Author | Lightnews

Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 14

It is. I hate that I can't get into my mom's house. She's older and can't drive to the city. Going out is expensive so many people do birthday dinners or gatherings in their home. I miss those.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 14

I love that you've done that. It's difficult for people to always come to the disabled persons house. Someone hosts a dinner party, we can't go. Someone has a game night, we can't go. In winter it can be hard to get to public places to meet. There's no popping by for coffee.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 14

It ends up making it incredibly socially isolating for people. You can never visit people in their homes. Of course people can come to you or you can meet in public spaces, but it changes the dynamics of relationships drastically. Especially for single people.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 14

New buildings here are typically quite accessible. At least businesses and services. But often the older ones do little to upgrade. Housing, however, is a different story. There's no requirement on houses to have any type of accessible entrance. Very few places in the world do.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 12

Honestly, never given that much thought. We don't go to the hardware store often. It probably depends on who has what we need at a lower cost

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 12

It's pretty common across north America. How many houses do you see with accessible entrances? Almost none. Usually you can visit folks in apartments with elevators but then have to leave if you need the bathroom because the interior doors are too narrow.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 12

It makes me sad that for so many years they've never been to someone's home for dinner or a movie night or just to hang out. It's been a long time for us...but 17 years. I don't think most people understand how isolating disability is and how easily people get left out because they can get in.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 12

Human is super stressed. Once the move is over, it'll be fine. But packing and purging is not easy from a wheelchair. Turns out there's food in the cupboard that got pushed out of reach that's over 4 years old!

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 12

In a few weeks we're moving! To a wheelchair accessible house with a fenced yard!
It will still need some tweaking, especially the kitchen.
We're gonna invite our friend who's also a wheelchair user for dinner once we're settled. He said he hasn't been able to go to anyone else's home in 17 years!

Chesnyy the Servicerottie in a tan vest on a grocery store floor

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 6

I find most people simply train the dog to go in and out and settle in the crate. There's often no need to close it when it's in the house, but dogs simply like going in because they like the enclosed space. Then the crate goes in the vehicle when driving as it's the safest way to transport.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

an abusive manner. There's also people who use leashes, collars, and harnesses abusively. These people shouldn't own animals.
Animals should be confined as little as possible, but there are times when it's needed for their safety. Proper conditioning will make that as stress free as possible.
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

normalize the crate experience. Many dogs, especially those in multi pet homes or homes with children will start to choose an open crate as the place they'll go just to get away from everyone. For them it's a space others are kept out of.
Unfortunately there will be some people who use crates in
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

heartbreaking. The dogs that were used to crates were significantly less anxious. Even if someone never keeps a dog in a crate, they really should take the time to do proper exposure training to a crate. If that's done well, simply leaving an open with bedding they can go in and out of will
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

stress, normalizing going in and out of crates, and relaxing in them is really important. I once volunteered with dogs evacuated after wildfires that needed to be held until they could be reunited with family or fostered, and the panic some dogs went through even being crated for transport was
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

prevent this, and if done using r+ training methods, the positive association with the crate can also make the entire ordeal less stressful. Crates shouldn't be used punitively or as a "jail", and animals should only be secured in them when absolutely necessary, but to make those times low
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

There's situations where dogs require confinement. After a medical procedure they often need to be confined to a crate in a vet hospital. Dogs who have never had positive associations with crates end up unnecessarily stressed, even panicking, trying to chew their way out. Crate training can
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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

I didn't like that book because the cheese was not hidden appropriately for searching.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

It's still wise to train confinement. Injured or sick dogs require crating at vet hospitals, pets that get lost often get crated by animal services. Training them to be comfortable in enclosures will drastically reduce their stress in these situations. It's worth the time just for their well being.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

There's lots of these little free libraries in our community. I had to look closely cuz I thought I saw a copy of "Finding the Cheese". Turns out it was just a book of crochet patterns. That won't help me find cheese.

Chesnyy sticks her head inside a cupboard of books mounted on a fence post.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 5

My human kinda looks stressed. This is good change, but it's still kinda scary. And there's so much work to do!

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 1

Fancy cheese is often stinky. ❤️ I had some at an event once. It was divine.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 1

❤️

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 1

All. The. Cheese.

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jul 1

Hey you!
In case nobody told you today, you're amazing.
Also, do you have cheese?

Chesnyy the Servicerottie wearing a purple bandana and purple service dog vest sitting on a sidewalk pointing a paw at the camera

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Team Servicerottie (Chesnyy & Marla) @servicerotties.bsky.social · Jun 30

So much is happening that it's hard to keep up. We're going to be moving in a month and need to start packing. I have concerns. What if the delivery truck that brings my food can't find us? What if the dogs in the new neighborhood don't like me? How will I get to the butcher shop??

Chesnyy in a tan colored service dog vest waving a paw

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