Silent Friendship For Man And Dog
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Del.icio.usKailua resident Brian Kajiyama and his service dog Zeus are part of a multi-species panel discussion at 7 tonight (July 28) in the UH Manoa Architecture auditorium on “Unleashing Abilities: The Genius of Dogs.”
Also on the panel is Maureen Maurer, founder of Hawaii Canines for Independence, who was inspired by Kajiyama to develop Canine Sign Language as well as “glance” commands.
A UH graduate student, Kajiyama will demonstrate how he and the Labrador retriever communicate nonverbally, since cerebral palsy prevents him from giving voice commands.
“Zeus is an extremely intelligent dog,” he explained via e-mail. “He knows over 90 commands which are all delivered with hand signals. A glance command would be where I might just turn my head and look at an object; Zeus will know this means I want him to pick it up. Or if I glance at a location where someone is at, he’ll interpret this as my wanting him to call the person.”
Man and dog trained as a team for two intense weeks at Maurer’s HCI facility on Maui in 2008, and have been together ever since, as Kajiyama pursues his doctorate in Exceptionalities through the UH Special Education Department. More important than service, however, he said Zeus is “the most loyal of companions who demonstrates constant unconditional love.”
Kajiyama once served on coach June Jones’ staff analyzing play tapes, and he’s currently teaches a UH summer class for teachers on technology for students with disabilities. He sees himself as a continuing advocate in the field.
There’s one hurdle, however, that neither he nor his dog has overcome to date: the Kailua entrance bridge.
“It remains too narrow for a wheelchair to safely navigate a path to get into Kailua town,” he explained. “I still need to go on the road to cross that bridge area.”
For details on tonight’s Sakamaki Extraordinary Lecture panel, call 956-2729.
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