As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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We are looking into getting a new puppy to train as a service dog for Ramoan. For those of you with service dogs, what must he do to have the dog certified as a service dog?
He has Acute Social Anxiety (bordering on Social Phobia), Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety, and OCD. Since we moved into my parents' house, the dogs here have done WONDERS for him. One of the dogs is a retired military dog, and now a service/therapy dog for my dad. But he came to Dad pre-trained and pre-certified.
Ramoan wants to do the training for the puppy himself. But other than buying a vest that says "service dog" what other certification do we need to go through to make it official?
Oh, and we are looking to find a boxer, so if anyone knows of a good boxer rescue in the South Texas/ Gulf Coast Texas area, please let me know.
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I waited 24 hours for a response. From what I have read online I would suggest getting a trained dog. The agencies will work with the person, train the person, and get the right dog to do the job. The agencies usually are trained to see things that the person may not see such as jobs for the dog to do or type of dog best suited for the person.
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Mom calls to check on me and reminded me to pay the gardener. I love her so much.
Disneyland was fun with flag retreat and pickles. I have a home here, thank you. GAC is NOT a "front of the line pass".
She is gone but keeping signature. Laundry is getting done. My purpose in life is to help poor people in FL. Farewell, will miss you.
I am so happy to hear you want a rescue dog
Be sure to discuss what needs you have for your dog so the rescue can help match you to the best dog to fit your needs. I am involved with Whippet & Weimaraner rescue here. Maybe a nice Weimaraner will fit your bill We have dogs in your area too..
I am so happy to hear you want a rescue dog
Be sure to discuss what needs you have for your dog so the rescue can help match you to the best dog to fit your needs. I am involved with Whippet & Weimaraner rescue here. Maybe a nice Weimaraner will fit your bill We have dogs in your area too..
Thanks for the links, Deb. We have been looking at the local shelters to find a boxer, but they never have any. So we started looking for rescue groups in the area.
Thank you for the advice on discussing our needs with the rescue. When I sent out inquiry emails to the rescue groups, I made sure to include that we are looking for a dog to train as a service/therapy dog.
Weimaraners are beautiful dogs, but I just can't see my sweetheart with one. It would almost be like seeing a huge biker with a tiny little teacup chihuahua. LOL Seriously, he has his heart set on a boxer. He used to have one years ago and was even part of a boxer rescue when he lived in Ohio. So it's a boxer for us. Although, once we get this one, who knows?
You may want to talk with a trainer about how to train a service dog. A service dog must be actively doing something, providing a service. A dog making a person calmer or being a positive influence does NOT legally qualify as a service dog - that is an emotional support animal, which does not have the same standing with the law. Emotional Support Animals are NOT allowed into most businesses, for example.
What particular tasks do you want the dog to help with? Is there a particular behaviour you want the dog to intervene with? For example, are you going to train the dog to see the first signs of a panic attack? That could be VERY hard to do on your own.
A dog making a person feel more confident is not a service, unfortunately. I just want to make sure that if there is an issue, you are firmly on the right side of the law!
Also, are you planning on working with a trainer? It can be very hard to train the behaviours you want into a service dog. For example, the dog when in public, should not even wag its tail too much. It should not sniff things, etc.
You may also want to be careful of a boxer because they are DROOLY dogs! If the dog is going to drool, you really cant bring it into a lot of places. I know that if a service dog at the next table in a restaurant was drooling all over the floor, I would speak to management, because it is just gross. It is not uncommon for boxers to have drool hanging from their mouths all the time, so that may be an issue.
I am SO for you guys getting a service dog - I just wanted to mention the issues that can come up with training your own, especially for such a difficult need as anxiety problems...
Thank you for the great advice TinkerbellK. He does want to train the dog to pick up on his anxiety attacks. As it is now, I am the one that spots when he is about to have an anxiety attack and I give him his medication. However, I can't always be there. So he does want train the dog to spot the start of an attack and alert him, so that he can take his medications.
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Thank you for the great advice TinkerbellK. He does want to train the dog to pick up on his anxiety attacks. As it is now, I am the one that spots when he is about to have an anxiety attack and I give him his medication. However, I can't always be there. So he does want train the dog to spot the start of an attack and alert him, so that he can take his medications.
