Meet SSD Nubble!

In the middle of a snowstorm, a little yellow lab puppy arrived in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. That car ride from Maine to Pennsylvania marked the beginning of a very important journey for SSD Nubble. He began his journey to becoming a service dog.

We're going to be following Nubble as he learns new skills and behaviors. Over the next 18 months, you'll find out exactly how a cute little puppy becomes a highly skilled service dog. Last week, you met SSD Onyx, and we will soon be following SSD Aladdin as well. Look for weekly posts about these three dogs' journeys.

Meet Nubble

Most of SSD's dogs come from our own breeding program, and the names of each litter center on a theme chosen by the mother's breeder caretaker. Nubble, however, comes to us from a program in Maine. He gets his name from the Cape Neddick Light, a lighthouse in Maine known as the "Nubble Light" by the locals.

Nubble joined his puppy raiser family on December 5. He is the first puppy they are raising for a service dog organization. Donna and her 15-year-old daughter, Lindsey, are raising him together. They are part of our Northeast Division, which is spread across northeastern Pennsylvania. Although they have a dog of their own, a terrier mix named Gizzy, raising a puppy to become a service dog is completely different from raising a family pet. It has been a learning process for everyone. Having a strong network of other volunteer puppy raisers in the Northeast Division has helped. They can ask questions and get advice and feedback from other volunteers. What do Nubble's puppy raisers have to say about having him in their family? "Nubble is an absolute joy to have in the house!"

He and Gizzy get along extremely well. When he first arrived, Gizzy was very gentle with him. as he has grown, she has adjusted her behavior toward him, starting to treat him less like a puppy. And of course, she doesn't hesitate to let him know when he's pushing his boundaries with her!

Nubble does very well in the car. Other than that first long car trip, he has not gotten car sick. He spends most of his time in the car either sitting or sleeping. When he and Gizzy are in the car together, she sits on him and he lets her get away with it.

Already, Nubble has learned several cues. He knows sit, come, down, and up (on the couch), and responds to his name. He also targets his puppy raiser's hand. Right now, he's working on stay. He's having a little difficulty with this one, but with some practice, he'll get it. He's a very smart puppy, and he really wants to please his puppy raisers. These cues are part of basic obedience and are an essential part of a service dog's training. All of our service dogs must master these skills. In addition, a willingness to please their handlers is important.

And Nubble is constantly learning and exploring. You know how babies and toddlers explore their world by putting things in their mouth? Well, one of Nubble's favorite things to do is chew. And chew. And chew some more. He will chew on anything. "It's like having a toddler in the house. You can't take your eyes off him," says Donna. Since getting Nubble, Donna has changed the way she manages her household so that Nubble can get into as little mischief as possible. Although there isn't much she can do about chair legs, doorstops, door knobs, rugs, floor tiles, the dishwasher and the refrigerator, she has removed all other items that he could possibly chew on. In fact, the family decided to get a small Christmas tree this year and put it on a table, so Nubble wouldn't have the opportunity to try to gnaw on it. "He would have eaten the whole tree, decorations and all!" says Donna.

As his first outing, Nubble went to a pet store, and everyone who saw him, loved him! They loved him so much that it was difficult for people not to pet him. However, regardless of how cute the puppy is, service dogs and service dogs-in-training are working dogs, and they should not be petted, fed, or distracted in any way while they are working. (General rule of thumb: If a service dog is wearing his vest, he's working.) But, despite the distractions of people trying to pet him, Nubble's first outing was a success! He met a lot of people and came into contact with many new smells - an important part of socialization and becoming comfortable in any environment.

Since then, Nubble has been to convenience stores, a bookstore, a grocery store and the vet. He's usually very well behaved, thanks to the clicker and lots of treats!

Once Nubble has been fully housebroken, he will be spending time with Lindsey at school. So far, he has been to school for 10 minutes to meet the guidance counselor and principal and show them what he has learned.

When people find out that Donna and Lindsey are raising Nubble to be a service dog, they often ask, "How are you going to give him up?" "Honestly," says Donna, "when you decide to do this, you understand that the puppy has a greater life ahead of him than just being your dog. I feel very blessed that we can help do our part for someone else."

