Week 6

This week was as per usual exciting with all the cute puppies/dogs.

                Power Paws has officially ended its Spring Break Camp and is now preparing for a Boot Camp, which will essentially help teach future puppy raisers/recipients. But more on that next week. When I went in this week I helped train a beautiful golden retriever during the morning class. During this time we worked on cues such as turn, go under, come here, and loose leash walking. All of these tasks are ones that will help a future recipient when they go out in public; whether they need to the dog to change the direction they’re facing or if they need to go under a table at a restaurant while the recipient eats. If the dog is cued that they can use the restroom or go say hi to a stranger, a cue like come here can help regain the dog’s attention to the recipient and resume its work.

As promised, here are a few pictures from the previous week from the training class.

This is Ross. A beautiful Labrador Retriever. 

                

This is Whitney, another Labrador Retriever. Here one of the Spring Break camp participants is training her to turn a light switch on and off. 

This is Quartet, or Quart for short. 

Here she is training "visit" with one of the Spring Break participants. 

Ross being a great sport during "yoga."

               This week at the FSDS was slightly different than last. Class was once again taking a field trip to the same place. The morning puppy class and the afternoon adult dog class were combined due to the ever so hot Arizona weather. One thing I definitely observed this week was that the dogs were definitely more focused and successful at all the stations than the week before. They were already exposed to the environment and had greater confidence maneuvering the stations. In addition, some new stations were added to replace ones that weren’t very popular last week. One new major station was what the volunteer called the “chenga” walk. Essentially wooden beams were laid out in a square, with lower and higher levels. This helped the dogs train their balance and their turns, meanwhile adjusting their height levels. At one point during the class, one of the handlers was becoming tired and beginning to have some difficulty working with her dog. My advisor suggested that I go and help to gain some on-hands experience with training, so that’s what I did. For the rest of the class, I followed the handler around to each of the stations and helped her work with her dog. We tried the chenga walk, worked through the weaves, and some balance practice with the teeter totters and a new station designed to help dogs walk on a platform with different levels.

            The class as a whole this week seemed more focused and more successful in the training. And maybe that was because both the handlers and dogs were more familiar with the environment and the stations this week. Maybe because both of the classes were combined the spirits of both the dogs and the handlers were lightened. Nevertheless, the field trip proved to be a major (and very much successful) step towards generalizing major tasks that the dogs will have to perform in public with their recipient when they graduate. 

            Last but not least, the survey. When at Power Paws this week, I had the chance to speak with a staff member about the questions and I decided that I would (finally) share some of those with you today. These particular questions will be “Agree vs. Disagree” styled questions.

                        1. It is okay to pet a service dog when you see it out in public.

                        2. It is acceptable to ask a handler why they have the service dog.

                        3. You should complement a handler on how well-behaved their dog is.

                        4. Only big dogs can be service dogs.

            Questions as such will allow me to gain an insight into what our younger generations really know about these remarkable creatures and their duties within the service realm. Based on the results, I can then put together a presentation on all the major points from the survey, and highlighting what appear to be the most lacking ideas. By doing so, I hope to educate these younger kiddos about what service dogs truly do and what they should or shouldn’t do around them in order to allow them to do the job that they trained for around two years.

‘Till next week! Cheers!!