What happens in Puppy Class

Every Monday we head out to Burnaby for Puppy Class.  It is held at Carefree Canines, a dog daycare that donates the use of the space to West Coast Assistance Teams.  There are usually 6-10 dogs with their people for the class.  Most of the dogs are with their foster families/ puppy raisers.  There are a couple of people their who are matched up with the dog who will be their service animal who are still training.  Along with Sharon and Ryan who trained in Assitance Dog training in California, there are usually 2 other trainers there named John and Amelia.  Shelley is the fundraising person and has foster raised and trained many puppies.  She also brings Luna, a black lab service animal who has been retired because she has epileptic seizures.  (Sharon has a service dog but she doesn't bring her to class so that she can focus on teaching.)  Of course, there are usually volunteers, some with alot of puppy training experience, and occasionally people come who are thinking of voluntering or of beginning the process of getting their own service animal.

Often at puppy class a dog will be with one of the trainers for part or all of the class.  Sometimes this is because the trainer is showing the handler how to do something, sometimes the trainer takes the dog to work alone with them for focus, and sometimes the handler just needs a break.  When someone is just getting a break I have heard them say that they actually learned a lot more because they could focus and concentrate on what the trainers were saying instead of being constantly distracted by the dog.

That the other dogs are around is of course a huge distraction and causes great excitability among the dogs, especially the younger ones.   Added to this are the siblings.  There is a sibling group of black labs that are between 18 months and 2 years old.  Kenzie and her sister Didi are almost 9 months old.  Tucker and Maggie are a little younger and are New Zealand Hearders.  Dogs definately remember their siblings, in case you have ever had reason to wonder about this. The collies and the NZ hearders start bouncing off the walls when they see their siblings.  Anyday now we will get to add a couple of 8-week old yellow labs to the group.

So this is what we did that Monday, followed by what I can remember of other classes...

Obstacle course!

The room was all laid when we arrived!  Some stations were for agility and others were behavioural. 

Walking dog through the rungs of a ladder laid on the floor and raised a couple of inches

Walking dog up/down the length of a seesaw

Slalom pylons to practice ‘heel’ and leave it

A carpet to practice ‘down stay’ and handler walks away, practice ‘come’

Approaching a large umbrella, handler opens and closes it near the dog

Approaching a person in a wheelchair, practicing ‘visit’ (nose in lap) and ‘lap’ (front legs up on lap) and ‘give’ (carrying and then releasing an item into the person’s lap)

An empty wheelchair for handlers to sit in and move around with the dog

And of course 6-8 other dogs moving around the course for distraction

OR

Practice ‘heel’

Practice ‘sit stay’ with further distances and moving out of dog’s sight

Practice stay with distractions (other dogs, stomping feet, etc)

Practice ‘heel’ (dog on handler’s left), ‘side’(dog on handler’s right) and turns

Practice proper response for problem behaviours such as barking and chewing on leash

Practice ‘come’ when dogs are engaged in play with other dogs and ‘leave it/off’ to move away from other dogs.

OR

Discussing appropriate behaviours for public access

Practicing public access for instance at MacDonalds

OR

Practicing ‘show dog’ – heeling around a square course (stage), stand stay for a stranger’s (judge’s) examination

OR

Walking around a square with distractions on the ground (balls, treats, etc) to practice ‘heel’, ‘leave it’ and walking past other dogs without reaction

OR

In summer, when it is nice out and the sun is still out in the early evenings, class might include some outdoor work on stay or heel, in the field next door or with a walk around the block.

Usually by the end of class there are a couple of people with individual questions, administrative or care issues.  With Kenzie, her eyes are often irritated.  Sometimes the dogs have intestinal or food issues.  Sometimes one of the dogs needs their nails done.  Often someone needs more dog food or the coupon that allows us to get it for free. (Thank you Go! Natural.)  Ryan and Sharon sometimes provide a different leash, collar, training tools like barbells for ‘get it, hold, give’ or the light boards. Sometimes one of the puppies has grown enough to need a new vest.

Sharon and V giving Kenzie a mani/pedi after class

In general, class is relaxed and fun.  We laugh.  We get support for the frustrations and congratulations on the break throughs.  But it can still be frustrating or stressful because you want your puppy to show everyone how great they are but the puppy is in a very difficult situation with lots of distractions, including other dogs, and lots of stress.  Luckily we are reminded of this often and that Ryan and Sharon know that the behaviour in puppy classes is not the puppy’s best behaviour.

One of the things that I appreciate about class is that there are people there who are going to have a service animal.  I consider myself fairly educated about disbility issues.  Being a person with a disability myself, and having worked on disability related projects you pick up alot of info and meet many people with different capabilities and ways of coping with their issues.  Even so, I find it hard to imagine what exactly a dog might do to help a person with different disabilities.  Meeting the people who the trained service dogs will go to really helps me to understand this better.  It also really helps me to feel better about losing Kenzie one day when she is ready to be matched up with someone who needs her.  It is a day I don't look forward to because she is just lovely, even when she's driven me nuts all day.  When people ask about the day Kenzie will leave us, and many people DO ask, I usually say, 'Ask me again next year'.  We'll all just have to stay tuned to see how that one turns out.