Yesterday was an exciting day, and not just because of the
solar eclipse! We welcomed 12 first year students from Dickinson College to
Susquehanna Service Dogs as part of their pre-orientation!
At Dickinson, incoming first year students have the opportunity
to sign up for some element of campus life that interests them. They then get
to come to campus early (pre-orientation) to learn about it. Or in the case of
the 12 students who signed up for Dickinson Dog House, our Dogs on Campus
program at Dickinson, they got to come to SSD!
Over the past two days, these students have gotten a jump
start on learning how to work with our dogs in training. They toured our
facility, learned clicker training, and worked with some of our dogs in
advanced training.
Once their semester begins, they’ll be able to start working
with our dogs at the Dog House right away.
This process also benefits our dogs in advanced training.
Working with a novice handler is a great experience, especially since their
future partners may also be novice handlers. The more experience our dogs can
get working with handlers of varying experience, the better.
Since it started, Dickinson Dog House has raised five dogs
for us and they’ve whelped three litters of puppies. The Dog House is unique
among our Dogs on Campus programs. Multiple dogs live in the house with the
students, and the students take turns working with the dogs. Plus, there’s a
host of other Dog House club members who are trained to work with our dogs and
can assist throughout the day.
These are a great group of students, and we’re looking
forward to working with them over the course of their college career!
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