Team Training: When Everything Comes Together

On October 21, 2015, four people and their service dogs completed team training and became new service dog teams. We’re so excited for them and we’re looking forward to hearing about how their service dogs have changed their lives. Congratulations to our new teams!

Team training is the culmination of several years of training and countless hours by our volunteers and staff. Those tiny puppies that you watched snuggle and play on the puppy cam have grown into dedicated working dogs.

“It all comes together,” says director Pam Foreman. “When you have good dogs, good training, and good matches, it all culminates in this—an amazing team training with attentive dogs who are ready to work.”

The four dogs who are now working with their partners—Bohemia, Harlem, Tadpole, and Tazo—spent their first year and a half with volunteer puppy raisers, who taught them a series of behaviors, including sit, stay, down, heel, loose leash walking, and self control. These dogs went everywhere with their raisers, gaining valuable experiences to prepare them to go everywhere with their partners.

When the dogs were about 18 months old, they entered advanced training, where our trainers began teaching them the behaviors they would need to know to assist their partners. Each dog was individually trained based on their partner’s unique needs.

For trainers Katie Grube and Lauren Holtz, this was the first team training with dogs they had trained.

“It’s humbling to sit back and see the dog you trained in team training,” said Lauren. “So many people touched his life. My job is just to bring out his full potential so he can do what he was meant to do.”

“I have loved spending the past few weeks watching the bonds form and helping partners learn to work together with their dog,” said Katie. “This is the reason I come to work every day.”

We’re confident that Bohemia, Harlem, Tadpole, Tazo, and their partners will do well together!

Today, new dogs are starting advanced training and the next step on their journey to becoming working service dogs.

“I’m excited to train the new group of dogs coming in and improve my training based on what I learned from this team training,” said Katie.

Becoming a Service Dog Team

Today, SSD Bridge, SSD Hank, and SSD Nitro are taking their public access tests with their new partners. The other five dogs who were in team training—SSD Beaker, SSD Brickle, SSD Cove, SSD Dexter, and SSD Nola—took their public access tests last week and are now busy working.

The public access test is the evaluation that all of our service dog teams must pass in order to become official working service dog teams. We use the public access test as a way to ensure the dogs are well-behaved in public and that each person has control of their dog—both important aspects of the ADA. We have no doubt that our remaining teams—Bridge, Hank, and Nitro—will do great on their public access test!

These teams have spent the last two and a half weeks learning how to work together. They’ve practiced the basic cues that all of our service dogs know, such as “sit,” “down,” “stay,” “heel,” and “come.” The teams also worked on the individual tasks each dog was trained to perform.

Under the ADA, a service dog must perform tasks related to their partner’s disability. For example, the dog could act as a counterbalance to support someone as they walk, retrieve dropped items, pull a manual wheelchair, or apply pressure to calm their partner’s anxiety. Each of our service dogs learned several tasks based on their partner’s needs and preferences.

After our teams spent a week learning how to work together, we hit to road to practice in some real life situations.

Every team training includes a fun field trip, and this time, we went to ZooAmerica. We planned the trip for the morning, so we could be there before the pavement got too hot for the dogs. It was still a hot day, so we made sure to stop for lots of water breaks.

The zoo is a fun, but challenging trip, since there are lots of distractions for the dogs and the people. We walked through the exhibits, and Bridge, Hank, and Nitro worked on nice loose leash walking. As you can see from some of the photos, the dogs were allowed to notice the animals. After all, it’s difficult not to notice the animals, especially when most of the animals came right over to the edges of their enclosures to investigate the dogs. However, the dogs needed to still stay focused on their partners. Each person did a nice job making themselves more interesting than anything else in the environment!

It was a good, fun real world experience!

After today, Bridge, Hank, and Nitro will be working service dogs. We have already seen what a difference these three dogs, and Beaker, Brickle, Cove, Dexter, and Nola have made in their partners’ lives, and we know those bonds will only continue to grow.

“How could I not raise a service dog?”

Guest post by Meghan Miller. She and her husband have raised SSD London and are currently raising SSD Garnet and SSD Slider.

How? 

