The Lagotto is an Italian breed, originally a water retriever but now bred primarily to hunt for truffles. They are a medium sized, non-shedding, working breed; smart, biddable, playful, communicative, sensitive, active, and affectionate. Sandy was carefully selected from her litter by breeder Chris Anctil (Mio Amore Lagotto Romagnolo) for her calmness and confidence as a pup. At 12 weeks, she mad
e the journey from British Columbia (Canada) to the Greater Seattle Area (Washington, USA), where she met her person, AJ. AJ meets the ADA’s legal definition of disabled (“a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity”), and was encouraged by their healthcare providers to consider a Service Dog as part of their treatment plan. In addition to basic house training and manners, Service Dogs must learn specific tasks/work that mitigate their handler’s disability, as well as Public Access skills. Service Dog training typically takes between a year and three years, and not all dogs are cut out for it -- they need to be non-reactive in a variety of situations, be friendly but focused on their handler while working, toilet only on command, be eager to work yet still able to settle for long periods of time, learn “intelligent disobedience”, allow emergency personnel to interact with their handler without displaying any protectiveness, etc. Sandy's planned work/task list includes pressure therapy (for example to prevent or recover from a meltdown, or to manage pain or anxiety); grounding/tactile stimulation (to assist in recovery from a panic attack or meltdown, or as an alternative stim); behavior interruption (for disassociation, harmful stims, or self injury); item retrieval (phone, blanket, water bottle, dropped items); blocking (creating a buffer of space when standing in line or in a crowd); alerting (to people approaching from behind, to alarms, to people entering the room while handler sleeps, or to elevated heart rate); medication assistance (alert to reminder alarm, bring medication bag); getting help; and acting as a social bridge/tool. Sandy started basic obedience training with Sarah McCutcheon (McCutcheon Dog Training LLC), and then graduated to task training with Hanna Myers (Elite K9/Canine Kinship http://www.elitek9tacoma.com). After a move from the Tacoma area to the Seattle area, Sandy transitioned to working with Diana Simonsen (Diana Simonsen Dog Training http://www.dianasimonsen.com) where she earned her Canine Good Citizen, CGC Urban, and CGC Advanced titles. Unfortunately, due to a confluence of challenging life events and health conditions/injuries for both AJ and Sandy, work as a service dog was largely put on pause for several years, and she now primarily works public access in limited and specific contexts. Sandy has continued training just for fun when AJ is able: classes with Puppy Perfectors, French Creek Pet Resort, the Truffle Dog Company, a few refresher sessions and the odd 'board and train' with Paul Grosart (The Mindful Pupper https://www.mindfulpupper.com) or Kayley Paylor (In Stride Azawakh and Training https://www.instrideazawakh.com)... She's earned her Intermediate Trick Dog title, her Farm Dog Certification, learned the basics of nose work and rally and agility (earned her ACT titles), and is currently training with the Unorthodogs Frisbee Team and the Unorthodogs Flyball Club (http://www.flyballdogs.com/unorthodogs/) in the hopes of competing someday soon! Also on the list to try is barnhunt, dock diving, and FastCAT! This page was created to keep friends and family updated on AJ and Sandy’s progress and adventures, without spamming AJ’s personal page. Since then it has grown to also encompass educating folks about the Lagotto Romagnolo breed, about ethical dog ownership/handling/breeding, all things service dog related, or disability related… and now to include AJ and Sandy’s journey with the new pup Hugo as well! Hugo is a 1 year old intact male Lagotto Romagnolo. Originally from Serbia, he had a rough journey to the United States, and arrived very anxious and fearful about the world. His first owners in the US loved him but were poorly matched to a working breed puppy and overwhelmed by how much he needed. So he found his way to AJ, and together they are working on rehabilitative socialization and training, with some help from Keiko Swanberg (Zen Dog Seattle). The goal for now is just to keep building confidence and calm and connection; and hopefully someday he’ll even make it as a sports prospect!
