Rough Evening for Sienna

Three of my children were enrolled in an educational program at our local library.  Brian had to work so I decided to bring Sienna and work on her spelling with her while we waited for the class to finish.  Sienna started out o.k.  She sat in her chair, opened her book, got her pencil and started to listen to what I was teaching her.  The sitting nicely lasted for about 5 minutes.  She got very distracted and then got out of her chair.  I motioned for her to come back and see how many words she could write and that was when a group of about 5 kids came in.
Saige, my toddler instantly tapped my leg and pointed to Sienna.  I was amazed..Saige is only 18 months and was trying to tell me that Sienna was getting stressed.  Saige put her shirt in her mouth and started chewing on it, just like Sienna does when she is stressed. I think she was trying to tell me to watch out for Sienna because Saige stopped chewing as soon as I acknowledge her communication.

Saige was right, Sienna was getting stressed.  I grabbed her arm and calmly told her that the kids were coming in to use the library.  She didn't calm.  She starting eating her shirt just like she does every time she is stressed.  One of the children started coming close to her so she switched to biting herself instead of biting her clothes.  It's so sad to see her struggle.  I distracted her as much as I could and eventually she sat down to finish her spelling.  That didn't go well.  She instantly broke the end of the pencil and got upset because it was the only pencil she had in her bag.  Everything went downhill from here and the Spelling work never did get done. 

Once the class was over we were out of there very quickly.  I held Sienna's hand on the way back to the van because I was afraid she might take off on me.

While it is never good to see a child go through so much it really helped me decide what services this wonderful new dog will be able to provide.  Below is a PARTIAL list of how Jedi is going to be able to help Sienna...

• calm Sienna during stressful moments by offering Sienna a brush to care for her dog. (this is very calming to her)
• one way to calm Sienna is to give her a weighted vest, weighted lap pad, or maybe a loving lab to lie across her lap to help make her feel safe (command "Go Hug" will be used)
• prevent Sienna from bolting when she gets scared. (dog will be tethered to Sienna once he/she has been trained)
• at the moment Sienna starts chewing her clothes, Jedi will be taught to distract her with a toy they can use together. (a tug o' war game perhaps) This will be given  the "go tug" command.
• Jedi will be her best friend.  You see, Sienna doesn't connect well with other kids, even her siblings.  She gets so frustrated and upset and usually ends up in a tantrum.  So, this falls into the emotional support this dog will give her.... that area deserves a whole web site of it's own) 

This is just a PARTIAL list of what Jedi will be trained to do.  I will add more as I can.

Oh, and today's Good News... we have a wonderful vet lined up to care for Jedi.  I have to thank my dear friend Crystal for this part of it.  Thank you Crystal! You have been such a support to our family!  We love you!