It's the number one question I am asked as a puppy raiser for SSD. How long do you raise them? How much do they pay you? How can I get involved? And both my most frequently asked and the most heart wrenching: How can you give them up? 

Before our first dog was placed, all I could say was, "I don't know but it will be worth it."  Now that we have said our goodbyes and our boy has started the life he was meant for, my first thought is “Don’t cry.” And I usually say, “It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.”  The truth of the matter is that it is extremely hard to give up your dog. You try to tell yourself they never belonged to you, but after 18 months of training and cuddles and puppy kisses, they certainly feel like your dog. 

The question I am always waiting for, but rarely asked, is why?  Some raisers do this as a way to teach their child about volunteerism, or because they want to make a change in someone's life, or because they love dogs, or because they love the mission of SSD. Our reasons were originally far more selfish:  I found myself on an impossible phone call one day while living in Portland, Oregon. Three thousand miles away, my best friend had received potentially terrifying news from her doctors. "They are talking about the big C," she whispered—cancer. We couldn't even say the word. It was one of those moments where the world came to a screeching yet silent halt, the kind you find yourself gripping the counter so you don't go flying off. A moment you know will affect you in a profound way, but one you have no control over.

I'm the type of person who likes to have control over the every possible detail, so I found myself bargaining with God, Buddha, the universe, anyone and everyone who would listen. I was doing dozens of good deeds each day, from holding doors for the person who's about 30 feet out of appropriate door holding range, to moving slugs into shadier spots on the side walk, to giving out money and granola bars to homeless people. I seized every opportunity, reaping almost instant reward - no one had better luck than me. But what I was hoping for was some karma to be sent back east to my best friend.

When my husband and I moved back to PA, we started raising for SSD, hoping that fundamentally changing the life of a person in need would provide the necessary cosmic debt to reverse my friend’s ill-boding omens. I was handed a chubby ball of fluff, a licking machine named SSD London. I could outline how much and why I love SSD London in great detail, but this story isn't about falling in love – it’s about finding incredible satisfaction among equally incredible heartbreak. When I dropped him off at the kennel on the final night before Team Training, I cried the whole way there and sobbed the whole way back. I had prepared myself for the pain that would come with being raiser, even cautioning myself that it would be worse than I imagined. And it was. So. Much. Worse.

But a funny thing happened over the next two weeks as I watched my dog fall in love with his new partner. Just hearing the stories about them absolutely wasn't enough. I still thought, "It's impossible for someone to love him more than I do."  But the moment I saw her, the newest love of London's life, sleeping on “my” dog, was the moment I truly understood he was never my dog.

We were lucky enough to share a meal with London’s forever family and hear all their hopes and concerns about bringing a new dog into their life, one for which they had been waiting for over four years. At the end of the night I kissed my boy goodbye and wished them well, and once again sobbed the whole way home. 

Since then we've kept in touch. I have been able to watch London give his partner a whole new life - new freedoms, new responsibilities, and new dreams.  I have watched other teams stop seizures, help with walking, and open doors both literally and figuratively. Every interaction between dog and partner has been worth the tears I shed when I said goodbye. When I am at my wit’s end or feeling discouraged, I cling to the knowledge that I have made a real and lasting positive impact on someone's life.

The night we learned that London would be starting Advanced Training was also the night I received a text message with a picture of my friend's clean bill of health. By that time we had started a new journey with a second dog. My friend was sure to thank us for raising them, citing our dogs as the reason for her good karma.

And so we give up "our" dogs.  We raise them for the friend I couldn't help and for the family we could. For the mission statement. For the community of raisers, sitters and huggers. For the opportunity to teach about giving. For a shorter waiting period for the next partner. For another dog in the house. For the opportunity to change a life.  So in the end, the answer to that constant “How” question is just another question.

How could I not?

Join Meghan and Susquehanna Service Dogs for the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community on May 16. 

Event Details

When

Saturday, May 16

On-site registration starts at 7:45 a.m.

5K Walk begins at 9 a.m.

One-Mile Fun Walk begins at 9:15 a.m.

