Ex-high school counselor finds new calling with service dogs

When Jennifer Trojan retired from her position as a high school guidance counselor in 2001, she didn’t plan on jumping into a new adventure.

She never dreamed she would write a book, let alone from a dog’s point of view.

Like many people, she thought she would take it easy and do some traveling. But she also wanted to give back by volunteering. She tried hospice work, but it was not the right fit for her.

She had always liked dogs, so when a friend introduced her to a woman who was raising a puppy to be a service dog, she tagged along to training sessions to see if perhaps this was her calling.

“And I got hooked,” Trojan, a resident of West Chicago, said.

Her husband Chuck, also a guidance counselor, was still working at the time.

“I really knew this was what I wanted to do,” Trojan said. “I said to my husband, ‘Give me 14 months for this, and I will either get it out of my system or we will work it out.’”

They ended up working it out, and now that Chuck is retired, the pair is fully in it together. Five dogs later (Turin, Kessen, Brightie, Marnie and Izzy), they are still working it all out.

In 2003, Trojan got her feet wet as a puppy sitter for puppies in training to be service dogs.

She and Chuck were approved as puppy sitters by Canine Companions for Independence out of Santa Rosa, Calif.

The pair watched puppies when the individuals who were training them needed a break or a weekend away, or even for longer periods in the case of a family emergency. They watched 21 assistance dogs in training over the span of one-and-a-half years.

“We had a variety of experiences with dogs in different stages of training that helped me make the decision to start raising one dog at a time,” Trojan said.

When they got their first puppy in training in 2004, their commitment of “time and energy” began.

They raised three dogs with Canine Companions, and then switched to Paws with a Cause out of Wayland, Mich., a smaller organization with more individualized training.

“Both groups have similar philosophies and goals,” Trojan said. “They breed, raise, train, and then donate dogs to the disabled.”

“As puppy raisers, our responsibility begins when they hand us a puppy,” Trojan said. “We incur all the costs for vaccinations, any medical bills and obedience classes. We are responsible for teaching them public etiquette, leash behavior, socialization and a variety of commands, as well as introducing them to many life experiences during the 15 to 17 months we have them.

“In a sense, they are not considered pets. They have a structured existence in our home. They wear a cape when they are working, and that cape means to them that they are to focus only on working. They can’t approach other dogs. They don’t get on furniture. We can’t play tugging games with them because they will be trained to tug on a rope to open a door. They can’t pick up anything off the floor because they might be placed with someone on medication.”

“The puppies also are crate-trained because during advanced training, they will be in a kennel situation,” Trojan said. “If they are used to making a crate their home, then they will be able to make a kennel their home.”

Trojan has two pet dogs at home that she and Chuck call “the socialization squad.” They also help teach new pups the ropes.

“They model how to behave for the puppies,” Trojan said. “They teach pack behavior and appropriate dog-to-dog interaction.”

“Puppies in training also need to learn to ‘do their business’ on command,” Trojan said. “A disabled person will not be able to walk them around the block. So we get them up at night. They go out, they do their business, we say their reward word, they get a treat, and then they go back to sleep.”

The two dogs at home are Brightie and Kessen, who are both characters in Trojan’s book, “Kessen’s Kronikles.” The book is told in Kessen’s voice. Both he and Brightie were puppies in training under the Trojans’ care, but neither were suited to the task, so they went back to live with Trojan and Chuck.

“Kessen was released from advanced training because of kennel stress,” Trojan said. He lost six pounds in 16 days, and was vomiting and trembling. “He couldn’t adapt to the kennels,” Trojan added. “He is a very sensitive dog and he couldn’t adjust to all the noise and activity. So they called us and said they were going to release him and asked if we wanted him.

“He had colitis for six weeks and slept in corners for six months,” Trojan said, adding that Kessen still occasionally exhibits some behaviors from that stressful time.

In Brightie’s case, Trojan said, she has “always been a diva.

Her idea of service was room service. She was very assertive and wanted things her way. The organization didn’t feel that she had the same goal that they did; they said she was defiant and assertive. We adopted her because she was a difficult dog. You had to know how to treat her in order for her to respond.”

“Not every dog wants to, or can be, an assistance dog,” Trojan said. “They have to be almost perfect. They can’t chase things, or bark, or sniff the ground. They have to be able to focus. That’s important for the person who eventually gets the dog.”

Both Brightie and Kessen were retrained to be therapy dogs and have participated in Reading with Rover programs. Brightie also volunteered in a pediatric oncology waiting room at Central DuPage Hospital and at the DuPage Detention Center. Kessen worked in one classroom with autistic children and in another with children in wheelchairs. Brightie also volunteered in a pediatric waiting room at Central DuPage Hospital.

Of the three dogs that were released, one is a family’s loving family pet, two were retrained as therapy dogs, and Izzy is now undergoing advanced training in Michigan.

Trojan said there is a tinge of guilt when a dog is released from training. But she realizes what someone once told her is true: “It’s like sending a child to college. They are going to do what they want to do. They make their own decisions and choices. We prepare them to go, but what they do is their own choice.”

Trojan said she is constantly asked how she could give up a dog she has nurtured, trained, and loved for more than a year.

“This is how I deal with it,” Trojan said. “These dogs are trained to work with someone who is disabled. They retrieve the phone. They pick up things that are dropped. They open doors and drawers, and they know how to call 911. But I can pick up things I drop. I can dial 911. If being sad for a number of weeks will help a person in need, it’s a small price to pay. We have just a small part in the dog’s journey.”

“Yes, it’s difficult, but it’s amazing,” she added. “People say they could never do it, but I say, ‘Someone has to.’”

Trojan (who writes under the name “Trojan Rae”) is now working on a second book titled, “Izzy Come, Izzy Go,” about the dog that most recently has left them for advanced training.

Trojan will talk about her experiences with puppies in training and about “Kessen’s Kronikles” in a program at the Aurora Public Library’s Eola Road Branch, 555 S. Eola Road, from 10 to 11:30 am. Saturday, June 14 in the Meeting Room.

There will be a drawing for a gift basket that will include a book and other items. Books will be for sale, and each attendee will receive a gift bag. Please call 630-264-3400 to register.

Trojan said she will speak about how all their dogs have had a critical place in their life and how each dog is different. She also will speak about how the lives of dogs parallel chapters in a book.

“They have a beginning, where they are bred, and then they come to us. So we are the second stop on their journey of training, service and retirement.”

“The biggest gift a dog can give us is that they don’t look back,” Trojan said. “They are ready to go on to a new adventure.”

This is exactly what Trojan did upon her retirement. And, she says, she will continue to do as long as possible. Her only lament? “I just wish I had started earlier,” she said.

–Amy Roth, Aurora Public Library