0:00:02.867,0:00:04.333
My name is Amber Steehbock,

0:00:04.333,0:00:06.246
and this is the story of what happened

0:00:06.246,0:00:08.475
when I tried to get a service dog

0:00:08.475,0:00:13.567
through Arizona Goldens LLC, located in Phoenix Arizona.

0:00:13.567,0:00:18.400
I have quadripelegic spastic cerebral palsy and use a power wheelchair.

0:00:18.400,0:00:21.943
Because of this, many daily tasks are difficult for me,

0:00:21.943,0:00:25.101
such as turning off and on light switches,

0:00:25.101,0:00:29.200
hitting elevator buttons, and opening doors.

0:00:29.200,0:00:33.971
And a service dog seemed the obvious solution to these problems.

0:00:33.971,0:00:37.314
I heard about Arizona Goldens and was really excited

0:00:37.314,0:00:41.523
because getting a service dog had been a lifelong dream for me.

0:00:41.523,0:00:43.723
I contacted them, we met,

0:00:43.723,0:00:51.133
and they decided that they could provide a dog that would meet my needs.

0:00:51.133,0:00:56.833
All I needed to do was raise a little over $20,323

0:00:56.833,0:01:00.319
and pass what they called "service dog boot camp".

0:01:00.319,0:01:04.668
On August 10, 2010, I signed a contract with them.

0:01:04.668,0:01:09.265
They then set up a donation page, a bank account and a paypal account

0:01:09.265,0:01:13.352
where people could donate to my service dog fund.

0:01:13.352,0:01:18.507
These were their accounts, and I never personally had any access to them.

0:01:18.507,0:01:28.305
They said that this was set up this way so that it wouldn't, donations would not interrupt my SSI.

0:01:29.197,0:01:33.333
Friends and family were wonderful and donated.

0:01:33.333,0:01:43.445
And because of that, I raised a little over $20,000, or $21,990 in less than 5 months.

0:01:43.445,0:01:48.971
Arizona Goldens were expecting me to take over a year to raise this money.

0:01:48.971,0:01:55.984
It was not until after they had all the money that all the major warning signs started.

0:01:55.984,0:02:03.553
After they had all the money, they finally provided me with a booklet containing all of the rules.

0:02:03.553,0:02:07.833
Only then did I learn that I had to pass a multitude of tests

0:02:07.833,0:02:10.567
with a score of 80% or higher,

0:02:10.567,0:02:13.306
and that if I scored less on any of these tests

0:02:13.306,0:02:16.367
boot camp would stop for me,

0:02:16.367,0:02:24.033
they would fail me and they would keep all the money that I had raised toward a service dog.

0:02:24.033,0:02:27.900
The booklet also stated that before bootcamp was to start,

0:02:27.900,0:02:33.136
they would conduct individual personality and needs testing,

0:02:33.136,0:02:34.800
and based on the results of these,

0:02:34.800,0:02:40.612
would spend several months tweaking the dogs to my individual needs.

0:02:40.612,0:02:43.167
This never happened.

0:02:43.167,0:02:48.554
They never even asked me specific questions about my disability.

0:02:48.554,0:02:54.967
All I did was walk around the mall with a dog a couple of times.

0:02:54.967,0:03:00.303
After 4 more months of me repeatedly asking them when I could start my bootcamp

0:03:00.303,0:03:05.267
they finally scheduled it for May 9th, 2011.

0:03:05.267,0:03:11.300
They would not give me any study materials until 14 days before the start of bootcamp.

0:03:11.300,0:03:16.325
They said that this was to be fair to all of the other clients,

0:03:16.325,0:03:23.941
but my bootcamp study material did not arrive until 10 days before my bootcamp.

0:03:23.941,0:03:27.400
They did not even provide it in electronic format.

0:03:27.400,0:03:29.189
It came in a book format,

0:03:29.189,0:03:34.933
even though they were aware that book format is harder for me to utilize.

0:03:34.933,0:03:39.777
As scheduled, I started what was supposed to be a 21 day bootcamp.

0:03:39.777,0:03:45.117
To their shock, I passed the written test, the written entrance test

0:03:45.117,0:03:48.600
with the highest score of anyone they have ever seen.

0:03:48.600,0:03:52.269
I studied the material and I knew it well.

0:03:52.269,0:03:54.267
When it came to working with actual dogs,

0:03:54.267,0:03:58.467
they brought a bunch for me to try out in the beginning,

0:03:58.467,0:04:03.300
and narrowed it down to 2 potential dogs within several days.

0:04:03.300,0:04:06.700
This is when the problems became very apparent.

0:04:06.700,0:04:09.870
They were supposed to train the dogs for my specific needs,

0:04:09.870,0:04:15.833
and it quickly became obvious that they did not.

