Bobcats, Alligators, Elk, Oh My!

Bobcats, alligators, elk—these are just some of the animals that SSD Irwin saw when his puppy raisers took him to Zoo America. He also saw lynx, ocelots, marten, and lots of birds. He was especially interested in the wolves and watched them from across the park for a long time.

During our annual Zoo America outing, we used to take the dogs down to the wolves’ viewing area. However, the wolves had begun to get very agitated when they saw the dogs, even though most of the dogs simply looked at them. We try to be mindful of our own dogs and the other animals, and if either one get too worked up, we leave the area.

Every Tuesday, Irwin goes to the bowling alley in Elizabethtown, where he gets to experience the bowling alley itself and the attached restaurant. He also went to a Hershey Bears hockey game and did a great job handling the noise, crowds and food distractions.

Irwin recently had his 12-month evaluation. During evals, he stayed in the kennel for two nights so that our training staff could see how he handled kennel life. Twelve month evaluations are one of the mile markers in a service dog in training’s life. Most of our dogs in training enter advanced training when they’re 18-24 months old, which means that Irwin is about halfway through his journey to becoming a service dog.

Our Trip to Zoo America

What could be better than going to the zoo on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Going to the zoo with a service dog-in-training!

Fifteen service dogs-in-training went to Zoo America for a puppy class outing. Throughout the year, we take the dogs on several outings so the dogs get experience working in public. Although our puppy raisers frequently take their dogs out in public, these special planned outings are also helpful for the puppy raisers because it gives them a chance to work in public while our trainers are right there to give support and answer any questions they might have.

Our Zoo America is always a fun outing, and it's a wonderful opportunity for the dogs and puppy raisers to practice their skills. With so many distractions, it's a challenge for the dogs to stay focused. Our puppy raisers were ready with power treats (treats like chicken, cheese, or other yummy things that the dog only gets in challenging situations), which really helped the dogs stay focused on their handlers.

Because the dogs were around so many different animals, it was a great opportunity for puppy raisers to practice reading their dog's body language. They needed to watch their dog to make sure that they weren't becoming too excited or stressed from the zoo animals. For example, when we stopped at the wolves' area, we paid special attention to the dogs, and if they started to get too excited, or started barking, the puppy raiser removed them from the area. SSD Topaz approaches the wolves in this video. You can tell from his body language that he is aware of the wolves, which are about twenty feet in front of him. However, he is still able to focus on this puppy raiser - see how he turns and looks at her? As soon as he gives her his attention, she clicks and treats.



In addition to watching the dogs' body language, we also paid close attention to the zoo animals' behavior because we did not want to upset them or cause too much stress. We had to be especially watchful in the wolves' area, because as soon as the alpha wolf smelled the dogs, he started pacing. If he and the females of the pack started to get stressed, we removed the dogs, even if the dogs were just sitting there quietly observing. In this video of the wolves, you can see the male wolf pacing back and forth. You can tell that he's very aware of the dogs, although at this point he is not overly stressed about it.



All of the dogs were very interested in the wolves. Can you guess what other animal almost all of the dogs were extremely interested in? The fish! At the bears' area, you can watch the fish through the glass, and almost every dog that saw them was fascinated by them, especially since they have probably never seen a fish before. SSD Topaz wasn't entirely sure what to make of the fish, but he did a great job and didn't bark at them.



SSD Star and Falcon also though the fish were fascinating, but they are not so distracted that they can't pay attention to their handlers. Watch how Star's puppy raiser works with her to get her to walk nicely on a loose leash. Once they get to the fish, Star does an "up."



SSD Hendrix, on the other hand, wasn't interested in the fish at all.



SSD Journey, one of our dogs in advance training, spent some time near the bear's habitat. She seemed much more interested in her puppy raiser than in the bear, though. Even when her puppy raiser pointed to the bear, Journey just looked and then turned right back to her puppy raiser. Wonderful!



One of the most important skills a service dog can have is the ability to walk on a loose leash. Throughout our entire zoo outing, we continually worked on loose leash walking, which can be very challenging for dogs, especially when there are such great smells around. Loose leash walking is all about self control for the dogs. They need to ignore distractions and stay right next to their handler. In this video, SSD Grace works on loose leash walking. Watch what Grace's handler does when Grace starts to pull ahead. He stops, backs up until Grace comes back to him and turns around. Then when she starts loose leash walking again, he clicks and treats.



Why is loose leash walking so important? Imagine a balance dog and their partner walking along the sidewalk to get to the car. As they get close to a tree, the dog smells something wonderful. He lunges to get to it. His partner is thrown off balance and falls.

Now picture a service dog for a child with autism. While the parent is holding the leash, the child is holding a special strap attached to the dog's harness. If that dog pulls on the leash, the child is going to be pulled as well.

Loose leash walking is important, and the dogs need to do it all the time, in every environment. The zoo was a great place to practice!

Thank you to Zoo America!

We try to plan several outings for the dogs-in-training, and we're always open to suggestions. We look for places that have lots of sights, sounds and smells. For example, we've done a Ghosts of Gettysburg tour, Chocolate World, a memorial day parade, a bus ride, and National Night Out. If you have any ideas for other places in Central PA where we could take the dogs-in-training, please let us know in the comments. Thank you!

The Dogs Visit the Zoo

It was pouring rain yesterday, but that didn't stop us from visiting the zoo! Our service dogs-in-training went to Zoo America in Hershey for a puppy outing. What great experience for the dogs!

Watch a video of our zoo outing

Although it was a challenging outing, the dogs and puppy raisers did a great job. Practice started even before we walked through the doors of the zoo. The dogs practiced loose leash walking on the path leading to the doors. Here's a video of SSD Hawk and his puppy raiser working their way along the path. In loose leash walking, the dog must walk next to his handler so that the leash is nice and loose. In this video, notice how as soon as Hawk starts to pull, his handler stops, backs up and turns around to get Hawk refocused and walking on a loose leash.



In this video, SSD Misty walks nicely along the wooden walkway near some of the animal cages. To keep her walking on a loose leash, her handler is clicking and treating every few steps. A high rate of clicks and reinforcement makes sure that Misty's attention stays on her puppy raiser and that she continues loose-leash walking without getting distracted by the interesting smells and animals.



The zoo animals were often as aware of the dogs as the dogs were aware of them. We wanted this to be a fun and safe trip for everyone - dogs, puppy raises and zoo animals - so not only did we watch the dogs' reactions to the animals, but we also watched the animals' reactions to the dogs. If the dogs got too agitated and started barking, we removed them from that area immediately. Likewise, if the zoo animals were getting too agitated, we removed the dogs, even if the dogs seemed calm.

In this video, you can see that the elk is very aware and interested in SSD Journey. The elk stands very still and stares at her. Journey is also aware of the elk, but notice how she is still focused on her puppy raiser. She keeps making eye contact with her puppy raiser, and when she's given the cue up, she reacts right away to put her feet on the fence. The presence of the elk does not distract her to the point where she does not pay attention to her puppy raiser.



The wolves were the biggest challenge for the dogs. As soon as the wolves noticed the dogs, they began pacing along the fence, and many of the dogs wanted to go right up to that fence. This was a great opportunity for puppy raisers to use power treats (treat the dogs love, which are only used for challenging situations) and keep the dogs' attention on them. We kept visits to the wolves very short for the well being of both the dogs and wolves. In the video, notice how SSD Tundra stands right by the fence to watch the wolves, but when her puppy raiser asks for her attention, she gives it to them.



Overall, our trip to Zoo America was a success! Great job, everyone!