Where

Harrisburg Area Community College

1 HACC Drive

Harrisburg, PA 17110

Registration

Sign up for the walk

End of the Year Donations

Now is the time to make your end of the year donation! We would love for you to choose to support Susquehanna Service Dogs. Below is a list of ways you can support us this holiday season. Or you can simply make a donation to help our service dogs change lives.

Fill Rudy the Red Van

Help us fill "Rudy the Red Van" with items for our puppy raising program! You can find our full wish list here. The red van will be parked at the SSD Complex for the entire month of December. You can drop your items off at 1078 Gravel Hill Road, Grantville, PA 17028.

Sponsor a Team Training Kit

For a $200 donation, you can provide all of the items that are given to a partner when they complete Team Training with their new service dog. Items include a leash and collar, treat pouch, clicker, food bowl, nail clippers, shedding blade, and more. Donate now or call 717-599-5920.

Sponsor a Service Dog Harness
For a $100 donation, you can provide a harness for a service dog to wear in public with their partner. Donate now or call 717-599-5920.

Name a Puppy

Wondering what to get that person who has everything? Why not give them the right to name a future service dog puppy? for $1,500, you cna name a dog that will make all the difference in a person's life. Donate now or call 717-599-5920. 

Living a Fuller Life with SSD Outback

Guest post by Roger Hostetter, a US Army Gulf War Veteran partnered with SSD Outback

First, I would like to thank Keystone Human Services and Susquehanna Service Dogs for this wonderful program.

I am a US Army Gulf War Veteran with PTSD and other medical issues from my service in the Gulf. I received an Honorable Discharge from the Army in 1991, and I spent the next 17 years going from one mental health doctor to another. I forget how many I actually saw before being able to have the ones that I currently have.

 In 2008, I saw a doctor who, within one appointment, diagnosed me with PTSD.  I believe it was two appointments after this that he told me he was leaving and had talked to the doctor that I currently see. I was afraid I would have to basically start all over again, but this doctor picked right up where the other one left off.

A few years after this, I heard about veterans receiving service dogs to help with PTSD. I spoke to my doctor about this and he said he felt it would be something good for me to look into, but that he couldn’t help much since the VA doesn’t help veterans receive a service dog.

So my search began. I found so many places out of state. After years of searching, I discovered Susquehanna Service Dogs.

Since they were a local organization I contacted them right away and asked if they have service dogs for veterans with PTSD.

I filled out an application and had the formal interview and was accepted as a client. I was told the wait for a service dog can be anywhere from 18 months to 2yrs. As time passed, I really didn’t think about it, but knew every day that did pass was a day closer to one day getting a dog.

I received an email in May regarding setting up an appointment to the “Meet the Dogs” session.  Through more emailing, an appointment was made. The day of the session, I had no idea what to expect. When I walked into the room, it looked like a military board-type set-up, a bunch of chairs on one side of a table with one chair on the other side.

They asked some questions before any dogs came out and more questions came after I interacted with each dog. I met and interacted with Outback, Kingston, London, and Slate. When I was asked at the end to rank the dogs from my favorite and working down, Outback was my favorite.  To me this was a very important step in the process and another step closer.    

After this, you wait for about a week to see if you were matched up with a dog or not. I received an email stating I was matched up with a dog and the team training class was going to be sometime in October. I believe this now was early June.

The next several months were slow since I now was waiting on the packet regarding the training class and the name of the dog that I was matched up with.

I think it was early September that I received the packet in the mail telling me that I was matched up with Outback and the dates of the class.

The month of September and those few days in October right before the first class date were very slow.

Next thing I knew though, it was the day training was to begin. Team training was awesome and the entire staff and volunteers really care about the clients and of course the dogs.

Outback’s first day at his new home was on Thursday, October 10. That late afternoon and evening was very rough for me. Hank, our little dog was barking just about nonstop. I didn’t know if the barking was aggressive barking or what it was. I tried a lot to get him to stop barking. Sometimes he would stop and shortly after, he would start right back up.

I was really frustrated and was almost to the point of calling Amanda [SSD’s training coordinator] and telling her that the next day, I would be returning Outback and dropping from the class. But I got myself calmed down and recorded 3 different barking sessions for either Amanda or Ryan [one of our dog trainers] to watch and help me.

