What Makes Susquehanna Service Dogs Special

Post by Nancy Fierer, Susquehanna Service Dogs’ founder and director

Susquehanna Service Dogs has a wonderful history—from that first mid-January meeting in 1993 in my living room and the placement of our first service dog in the summer of 1994 to the transition to a positive clicker training program to our first Assistance Dogs International accreditation in 2003 and much more. With hard work, wonderful staff, amazing volunteers, and luck, we have come this far—through 20 years—placing 226 service dog teams.

SSD was mentored by Canine Working Companions near Utica, NY. The director, Pat MacNamara, helped me learn what to do. They showed me how to teach Zach, SSD’s very first demo therapy interview dog, how to open a door. I was so excited, I started as soon as I arrived in the Adirondacks. Within ten minutes, Zach did it—the easiest, fastest dog I ever taught. I though, how hard can this be? It was never that easy again.

I also met my first service dog team at Canine Working Companions, and I knew we could do this. CWC has since closed, but we would not be here without their years of mentorship. Now SSD continues to mentor other Assistance Dogs International member programs.

So SSD was off and running. We became part of Tri County Easter Seal Society and after many turns, part of Keystone Human Services Children and Family Services. We found our first partner. He was a middle school student with osteogenisis imperfect and with the help of a few volunteers, we trained SSD Hope, a sweet black lab, to become his service dog, go to school with him, allow him to travel alone, grow up more independently, and graduate from high school. They were a wonderful first team. And luck, such an important part of life, was on the side of SSD. Amazingly, we had no problems, no disasters, nothing that we couldn’t easily solve. We were so lucky.

We grew and placed many service dogs, started a breeding program, hired staff, and raised money. Over all these years, the SSD family has experienced sadness and loss, triumphs and joy, and wonderful friends to the rescue, just at the right moments. We kept growing and changing.

We have had many success stories, from the boy who went to the zoo with his service dog and told the interested zoo animals that his dog was “off the menu,” to the service dog who would not leave his partner’s side even though they were at the dog park.

And then there are reports from established teams. SSD placed a service dog with an 11-year-old girl with significant psychiatric illness and autism. Her family had tried many other services and support with little success. Nothing helped until SSD Sadie came into their lives. At time, the girl was a D/F student with few friends and many meltdowns.

Each of our service dog teams trains a new task to help the bonding process and learn how to train, and together this family taught the dog to give full body pressure, which provides a significant calming effect. Immediately, the girl’s meltdowns decreased in duration and slowly decreased in frequency. And her grades improved dramatically!

This team has been together for many years, have successfully passed each Assistance Dogs International (ADI) public access test, and SSD task tests. The girl is now 16 years old. She has maintained good grades, mostly A’s, since the partnership began. Her meltdowns have gone away. She still uses Sadie for deep pressure, but to relieve stress rather than meltdowns. She also uses the dog during tests. Sadie alerts to her foot tapping, a sign of rising anxiety. The girl can then collect herself and continue. This made the entire testing experience successful.

And then there is the social part. From the beginning, it was “cool” that she had a dog in school. It immediately helped her classmates understand her better and then made her very approachable because she had a sweet black lab. SSD Sadie goes everywhere with her. Before Sadie, the girl was secluded, withdrawn, and did not participate in class or initiate conversation. With Sadie, people talked to her and she responded. Over time, she did this more and more and has blossomed into an outgoing teenager with friends.

Together, service dog teams do many small things that give each partner more independence, let each partner lead more of a typical day, month, year. This past year, we placed eighteen service dog teams, one courthouse dog, and two school facility dogs.

What else makes SSD so special? First, our volunteers and what they do for SSD. We are all part of creating these working service dog teams in tiny ways—training puppies and dogs, raising funds, spreading the word, and doing a million other tiny pieces. In our latest ADI accreditation, our evaluator told us that she has never seen such a dedicated group of volunteers.

Second, we are on the cutting edge of our field. Third, we have dedicated, motivated, and personable staff. They are smart, flexible, highly trained, and give their lives to SSD.

Many things are changing for SSD, but these things remain constant. Please think about the future and how you all help shape it. We could not do this without your help. Together we have touched each other’s lives and many others we never even knew, and we’re slowly changing the world one click at a time.

