Future Service Dogs

Walking through campus, one of the first things that ever caught my eye were the students walking with dogs that wore bright red harnesses that said 4 Paws for Ability. I have come to find out that these students are training future service dogs. The first time I saw these dogs, I missed all of my pets back home. I wanted to know how I could have a dog with me at school. I liked the idea of having a dog with me in my dorm, but I did not think about the amount of work it would take to train a service dog. These dogs go everywhere with their trainer, this includes all of their classes, the library, anywhere they go shopping or out to eat, and then of course they live with their trainer. When I see the dogs with their trainers they seem to always be obediently following their trainers around. Taking a closer look at the students who are involved in the 4 Paws for Ability, its evident that it is a much harder job than it appears. It is not like having a pet by your side at all times. It is a full time job. You are constantly worried about what the dog is doing while you also have to pay attention in your classes and live your own everyday life.

Taken from http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=434679293240437&set=pb.254871674554534.-2207520000.1361549086&type=3&theater

To get more information on 4 Paws for Ability, I contacted the president to find out when the next meeting was, hoping I could sit in to get more of an idea of what it was like to train a service dog. The meeting was held in a small open room, a lot like the room in the picture above, all the chairs and tables were pushed to the sides. When I walked in a couple trainers were already there sitting on the floor, busy with their own conversation, while their dogs laid next to them. None of them really paid any attention to me walking in, not even the dogs seemed to notice me. I sat along the back wall to make sure I could see everything.  As it got closer to the of the start of the meeting, more trainers walked in and even some future trainers came to the meeting. Everyone sat in a giant cluster, and seem to be catching up with each other. I did not even think about the possibility of future trainers coming to this meeting but they seemed to be there to shadow the current trainers so that by next semester they could have their own dog to train. Every future trainer walked in and went straight to a dog to pet and love on it. I found that interesting considering most of the actual trainers did not acknowledge each other’s dogs right away.

Taken from http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=452275631480803&set=pb.254871674554534.-2207520000.1361549005&type=3&theater

The meeting got started right away the president of the organization, a petite young woman, stood up at the front of the room and talked in a confident, enthusiastic voice about some important dates and an upcoming socialization outing to the mall. The picture above shows a group at a mall outing last year. The president reinforced the importance of each the trainer jobs over the next semester. Each of the trainers has the responsibility of getting these dogs used to being around large groups of people. Everyone seemed to be closely listening to the president as spoke to the group showing they were interested in what she had to say. By watching the dogs I could tell that all of the dogs were in different stages of their socialization training, but the majority were still in the beginning stages. Most of these dogs had obviously already gotten the hang of how these meetings worked. They used the beginning of the meeting when all the humans were talking as a time to nap. While two dogs were on edge about being around each other. They were intensely staring at each other for the first half of the meeting. These dogs weren’t wagging their tails or minding their own business they seemed to be nervous about being around each other. It was there trainers who kept trying to get them to just lie down and relax by petting their back and trying to force their head to the floor. This meeting was not only full of sleeping and nervous dogs there were also a couple of who were puppies rolling around playing with their leashes, oblivious to what was going on around them. With these dogs their trainers were trying to swat the dog or pulling the leash away, telling him to stop, one listened right away but the other one took it as playful gestures and only got worse. That dog was ready to play regardless of what the trainer said. But even with all the dogs in this one room it was weirdly quiet, there was not a single bark or whine from any of the dogs the entire meeting. I could hear the president’s speech and a few hushed whispers here and there from the different members.

Taken from http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=431697350205298&set=pb.254871674554534.-2207520000.1361549086&type=3&theater

The president continued to talk about the overall goals of socializing the dogs over the semester, praised a select few who have done outstanding jobs thus far. Then they have the dogs socializing among themselves. The dogs walk in circles around each other sniffing each other out. Then seem to all approve of one another as they each slowly begin to play together as the trainers give them a variety of different balls and ropes to play with. While the trainers watched their dogs to make sure they behaved they also used this time to talk amongst themselves about the different struggles and achievements their dogs have had over the past two weeks. One of the girls talked about how her puppy just does not like walking on a leash, she talks about how her dog just stops in the middle of the hallway and she is forced to drag him along to her next class. While another girl talks about how her dog likes to eat his leash as they walk through campus and she cannot ever get him to stop.

The final part of the meeting is a short exercise where the trainers work with the dogs all together to have all the puppies sit, lay down, and walk on their trainers commands in order to get an treat. They had everyone spread out around the room, as the president walked around and helped those whose dogs were not listening. The people who did not have a dog stood off to the side watching the others trainers while talking to each other about how they could not wait to get their own dogs. Those same dogs that used the beginning of meeting as naptime seemed to excel in the exercise. When their trainer said sit, they sat down, looking straight at their trainers waiting for the treat. When they were told to lie down they relaxed a little laid on the floor and looked up for the treat that they knew would follow. As soon as the trainer would pull on their leash the dog would jump up and follow beside their trainer wherever they went. It was the puppies that were oblivious to the world playing with their leashes and rolling around that struggled with the exercise the most. They were not interested in sitting still; they were ready to run around and play. During this exercise there was a constant chatter among the trainers, and the constant, “sit… sit… stay… good girl.”  One golden retriever in the corner of the classroom, who was by far the smallest and looked to be the youngest of the dogs, would not listen. He just sat there staring at everything going on around him. No toy or treat could bride him. “He is gonna be the stubborn one this semester” another trainer joked. It is kind of hard to believe that they will one day be one the most well behaved dogs helping a disabled owner in the near future.

Taken from http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=337186136323087&set=pb.254871674554534.-2207520000.1361549099&type=3&theater

After doing the exercises for a while, the president yelled out that, everyone was doing a great job and to keep up the good work. This was everyone’s cue that the meeting was over. As the meeting wrapped up the majority of the members packed up all their stuff and filed out of the room, a few people stayed behind to talk to the president individually before leaving. I followed the majority of the crowd out, they all said bye and went their separate ways heading home with their dogs.