Meet SSD Onyx

SSD Onyx spent her Christmas stalking two Dalmatians. Her puppy raisers aren't sure where or how she learned it, but Onyx sneaked up on the two Dalmatians who were visiting for the holidays. She moved slowly, getting closer, closer...then POUNCE! She jumped on them. Neither Dalmatian was especially fond of being jumped on. After getting pounced a few times, the one decided that the best way to avoid Onyx's sneak attacks was to keep moving. The other took a more direct approach and simply growled at the little lab when he had had enough.

Onyx is one of the three service dogs-in-training that we are going to be following on the blog. We will give you a window into her life as she learns different skills and behaviors and grows from a playful puppy to a skilled service dog ready to assist her partner. Look for weekly posts about her, SSD Aladdin and SSD Nubble.

You may remember Onyx from the Puppy Cam. She comes from the Crayon litter, born on September 3, 2009. She joined her puppy raisers on October 31, 2009. When they first got her, this little black lab weighed just under 13 pounds. She was just at the vet last week with her brothers Rusty and Denim, and she weighed 29 pounds. She's growing quickly!

Onyx is one smart puppy, and every day is an adventure with her. She's always exploring and experimenting with behaviors and her surroundings. Her puppy raisers can sometimes see the wheels turning in her head. One day, she picked up her food dish and dragged it from its usual spot all the way upstairs. Now, the SSD Puppy Raiser Manual says to feed the dogs in different rooms of the house, so they get used to eating anywhere. Well, Onyx seems to have taken this to heart. It's as if she was saying, "Today, I'm eating up here!"

She also loves to steal shoes. Her puppy raisers have had to move all their shoes out of reach to keep them from being chomped. However, they don't want to completely discourage her from playing with shoes because someday she may have to retrieve her partner's shoes. If she learns as a puppy that shoes are bad, it will be much harder for her to learn to retrieve shoes as an adult dog in advanced training. Her puppy raisers have been practicing leave it and then substituting something else, such as a chew toy, for the shoe.

And Onyx certainly loves to chew! It seems to be one of her favorite things to do. In fact, that seems to be the favorite thing for all the puppies in the Crayon litter. Onyx will chew on things that just don't make any sense to her puppy raisers - the legs of a metal coffee table or a brick fireplace. To stop her from chewing on things like this, they have been using the leave it cue, just like they do with the shoes. Except that Onyx is smart and has a mind of her own. Not two minutes after getting a treat for giving a good leave it, she goes right back to chewing. In her mind, it must seem like a really cool game. It's as if she's thinking, "If I chew on this, they'll tell me to leave it, and when I do, I'll get a treat. So if I chew on this table, I'll get a treat. I like this game!"

Her puppy raisers are working on keeping her from chewing things she isn't supposed to be chewing. They're also focusing on leave it and making it productive so that she doesn't go right back to what she was doing.

They're also working on recalls. Recently, Onyx had her puppy evaluations, where SSD's trainers ask each puppy to demonstrate certain skills. Onyx, however, was having none of that. She was more interested in chewing the carpet than in retrieving a ball, and she certainly didn't want to come when called, especially when there was something much more interesting to do - chew! Even though Onyx does a recall at home in a familiar environment, she still has trouble if there are distractions. For example, she loves to play with the neighbor's dog, a bulldog named Casper. She loves it so much, that when her puppy raisers call her to come, she ignores them. In order to recall her, they have to call Casper, and Onyx follows him over. Since this is the first time they're raising an SSD puppy, her puppy raisers turned to our trainers and other puppy raisers for advice. Here is some of their advice:

Practice frequently, but start small. Since she has difficulty with recalls when there are distractions, start with a very small distraction and build up over time as she gets better. When you're practicing outside, use an extra long lead so she stays safe while still being free to roam. When she does ignore the distractions and come when called, give her a jackpot of treats. She'll start to think, "Ooo, if I come when they call me, I'll get lots of tasty treats!" Finally, to make sure that she keeps giving a good recall, cue her to come, give her lots of treats, then let her go back to whatever fun, exciting thing she was doing (as long as it's safe). That way, come won't always mean that the fun ends. It will mean "come get tasty treats, then go back and have more fun."

With Onyx, the real trick was finding the right motivation. While she likes her regular treats (her food or cheerios), they just weren't a powerful enough motivator to get her to abandon the fun thing she was exploring. You could practically hear her thoughts: "Go get some cheerios, or stay here and watch these birds flying? Ha! I'm watching the birds." But when another puppy raiser suggested using cheese whiz - wow! What a difference! Now Onyx will voluntarily recall herself when she knows her puppy raisers have a can of cheese whiz. They haven't tried the cheese whiz when they're recalling her from playing with Casper yet. We'll let you know if it works.

