Largo Park Meeting: 1st Meeting with AC Stephanie!

Today was the first official meeting of the newly formed Central Pinellas Puppy Raiser group under the new leadership of Area Coordinator Stephanie, with Assistant ACs Lois and Bill.

AC Stephanie is smiling and ready to welcome everyone to Largo Park.
She has two leather guide dog harnesses in her hands for the older dogs to try on.

As we waited for the much smaller group to arrive, we chatted and let the dogs settle down.

Charity, Lois and Bill's puppy, looks directly into the camera.

Brian says hello to puppy Treasure.

 After everyone had arrived, we moved to another area for obedience.

Brian H. gives his puppy Treasure the sit command, and she pays rapt attention to him.

 Largo Park has some great exposures.  One in particular is a giant German Shepard.  Most of the dogs went right up to it without a problem.  Charity, however, did at first have a little problem, but since Bill and Lois are old hands at this (Charity is their 11th dog), it was extremely useful for the rest of the group to watch how they handled the situation.

 Charity barked and backed away.  Both Lois and Bill didn't coddle her, but instead got her to walk up to the statue at her own pace, taking small steps forward, with praise when she would go forward.

At first Charity barked at the statue and backed away.
The photo shows Lois standing firm and Charity backing away.

Lois was able to get Charity up to the statue and she covered the statue's eyes, as sometimes, it is the eyes (or lack thereof) that freak dogs out.

Charity is up at the statue and is able to sniff the statue's head.

 Then Lois took her all the way around the statue, notice her loose leash and she used praise the whole time.

Lois and Charity are walking around the back of the shepard statue. Charity is looking up at Lois.

 Lois lets Charity sniff and look at the statue all she wants and continues to praise her.

After all this, she walked Charity away and then walked her back up to the statue: no reaction!  Yea, Charity!!  Good girl!

It's important to remember that when your puppy sees something that startles them, let them approach it slowly, give lots of praise, and then return to the item again.  Perhaps next week, go back and try it again.  Or find another similar object and try it.

Photo of Debbie with guide dog Luke leaning against her .
Katie and Bo are behind her.  Katie is smiling

We had some special guests at our meeting: Debbie and Luke and Debbie's husband, and Katie and Bo and Katie's boyfriend.  They were all able to provide a valuable perspective to the conversation we had and it was great fun to have them with us!

Close up of Luke as Debbie presses his head into her thigh.

 Charity will be going in for training in August and she was able to try on the harness as well.

Charity with her harness on!

Bill is holding Charity's leash as she walks with the harness on.

 She had no problems walking in harness.

Coach walks by some statues of children and has no problems.

Another exposure: flags flapping. We are all standing in the memorial courtyard with 6 flagpoles.

 All of the puppies were very at ease with the flags flapping on the flagpoles, and it was a very windy day.

Ava managed her harness with ease.

One of our prospective puppy raiser families has very small children, so our puppies got to experience interactions with infants and small children today as well.

Puppy Pauline, Emma and raiser Melissa.

It got a bit hot, but we had plenty of water for Coach and Ava to share a drink.

Max and Emma continued to love on Pauline.

In For Training and A New Start for Puppy Central

Today is a culminating day for puppy raisers.  It is one of the days they call IFT, which stands for In For Training.  That means that certain puppy raisers got a letter about a month, month and half ago that told them to prepare to bring the puppy they had been raising for the last 12-15 months, back to Southeastern Guide Dogs so that they could begin their final phase of their journey to becoming a guide dog: Guide Dog University.  

Now they would be matched with a certified trainer and begin formal harness training.  They would be taken out into the field and trained, tested and trained and tested again and again.  But first, the puppy raiser has to give his or her puppy up.  After all, it's in the job description.  It's what we do.

Stephanie has been raising Coastie for a little over 15 months.  The City of Clearwater sponsored Coastie and Stephanie and the handsome yellow boy have been fixtures at City events over the last year.  They even had a farewell party for him this week to wish him luck in his studies at Guide Dog U. 

