Meet Zateo

Zateo over the past 9 months

Zateo is my precious yellow lab that I got this past September.  I chose the name Zateo because it is a Greek word meaning "To seek."  His job was to be a search and rescue dog and honestly I am still hopeful that may be the case.  However, right now he has a greater mission, to help me!

I am not fully comfortable saying he is a service dog for me because that usually means you are blind or handicapped to most people.  That is not the case with me.  I still manage to work a full time, physical job as a nurse and try to be active.  But I am also coming to the reality that there are some things that I need help with and I don't have a husband or family that I can rely on here in Texas.  So right now beyond providing emotional support, Zateo is going through training in order to learn how to carry things for me when I don't have the strength.  His tasks will evolve as he is trained and as I research service dogs more.  I have connected with a few people who are my age and training there own service dogs.  They have been an immense wealth of help and ideas.

Went off to doggie boot came as a puppy and came back as a mature little man ready to soak in all the training he is given.  

Zateo is officially registered through the US Service Dog registry which means that he can go wherever I go including an airplane.  A month ago the thought of taking him on a plane was crazy thought because he was so wild and not yet understanding his role.  But in a month he has transformed into an amazing 11 month old lab who responds to what is asked of him.  How we got there is a whole other story which I will share in a later post but today I am blessed with an amazing dog that could fly on a plane with me or go into a restaurant with me.

Yesterday, I took him to PetSmart for a training session.  PetSmart is the epitome of distractions for a rambunctious puppy.  All the smells, people, animals, dog toys and the list continues.  When we walked in he started to get excited and wanting to forget all his training.  But I did exactly what the trainer/breeder said...start with sit and end with sit....it will help him recognize he has a job to do.  So we sat at the door till he relaxed and when we entered we sat again till he showed me he was ready to do his job.  We proceeded to go through the store and work on heel, sit and greeting people.  A month ago Zateo would have been jumping on anyone greeting him, flopping all over the place with any affection, pulling to get to the toys and food, but today was different.  Today, he walked like a man with a job.  He greeted well, just a little hint of excitement.  At one point we stood in the main aisle as I talked to various people, carts were going by, kids were running by, dogs were coming up to him and he simply laid at my feet and watched it all with only a few times of trying to get up to go see something.  He saw when I was getting too tired emotionally and physically and started to indicate it was time to go.  I am really excited to see what this dog will be able to do.

Today, I called Spirit airlines, and he is officially on my reservation in June to fly home to Oregon.  He will fly as a service dog in the cabin with me.  I am both nervous and excited but after seeing how well he did yesterday I know he can do it.  I look forward to sharing this experience and many more as we train together.

Zateo at PetSmart for his first real test as a newly registered service dog!

Faith (8 year old Aussie), Zateo (10 month old lab)
They are best buds and inseparable.  Zateo is even working as a service dog for Faith.  He has mellowed her out and taught her the world is OK...just enjoy it