Assistance Dogs International North American Trainer’s Conference, October 7-9

Post by Nancy Fierer, SSD’s director

The Assistance Dogs International North American Trainer’s Conference, hosted by Pacific Assistance Dogs Society (PADS) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was wonderful. It was full of diverse material with something interesting for everyone. PADS arranged for the conference to be held at the Rosemary Heights Retreat Center just outside Vancouver. We had wonderfully comfortable beds, great food, and beautiful grounds for walking.

Many attendees arrived on Sunday evening (Oct. 6) to settle in, and there was a dinner and later a wine and cheese reception. It was great to see old friends and greet new ones. In addition to me, there were three other people representing SSD at the conference: Amanda, our training coordinator; Becky, our puppy coordinator; and Susan, our volunteer extraordinaire. SSD Julia, one of our yellow lab breeding females, also came along.

On Monday morning, we had a great session about courthouse dogs. Celeste Walsen Ellen O’Neill-Stephens, and CCI Molly B gave a wonderful presentation about what they do, how it works, and some of the wonderful successes they have had. Kim Gramlich with PADS Caber from the Delta Police Department spoke about the use of a specially trained dog in police-based victim services. The dog provides emotional support and aid during crisis intervention and response. The dog is a very effective tool, often giving “permission” for emotions that are under the surface, which allows the healing process to begin. This was a different type of facility placement from an ADI program than I had seen before. I found this session to be very informative and professional.

The women from the Courthouse Dog Foundation stress how careful and thorough the training and placement must be for courthouse dogs because these dogs are now part of making case law to smooth the way for future courthouse dogs. There are now fifty of these facility courthouse dogs working in twenty-one states. The third part of this session concerned the placement of facility dogs by PADS in a child protection center. Here again, professionalism was stressed. Margaret Hicks, PADS training manager did another great job with this final presentation.

After lunch, Susquehanna Service Dogs “Make the Right Match,” a presentation about matching people with dogs. Rebecca Lamb, our puppy coordinator, began by discussing the extensive process each potential puppy raiser must go through before we match the puppy with the raiser family. I gave a brief overview of the application process for people who are applying for service dogs, targeting the areas where we gather information for the future match, as well as information to measure how well the service dog team is doing six months after placement. Amanda Nicholson, our training coordinator, talked about the process of matching a person with a service dog. She discussed the questions we ask each person before they meet the dogs, which are used in outcome measurements and to create a list of behaviors and tasks needed to mitigate the person’s disability. She listed all of the things we consider before matching a person with a dog, including some of the common pitfalls. We also consider the dog’s choice as well. There were many questions for us, since the information was new for some people.

Next we had breakout sessions in three areas—Diabetic Dogs Panel, Starting a Courthouse Program, and a Breeding Program Managers session. I attended Starting a Courthouse Program, since we recently placed our first courthouse dog (SSD Buster). This session was very informative, and people made specific and systematic suggestions.

The evening was another fun time. Everyone shared funny and embarrassing moments involving service dogs in their lives. Marina Hall Phillips won the prize for the funniest, and I still laugh thinking about it.

Tuesday, October 8 was a day full of serious breeding discussions. In the morning sessions, Marina Hall Phillips discussed the ins and outs of managing a productive and sustainable working dog breeding colony. She stress the importance of knowing your production value and the significance of data integrity and phenotype, as well as what tests we need and why.

In February, SSD had hired Marina to visit our program for three days to help evaluate our needs. Much of the information in this session were things we learned from her visit and the follow-up report we received. The session was a comprehensive overview and a great reminder for us to help keep us on track. This was an awesome presentation!

That afternoon, Marina moderated a panel discussion with presenters from PADS, SSD, Indiana Canine Assistant Network (ICAN), and British Columbia Guide Dogs. The audience had lots of questions.

The final session of the day concerned the Assistance Dogs International North America Breeding Cooperative (ABC), and again, there were many questions. ABC was recently created, and we are a host member. (Read more about ABC.)

In the evening, the potential males from PADS were assessed. We discussed the issue of looking at the dog as an individual vs. the big picture. How much weight is given to the individual and what other important considerations need to be taken based on the dog’s pedigree? We also discussed the importance of weighing the dog’s faults and merits and not letting “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Finally, we looked at pre-breeding management of broods and studs. It was a long but interesting exercise.

