More on Training

The videos from yesterday showed some of the goals of the puppy program, but how do we get there?

GDB puppy raising manual's current edition

All guide dog puppy raisers receive a Puppy Raising Manual that spells out everything you ever wanted to know, and what to expect as the puppy grows up. We also have a local support network of volunteer puppy raisers and Guide Dogs for the Blind staff members who meet with us regularly and are never more than a phone call or email away.

Our puppy club provides raisers with  How to Be the Leader of the Pack by Patricia McConnell. Dr McConnell specializes in the evaluation and treatment behavioral problems in dogs and she's a big proponent of positive training methods. The book lays out what every dog owner should know about owning a dog in about 15 pages of text. Her blog, linked above, is just as wonderful as her books. If anyone asks me training questions about their problem dog eating pillows, attacking other dogs, or having an irrational fear of the dishwasher, I will direct them towards Dr. McConnell's books as a starting point.

baby Saxon in his puppy pen on his first days at home - starting his area small helped him learn how to act appropriately in a home environment.

As guide dog puppy raisers, we are taught to go slowly with our puppies and practice patience, praise and consistency. Easy, right? We also talk about the word access a lot. Access access access. It means so much in puppy raising that I can't believe I've written this many posts without talking about it!

The best way to explain this is to say that as a raiser, I take full responsibility for my dog's actions, so it is my responsibility to set him up for success and only give him access to places/things/opportunities where we can have a successful experience. It's also a way to evaluate things that don't go our way, like when the puppy eats things it shouldn't, or pees on the carpet, or jumps on a visitor or... the list goes on with puppies. If we can say, why did the puppy have access to (insert thing pup did "wrong") and how can we set the pup up for success, it's a progressive process of learning instead of one of escalating bad behaviors.

Is it a perfect science? Nope. Do I still mess up, 14 years into the puppy raising world? Yep.

Cancun holding a toy AND a sock... could this be an "access" issue? Or did he really just catch it on his tooth? Hmm... (He  may have caught it on a tooth, but he was pretty darn proud of himself, carrying it around. He did drop it when asked, though, after we took pictures and had a good laugh, of course.)

You just have to hope that now that you know all of this you get a puppy like Saxon who seems to have read the books too and understands everything you ask of him from a very early age, and you'll look like a genius puppy raiser and dog owner, and you can focus on actual training commands and behavior. Phew!

If anyone has any other questions... feel free to ask!