Service Dog Dream becomes Service Dog Nightmare
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0:03 - 0:04My name is Amber Steehbock,
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0:04 - 0:06and this is the story of what happened
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0:06 - 0:08when I tried to get a service dog
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0:08 - 0:14through Arizona Goldens LLC, located in Phoenix Arizona.
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0:14 - 0:18I have quadripelegic spastic cerebral palsy and use a power wheelchair.
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0:18 - 0:22Because of this, many daily tasks are difficult for me,
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0:22 - 0:25such as turning off and on light switches,
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0:25 - 0:29hitting elevator buttons, and opening doors.
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0:29 - 0:34And a service dog seemed the obvious solution to these problems.
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0:34 - 0:37I heard about Arizona Goldens and was really excited
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0:37 - 0:42because getting a service dog had been a lifelong dream for me.
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0:42 - 0:44I contacted them, we met,
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0:44 - 0:51and they decided that they could provide a dog that would meet my needs.
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0:51 - 0:57All I needed to do was raise a little over $20,323
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0:57 - 1:00and pass what they called "service dog boot camp".
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1:00 - 1:05On August 10, 2010, I signed a contract with them.
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1:05 - 1:09They then set up a donation page, a bank account and a paypal account
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1:09 - 1:13where people could donate to my service dog fund.
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1:13 - 1:19These were their accounts, and I never personally had any access to them.
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1:19 - 1:28They said that this was set up this way so that it wouldn't, donations would not interrupt my SSI.
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1:29 - 1:33Friends and family were wonderful and donated.
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1:33 - 1:43And because of that, I raised a little over $20,000, or $21,990 in less than 5 months.
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1:43 - 1:49Arizona Goldens were expecting me to take over a year to raise this money.
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1:49 - 1:56It was not until after they had all the money that all the major warning signs started.
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1:56 - 2:04After they had all the money, they finally provided me with a booklet containing all of the rules.
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2:04 - 2:08Only then did I learn that I had to pass a multitude of tests
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2:08 - 2:11with a score of 80% or higher,
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2:11 - 2:13and that if I scored less on any of these tests
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2:13 - 2:16boot camp would stop for me,
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2:16 - 2:24they would fail me and they would keep all the money that I had raised toward a service dog.
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2:24 - 2:28The booklet also stated that before bootcamp was to start,
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2:28 - 2:33they would conduct individual personality and needs testing,
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2:33 - 2:35and based on the results of these,
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2:35 - 2:41would spend several months tweaking the dogs to my individual needs.
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2:41 - 2:43This never happened.
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2:43 - 2:49They never even asked me specific questions about my disability.
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2:49 - 2:55All I did was walk around the mall with a dog a couple of times.
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2:55 - 3:00After 4 more months of me repeatedly asking them when I could start my bootcamp
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3:00 - 3:05they finally scheduled it for May 9th, 2011.
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3:05 - 3:11They would not give me any study materials until 14 days before the start of bootcamp.
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3:11 - 3:16They said that this was to be fair to all of the other clients,
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3:16 - 3:24but my bootcamp study material did not arrive until 10 days before my bootcamp.
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3:24 - 3:27They did not even provide it in electronic format.
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3:27 - 3:29It came in a book format,
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3:29 - 3:35even though they were aware that book format is harder for me to utilize.
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3:35 - 3:40As scheduled, I started what was supposed to be a 21 day bootcamp.
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3:40 - 3:45To their shock, I passed the written test, the written entrance test
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3:45 - 3:49with the highest score of anyone they have ever seen.
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3:49 - 3:52I studied the material and I knew it well.
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3:52 - 3:54When it came to working with actual dogs,
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3:54 - 3:58they brought a bunch for me to try out in the beginning,
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3:58 - 4:03and narrowed it down to 2 potential dogs within several days.
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4:03 - 4:07This is when the problems became very apparent.
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4:07 - 4:10They were supposed to train the dogs for my specific needs,
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4:10 - 4:16and it quickly became obvious that they did not.
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4:16 - 4:19They insisted that they trained the dogs for someone with Cerebral Palsy,
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4:19 - 4:24but CP is very different between individual people,
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4:24 - 4:27and you can't just do generic training.
