- Hey, welcome back to the tree house.
- To the announcement tree.
- This is where we make our announcements.
(Jessica laughing) Last time we were here
we were announcing that you were pregnant
- I'm pregnant right now. - You're still pregnant.
- I'm still pregnant.
- Not the announcement.
- Not the announcement, and I'm still like regular pregnant,
like we have
one child brewing. - Yeah, not a, not,
it's not twins, that's not what we're here to say.
- And I showed that with two fingers, I went like that,
but that means one.
But we have somebody big news, like really big news.
And I'm very excited about this.
And very nervous about it.
I don't know how much we've talked with you guys about it,
but it's something that's been like brewing in our minds
for a long time and something that, on different levels,
we've been considering.
But over the last little over a year,
we've been heavily considering, but we are getting a...
Wanna say it together?
- Dog. - Dog.
(Jessica laughing) - We're getting a dog.
- Yay. - Yay.
- We are getting a family dog,
and we are getting it with the intention to train it
as a service dog, which is a very, very, very big thing.
We actually started thinking about this about a year ago
because we were speaking with Luke's early interventionist,
and she was suggesting that we get on a waiting list
for a service dog, but she didn't know that much
about the nuances of it.
So I started investigating that,
and that is heartbreakingly, not for us,
but just like for everybody, very difficult to get,
especially without like massive amounts of money,
or unless you're in a few different tiers
of disabilities or needs.
So for example, there are programs
like Guide Dogs of America,
which I believe you can go on a waiting list
and get a free, I think,
or at least partially covered guide dog.
I don't know all of it.
But you can do it that way.
There are some ways.
I just kind of made the assumption my whole life
that somebody with a service dog
was getting it provided more for.
- Like a government-
- Through insurance, through the government.
Through whatever.
And what I discovered was that
the majority of people really aren't,
and that guide dogs often cost upwards of $20,000.
There are also ways of getting on long wait lists
that reduce the cost, sometimes eliminate the costs,
not really typically.
Anyway, so I went through all this like discovery
and being like, oh my gosh, I can't believe this.
One of my best friends, also,
is a trainer for Guide Dogs of America.
So I have some ideas of what she does,
and obviously her value.
What she does is worth upwards of $20,000.
- It's amazing.
- She's incredible.
And she doesn't get paid for it either.
That's not what
I'm suggesting- - Yeah, she's volunteering
for it. - I'm just saying like,
I understand why
the development of a service dog is so expensive,
just because it really does take a lot so-
- A lotta time and a lotta effort,
like she's putting a lot of work into a dog currently,
and it's like, it's amazing to watch it.
- Yeah, it's incredible.
And she's being trained by people
who are putting time and effort into her training.
The other thing about it is that she can do all of this
for I think it's a year and a half, maybe,
I think it's two years
and she does all of this,
and even as a very, very, very trained professional
with a lot of assistance, her dog may not pass the program.
That's where we're getting in a little over our heads here.
And we're very aware of this.
If you're looking at us and saying
"Oh really preggo lady with a ton of children
"you just think you're going to casually
"train a service dog.
"Like that's a really big deal."
I get that there is a lot of like naiveness,
naivete going on.
We'll see, like I wanna give myself and ourselves grace
where this is something we want to do.
We're hoping to do.
We're really approaching it the best we possibly,
like we can.
But we also know that this might end up being a family dog
and not necessarily officially a service dog,
but that is our goal.
- Jessica has been doing a lot of research
for over a year on this topic,
trying to figure out the type of breed
that would work the best for this,
the type of...
Because we have allergies to consider,
all sorts of stuff.
And what types of services the dog would be required to
know how to do and how all of that works out.
And so we've decided to go down
the route that we're going down.
- Which is, training our own service dog.
And we have found a dog actually like this,
this was, the finding the dog was kind of miraculous
because I knew from a lot of my search
that we wanted a dog that could be
as hypoallergenic as possible.
This isn't something that necessarily is a guarantee,
but we're trying here. And we knew that we wanted a dog
that was very good with families,
large families, and could potentially be trained very well.
And so what I landed on was a golden doodle,
so that was what I have been looking for.
We also are hoping to train for some elements of mobility,
and this is another complicated nuance,
so we don't know exactly what Luke's going to need.
From what we know, we're thinking that there's a chance
he's going to need some help with balance
and some help with getting back up,
potentially, when he falls.
He's doing really well.
He's walking, he's getting orthotics,
but he also has a cerebellum that's a little different.
And I haven't been able to find a lot of people
that have a cerebellum like his,
but when I do look up dogs and cats,
because it's actually very common in some dogs and cats,
you can look up cerebellar hypoplasia,
and see like dogs and cats who are navigating having this.
And some of them look more extreme,
I would say, than Luke,
but you can see the similar movements.
I feel like he's doing really well,
but there's also a strong chance that for a while,
and maybe always, he'll be navigating
having some balance issues and falling more often.