Then you might definitely want to talk to a trainer or a professional organization. I know that some dogs can "smell" things like high blood pressure and seizures and some simply cannot. This extra "sense" for lack of a better term, cannot be trained in. I am not sure if it is the same for sensing panic attacks.
Also, you may want to ask for a training consultation about the dog you pick - some are simply not suited to the type of life a service dog must lead. It can be very hard to train a service dog not to try to smell at food or other people, and I am not sure if you can even train a boxer to not drool (which in my opinion is a MUST for a service dog like a boxer)...
I am not saying not to do it, but speaking with a trainer to get more ideas and getting an eval of dogs BEFORE you adopt one may be a good idea.
Like I said I would talk to a trainer to see what needs a dog can meet. Dogs can smell changes in ketone and other stuff in person with diabetes. As for sensing emotional changes that is more of an instinct of the dog. Rescue groups can find you a dog from far from you sometimes. Houston ASPCA has a show on Animal Planet that deals with animal welfare and neglect cases . That is one place you could check and try to get a boxer from. Some breeds like boxers go to new homes very fast so that you may not see them. I do not remember my neighbor's boxer as being a slobber machine but still it is something to think about.
I would consider how often your son goes out in public and how much contact the dog would have with the public. That brings up the legal side of having a dog that helps a person. A dog might not even be allowed in a restaurant if it is not legally a service dog. Even if it were a poodle or greyhound it would not be allowed in most public areas so that the drooling issue would be a moot point.
__________________
Mom calls to check on me and reminded me to pay the gardener. I love her so much.
Disneyland was fun with flag retreat and pickles. I have a home here, thank you. GAC is NOT a "front of the line pass".
She is gone but keeping signature. Laundry is getting done. My purpose in life is to help poor people in FL. Farewell, will miss you.
I am so happy to hear you want a rescue dog
Be sure to discuss what needs you have for your dog so the rescue can help match you to the best dog to fit your needs. I am involved with Whippet & Weimaraner rescue here. Maybe a nice Weimaraner will fit your bill We have dogs in your area too..
I've seen service dogs in a variety of settings, and I find them to be one of the most healing influences ever. I also live close to Morristown, where many dogs are trained. You can always see them walking around with their little vests. It always makes me smile.
Previous posters covered the difference between an Emotional Support Dog (not included under the ADA) and a Service Dog (which is covered under the ADA). Important thing to keep in mind is that the dog has no rights, the person with a disability has the right to use a Service Dog as an assistive device. It sounds sort of strange, but a dog is covered the same way under the ADA as a wheelchair is - the dog and the wheelchair are needed to provide assistance required because of the disability. If the dog has not been individually trained to do something to assist with the disability, it is not a Service Dog.
Also, check the rules in your state.
Although the ADA says that you can't be required to have any special certification, some states do have requirements that say you have to have special training and certification (don't even get into whether that is legal or not according to the ADA).
For example, in Minnesota, Service Dogs are required to be trained by a Service Dog trainer. The dog and handler also have to pass a test with some specific items (mostly obedience) in order to get certification. We are training our own dog partly and also working with a certified Service Dog training program. It sounds easier to train your own dog than it actually is. It is a lot of work and you must be very consistent at it. Even though we did some of the training, we were working under the guidance of a certified trainer and she also did some of the training. So, we did meet the Minnesota state law. If we had just 'done our own thing' as far as training, we would not be able to have our dog tested and certified.
I am waiting for a service dog for our son who is Autistic. They place we are getting ours through trains the dog - then we have to go there for a week of training. To be a true "service" dog both the dog and the handlers (you) need to be certified. They told me we will have to renew it yearly and carry our paperwork wherever we go. If the dog and you arent certified then the dog cant go everywhere with you.
Good Luck!! I hope you find a dog that suits you and your child. I was amazed when they bought one their dogs here for the day - my son interacted with the dog so well
Thank you for all the great information. I know a dog will greatly benefit my DBF as I have already seen how well he benefits from the dogs here. We are looking into all of our options for training. And the information about both of them needing to be certified is wonderful! Thanks again.
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