She also loves chicken. Her puppy raisers discovered her love of chicken one day while cutting some at the kitchen counter. They had been working on different cues with Onyx, such as sit and down. When the chicken came out, she voluntarily gave a down. It's all about finding the right motivation.

Next week, Onyx will be spending a week with her brother Denim and his puppy raiser. It will be interesting to see how they interact and what they teach each other. Will Onyx learn some tricks from Denim? Check back in the next two weeks to find out.

We wish you and your four-legged friends a happy New Year!

Follow the Lives of the Service Dogs

Do you know how a little puppy becomes a service dog? How about what kinds of skills a service dog learns? Or how the dogs even learn those skills?

If you're not sure about the answers to these questions, don't worry. Next week, we're going to start a series about the life of a service dog-in-training. We're going to give you a window into the lives of SSD Aladdin, Onyx, and maybe even Nubble, our newest puppy. We will be following these dogs on their journey to becoming service dogs.

You'll discover the places they have gone, skills they've learned, and the fun and adventures they've had along the way. You'll also learn about our puppy raisers, those wonderful volunteers who welcome a puppy into their home and raise it for 18 months.

If you have questions about the lives of the service dogs, leave us a comment. We will do our best to answer your questions.

SSD Holiday Party

The holidays started early for the service dogs. Last week, we held our annual holiday party. Puppy raisers, partners of service dogs, SSD staff, and of course, the dogs got together for food, fun and a little socialization for both people and dogs. What a great time!


We started off the evening with a huge potluck buffet. Each person brought a dish to share. As more people arrived, it became a puzzle to fit all the food on the table - and it was all delicious! While the people ate, the dogs waited under the table or at their handlers' feet. Even the little puppies! A great display of how well our puppy raisers are doing with their dogs.

After dinner, it was game time! The dogs and their handlers got a chance to show off some of their skills in D-O-G. In this game, dogs and their handlers form two teams. The first team chooses a dog to perform a trick. The other team needs to find a dog that can also do that trick. If the other team cannot perform the trick, they get a "D." The goal is to NOT spell the word "dog." We took some videos of the dogs and their handlers playing D-O-G:


SSD Gideon picked a quarter up off the floor. It seemed like this trick was going to be too difficult for the other team to counter. But then SSD Dutch came forward. Instead of picking up a quarter, Dutch picked up a dime!

SSD Midge challenged the other team to perform a "hold." This seemed like a pretty routine trick until Midge's handler revealed the object the dogs had to hold: a hot dog! After Midge held the hot dog in her mouth for a few seconds without eating it, the other team had to find a dog that could do the same thing. SSD Pearl stepped forward, and she held the hot dog, too! Great job, Midge and Pearl!

SSD Graham Cracker was able to step up to the plate when the other team challenged him to walk between his handler's legs and sit.

Even one of the puppies from our most recent litter, SSD Slate, was able to match some of the tricks. When the other team challenged him to do sit-ups (going into a sit from a down position), he proved that while he may be a puppy, he was more than ready for this challenge!

Slate is being raised by a puppy raiser in our Northeast Division. We're very glad they were able to come to Harrisburg to enjoy our SSD party with us!

If you'd like to see photos from our holiday party, visit our Facebook page.

We have a wonderful evening of good holiday fun! If you'd like to join us next year, become a puppy raiser! Applications are available on our website.

Help the SSD Princes

SSD Philip, Aladdin and Caspian need your help! These three service dogs-in-training have been diagnosed with Cauda Equina Syndrome, a serious disease in which the spinal nerves in the dog’s lower back are compressed. This compression can be caused by a variety of things, including infection or a ruptured disc. It can be very painful for the dogs.

However, there is good news! The nerves damaged by Cauda Equina Syndrome can be repaired through surgery! Philip and Aladdin have already had the surgery and both are doing well. We expect Philip to return to training in early January. Since Aladdin had his surgery more recently, we are unable to determine when he’ll be able to return to training. However, he is doing well in his recovery. Caspian will be having his surgery sometime soon. We hope that all three of these wonderful dogs will be able to return to training in the new year.

