Week 5

Hello all!

So this week at both internships was a bit different.

            Power Paws had a Spring Break camp for younger children this passing week, so I got to assist with their activities. The dog training portion of the camp consisted of training simple tasks such as visit, turning light switches on and off, stair walking and walking through doorways. Although the class was less intensive than other weeks, it went to show how great these dogs are at adapting and working with new individuals, especially of a younger age. These children, after working with these dogs for a week, learned how to properly work with service dogs and by Friday one could really see how the dogs came to realize that the kids weren’t just someone who will pet them, but someone they could potentially be working with. This kind of exposure to service dog training will not only help more younger children understand proper service dog etiquette but will also help these dogs get familiar with working with several different age groups. The camp may just seem like “simple fun” to the kids, but the ultimate outcome of these activities will come out in public when these dogs, or service dogs in general, are working.

            This week at the FSDS, we got to shake things up a bit, for both the dogs and their handlers. Instead of having class in the traditional classroom setting, class took a field trip to one of the volunteer’s home. There, on a beautiful grassy lot, several training stations were set up for both the morning and the afternoon classes. These stations included teeter totters, boats, jumps course, elevation walking, cone walking, and weaving. The teeter totters and the elevation walking functioned primarily to train the dogs in body and paw awareness. With these activities the dogs begin to see that they won’t always be walking on flat surfaces and that they have to be aware where and how they place their feet and how to adjust their balance accordingly. For the boats section, small rescue boats were set up in the grass with a dock. Here, the dogs got to practice their balance as well as maneuverability with unfamiliar and large surfaces. In addition, they got to practice their “stay” while their handlers walked on the dock and “loaded” up the boat. Weaving also allowed the dogs to train in their body awareness skills by weaving in between poles lined up in a line. Cone walking was simply a practice for loose leash walking with distractions. The cones had toys and dog food scattered between them to allow the dogs to train in ignoring unnecessary factors/smells when walking with a handler. This exercise will not only help train the dog to keep its attention on its handler at all times but also to ignore unnecessary smells. This factor is most important with medical alert dogs who need to be able to smell any changes in their handler’s system to alert them for their particular condition. Every dog’s favorite by far was the jumps course. The minute the dogs were let go to run through, they were jumping over all the poles with great excitement, some dogs ran back to the other side to go through again. Aside from training stations, there was a “cool-off” station where the dogs could get into a small tub full of water to splash around and maybe even fish out some toys. Naturally, the dogs loved this as well. Overall, the purpose of this field trip was to help dogs generalize their commands out in the real world and not just the classroom and their home. When they go out in public with their handler, they need to know that “sit” means “sit” and that “stay” means “stay.” They have to be able to obey cues in and out of their immediate everyday environment. This field trip was the first step towards ensuring these future service dogs would be able to obey their handlers whenever and wherever.

            Last but not least, since this week was a bit different at my internships, I did not have the chance to run my prospective survey questions by my advisors. Therefore, those sample questions I was referring to last week will most likely be posted next week. This past week I did, however, begin Until Tuesday. The book follows the personal story of a veteran suffering from PTSD as he lives his life with his loving service dog in New York. This book gives more of an in-depth look at how a service dog can truly change someone’s life around. The general ideas were the same as that of the article describing the pairing of an autistic girl with her service dog, as I briefly spoke about a few weeks back. The book also provided more insight into how training facilities continue to work with their clients even after they are paired with a dog. Even after placement, the veteran and the dog still visit the training facility to ensure that the dog is performing well and that the handler feels comfortable with his service dog.

            In light of exciting news, I am also currently in the process of photographing Power Paws classes and their dogs. After editing and having the photos approved they will be given over to the facility so that they can post the pictures on their social media and so that I can share with you all a greater look at what my internship truly looks like. Once the dogs graduate, these photos might also be used in their graduation photos to show their growth. More news to come!