Wednesday, October 9 brought a slide and video presentation by Joey Iverson about Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT). The presentation showed the systematic approach to using BAT to rehabilitate dog reactivity by examining why the dog is reactive and helping the dog meet their needs in other ways. BAT is a dog-friendly application of functional analysis that gives the dogs a chance to learn to control their own comfort level through peaceful means. I really enjoyed this presentation made it clearer to me how SSD can improve the way we use BAT. I find BAT helpful for reactivity for puppies and young dogs, but not necessarily for addressing aggressive behavior.

In the afternoon, we listened to a presentation by PADS puppy raising supervisor Heather Kidd on Footfall Techniques. She came up with the idea after working with her horses. She feels that if you teach the pup efficient footwork as puppies, then they will be able to become more confident as adults. They are able to move more efficiently and also be more confident that their feet will move them where they need to go in times of stress. Heather demonstrated that confidence in a wonderful video of a PADS dog and a ramp. I think the footfall techniques are something that SSD will start teaching. It’s easy, fun, and may be very helpful in the future.

We then had a hands-on workshop with BAT and footfall techniques, which was  nice for the last day.

Most of the attendees returned home on October 10, but we decided to take advantage of the visit to PADS and the trip to Whistler BC. It was a beautiful day, with wonderful scenery, great company, and a reminder of how proud Canadians are of their wonderful country! 

Welcome SSD GDQ Eva from Australia!

Give a warm welcome to Eva! Eva just arrived from Guide Dogs Queensland in Australia, and she’s going to be making her home with Susquehanna Service Dogs. She flew across an ocean and a continent to get here, accompanied by GDQ’s CEO, Chris Laine.

Eva is a sweet 14-month-old black lab, who has been fully trained as a guide dog. Because of her particular traits and genetics, she was chosen to become a breeding dog. Eva will be having several litters of puppies who will become service dogs.

Will you support Eva and her future puppies? From now until January 6, 2014, we’re holding an online fundraiser, and our goal is to raise $3,300 in support of Eva. Your donation will make it possible for Eva and her puppies to change people’s lives.

We’re very excited to have Eva! She’s a special dog, and not only because she had to travel so far to get here. Eva is part of the Assistance Dogs International North America Breeding Cooperative (ABC), which we are a part of. ABC is a group of service dog organizations throughout North America who are dedicated to developing high quality service dogs. Each of us assign our best broods (females) and studs (males) to the co-op. When we whelp a litter, half of the puppies stay with us and the other half will be distributed among the other members.

What does ABC mean for SSD?  It means that we will always have a supply of puppies, which in turn means that we will have dogs to train as service dogs who will ultimately change people’s lives. Even more importantly, the quality of these dogs will be higher because ABC helps strengthen genetic lines and create dogs who are best suited to service dog work.

That’s where Eva comes in. Guide Dogs Queensland has spent many years developing their genetic lines. Now that Eva has joined SSD, she will help us produce dogs who are even better service dogs.

Please support SSD and Eva by donating online. Your donation will help change lives.

Thank you for your support!

SSD Welcomes SSD ABC Lexington from the North American Breeding Cooperative

Meet SSD Lexington! Lexi is from KSDS, Inc. Assistance Dogs in Kansas. Our wonderful volunteer Robin drove down to Kansas to pick her up. Thank you, Robin!

Lexi is a black female Labrador Retriever, and her story is a little bit different than the other puppies we’ve received from other service dog organizations. Her story is different because she’s part of the new Assistance Dogs International North America Breeding Cooperative (ABC).

We’re very excited to be part of ABC. It’s a dream come true! ABC will allow us and the other member organizations to improve the quality of our service dogs, strengthen and diversify the genetic lines, and create a reliable supply of puppies that are suitable for assistance dog work.

ABC is a vision of Bob and Marina Phillips, and the Assistance Dogs International North America Region Board recently approved it. (You may remember that back in February, we invited breeding consultant Marina Hall Phillips to evaluate our program so we can make improvements.) Smaller ADI members are going to really benefit from this co-op arrangement. It means that we’ll always have puppies. This is important because despite the many litters we’ve had recently, there have been times when we have had very few puppies in our program—which mean that we were placing fewer service dogs at that time. A steady supply of puppies means that we won’t need to worry about whether we’ll have enough service dogs to meet people’s needs.

So what is ABC exactly? It’s a cooperative breeding program based on the concept of group breeding. Members assign their best broods and studs to the co-op. A certain number of the puppies will stay with the organization that whelps the litter, and the other puppies will be distributed to the other members of the co-op. This group breeding method vastly improves the dogs’ genetics, which ultimately means that our service dogs will be of even higher quality.

