Posts from May 11th, 2015
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May
11
11
Volunteers Among Us - Becoming a Seeing Eye Dog Trainer
We asked our agents how, where and why they do volunteer work in the community. Our Roscoe agent Barbara Fry has shared the story of her journey in becoming a Leader Dog trainer to share with you! Below are 2 entries in her story first posted here: Volunteers Among Us – Becoming a Seeing Eye Dog Trainer
February 2015 - Oci is ready to start puppy classes. I signed him up with Forest City in Loves Park. This is the same place I took Tanner for 2 years. I know Oci will be way ahead of the other puppies in the class, but he is being held to higher standards than most puppies.
2 weeks before the classes start, we have a monthly gathering of the other Leader Dogs in the area. The meeting took place at the bowling alley in Loves Park. I was shocked to see how many puppies are in this area! They were all ages and sizes. Oci was the next to youngest. There were black labs and yellow labs and golden retrievers everywhere! I did not get a accurate count but there were over 10 dogs in the bowling alley that day! Our counselor, Caroline, spent time with each puppy and tested them to see what they need to work on. Oci still has not mastered stairs yet, so Caroline showed me some tricks to get him working on this. She also showed me how to start working on him with any doors. He will have to always enter any door from the open end and not the hinged side. So when the door has the hinges on the left side, Oci has to move around me, wait till I open the door, wait till I give the command to "forward", then change sides again so that he is on the left side of me. This is gonna take some work! The day was fun and we met many other handlers. Caroline said Oci his too chubby, so we have to cut back on his food. The vet calls him Tank!
March - 2015 - Oci is THE star of puppy class. The classes are good for his socialization, and the instructor makes sure I am moving him in the right direction. After class, all the puppies get to play for 5 minutes. This is his favorite part! He is not showing any fear of other dogs and loves to play at the kennel club. I think he has forgotten all about the dog bite.
At home he is getting to be a handful. I block him into the kitchen when we leave. One day I came home to find the stove was turned on! Apparently he had jumped up on the front of the stove to see if there was anything good up there, and turned the knob with his big feet. Luckily the burner did ignite and not just leak gas all day. My spoon rest was black and the house was hot, but other than that there was no damage. Ok, NO more leaving him in the kitchen. I know you have to remove stove knobs when there is a toddler in the house, but never realized my dog could turn the stove on. Jeeeez. I made a new "safe" zone in the entry area by the front door.
Oci's training is going well. We are still taking him out with us whenever we can. He has been to local bars, and hardware stores, the bank and many other places. To help with the stair issue, I have taken him to the library. When he was comfortable with those, I took him down to the courthouse downtown. They have open back stairs. With a little practice, he was comfortable them. He will now walk slowly up and down and he is not pulling me along with him.
He is growing fast! I took him to the vet and then a week later had to take him back for a follow up visit. He is gaining a half a pound a day! At this rate he will be a Tank!
Oci wants to play with our older dog. He jumps up and bites Tanner's neck. Tanner is a lover not a fighter, and he whimpers or yelps rather than correct Oci. So we have to pull the puppy off Tanner several times a day. I got a spray bottle and tried to squirt water at Oci when he does this, but spraying water on a Labrador is like punishing a teenager by giving them an IPod. Oci jumps at the water and tries to catch it in his mouth! The only other recourse is to put him in the kennel until he settles down.
I'm looking forward to water play with him this spring and summer!
STAR puppy classes start in a week. We are ready!
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Read Barabara's Blog from the beginning here: Volunteers Among Us – Becoming a Seeing Eye Dog Trainer
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Barbara Fry, Broker – Dickerson & Nieman Roscoe