Hello everybody!
My name is Brenna, I’m 24, disabled, a working artist, and in need of your help! After a lifetime of coping with my debilitating illnesses by relying entirely on my family and medical team, I’ve had the incredible opportunity of spending the last 4 years reestablishing my independence through the joy of sharing my life with my service dog and best friend, Tesla.
Tesla, a former shelter dog, has been a stellar ambassador of rehabilitation for dogs and people alike, managing to overcome her own challenges, and surpass expectations as a service animal. She has been essential in my ability to function as an independent human and an active member of our community.
After an unfortunate fire alarm incident 2 years ago however, Tesla developed severe noise reactivity and it began to impact her quality of life. I’ve spent thousands of hours working with her to try and get her past her reactivity, but as of right now we manage her day to day. She still works part time with me frequently but we have now reached a place where I need to start fundraising for my next service dog. This is where you come in!
It has become clear that, in order to keep my new found stability, moving forward with finding and training a successor for Tes is a necessity, and financing for it through fundraising became our best and only option.
All the information about Tesla and myself as well as a comprehensive breakdown of how funds will be allocated is available for those interested in making a contribution, and can be found in my included Q&A section below!
Q&A:
Who are you?
My name is Brenna, but you can call me Bee! I am 24 years old, and the owner, operator, and sole (human) employee of my own small business!
What do you do?
I make my living designing and hand-making matching people and pet accessories!! I live life to rescue and rehabilitate animals, make art, and consume music and movies! My house is sort of a mini zoo—I live with 2 dogs, 2 parrots, a frog, a snake, and several tarantulas :)
I’m also an advocate for my community as an artist, a small business owner, a disabled person, and “scary” animal lover, and I try to provide a voice for my peers to the benefit of all those niches wherever I can. I have plenty of casual hobbies as well of course, like cooking, hiking with my dogs and friends, and reading. I’m also super close with my family, who are my best friends and BIGGEST support system, along with my girl Tesla, of course.
I don’t remember my life before I got sick.
Why do you need a service dog?
I’ve been dealing with debilitating chronic illness ever since I could remember, starting with a softball sized tumor I had surgically removed at 7 years old. I spent several years of high school entirely bed ridden, and all my time prior in and out of hospitals and doctor’s offices, often to no avail. It wasn’t until I was old enough to research and advocate for myself that I got answers.
My illness affects every system in my body and my symptoms tend
to include dizziness, fainting, severe allergies/anaphylaxis,
fatigue, mobility issues, joint pain, and lots and lots of GI
difficulties. Of course the illness has taken its toll on me
mentally too, in the form of severe panic attacks, general and
social anxiety, and bouts of severe depression. All of these
symptoms completely prevent me from accomplishing everyday tasks,
tending to general self care and maintenance, living on my own, or
holding down a “normal” job. During severe flair ups, it’s kept me
from eating, sleeping, leaving the house, or getting out of bed at all.
How does a service dog help you?
Tesla has a unique set of responsibilities and is task-trained specially for my personal needs. Some of her tasks are:
- Alerting me to significant changes in my heart rate, in turn preventing potential injury and/or sudden collapse
- Performing a medical alert and subsequent response with down-pressure therapy, effectively decreasing my heart rate and “resetting” my nervous system.
- Recognizing panic attacks and providing a series of interruptions for them
- Tesla will pick up items that are on the floor or I’ve dropped. This helps keep my heart rate from spiking.
- She’s been taught to retrieve water bottles and medication bags.
- Will wake me up from night terrors.
- Skin picking is a big problem with my anxiety and she will interrupt me by nudging me to get my attention or physically nudging away my hands.
All of these tasks combined with proper medication has led me to be able to sleep on a regular basis, be very physically active, be more confident and independent, and start my own business!
What’s wrong with your current service dog?
Tesla is a perfect dog who also happens to deal with some noise reactivity. After an unfortunate incident in the house after our fire alarm went off she’s had a very hard time with high pitched beeping noises. Think cash register beeps. They are a very common occurrence in public. We’ve worked very hard for over 2 years with a professional trainer and with utilizing anti anxiety mediations to help manage her reactivity. Fortunately we have been able to manage her anxiety but she will not be returning to full time public access work.
Tesla is also currently 6 or 7 years old. Even though she’s not super old this would still be the age where most people start working on their next service dog. By the time the next dog will be fully trained Tesla will be at least 10 years old!
What’s next for Tesla?
Tesla currently works part time in outdoor spaces and full time at home. Despite all she’s been through she loves her job and LOVES going out to work. She will keep working as is unless her reactivity changes or until the next service dog is far enough into training to take over for her. Tesla is my best friend, my partner in crime, and my soulmate. She will be spending the rest of her days with me and will enjoy her retirement doing whatever makes her happiest!
Are you using another shelter dog?
Short answer, no.
Long answer: Shelter dogs are just as capable of becoming service dogs as a dog from a breeder. The unfortunate reality with shelter dogs is you have no genetic family health history, you won’t have a true accurate temperament assessment until they have been with you for 3+ months, and you have no control of how they have been socialized.