So we're hoping to train a dog now
so that when Luke's a little bigger
and the dog's a little bigger,
the dog will be able to be there for him physically,
and that's- - And emotionally.
- Well, and emotionally, that that's the other element
of the service.
We don't know everything about Luke.
And we also don't wanna share everything about Luke
because it's also his personal journey,
but we think that there might be a possibility
he would need something called interrupted action.
So we're going to be focusing on interrupted action cues
and also some mobility stuff,
and because of the mobility stuff,
we needed to make sure that the dog was a size
that was safe for the dog.
So we didn't want to get too small of a service dog,
and we wanted to make sure it was somewhat
of a standard size, but also not giant,
'cause we're a little intimidated by that.
But anyway, the point is I've done
massive amounts of research, and the kids, too.
They're really, really, really excited.
We've been watching Rachel Fusaro on YouTube.
We've been watching somebody named dreamflight6000,
I think, on YouTube.
And Jacob, especially, he loves her.
He loves their family.
And they both have golden doodles.
And we've just been watching a bunch
of random other videos on YouTube.
I have also signed up with this training program online
called Baxter and Bella
that I've been really impressed with.
I don't know, we don't have the dog yet.
So this isn't like a get this no matter what.
I don't really know,
but so far I'm like, yeah, I really like this program,
This is really helping me.
So I've been liking that.
And then we're also connecting with Rachel's trainer, Joy,
and we have a Zoom call with her
before puppy comes into our house.
So we're trying so hard to do this
the absolute best that we can.
And finding this dog has been a journey,
it's been really hard,
but I kind of miraculously stumbled upon
a family in Utah who had the same need as us.
And they trained a service dog for their child.
And that service dog has fathered two litters.
And our dog is coming from this service dogs' second litter.
And the first litter that it had,
actually all the puppies went on to train
to be service dogs for families as well.
So this family, I don't even really wanna
call them breeders.
I don't know when you elevate into level of breeder,
but they're just, they're a family who has a heart for this
and has had a need and experience with it.
And they seem like a really perfect connection for us.
So our dog is flying from Utah
to us in less than two weeks.
Honestly I'm feeling like,
I'm very vulnerable in all of this.
We know that it's new, we know that.
This isn't something we've done before.
We're not necessarily good at it.
We're so used to being good at things, right?
- I don't feel like
I'm good at anything. - Right, like a little bit?
- I just kinda like-
- I know I'm joking, but I mean,
like we parented, and it's like,
okay, we'll parent another kid,
and there are always things that throw you off
and things that are new, but honestly learning
about dogs as much as I have been,
I'm like, "wow, I know nothing."
You know? - Yeah.
I've had a lot of dogs throughout my life,
and I worked at a pet store,
but I've never been the dad of a family with a dog.
And that, I feel like that's a completely different dynamic.
Like that's a new thing.
- Our kids are very excited about this as well.
Especially the older ones are learning
a ton about how they can also be
a supportive family member for the doggy.
I don't know, my heart is like 100% on my sleeve in this.
I feel very vulnerable.
I just wanna kinda ask or beg all of you
to please be just really supportive in this for us.
And if you have advice, like we need advice,
we'd love to hear it.
We just also request that you do it in a very loving way.
Because I said, I feel very vulnerable about all of this,
and I want to share our journey
because I have been so helped
by seeing other people's journeys in this.
I think I've watched more YouTube
than I maybe ever have before.
Jacob and I especially,
we sit there and we watch so many YouTube videos
on people bringing their golden doodle puppies home
and people training their puppies.
And I really want to share that
with other families who are kind of
in the same situation we are, but I know my heart,
and I know I will have a hard time
if I see a lot of things that make me feel sad,
like I'll probably just shut down.
So please just be really, really, really, really,
really, really supportive.
We admit that we're new at this.
We admit that we don't know what we're doing,
but we're trying. - we also are saying-
Yeah, we're also saying right now,
we are going to do our best.
- We're gonna do our best.
That is where our heart is.
We're also going to mess up things.
So if we...
And also there are different viewpoints
on how you do do animals and dogs and everything.
If you have, are compelled to comment or something,
don't argue with people.
Like have discussions, share your knowledge,
but know that also people do things differently.
There are different dynamics
with bringing an animal into any home,
and we're really, really excited.
(Jessica laughing)
Reeally excited, too.
(Jessica laughing)
Luke's still, every time he goes to the park
every time he does anything,
it's dog, dog, dog. - Yeah, he's just
pointing at dogs, constantly.
- And I just...
I'm hopeful that this will be
really, really, really good for him
and really good for all the other kids in our family as well
because they obviously, they've always wanted a dog,
and we've always been like, "I don't know."
- I've probably been the most vocal, like, no, no dog,
but now I feel like it's the right time.
That's, I wanted to say that.
