Thanksgiving Safety Tips

 

Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie… Who’s ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family? While you’re enjoying the good food and even better company, however, make sure you take a few moments to keep your dog safe this Thanksgiving.

Here are a few tips so that your dog has a fun and safe holiday.

All Good Things in Moderation

Since you’re going to be indulging in foods that you don’t normally eat every day, it’s natural to want to share some of these special treats with your dog. However, while it may be okay to add a few small (boneless, fully cooked) pieces of turkey, sweet potatoes, or green beans to your dog’s dinner, be careful not to give your dog too much. Eating too much unfamiliar food can give your dog an upset stomach. And if you have an SSD dog, remember – no feeding from the table!

A good idea to keep your dog occupied and give them a special holiday treat is to fill a Kong or empty marrow bone with pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling), dog food, small pieces of turkey, sweet potatoes, and frozen green beans. Freeze this for a few hours before giving it to your dog. Not only is it a tasty treat, but it’ll take them a while to eat it.

Just Say No

The following foods can be harmful to your dog. Please don’t feed them to him, or let your dog have access to them.

• Turkey bones
• Onions
• Raisins
• Grapes
• Raw bread dough
• Fatty foods, such as turkey skin
• Chocolate
• Anything in the garbage

A Tired Dog Is a Good Dog

We know you might be busy preparing the Thanksgiving meal, but please take some time to exercise or play with your dog before the festivities start. If your dog is already tired, she’ll be more likely to be calmer when your guests start arriving. Plus, she may even sleep through the meal!

Don’t Forget the ID

Although some dog owners remove their dog’s collar and ID tags when the dog is in the house, it’s a good idea to keep the collar on while guests are coming and going. In all the activity, your dog may slip out of the house, and you want to be sure that the dog can be easily identified and returned to you.

A Little Peace and Quiet

Finally, make sure your dog has a quiet place to go if the festivities get to be too much for him. Our SSD dogs are crate trained, and our dogs will often retreat to their crate or their bed when they need some quiet time.

We wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving!

SSD Peach Pie is thankful for volunteers who travel

Some of our puppies travel a long way to become part of Susquehanna Service Dogs. We have relationships with service and guide dog organizations across the continent, and we often give and receive puppies. For example, SSD Pearl, the mother of the Gemstones litter, came to us from Pacific Assistance Dog Society, and when the Gemstones were born, little Amber went to PADS.

We have also received puppies from other organizations. In fact, our newest addition comes from Guide Dogs of Texas - but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read about her!

SSD Peach Pie is another dog who came from PADS. This holiday season, she is thankful for the volunteers who donate their time to escort service dogs across the continent. In July, when little Peach Pie needed to fly from PADS in Vancouver to SSD in Harrisburg, PA, she was carried in the arms of a wonderful volunteer from U.S. Airways. Peach Pie is very thankful for this volunteer, who donated his time to fly her across the country.

Peach Pie also gives thanks for all of the volunteers who have driven to other states to pick up puppies. SSD Nubble, Dandelion, Daisy and many others may not have become a part of SSD without these wonderful volunteers.

Thank you so much for your time and dedication!

And we promise to tell you more about our new puppy tomorrow!

SSD Midge Gives Thanks for our Wonderful Vet!

Most of our dogs-in-training agree that going to the vet is not nearly as scary as it seems. We are very lucky to have wonderful veterinarians at the Palmyra Animal Clinic to take care of our service dogs-in-training. Everyone is so friendly, and they always let the dogs know how much they love them. Thank you for everything you do for us!

This holiday season, SSD Midge is especially thankful for veterinarian services. She went into heat in the middle of November, and she went to a vet in the Philadelphia area today to be bred. She was the mother of the Rock and Roll Stars litter, born in May 2010, and if everything goes well, she could become a mother again! This means that she'll be making lots of trips to the vet. Before she was bred, she went to the vet every day for tests to figure out the best time to breed her.

Several weeks after she's bred, she'll return to the vet for an ultrasound to see if she's pregnant. Then when her puppies are born, the vet will take care of them, too, giving them their shots and making sure they're healthy. With so many vet visits, Midge appreciates the loving and gentle care she gets.

Midge asks you to consider donating to SSD so she and her future puppies can get the proper veterinary care. Your $10 donation will help Midge and her future puppies live long, healthy lives as service dogs.

Donate now to care for Midge and her future puppies.

Thank you for your continued support for SSD Midge, her future puppies and the rest of us at SSD! We will keep you posted about Midge and her puppies. If she's pregnant, you will be one of the first to know!

SSD Shamrock is thankful for puppy sitters

SSD Shamrock is thankful for puppy sitters. When his puppy raiser family went on vacation, he stayed with a puppy sitter, and he had a blast playing with new toys and meeting new people!

Our puppy sitters are a group of volunteers who take care of the dogs-in-training when their puppy raisers go on vacation or are otherwise unable to care for the dogs. Puppy sitters receive training so they understand our training methods and expectations for the dogs-in-training.

Some of our volunteers start as puppy sitters and later decide to become puppy raisers. But whether they decide to become puppy raisers or not, our puppy sitters are very valuable. Not only do they give the puppy raisers a break, but they also help the dogs-in-training experience another home with a different routine. When the dogs become working service dogs, they'll have to get used to a new routine with their new partner, and they'll also need to be able to adapt quickly when their environment changes.

Plus, the dogs usually have a lot of fun when they're with a puppy sitter!

Shamrock and the rest of us at SSD would like to thank all of our puppy sitters for helping us care for and raise the puppies! We would not be the same organization without you!

We're sure you have stories of the times you have watched a dog for a friend, family member or neighbor. We would love to read them! Please share your stories in the comments.

