Week-long seminar with world-famous Ken Ramirez
The Pawsitivity staff is taking a continuing education seminar with Ken Ramirez this week, and it’s fascinating!
Update from upcoming Impact Assessment
9/5/19: Al Onkka from independent third-party Aurora Consulting in Minneapolis, MN just posted about the upcoming independent third-party impact evaluation of Pawsitivity:
Peer-reviewed study: Adults take pain of girls less seriously
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210406164124.htm
In our effort to help all kinds of people with disabilities, we find it important to share information like this new peer-reviewed study shows that adults in the study who watch a film of a child experiencing pain rated the child as having less pain if they are told that the child is named Samantha (rather than if they are told the child’s name is Samuel). Basically, they rate the girl as more over-reacting.
When Lexi’s woman graduated high school, she posted this awesome pic
You can follow their progress on Instagram at #respect.the.lex
Meeting with Bailey and his boy
We had a follow-up meeting with Autism Service Dog, Bailey, who we trained for his boy many years ago. Bailey’s boy is going to be fourteen years old soon. How time flies!
Just for Fun: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Master Recipe
Just for fun, here is the master recipe I use for 4 one-pound boules (round loaves) of white artisan (flavorful and crusty) white bread with no-knead high-hydration 72-hour dough, from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.
8/28/21: This is my current recipe version. There are other ways of doing it, this is just the version of the Master Recipe that I use.
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Cintas in Minnesota open to hiring employees with autism and other disabilities
8/1/19: Cintas in Minnesota is seeking talented applicants for open positions in Minnesota, and is very open to people on the autism spectrum or with other disabilities. Below is a partial list of current open positions. You can access the full listing of positions online at www.careers.cintas.com/careers
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Adding bigger patches
Palmer’s boy’s mom tells me that adults (but not kids) STILL pet Palmer the autism service dog while she’s working, so, just like for Lexi, we’ve got bigger stop sign patches. Check the second photo for the updated vest!
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Cost (price) of a service dog
The average cost (price) to train a service dog in 2021 is $25,000* (this is the same for all nonprofit service dog organizations). At Pawsitivity, there is an income-based sliding-scale fee because that policy keeps the process sustainable, and scholarships (up to 100%) are available.
*Source: PAWS Act, US Congress, 117th Congress, 1st Session, H. R. 1022.
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Cheapest Five-Star Dog Food Kibble on Dogfoodavisor.com
AAII (Animal Assisted Intervention International) now recommends NOT feeding a raw diet to service dogs because of salmonella concerns, so I looked up all the five-star dry kibble (as rated by dogfoodadvisor.com) and checked out which brands were available on Amazon with free shipping. Note that many of these dog foods are not shipped via Amazon Prime, but they still have free shipping (or I included the shipping in the final price). Here is the list, with prices, weights, and cost per pound.
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