0:04:15.833,0:04:19.019
They insisted that they trained the dogs for someone with Cerebral Palsy,

0:04:19.019,0:04:23.616
but CP is very different between individual people,

0:04:23.616,0:04:27.033
and you can't just do generic training.

0:04:29.218,0:04:31.882
With my particular CP,

0:04:31.882,0:04:35.644
every movement I make intentionally

0:04:35.644,0:04:37.733
starts with an unintentional movement,

0:04:37.733,0:04:41.667
and sometimes ends with an unintentional one.

0:04:42.575,0:04:50.167
The dogs had been trained to regard any tug, jerk or sudden stop as a reprimand,

0:04:50.167,0:04:52.688
like telling the dogs "bad dog!".

0:04:52.688,0:04:56.821
So, even though the dogs were doing everything right,

0:04:56.821,0:05:03.067
I jerked often, and they thought they were doing wrong and became confused and shut down.

0:05:03.067,0:05:06.712
The other problem is that the people who raised and trained the dogs

0:05:06.712,0:05:12.378
were my teachers, and they were in the room with us at all times.

0:05:12.378,0:05:19.567
Therefore, the dogs got confused as to who they were supposed to listen to, their trainers or me.

0:05:19.567,0:05:25.985
Other service dog programs that I know of don't allow the trainers to be teachers.

0:05:25.985,0:05:33.369
They also don't even allow the clients to interact with the dogs for the 1st week of training.

0:05:33.369,0:05:39.267
Except to allow major downtime for the client to get to know their potential dog.

0:05:39.267,0:05:42.033
This downtime was never allowed for me,

0:05:42.033,0:05:47.500
and I never got to bond with any particular dog.

0:05:47.500,0:05:52.067
Any time I pointed out the problems with the training,

0:05:52.067,0:05:56.933
they would reprimand me by telling me to get over my disability,

0:05:56.933,0:06:01.651
"grow a pair", and stop blaming my disability.

0:06:01.651,0:06:05.933
I wasn't blaming, I wasn't making excuses,

0:06:05.933,0:06:08.167
I was pointing out my disability needs,

0:06:08.167,0:06:12.833
which is why I was seeking a service dog in the first place.

0:06:12.833,0:06:19.233
Because of their improper training, I fell very behind on what their expectations were.

0:06:19.233,0:06:27.425
On the 5th day they gave me my 1st actual test scores, as with the dogs,

0:06:27.425,0:06:30.933
but they were dogs they selected.

0:06:30.933,0:06:32.633
I failed.

0:06:32.633,0:06:37.033
These tests included things that I physically can't even do,

0:06:37.033,0:06:43.333
and of the ones that I can do, the dogs refused to respond to anything I said

0:06:43.333,0:06:48.833
because they didn't know who to listen to, me or the trainers.

0:06:48.833,0:06:53.467
And they also shut down because of what they thought were reprimands.

0:06:53.467,0:06:58.600
The result was that it was a total disaster and I failed the tests.

0:06:58.600,0:07:03.333
They allowed me to retake the test, the next day after reviewing the videos,

0:07:03.333,0:07:05.599
and they urged me to practice.

0:07:05.599,0:07:07.200
What was I supposed to practice with?

0:07:07.200,0:07:10.289
I don't have a dog at home.

0:07:10.289,0:07:17.580
And they also coached me more about "growing a pair" of balls and "getting over" my disability.

0:07:17.580,0:07:21.533
The next day when I came, they announced that I would need to score

0:07:21.533,0:07:26.100
double the amount that I had scored last time

0:07:26.100,0:07:33.067
because they decided that I was responsible for more of the dog commands on the list.

0:07:33.067,0:07:35.467
Even though I did much better on this test,

0:07:35.467,0:07:39.082
I failed because they raised the bar too high.

0:07:39.082,0:07:41.967
At this point they informed me that I had failed boot camp,

0:07:41.967,0:07:44.700
they were not placing a service dog with me,

0:07:44.700,0:07:48.973
and they would be keeping all of the money that I raised.

0:07:48.973,0:07:50.700
Before I left the classroom,

0:07:50.700,0:07:55.533
they asked me to record an apology video to all of my donors

0:07:55.700,0:07:59.956
for wasting their time and money and failing them.

0:07:59.956,0:08:02.033
I did not fail anyone.

0:08:02.033,0:08:04.300
Arizona Goldens failed me.

0:08:04.300,0:08:06.737
If you would like to know more about this,

0:08:06.737,0:08:08.967
please go to the address below

0:08:08.967,0:08:15.533
http://www.dogdreamteam.com/

0:08:15.533,0:08:17.967
Thank you very much.

0:08:17.967,9:59:59.000
http://www.dogdreamteam.com/