When I got Tigerlily, my original intention was to train her as a service dog for my father, who had Parkinson's disease. One thought was to train her to keep an eye on Dad (he was early eighties) . I wanted Dad and his wife to live with us rather than have Dad go into a nursing home, and thought a dog would be very helpful in letting hard-of-hearing me know if Dad woke up and started moving around (and repairing things) at night. Also, I told myself, a natural retriever could help get Dad things he might want or need or drop, and as it turns out, Tigerlily is exceptional in that department. She learned to pick up anything, dropped guitar picks and even hats overboard, and "pet therapy" with Tigerlily means she helps the kids in Spring Harbor's pediatric psychiatric units put dirty laundry in baskets. She'll jump up on the desk to bring me a pencil, and she finds the phone and beeping things for me.
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But my stepmother didn't want to move to Maine, and Dad suffered a bit of a whirlwind of facilities as his condition worsened, and Tigerlily visited him more a therapy dog than a service dog, and she started serving me more and more as a hearing dog. And then my Dad died, but I still have Tigerlily.
I like the way a dog can be of service to a whole family. I think they call this a home companion dog, but I wanted to prove Tigerlily certifiable for public access too, so she could help us help Dad wherever we wanted to go. I brought her with me everywhere, by boat, train, plane, in restaurants, theatre, dancing. And though she started out reserved, now at three years years old, she is really very proper and polite. The serious problem we once had with Tigerlily -- that she was very shy of other dogs -- has shaped into far greater confidence, far better ability to relax around dogs we pass on the street or on the ferry.
Recently, we've had a service dog team spending time playing at Whole Dog Camp. I filled a laundry tub with water and dropped bones into it, and the dog dove in and out after the bones, kersplash! And so as the dog romped (avoiding the lilies! It's amazing that dogs in my flower garden, even big huge romping ones, seem quite naturally to stay on the paths), I held Tigerlily and helped her practice relaxing around a new dog. She hung upside down in my arms. Here's a little video of Tigerlily showing that same relax-around-dogs behavior at the Common Hound Fair. A friend of me looked at her and said, jokingly, "Sorry your dog is dead!"