As you know, we just received SSD Lexi through ABC. We have also entered SSD Opal into ABC for her next litter, which is due at the end of October. She’s expecting 3-5 puppies. Approximately 50% of her litter will stay with us and the rest will be distributed to ABC members. SSD Meade is the stud we have chosen to enter the program.

We are a Host Member of ABC, which means that we will be hosting one or more breeding dogs that have been assigned to ABC. Right now, we are hosting Abby from Pacific Assistance Dogs Society. Abby was bred to PADS Buffet (who is also the father of our own Ice Cream Litter), and she will give birth at the home of one of our breeder caretakers. Some of her puppies will then stay with us. Abby recently flew from to Pennsylvania with our training coordinator, Amanda, and our puppy coordinator, Becky. She was an amazing traveler! She fit under Becky’s seat on both planes and mastered trains, shuttles, buses, vans, and lots of walking. After her puppies are eight weeks old, she will return home to PADS and her caretaker, who already misses her. 

We’re very excited about the breeding cooperative and how it will improve the quality of service dogs in our program!

Building a Relationship with Dogs: ADI North American Trainer's Conference

“Every dog is a unique individual,” says Suzanne Clothier. Having worked professionally with animals since 1977, Suzanne has a wide range of experience, including obedience, agility, breeding, canine midwifery, puppy testing, and kennel management. She teaches relationship centered training methods, and we’re happy to have her as the presenter for the Assistance Dogs International North American Trainer’s Conference.

Today is the second day of the Trainer’s Conference that we are hosting at the beautiful and serene Camp Hebron. The conference is focused on Suzanne’s Clothier Animal Response Assessment Tool (CARAT™), an assessment tool for creating a profile of a dog with well-defined traits. This tool can be used for any dog, and for assistance dog organizations, it can help with assessing puppies, breeding stock, and potential assistance dogs, as well as help trainers create training plans for each dog.

Although other assessment tools exist, CARAT™ is unique in that it is much more detailed and is one of the few tools with statistical validity. Guiding Eyes for the Blind uses CARAT™ to assess their dogs, and they have found that they could correctly predict whether a dog would be successful in the guide dog program in 87.4% of the cases. Susquehanna Service Dogs has been using CARAT™ since 2008, and we feel it has helped in our formal evaluations of our dogs, as well as helped us see and understand each dog’s behavior. As a result, we can make better choices about each dog’s role in our program.

Over 50 people from 25 different assistance dog organizations are attending the conference. All of them are members of Assistance Dogs International (ADI), a coalition of nonprofit organizations that train and place assistance dogs. All members of ADI must adhere to certain standards and ethics in their training and placement of dogs, and members meet regularly to share ideas, attend seminars and conferences, and work to make improvements in training methods, placement and the use of assistance dogs.

We are very excited to see members from so many service dog groups here at the North American Trainer’s conference. As we all learn more about CARAT™, we will all use similar language when we assess and talk about the dogs in our programs, which is especially important. Many assistance dog organizations build strong relationships with each other and often exchange puppies or use breeding stock from other organizations. If we all use the same language when we describe a dog and its traits and personality, we will have a greater chance of training that dog within our programs and successfully placing the dog with its partner.

The assistance dog organizations at the conference include:

Assistance Dogs of the West

Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs

Canine Partners for Life

Canine Partners of the Rockies

Circle Tail, Inc.

Dogs with Wings

Eagles’ Wings Service Dogs, Inc.

Eyes Ears Nose and Paws

Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation

Fidos for Freedom

Hawaii Fi-Do Service Dogs

Indiana Canine Assistant Network

Japan Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Kids and Canines

KSDS, Inc.

New Horizons Service Dogs, Inc.

Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services (PAALS)

Pacific Assistance Dogs Society

Paws with a Cause

Pawsitive Perspectives Assistance Dogs

Paws’itive Teams

Prison Pet Partnership

Saint Francis Service Dogs

Service Dogs of Virginia

Susquehanna Service Dogs

And we don’t want to forget about the canine attendees. Although Camp Hebron does not allow pets, they have graciously welcomed the assistance dogs to the conference.

Prescott from Canine Partners for Life

Padriag from Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs

Jabin from Eagles' Wings Service Dogs

Alepo from Canine Partners for Life

Dexter from Fidos for Freedom

Basil from Susquehanna Service Dogs

We are learning a lot from Suzanne, and we hope everyone is enjoying the conference as much as we are!