Susquehanna Service Dogs, Philip, Aladdin and Caspian need your help! The diagnosis and surgery for these three princes costs a total of $4,800. ($1,600 for each dog) Would you please consider making a donation to help us pay for these important surgeries? Please help us make sure that Philip, Aladdin and Caspian are happy, healthy dogs that will one day help their partners live full, independent lives.

Thank you so much for your support for these wonderful dogs!

Please make a donation now.

Read more about Cauda Equina Syndrome.

Training Dogs to Alert

A little while ago, we received an excellent question on Twitter from @mrlent about training dogs to alert for a fainting condition caused by heart rate. (See his original question here.) Our answer is going to take a few more characters than the 140 limit on Twitter, so we thought we would post it here.

Dogs have an amazing ability to respond to extremely subtle stimuli, sometimes so subtle that neither humans nor machines can pick up on them. It will seem like the dog is alerting to a condition. However, the dog is technically responding.

You may have heard of Diabetic Alert Dogs, and even though they have the word “alert” in their name, they are still responding to a stimulus, in this case an odor that the body produces when blood sugar drops. These dogs are trained to perform specific behaviors when they smell that particular odor.

Dogs that “alert” for seizures are also fairly well known. These dogs perform a behavior before a medical crisis arises, sometimes signaling their partner when a seizure is going to occur. However, these dogs are still responding to something, not alerting. We just aren’t sure what the dogs are responding to, which makes it seem like they’re alerting.

A dog could be trained to respond to a fainting condition. We have actually trained and placed several dogs with individuals whose primary disability involved fainting or loss of consciousness. A dog could easily be trained to retrieve a telephone, pull an emergency cord, cover the person with a blanket, dial 911, alert someone else in the house, etc. The only way a dog could be trained to alert to a condition would be if the person knows of specific things that usually occur before he or she loses consciousness. It is possible to train the dog to respond to these things, thereby creating an “alert” before the person faints.

Some of the dogs we have trained to respond to a fainting condition have developed alert behaviors. However, they are still technically responding to something – we as human just aren’t able to perceive what they are responding to. In order to train a dog to perform a behavior, we need to be able to perceive specific cues or stimuli.

Service Dogs: Specially Trained Partners

In early September, we held our Meet the Dogs sessions where several people who had been on our waiting list got to meet the dog that would become their partner. Since then, we have been specially training each of those dogs for each person, so that when the service dog teams graduate, the dogs are able to assist their partners with their unique needs.

We’re dedicated to making sure that we are meeting the needs of each person who receives a service dog from us. When we’re matching people with a dog, we learn as much as we can about that person’s unique needs so we can specially train the dog. For example, one person may need to use the dog for balance as he moves. Because everyone gets around differently, we will fit a dog with a harness and have the person try using the dog as balance at our Meet the Dogs sessions. This gives the person the opportunity to find out how the dog will be able to assist him with balance. Also, because there are several different types of harnesses a balance dog can wear, this short demo allows the person and dog to find the type of harness that works best for them. From a training standpoint, it gives us the opportunity to observe how the person is walking or moving with the dog. In advanced training, we will then try to duplicate some of those movements so the dog is specially trained to do balance work with their partner.

Similarly, we sometimes need to change the name of a dog in order to meet a person’s needs. Each litter that we breed and raise is assigned a theme, and each puppy is named according to that theme. For example, our most recent litter is called the Crayon litter, and each puppy is named after a crayon color. However, when a person is matched with a dog, we may need to change the dog’s name for that person. For instance, we have placed several hearing dogs with people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Sometimes, because of their disability, the dog’s name may be difficult for the person to pronounce. We will then change the dog’s name for that person. Changing a dog’s name is not as difficult as it may seem. It is simply a matter of training the dog to respond to a different name. And something as simple as a name can mean all the difference to that dog’s human partner.

If you would like to read more about how we match people with dogs, please read our Meet the Dogs post.

Since 1994, 171 service dog teams have graduated from our program, and we currently have 26 puppies being raised by our wonderful, dedicated volunteers. As a fully accredited service dog organization, we are dedicated to high standards of quality and making sure that our service dogs are able to assist their partners with their unique needs. We love our work, and we’re looking forward to the day when the dogs that are currently in advanced training graduate with their new partners as working service dog teams.