'Cause I feel like we, we aren't doing this,
just sort of like, let's have a dog now,
you know what I mean?
It is something that we've been discussing
and talking about for years.
- Decades, really.
- Decades.
- Decades, that's how long we've been together.
- Yeah, over a decade, we've been talking about this.
- Well, 'cause how long,
we've been together for over 20 years,
and we've been married- - Decades.
- I know, 'cause in high school,
we used to really like English bulldogs
when we were in high school,
and we'd be like, aww, English bulldogs,
but we never got one.
- No, so this is something we're not taking lightly,
we're very much trying to be intentional with it.
- And we've
talked about it forever. - And we're excited about it.
I know I've said no dog for a long time,
but after seeing that Luke could really benefit from one,
and I think our whole family could really benefit,
and the dog will benefit from us, I feel like.
I feel like we can give this dog a really good home.
- Yeah, our home is really well-equipped.
We've been taking walks every single day
around our neighborhood, dog-less.
We've been getting in the habit and trying to be very ready.
We have, yeah, our home is fully fenced in.
We have space in our,
we call it our fireplace room,
like kind of where we do Christmas and that all-
- It's like a den.
- So, and it's adjacent to where the dog will be
going outside to potty and being trained for potty stuff.
And actually, you know what else
is a really big news for us?
Faith has been living with us since,
what'd you say, like November of last year?
She left around Christmas
because she wanted to be with family through the holidays
and her birthday and stuff.
And then she came back,
and she has a room in our house, and she lives in our house.
And then she also works in a COVID safe job part-time,
but she's actually quitting her job.
She did quit her job, she's done.
But we haven't had her like full-time yet.
She'll still have, she'll have a couple days off a week
and that sort of thing, but she'll be full-time for us,
which is really, really cool.
And she's really more part of our family than anything else,
like we all hang out together and do dinner together,
but we have an extra adult pair of hands,
and it helps when I'm homeschooling one of the kids
and then Faith can have Luke.
Or like we're doing...
- Being in a tree house.
- We're being in a tree house.
And then Faith's downstairs with Luke and Duncan right now.
And Bailey, Jacob, and Parker are all
on an online class right now.
So they're just little things
that it's been really helpful to have her around with.
And usually that's weekends and then some evenings.
And now it's gonna be, we don't know,
more full-time five days a week,
but we don't even...
she doesn't have a schedule or anything like that.
We just know that there are two days where we say,
"Kids, it's Faith's day off, leave her alone."
So we're going to have another person around
helping us and helping love on the dog.
And I have my friend who trains a guide dog,
and I'm really hoping that, at the very least,
we have an amazing new family member and companion.
And really in the ideal place,
we would also have a service dog that could help Luke
as his needs progress in life.
And you know what's been amazing actually?
Already this side benefit is that
the kids have been wanting a dog forever,
and I am pregnant and nesting,
and I've been through my past several pregnancies'
nesting periods going like,
like I kind of like...
I like stare at things that I'm, and I'm annoyed at them.
But like I tried to clean them
and there's so many other people,
like sometimes they get messed up again,
or like sometimes it's something that's beyond
my strength or ability in the moment,
so I'm like, "Christopher, please do that thing, please
do that thing."
And he's like, "I can't do everything."
And this time around everybody else is nesting for the dog.
So they're like super motivated and it's been amazing.
Like we've been bammin' out rooms
and just getting everything ready,
and it's been really fun to kind of
me have my nesting instinct
and then also have Jacob, my little buddy being like,
"Yeah, we can get rid of this."
And it's like, "Okay yeah, you guys like this toy,
"but like toy or do you think the dog
"should play in this room?"
And they're like, "Dog."
(Jessica laughing)
And we're able to move on from certain things
that the kids were wanting to hold onto,
but they weren't really using.
That's been our main thing,
is puppy proofing the house right now.
We're trying to make it really safe.
Trying to make a plan
for where the puppy will initially live
and do its beginning development stuff
and beginning training things.
So that's what we've been doing lately.
And it's been,
it's been a lot, but it's been really fun and exciting.
It's been having...
It's been a lot of fun having other people nesting with me.
- So that's our announcement.
That's what's happening.
That's what, we're getting a dog.
- Dog.
- That's what we're getting.
You'll be meeting the dog very soon.
- Well, puppy technically.
- Yeah.
- She'll be about 10 weeks old.
- So you'll be meeting her, very soon, and-
- It's a girl.
(Chris and Jessica laughing)
We should have done like a gender reveal.
- For the dog?
(Jessica laughing) Dog gender...
Just pink bones falling from the sky or something.
- No, just giant explosions.
Did you hear about that recently?
- No, I don't, I can't. - It like blew up a city.
- No, don't blow up cities, guys.
Crack an egg.
(Chris and Jessica laughing)
Just do that.
Anyway, thank you so much for watching,
and we'll see you next time.
(Parker giggling)