To have juvenile arthritis is to learn firsthand just how many joints and muscles a body is actually made of, and how all of those joints and muscles can hurt at the same time, with a pain that leaves you exhausted before you even get out of bed in the morning.
It's hard not to spend a lot of your time thinking about that pain, and the rest of the time wishing you could still do the things other kids can do so effortlessly.That's why Jackie Crowe wants to start a free dog training class for children with arthritis.
"Working with the dogs gives the kids something else to focus on than the things they can't do and the pain they have," says Crowe, who has had arthritis since she was 14.
She hopes to start the class later this summer, with a kick-off dog show at Murray Park on Aug. 1.
In the meantime she has been experimenting with 10-year-old Jess Howell, who is learning how to train his dog Blackie.
Jess got Blackie as a present soon after he was diagnosed three years ago. At first doctors thought Jess's pain, swelling and listlessness might be leukemia or Lyme's disease.
Although he is on medication and feels much better, Jess still tires easily and can't do some of the sports his classmates can do. But in just a month he has taught Blackie how to sit, stay, heel, beg and roll over.
"The kids can experience success almost immediately," says Crowe. They can say, `Look what I did.' And then they can think, `If I did this, maybe I can try this other thing over here.' "
Crowe says she knows about the loneliness that is a side effect of the disease. Dogs, the masters of unconditional love, can help there, too, she says. "Dogs don't care how you look or how sick you are, they'll love you anyway."
The dogs can also be trained to carry a child's books at school and to pick up items that are difficult to grasp.
For more information about the free dog training program, contact the Utah Arthritis Foundation, 486-4993.