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4:29 - 4:32With my particular CP,
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4:32 - 4:36every movement I make intentionally
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4:36 - 4:38starts with an unintentional movement,
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4:38 - 4:42and sometimes ends with an unintentional one.
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4:43 - 4:50The dogs had been trained to regard any tug, jerk or sudden stop as a reprimand,
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4:50 - 4:53like telling the dogs "bad dog!".
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4:53 - 4:57So, even though the dogs were doing everything right,
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4:57 - 5:03I jerked often, and they thought they were doing wrong and became confused and shut down.
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5:03 - 5:07The other problem is that the people who raised and trained the dogs
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5:07 - 5:12were my teachers, and they were in the room with us at all times.
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5:12 - 5:20Therefore, the dogs got confused as to who they were supposed to listen to, their trainers or me.
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5:20 - 5:26Other service dog programs that I know of don't allow the trainers to be teachers.
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5:26 - 5:33They also don't even allow the clients to interact with the dogs for the 1st week of training.
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5:33 - 5:39Except to allow major downtime for the client to get to know their potential dog.
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5:39 - 5:42This downtime was never allowed for me,
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5:42 - 5:48and I never got to bond with any particular dog.
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5:48 - 5:52Any time I pointed out the problems with the training,
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5:52 - 5:57they would reprimand me by telling me to get over my disability,
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5:57 - 6:02"grow a pair", and stop blaming my disability.
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6:02 - 6:06I wasn't blaming, I wasn't making excuses,
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6:06 - 6:08I was pointing out my disability needs,
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6:08 - 6:13which is why I was seeking a service dog in the first place.
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6:13 - 6:19Because of their improper training, I fell very behind on what their expectations were.
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6:19 - 6:27On the 5th day they gave me my 1st actual test scores, as with the dogs,
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6:27 - 6:31but they were dogs they selected.
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6:31 - 6:33I failed.
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6:33 - 6:37These tests included things that I physically can't even do,
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6:37 - 6:43and of the ones that I can do, the dogs refused to respond to anything I said
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6:43 - 6:49because they didn't know who to listen to, me or the trainers.
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6:49 - 6:53And they also shut down because of what they thought were reprimands.
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6:53 - 6:59The result was that it was a total disaster and I failed the tests.
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6:59 - 7:03They allowed me to retake the test, the next day after reviewing the videos,
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7:03 - 7:06and they urged me to practice.
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7:06 - 7:07What was I supposed to practice with?
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7:07 - 7:10I don't have a dog at home.
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7:10 - 7:18And they also coached me more about "growing a pair" of balls and "getting over" my disability.
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7:18 - 7:22The next day when I came, they announced that I would need to score
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7:22 - 7:26double the amount that I had scored last time
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7:26 - 7:33because they decided that I was responsible for more of the dog commands on the list.
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7:33 - 7:35Even though I did much better on this test,
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7:35 - 7:39I failed because they raised the bar too high.
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7:39 - 7:42At this point they informed me that I had failed boot camp,
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7:42 - 7:45they were not placing a service dog with me,
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7:45 - 7:49and they would be keeping all of the money that I raised.
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7:49 - 7:51Before I left the classroom,
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7:51 - 7:56they asked me to record an apology video to all of my donors
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7:56 - 8:00for wasting their time and money and failing them.
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8:00 - 8:02I did not fail anyone.
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8:02 - 8:04Arizona Goldens failed me.
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8:04 - 8:07If you would like to know more about this,
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8:07 - 8:09please go to the address below
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8:09 - 8:16http://www.dogdreamteam.com/
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8:16 - 8:18Thank you very much.
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8:18 -http://www.dogdreamteam.com/
- Title:
- Service Dog Dream becomes Service Dog Nightmare
- Description:
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My name is Amber Steehbock and I have Moderate/Severe Quadriplegic Spastic Cerebral Palsy. This video details my loss of almost $21,000 when I attempted to get a disability service dog through Arizona Goldens, LLC in Phoenix, AZ. You can read more about it at my blog @ http://www.dogdreamteam.com/
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 08:20
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Service Dog Dream becomes Service Dog Nightmare |