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JACO, Service Dog or Both?
My life doesn’t feel complete right now. As I’ve been without my service dog since November I’m missing him dearly. Not only for his services but also for his companionship. I’ve started the process to receive a successor service dog but as you can imagine it’ll take some time. In the meantime I’ve been debating pursuing a JACO Robotic Arm. Actually the process for this would probably take just as long if not longer. With pros and cons for both I just don’t know what to do.
From previous posts I know many of you have dogs. Therefore you know how special they are. Because of my living situation I can’t imagine having a dog that’s not a service dog, but I do want a dog in my life. Knowing my limitations, I need a dog that has the training and temperament instilled in a service dog. Of course caring for a dog can be challenging. Not to mention the difficulty in traveling and training to receive them. But I have done it before, so confident I can do it again.
More and more I can see how a JACO could enhance my life. Because I like doing things myself I was resistant to the idea of relying on a robot. Slowly I’m realizing I could actually do more on my own with its help. Many times if there’s one aspect of something I can’t do myself I just forget about the whole thing. Maybe with its help I could still do those things. My biggest drawbacks are that it looks a bit bulky, will take a lot of practice and is somewhat impersonal. If you have one I’d love to hear your pros and cons!
Ideally I’d like both a service dog and a JACO. Obviously a lot of their benefits overlap, so I wouldn’t necessarily need both. Is it selfish to want both? I don’t know if I should pursue both in case one doesn’t work out. Or, do I focus on just one?
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1 Reply
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Regardless of the need they fulfill, if it’s going to benefit your well-being it is not selfish at all! Definitely pursue both.
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