Photo of puppy raiser Stephanie and Coastie.  Photo by Southeastern Guide Dogs.  To see more about this event go to the album Guide Dog University.

Stephanie is also taking on a new role with our group.  While she has been an excellent puppy raiser, as the amazing Coastie is living proof, her next role with Southeastern will be as Area Coordinator for our Central Pinellas group, since our group split in two as of June 1st.

Photo of the Central's Area Coordinator Stephanie saying goodbye one last time to Coastie.  Photo by Southeastern Guide Dogs.  To see more about this event go to the album Guide Dog University.

Just as we know that Coastie will be giving it his all as a guide dog in training at Guide Dog U and making us all proud, we also know that Stephanie will be an amazing AC.  As hard as it is to send your puppy back, Stephanie, know that we are all there for you, wishing you the best and here to help you on your new journey.

Guide Dog U for June 2012

Post by Karen Hamilton

Here are a few pictures from the IFT day and a few recent professional pictures that we will cherish.  

Photo of Bob, Justice (a yellow lab female) and Karen all lying down.

Photo of Justice sitting and looking up at the camera.

Our day started off with Justice knowing something was up.  She didn't eat her food that morning and that was highly unusual.  As with most labs, it is eaten in about 30 seconds. Bob thinks it was because she could sense my anxiety.  This was our first Guide Dog U and WOW.....what an experience.  Far different from the days when you dropped your puppy off at the office, had to beg to puppy hug, and cried the entire way back across the Sunshine Bridge.  I was restrained and didn't cry the entire trip to school until we turned in to the parking lot and saw the row of puppy pictures and names.......that's when I lost it and the first wave of tears starting coming out.  When we went to take a picture in front of the Guide Dog U Freshman Orientation sign, I saw a carbon copy of Justice.  

Bob and Karen kneeling by Justice's Guide Dog U sign with Justice sitting in the middle.

I asked the raisers if she donated to the school and what was her date of birth and quickly confirmed it was Justice's sister AJ.  We found out that AJ's photo is on the Southeastern Guide Dog's  puppy raiser website as well as many brochures, and the flags at the school also feature AJ's picture.  When I first saw the puppy's picture I thought "wow that looks like Justice" and now I know why.  

Justice and AJ (a yellow lab) sitting by AJ's Guide Dog U sign.

The second wave of tears started when they were calling the puppies up one by one and handing them off to the trainers.  A total of 26 puppies were turned in that day and I think I shed tears for every one.  There was one particular golden retriever named Sarge, that really got me going. All of the other puppies trotted off happily but Sarge didn't want to go. He wasn't cooperating with the collar switch and turned around and anxiously looked for his people several times on the way back to the kennel.  

Bob and Karen with AJ's puppy raisers.

 

After this we went to puppy hugging in two groups.  Our group had five playful black lab puppies who put the smile back on all of our faces.  

Photo of some of the children from the puppy raiser families with some black lab puppies.

We were then taken to the kennels but were behind schedule so we received the condensed version without a tour.  Then we were presented with the presidential award by Titus, Karen Mersereau gave us the scoop on what happens to our pups from the time we turn them in to the time they are matched.  This talk was very informative and took a lot of the mystery out of what happens with your puppy after they are turned in.  Then, the most touching part of the day was when a guide dog user (and I am terrible at names but I think it is Susan Willoughby - she was the kennel manager but has another job at school) told us how her dog Carson changed her life.  She also told us about a technique used in the veterans assistance program for PTSD anxiety attacks.  We teach our dogs not to jump on anyone but these dogs are taught to give "hugs" during an attack.  She also spoke about how a recent graduate was on 11 different medications and lived apart from his family, but since getting his dog, is no longer taking medication and lives back with his family.  I needed about 100 tissues by the time she was done speaking.  

 
Prior to the ceremony I was selfishly hoping Justice would be a breeder and we could get her back.   After the ceremony I was hoping she could make a difference in someone's life and her story could be told to a future group at Guide Dog U Freshman Orientation.

Photo of Justice lying down, paws crossed in front and smiling for the camera.