Part Two

Part 2:

The good news was that we were officially approved for a service dog. The bad news was that there is a crazy long wait. When you are approved, you are put on either the priority list or the regular list. Some people go directly to the priority list without ever making the regular list. These are the people who need a dog sooner than later, usually for life threatening/ending diseases. When you consider that, it's not so bad to be sent to the regular list.

After a year's wait on the regular list, CA contacted me and arranged to set up a home visit. I wasn't sure what to expect from a home visit and I frantically worked on cleaning the house from top to bottom. I felt like my house needed to be perfect to convince them that the dog would be happy in our small townhouse. This poor woman flew from Georgia to Iowa in mid-January. Of course, it was one of those days that the high temp never gets above 0 and the temp in Atlanta was in the upper 60s. She was very nice and had a good sense of humor about the huge temperature difference. Once she was in our home she never once left the living room, despite my repeated offers to show her around. It turns out that the home visit isn't an inspection of your home, but a way to meet the family and assess the living situation. She asked questions about what type of dog we were looking for as far as energy levels and temperament.  She talked about some of the things to expect when we first receive the dog and when we first come home. She said that the mandatory home visits was a new requirement, and was the direct result of a situation with a service dog. I can only imagine what happened. Was the dog abused? Locked outside? Was the home violent or unsanitary? It must have been bad to cause a universal change in policy.

After the home visit was concluded, we were officially moved onto the priority list. Mika was only on the 'regular' waiting list for one year, which is pretty short, all things considered. The priority list is where the candidates to get a dog are chosen from, so once you're on there it's a good sign. The bad news was that it's still 1-3 year wait on average. It was really hard to explain that to my 10 year old in a way she would understand. 1-3 years is a long time to hope for a dog without being able to plan on getting one at all. The reason we had a long wait, it turns out, is because of the sponsor issues.

CA partners with corporate sponsors to help cover the cost of raising and training the dog. In addition to their main partners like Delta and MilkBone, they try to find local sponsors near the recipient's home to contribute. I'm sure this wouldn't be that much of a problem in large metropolitan areas, but it's a significant issue in the Heartland.  We spent about 20 months waiting until a local sponsor could be found. It was a long wait and at times, Mika would alternate between feeling hopeless about ever getting a dog and feeling angry enough to not want a dog. There were many situations that the service dog would have been a huge benefit, but there was nothing we could do about it. It's nobody's fault, that's just how things work out.

Okay, I've killed enough time at work. I'll finish the background stuff next time.