Week 4

Yet another week has passed, and all the dogs I see every week have made huge progress.

                This week at Power Paws, I was in for a treat. One of the golden retriever puppies I met my first week with the facility was adopted as a Power Paws puppy. He is now on his way to puppy kindergarten and will begin training to become a service dog. In addition, this week instead of training a dog in the morning training class, I observed another trainer work with a younger Labrador puppy. This was the puppy’s first day of puppy kindergarten. Both the puppy and the handler have a lot to learn about clicker training and methodology. When you use the clicker, you click the clicker the instant the dog performs the desired action and then reach for a treat to reward them. The trainer also explained the concept of negative punishment, which is removing your attention from your dog to decrease the likelihood of your dog jumping on you. The puppy was very vocal but by the end of the class, the trainer taught the handler how to properly address the issue and how to begin training the dog out of its barking tendency. Essentially, if the dog is consistently treated when quiet, the dog will come to associate calm behavior with positive reinforcement. With the aid of the trainer, the handler learned these valuable ways to train her dog to learn to control its vocalness as well as how to begin training its basic tasks such as “sit” or “down.” And since my posts are always extremely long, I will leave it at that for this week.

                Last week with the FSDS was full of seeing the growth in the dogs’ abilities. In the morning puppy class, the puppies reviewed polite puppy petting, except this time with a child present. The dogs were exposed to yet another age of an individual and a different set of circumstances, preparing them for what awaits them when they begin their work with their handlers. In addition, this week, the puppies also practiced long sits and stays, but for a longer period of time. This week most of the puppies in the class managed to hold 2 minutes for both sits and stays; each of them making a clear improvement from last week. The following exercise functioned to not only teach control but focus as well. The dogs practiced walking by each other while on a leash without getting distracted by one another’s presence. When out and about with their handlers once they finish training, any slight diversion from their path or attention could result in running into an obstacle or mishearing a cue from the handler; this could ultimately put the handler and the dog at risk if in a crowded public area. Lastly, the puppies practiced long distance stays in sit and down positions. Once the puppy was put into either the sit or down, the trainer walked back a certain distance before returning to the puppy to reward it for its good work. The walking distances increased with each success.

            In the following afternoon class, the dogs also practiced walking past each other without getting distracted. I observed that in both classes, all of the dogs did pretty well and quickly improved on their focus on their handler. After all the dogs got to practice in this exercise, the trainers dispersed to work on the primary 3 tasks the future handlers would need for the dogs to know how to perform. This time period went to show, how closely the trainers and the FSDS work together with their clients to assess their individual needs in order to provide them with the best possible service dog that they can. Next, the dogs practiced turning light switches on and off. But the next exercise was by far my favorite from the entire day. Each of the dogs practiced “recall.” The handler put the dog into a sit across the room before calling them to run to them through a doorway. This exercise essentially teaches the dog the excitement of responding to being called by their handler. By portraying this task as exciting and something that the dog should race to do builds the dog’s motivation to respond to being called over by their handler. Loving these dogs as much as I do, seeing them run across a room with their fluffy tails and excited faces was absolutely to die for. Before leaving for the day, the dogs practiced impulse control. This was done by having a few of the dogs playing with their trainers around the room for a fast sit and fast down exercise while other dogs were put into a “sit and stay.” By watching other dogs happily play around the room while being told to sit patiently next to a trainer, the dogs were taught to control their excitement and obey their partners. Overall, both classes from that day once again proved how quickly these dogs learn and how hard the trainers work to get their dogs to the point they are at each week.

                This week with the FSDS was very similar to last week. In both the morning and afternoon classes there was a lot of review of the tasks that were practiced last week. In the morning, long sits and long stays were practiced once again the same manner as last week, but outside. The purpose being to introduce the dogs to a new environment when performing learned behaviors that they only practiced in familiar environments. This way, when going out into new environments, the dogs already have exposure to performing tasks in new places and are more likely to obey. Afterwards, the dogs also practiced polite petting and obedient walking past other dogs just as last week.

                In the afternoon class, the student trainers worked with their dogs and recipients on the three main tasks that the recipients would like their dogs to know when they graduate. This tasks included: getting help, bracing, blocking, and item retrieval. The dogs also practiced walking by other dogs politely while the handlers stopped and shook hands in between. The dogs got to practice the same task with recipients. As a whole, the class was largely review from last week, but nevertheless it was amazing to see how far the dogs came in one week once again. With each coming week, I see how these dogs are truly transforming into their future service dogs selves.

                Aside from my internships, I spent the week finalizing my ideas with reference to my changing question. Because the training classes I attend train their dogs fairly similarly to one another, I adjusted my research question. I am now focusing on how training facilities provide support to their clients aside from providing them with a trained service dog. In addition, I will be a compiling a survey on common misconceptions about service dogs which will then be taken by the younger grades at BASIS Peoria. With the results of this survey and the information I gather from my internships about service dog facts/etiquette, I will compile a presentation intended to inform the younger generations about service dog purposes and the proper behavior that should be exhibited around them in public. I began compiling this survey the past week and will continue to do so this week. I will post a couple of sample questions this week. In addition to the survey questions, I will work through a couple more service dogs articles and Until Tuesday. 

More info to come next week!!