The next day, which was Friday, Amanda watched the recording and told me that she sees Hank wants to play. There was no aggressive barking here at all. I’m happy to say that Outback and Hank are now best friends. They play a lot. Hank thinks he is as big as Outback.

Within a few days of Outback and me being around each other all the time, I could see a bond forming which has grown and continues to grow. I knew that he knew what he has to do for me and he just needed to get used to me instructing him on what to do.

I was nervous about our Public Access Test. In the back of my head though, I knew we would be okay since our practice test was good.

The morning of our Public Access Test, I kissed Outback and told him that today was a big step for us and that I would do the best that I can for us. He did great. I was told we both did great. After we passed, I gave him a kiss again and told him I love him and that we are a team now.

We have been out to a lot of different places, such as Walmart, the VA Medical Center, Kmart, Sears, some restaurants, and the gun show in Lebanon.

The gun show was something that I would have never gone to alone. I decided to try it out with Outback. He did great there. It was very packed. I had my focus on him the whole time that I really didn’t think about how packed it was. Outback and I even met Governor Corbett.

At restaurants, I still want to sit the way that I do—my back toward a wall or at least facing a majority of the people and including the door. But I have found that even with Outback in a down-stay as instructed, my focus is still on him throughout the entire time we are there.

There are still places that I will not go and I will not subject Outback to. I look out for him as he does for me.

Once again I want to thank everyone that made it possible for Outback and me to be a team, which has also made it possible for my life to be a little fuller.

             

Team Training: Learning to Work Together

After spending about 18 months with their puppy raisers and another 6-8 months in advanced training with our professional trainers, SSD Cobalt, SSD Kingston, SSD London, and SSD Outback are ready to work. These four dogs have been working with their new partners in Team Training since Monday.

During the first day of Team Training, we spent the morning talking about the process of Team Training and Susquehanna Service Dogs and learning about clicker training and shaping (our training methods). And then after lunch came the moment everyone was waiting for. It was the moment when each person gets their dog for the first time. It’s one of our favorite parts of Team Training.

Our volunteers and trainers brought the dogs in one at a time. As the dogs came in, they made a beeline for their partners, and their tails were wagging so fast they were just a blur. Watch how happy Kingston is to greet his new partner.

To help the dogs learn exactly who they need to pay attention to, we had each person give their dog lots of treats during this first meeting. After each team had a chance to start bonding, we began working on basic cues, such as the dog’s name, sit, down, and come.

For the first week of Team Training, our teams learn several new cues each day. We also practice behaviors like getting in and out of a car, using an elevator, going to a restaurant, and handling greetings with all kinds of people.

Today is such a beautiful day that we spent most of the morning outside. Each team worked on loose leash walking through the grass and then went through several cues, including sit, down, stand, and pressure (the dog lays across the person’s legs), and up.

Today is also the first time that each person ate lunch with their dog. To get ready, we practiced the cue “under,” where the dogs go under the table and lay down.

Over the next week and a half, our service dog teams in training will take their new skills out in public. We’ll visit the local malls and have lunch in restaurants and food courts, and by the end of the two and a half weeks, each person will be well prepared to take their public access test with their service dog. 

Each team is doing great! We're looking forward to the rest of Team Training!

New Service Dog Teams

This week is International Assistance Dog Week, a week devoted to celebrating assistance dogs and the many ways they change people’s lives. We started celebrating a little early this year because last Friday, three people passed the public access test with their new service dogs. SSD Ottawa and SSD Slate are now working service dogs, and SSD Boomerang is a facility dog in a school. And in June, four more dogs were placed—SSD Beaker, SSD Brooklyn, SSD Falstaff, SSD Hamlet, and SSD Seifert.

These dogs and their partners spent two weeks in Team Training learning how to work together. They started by practicing the most basic skills, such as attention, sit, down, and stay, and moved on to the specialized skills and behaviors each dog learned specifically for their partner.

Congratulations to all of our new service dog teams! We’re looking forward to hearing stories about your new service dogs.

