From Puppy to Service Dog

I wanted to share a little about the process of training a service dog. It begins very early while the puppies are still in the whelping box. They are exposed to various sounds, textures, and experiences. "Puppy huggers" start to visit around 5 weeks of age to provide more socialization. These exposures help to provide the foundation the puppies will need to become a service dogs.



At approximately 8 weeks of age the puppies will go to a puppy raiser. This person teaches basic dog obedience and housebreaking and continues to expose the puppy to as many experiences,people, and settings as possible. As the puppy matures they will learn more advanced commands such as becoming "invisible" (lying still under a restaurant table), opening doors, retrievals, etc. They will also go out in public to places such as Zoo America, parades, and malls. It is very important that the dog maintains attention to its handler and follows commands even when there are many exciting smells and people around.



When the dogs are approximately 18 months of age they will enter "Advanced Training". The trainers begin to evaluate the dogs to see if they will make good service dogs and what work the dogs are best suited for. Some of the dogs do not make "the cut" because of various issues.



The dogs who qualify to become service dogs are then matched with their new partner and are trained for 6 months specifically for their partner's needs.



The last step is team training. This is where the service dog and partner learn how to work together. The training lasts for 2 1/2 weeks (8 hour days). The training commences with a graduation ceremony where the dog is presented to the its' new partner.

Dinner with the Dogs

We went to a "Dinner with the Dogs" event the other week. There were approximately 15 dogs there ranging from fully certified service dogs to a 12 week puppy in training. It was awesome to see the handlers/puppy raisers work with the dogs. One of the things that impressed me the most was the way the dogs gave their handlers their undivided attention. Ryan was visiting with some of the dogs and the dogs didn't even break eye contact from their handler while he was petting them!

Maybe one of those dogs will be Ryan's service dog??

Ryan & Cylo

Ryan posing with the Lancaster Barnstormers' mascot, Cylo, at his last very hot baseball game.