SSD Grace is thankful for puppy raisers

Today is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and SSD Grace is hoping her puppy raiser brings her some presents!

Grace is one of the Rock and Roll Stars puppies, and she is currently living with her puppy raiser, learning how to be a service dog. This holiday season, Grace would like to give thanks for all of SSD's wonderful puppy raisers!

Puppy raisers are volunteers who welcome a puppy into their lives for 18 months. They train the puppy in basic obedience and good house manners, and they take the puppy out in public to many different places so the puppy gains new experiences and learns to give behaviors regardless of what environment it is in.

One of the most important things a puppy raiser teaches a puppy is self control. The puppy must be able to walk in a controlled manner beside its handler, greet other dogs and people calmly, and ignore food and other interesting objects in the environment.

All of our puppy raisers attend Puppy Class two to three times a month, where they learn new skills and behaviors to practice with their dog. Grace loves going to Puppy Class, where she can demonstrate her progress and see her brothers and the other dogs. Watch a video of Grace learning how to "heel":



In addition to training, puppy raisers provide food, toys, and best of all, lots of love! Grace would like to thank each one of our puppy raisers for their dedication and love. She and the other puppies wouldn't be able to become service dogs without you!

If you've ever raised a puppy, whether it's a service dog, guide dog or a beloved pet, share your favorite puppy experience in the comments.

SSD Taz Is Thankful for Puppy Huggers

Young puppies are like sponges. They soak up new information and experiences. The things they learn when they are young set the stage for the rest of their careers as service dogs-in-training.

SSD Taz is thankful for the volunteer puppy huggers who visited him and his brothers and sisters when they were young puppies. These volunteers helped teach Taz that people are friendly and not something to be feared. He got lots of hugs!

But puppy huggers do more than just hug and play with the puppies. Puppy huggers also handle the puppies so the pups get used to having all parts of their body touched - ears, mouth, paws, body. It's important for service dogs to be comfortable being handled. When they're paired with a partner, the dogs need to be comfortable having their ears and teeth checked and cleaned and their nails clipped. A dog that pulls his paws away or nips at a person's hands may injure their partner.

Once the puppies go to the kennel for a week before they join their puppy raisers, puppy huggers visit to work with the puppies. Puppy huggers begin to teach the puppies loose leash walking, which is one of the most important things a service dog learns. Loose leash walking is all about self control. The dog walks nicely next to its handler with the leash nice and loose and doesn't lunge toward interesting smells, food, people, other dogs or any other distractions. Watch a video of Taz walking on a leash at the kennel with a puppy hugger.



Puppy huggers also helped Taz learn good crate behavior. They would put him in a small crate and close the door. Once he was quiet for several minutes, they let him out. This may be one of the most difficult things puppy huggers do. Some of the puppies bark and whine to be let out of the crate, but puppy huggers must ignore them until they're quiet - a difficult thing to do when our instinct is to comfort a whining puppy!

Taz is very thankful for all of the puppy huggers who helped start his training! Now, he and the other Gemstones puppies are almost five months old and are training with their puppy raisers, who will train they until they're 18 months old. On Friday, SSD Grace will tell you all about our puppy raisers and why she's so thankful for everything they do!

SSD Taz and the rest of us at Susquehanna Service Dogs wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!

SSD Graham Gives Thanks for Food

We don't know about you, but food is one of our favorite things about Thanksgiving, and we're pretty sure the service dogs-in-training agree! Although they don't get to eat turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, they love the food they do get.

SSD Graham Cracker is especially thankful for food this Thanksgiving. Graham is one of the dogs in advanced training, and he gets two meals a day, plus peanut butter bones and training treats while he's practicing his service dog skills. While the dogs are in advanced training, they eat food that is designed to build strong muscles and bones, especially joints, so the dogs are as healthy as they can be. Graham and his kennelmates are thankful that they get such healthy meals because it gives them energy and strength to open doors, pull a wheelchair or search for a child.

This Thanksgiving, SSD Graham asks you to consider donating to SSD so he and his kennelmates have plenty to eat while they're learning how to change lives. At any given time, there are eight to ten dogs living at the kennel for advanced training. Your $10 donation will feed one dog for a week.

Donate now to feed a service dog-in-training.

Thank you for helping to feed the dogs! SSD Graham and the rest of us at SSD wish you a very happy Thanksgiving filled with food, family and friends!

'Tis the Season for Giving Thanks

'Tis the season for giving thanks! With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we started thinking about all of the things we have to be thankful for. You, our volunteers and our donors are at the top of our list! Thank you so much for your support, dedication and generosity. You make it possible for us to continue training service dogs to change lives!

SSD Gnat is thankful for everyone who donated space to Susquehanna Service Dogs for Team Training. Gnat was paired with his partner and went through Team Training in February this year. He and his partner learned how to work as a team at the Dauphin County Conservation District (DCCD). The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture generously donated the space at the DCCD so that the service dogs and their partners can bond and practice their skills before going out in public for the first time together. Watch the video of how well Gnat and his new partner bond when they first meet at the DCCD!



After several days of working together at the DCCD, SSD Gnat and his partner were ready to practice their skills in public. Thank you to the Colonial Park Mall, the Harrisburg Mall and the Whitaker Center for letting SSD Gnat and his partner and all of the other service dogs and their partners use your facilities to practice working together!

SSD Gnat and his partner took the public access test at the Colonial Park Mall, and now Gnat goes everywhere with his partner, opening doors and retrieving items. He has heard her say that having a service dog has given her her life back.

Please consider making a donation to support service dogs-in-training. You can help change a life, just like SSD Gnat changed his partner's life.

Donate now.

Thank you for your continued support! There are so many things to be thankful for this year. What are you thankful for? Please share your stories in the comments.