I specifically chose to go with an ethically breed puppy for many reasons. When we brought Tesla home it was very obvious that she had not been socialized or desensitized to anything. She was dog reactive, dealt with resource guarding, and eventually developed severe anxiety due to noise reactivity. We spent a lot of time and energy in the first year of training dealing with these hiccups.
Going with a puppy allows us to control how we socialize this next dog, make sure we have full family genetic testing, a solid temperament, and an established support system through our breeder for both of us. With 2 adult dogs, and a zoo of other critters, we are also hoping for a smoother transition than trying to introduce a third adult dog.
How can I help?
Thank you for you interest in helping me!
The easiest thing to do is share our fundraiser page! Getting as many eyes as possible on this page is ALWAYS the goal!
You can donate monetarily to us through our fundraiser link or directly through Venmo! I’m not joking when I say every donation counts no matter how much. I am so thankful for your support.
If you would rather donate specific items I will have an Amazon wishlist so you know exactly where your money is going!
Got old puppy items? Please reach out to donate! I have a list of items I would love to snag secondhand if possible :) Once I’m finished with them I will pass them off to another service dog team or donate to my local shelter!
I know a lot of people follow me through my business, all throughout the year you will see physical and digital donation jars at my in person events! These are specifically for the service dog fundraiser.
Shop MissBrennaBees! Along with monetary donations, item donations, and sharing my fundraiser link you can shop small with me. Grab something cute for you and your dog and support me and my service dogs :) I will be periodically releasing limited designs for this fundraiser as well.
Follow me on social media to keep updated on fundraiser goals, limited releases, and my next in person event!
www.instagram.com/MissBrennaBee
www.instagram.com/shopmissbrennabees
www.Facebook.com/MissBrennaBees
Goals:
In a perfect world I would post my fundraiser, it would go viral, and I would raise enough money in a week. Unfortunately that is very rare! So instead I've broken down my fundraiser into goals and explain what happens once we reach each goal.
Goal one - At $1000
- Start collecting puppy essentials
- Enough for down payment on the puppy
Goal Two - At $3000
- Travel expenses
- First vet visit costs
Goal 3 - At $5000
- Rest of puppy payment! :)
- Bring home Puppy!!!
Goal 4 - At $8000
- Puppy classes
- In training gear
Goal 5 - At $10,000
- Service dog training
- Crash tested car kennel
Now let’s get into money. $10k is a LOT of it! And if you’re wondering about cost breakdown and exactly where your money is going this section is for you:
The most important cost is the puppy, which will be roughly $2,500. The down payment is $350 of that and we will be matched with a puppy when they reach 7 weeks old.
Having our space set up before the puppy comes home is important not only to make the transition easier but to help our current pets adjust to the new items. This is our current list:
- crate with divider
- bed
- reusable puppy pads
- toys
- food
- treats
- food bowls
For these I am expecting to spend about $400.
Travel is next, we will be driving and spending one night in a hotel. It will be about 8 hours in the car both ways. Gas, food, and hotel we are estimating $1000. We will also need to bring puppy items to safely bring them home like a car crate, harness, leash, collar, and clean up items at roughly $100.
Medical is next. It is important to have your puppy seen in the first week we are home. $500 will account for the first check up, vaccines, and preventatives. Spay and neuter is another important part of dog ownership. We are estimating $500 for that as well.
Once puppy is home we will immediately need to start socializing and once shots are done we will start with puppy classes. To keep puppy safe we will be utilizing a wagon to keep them off the ground until all vaccines are done. An “in training” vest and several different styles of signage will be used on the wagon to identify them as a service dog in training. I’m expecting to go spend $150 on the wagon and signs and $300 on puppy classes.
The next largest expense is the actual service dog training. This amount is based on our experience with Teslas classes and our trainer. $4,000 will be split up over 2 years and 4 levels of classes to cover everything from basic obedience to advanced tasks and public access work. It also covers the $120 evaluation every dog must go through before training. If we do 10 classes per level it breaks down to $90 per class and 3 extra classes to address anything we are having difficulty with.
The last cost I have is a crash tested car kennel. Service dogs are a HUGE financial and emotional investment. Going just about everywhere with me means a lot of time spent in the car and a crash tested kennel is the only way to ensure a dogs safety should you get into an accident. They are very expensive, because of this I am ask for help fundraising $500 which is only part of the cost!
While this doesn’t quite add up to $10k, all of these prices are based on averages online and personal expenses. This leaves us a tiny amount of wiggle room should we face any hiccups.
In the off chance we fundraise more than the goal then everything will be going directly into savings to help pay for food, snacks, toys, or any unexpected medical expenses!
If you’ve made it this far down I want to thank you for giving me your time. Having a service dog has been life changing for me. Asking for help is very hard for me but I do not regret being vulnerable at all to achieve what I did with Tesla!
I literally don’t know what I would do without your support! Thank you SO much from the bottom of my heart