We mentioned that our new teams passed their public access test, which means we have certified that their service dog meets certain standards. The dog will be able to go anywhere in public with their partner—restaurants, movie theaters, amusement parks, post offices, grocery stores, etc. Even though the dogs are allowed by law to accompany their partners in public, not everyone knows and understands the law. Service dog teams are often denied access because people don’t understand that service dogs are not pets.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lays out the law for service dogs. These ADA requirements are available online.

Here’s a quick overview of the ADA as it pertains to service dogs:

• Service dogs perform tasks or do work for people with disabilities. Service dogs are not pets.
• Any business, nonprofit, or state and local government that serves the public must allow service dogs to accompany people with disabilities everywhere the public is normally allowed to go. This means, for example, that a person with a service dog cannot be seated in the back of a restaurant far away from the other patrons.
• Service dogs must be under the control of their handler.
• Other people can only ask two questions about a service dog: (1) is the dog a service dog required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.

If you see a service dog in public, please remember not to pet it. Don’t pet, feed, talk to, or otherwise interact with a service dog. The dog is working. Of course, you can certainly talk to the person, and if they give you permission to pet their dog, you can. However, if the person says no, please respect their choice.

Team Training and the People Behind the Scenes

Since Monday, five people have been learning how to work with their new service dogs. We’re in the midst of Team Training, a time when individuals receive their service dogs, learn all the cues and behaviors, and learn how to work in public as a team. This is a challenging, but amazing, two and a half weeks. You can see more photos from the week on our Facebook Page.

A lot of hard work and love goes into the training of each service dog, including over 20,000 volunteer hours. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make Team Training possible. Our new director Pam Foreman’s presentation from this year’s graduation gives a glimpse of the people who make Team Training and all of SSD possible. You’ll also learn a little more about Pam and the future of SSD.

May 2014 Graduation

presentation by Pam Foreman

It feels good to be here in this room with all of you tonight celebrating the work you have done and the good result of that work. 

I was told this would be a beautiful night, a wonderful celebration, and a moving tribute to many fabulous people and some pretty terrific dogs, and that certainly proved to be true.

When I was growing up and deciding what I wanted to do, I knew one thing.  I wanted to work with people.  I wanted to be part of something that allowed people, all of us, the opportunity to live our lives to the fullest, to live a good and rich life full of purpose and meaning and value.  In order to do that, I discovered, we need something called interdependence more than something called independence.  That’s what we have here.  That’s what we have in this room.  That’s what we have in this program.

I grew up in Keystone Human Services and consider myself fortunate that I did.  I started as an intern in my last year of college and stayed 33 years….and counting.  The mission and vision resonated with me then, and it resonates with me now.  I worked in the intellectual disabilities programs and had the great privilege to see many lives changed, including mine, over the course of those years.  I’ve witnessed the beauty and richness of life as people challenged themselves to be more and have more and do more and give more. It has been an honor.

Before I came to SSD, I was a bit infatuated with the program and excited about what it stood for.  I believed what it offered people to have the opportunities to be more fully engaged in their neighborhoods and communities, to live a life more like their family and friends, to engage in valued roles, and generally have a good life.  Since I started at SSD, that has been confirmed, and the infatuation and excitement only grew as I got to know Nancy, the staff, the dogs, and some of you sitting in the audience.

In a very short time I have come to deeply value my relationship with Nancy and what she has offered me, in sharing her knowledge and her faith in me to carry on.  It has humbled me and touched me and grown me.  My words truly fail in describing the gift of that. None of us would be celebrating what we are tonight if it were not for her….and her son wanting a dog all those years ago.   She established the foundation and reputation that will carry us forward.  And she promised me she’s only a phone call away.

The staff.  I have been energized by this impressive group of people and how they’ve welcomed me and what they’ve already taught me.  They are very good at what they do and it gives me great comfort knowing they are there.  Everyone has communicated to me their love for this program and their desire to take it as far as it can go.  They clearly understand, and acknowledge that it can go nowhere without all of you.

