I'd like to take my time to discuss my negative experience with HSD
**Ryder's Health:**
When I first brought Ryder "home," I was still living on HSD's property, and the experience was much harder than it should have been. Ryder would cry no matter what I did all night long. When I brought this up to the other trainers, the advice I got was to just "say no and squirt him with vinegar water." Despite doing everything I could, nothing worked to ease his distress. I would take him out to potty multiple times a night, yet he would still wake up covered in pee and oftentimes his own diarrhea. After a couple of weeks of Ryder moving in with me, I moved back to my parents' house. Ryder was immediately taken to the vet and diagnosed with a severe case of giardia. He would cry, whine, and whimper and had fluid leaking from both his mouth and rectum. Even with medication, the problems continued. Ryder started to lose weight and had no food motivation. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that his health issues were not just related to his GI tract. When Ryder was 5 months old, I noticed what I thought was a huge hot spot ranging from his chin to his stomach. It had seemingly developed overnight. His vet said it was the worst case of atopic dermatitis she had ever seen, and she had never seen it in a puppy so young before. We were forced to shave him from his chin to his stomach, and he was put on strong medications and topical sprays. It took months and months for the hair to finally grow back, and it took us even longer to work through the trauma he had experienced. Now, at 20 months old, Ryder has been diagnosed with numerous health issues. He has genetic atopic dermatitis, a spinal injury, hip problems, arthritis (not diagnosed yet, but the vet is fairly certain), horrible allergies, possible IBD (waiting to get testing), possible hip dysplasia, anxiety, genetic fear, and more. There is also a video on my instagram and Facebook of Ryder extremely young, about 7 weeks old, where he was being held in a twisted way by his neck, and this gave him permanent damage to his spine. The vet was able to see the inflammation from the injury even without me telling her anything was wrong. He has been sick, in pain, and injured since I brought him home.
Ryder's behavioral issues:
From the beginning, Ryder was not meant for service work. He was fearful, nervous, and drivey, as if he had no thoughts, only drive. Ryder would become so fearful in public that he couldn't focus on me and couldn't settle. There seemed to be no off switch with Ryder, even from a young age. I have videos of him before I knew he was mine, where he tried to bite me while all the other puppies were just trying to lick me or get pets. He deviated completely from the golden retriever standard from the start. He never liked people (he was scared of everyone and would submissive pee), and he would randomly become scared of things in public. Additionally, he displayed EXTREME anxiety and fear responses to items used at the breeder's, flattening to the floor anytime a squirt bottle (like a Clorox cleanup bottle, for example) was around him. He would be scared of random things constantly, as if stuck in a fear phase he never outgrew. Therefore, he was washed out early on because I always felt like I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Allegations:
There have been incorrect allegations circulating about me. I was NEVER fired from Disney. I quit Disney to work for Hope Service Dogs and lived on the property, and I can provide proof of this. I quit due to complications with my accommodations and poor management. The owner of HSD also offered me a job if I quit. Despite rumors suggesting otherwise, I never destroyed or damaged a single piece of property owned by Hope Service Dogs. It's worth mentioning that it's interesting my character is being attacked when, as a community, we are simply speaking the truth of what we witnessed. read more