missing on the internet.
I get that it may seem as if the solution is to find a different school environment. The problem is that teenagers seem to bath in AXE. Another school, private or public, could present the same problems.
Ahhh, if only life was simple.
You have actually identified the main problem. I was suggesting that you would have more opportunity for control and cooperation almost anywhere else like private schools or even home school groups if your community has one. Public school is going to be the most challenging environment available.
Diamondback
03-10-18, 03:41
No advice or help to offer, just best wishes. T&P, hoping something works out soon.
--DB, whose preferred cologne at that age was a mix of Old Spice and just a very little aviation fuel
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