  

That brings me to the dedication of the volunteers.  Nowhere have I seen what I’ve seen here.  It is truly unprecedented and I sincerely stand in awe.  You are out there giving and giving and giving.  And you’re so good at what you do and an incredible representation of SSD.  I can’t wait to meet all of you and to learn from you.

The dogs.  They’re beautiful and fun and hardworking and it sure makes life a little better going to work knowing they’re around.

And clients, the person side of the team.  Resilient and strong and diligent—listening and learning and making it work.  You are why we do what we do and we’re honored to be a little part of your life story.  

The future definitely looks very good.  The number of litters, and dogs, is growing and the collaboration through Assistance Dogs International and the North America Breeding Cooperative is strong. We have impressive staff, proficient volunteers, amazing clients, wonderful hardworking dogs, and a new property that will allow us to grow and to showcase this remarkable program.

Interestingly, all those years ago when I was growing up, whenever I took those vocational aptitude tests in school, they always suggested I go into animal husbandry and agriculture.  Every time. True story.  So somehow it does seem full circle, and right, that I get to be exactly where I am right now.  I know it’s a good match for me. I hope it proves to be a good match for SSD.

Thank you all for being so gracious to me. Thank you for your dedication and perseverance, for being the heart and soul of what we’re all about.

I look forward to navigating this next phase of life, and SSD, with all of you.

Meet SSD Parks

Meet SSD Parks! She’s part of the American Heroes litter and named after Rosa Parks. Right now, she’s finishing up her first week of Team Training with her new partner!

For the past two years, she has lived with her puppy raiser family. Her puppy raiser Kali describes her as “smart, a workaholic, sassy, spunky, determined, playful, and lovable!” Parks loves to play with squeaky balls and any treat-dispensing toys. 

Although Parks loves all food, some of her favorite power treats are sweet potato puffs and goldfish. One of her all-time favorite foods is peanut butter!

Although she has been in advanced training since November, she still returned home to her puppy raisers on most weekends and holidays. Just because she was in advanced training didn’t mean her puppy raisers didn’t have to continue working with her. They working on extending the duration of several cues, such as “lap” (resting two legs in a person’s lap) and “visit” (resting her head on the person’s hand or lap), and worked on easy treat taking. Even though they still did some training, Parks got plenty of time to relax, play, and of course, catch some Zs.

Advanced training can be tiring for the dogs, no matter how well-adjusted they are to life at the kennel. “One day after picking Parks up from advanced training, we stopped at the store and left her in the car since she was so tired,” said Kali. “When we got back, she was in the passenger seat where I sit. I opened the door, and she would not budge. I pushed her and tried to pick her up. All she did was look up at me with those puppy dog eyes. Guess who rode in the back seat the whole way home?”

Recently, Parks and Kali walked in the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community. Parks did fantastic! They also traveled to Washington, D.C., where Parks rode the Metro and got her picture taken with the newly unveiled statue of her namesake, Rosa Parks. 

If there’s one thing Kali would like Parks’ new partner to know, it’s that Parks will never give up. “She will work until you stop. She’s full of love and energy!”

Training to Become a Team

Team Training is the moment that our puppies work toward from the moment they’re born.

At eight weeks old, the puppies start learning basic cues, like “sit” and “down.” As they grow, their puppy raisers teach them good house manners, take them out in public to get them used to working in different environments and situations, and teach them a variety of other cues. When the dogs are 18-24 months old, they move on to advanced training where they learn more complex cues. They meet several people, make a match, and receive individualized training specifically for that one person.

And finally, when their training is complete, it’s time to learn how to work with their new partners. It’s time for Team Training.

SSD Atari, SSD Clara, and SSD Dyson are going through Team Training right now. The first moment when our volunteers bring the dogs out to their partners is almost magical. The dog comes trotting toward you, and as you’re petting him or her and giving the dog treats, you know that this is going to be your dog. 

Since that moment, Atari, Clara, and Dyson have been practicing cues and getting to know each other. They’ve been practicing cues like “visit,” “lap,” opening doors, and picking up items. As they continue to work together, their trust in each other will grow and soon an inseparable bond will be forged. 

 

At the end of the two-and-a-half-week Team Training, each team will take the public access test, and then they will officially be working service dog teams!