First Evening at Home Pictures

Bringing Kindle home on Day 4

Day 4 's morning included a guest speaker who has her second service dog.  She talked all about her experiences with a service dog: the good, the bad, and the ugly. :)  Mostly good!  We had a great discussion that followed and could ask lots of questions.  We talked about where it may NOT be a good idea to take your service dog and why:  such as a cruise, out of the country, or to a loud concert or fireworks.   We talked about taking your dog on an airplane and how to handle all kinds of situations with your dog.  We have an important responsibility to not only represent Susquehanna Service Dogs, but to educate people about them and everyone's rights on all sides of the situation.  After lunch, the dogs came in and stayed with us for the rest of the day.  We practiced greetings.  Such as how to handle all kinds of people in public who may or may not know how to handle seeing a service dog in public.  We worked on how Kindle can help Emma when she is in her gait trainer (a walker).  It was so funny!  Earlier, we couldn't get her to practice "under" under a chair, but as soon as we cued "back," she crawled under the gait trainer and sat there.  Too cute!  I have a picture.  We practiced getting in and out of the car and how we must do this safely for Emma and the dog.  We practiced taking Emma in her stroller and the dog into a public restroom.  Yikes!  That was a challenge.  I will definitely need to practice that more!  Either that, or never use a public restroom again!  Ha!  That's probably not a good idea. :)  We ended with a discussion about our first night at home with our dogs that included how to give them a "psychological" dinner.  Because they had so many treats today, instead of their normal amount, they get a small handful.  We actually ended up treating her so much, even when we got home, that she didn't need even a "psychological" dinner.   She has had plenty today.  The pictures below will show you how our Day 4 and the first car ride went.  Oh!  She was FINE today with her vest on!  I guess she is over that already! :)
Hi First grade!!  It's almost Friday!  Kindle and Emma are really getting attached to each other already!  I can't believe it!  I really miss you!  I can't wait to hear how you are doing while I am gone.  Don't forget book orders are due tomorrow and Friday assigned share.  Today, I spent a lot of time getting used to pushing Emma in her stroller and managing a dog too!  I keep getting Kindle's leash tangled up in the stroller and Emma.  Ooops!  I need lots more practice!  But just like we are learning in first grade, new things take time and lots of mistakes, so I won't give up!  Have a great Friday and I'll be back with you tomorrow night about day 5.  I think it's "grooming day!" Love, Mrs. Wenger  The strap around her face is called a "comfort trainer."  It is NOT a muzzle or restraint of any kind.  It is like a horse bridle.  It simply gives the handler more specific control, like "power steering."  We will only use it for Emma occasionally in public if needed.  It doesn't restrict her mouth in any way.

 Kindle has been trained to walk backwards in front of Emma in her gait trainer.  When we cued "back", she had another idea.  She crawled "under."  Oops Kindle! :)))

 Kindle simply resting her head on Emma's shoulder stopped all of her self-stim behaviors instantly!

 1st Car ride home together!  Kindle really did have the whole rest of the backseat to use!  The entire 45 minutes home from Harrisburg, she rested her head on Emma and slept.

Day 3!

We started day 3 with a lecture.  Yes, it's not all about the hands-on dog time, even though that is definitely the most fun!  We learned all about nutrition, safety, and how important it is that Kindle stay within 3-5 pounds of her current weight either way.  We get retested for public access in 6 months and then once a year every year after that.  If her weight is not acceptable, she will not be passed for public access.  This is VERY important for the life of the service dog.  An overweight dog will take years off of not only their working life, but possibly their own life.  We will be very diligent about this!
Then we had more fun reviewing our homework by playing Hollywood Squares.  We also learned about what a dog's body language is telling you.  That was very informative!  We learned a lot and could even read Kindle better all afternoon after that lesson.  After lunch, the dogs were brought in and the kissing commenced! Today, after some simple warm-up cues, we put her working vest on.  Well!  We learned that Kindle is very sensitive to things on her back.  She stood frozen with her head on Emma's lap and wouldn't move.  It really was funny, even though it's important that she get over it.  She wouldn't sit or go down and when she tried, it looked like she had a stiff block of wood tied to her.  The trainer worked with us and did have her doing better with it by the end.  Amazing how dogs are so different about little things, just like people.  Hmmm, the bat wing harness for Halloween may not be a great idea in hindsight!  :)  My favorite new cue today was "closer."  I have a picture of this.  It is when she turns around and backs herself into Emma and goes down and stays.  She did it every time and it was so cute!   We will use this cue often.  Technically it should be done in between her legs, but when Emma didn't do that well with keeping her little legs wide enough, Kindle adapted it to beside her legs and we loved it, so that's Kindle's new version of "closer!"   The video will show 1 of 4 shaping activities we did today.   Shaping is when you use the clicker and treats to teach a dog a new skill.  The skill was to gently touch her nose to the tip of the orange cone.  She picked it up within 2 minutes.  Smart girl!  Shaping is how we will teach her any new skills or cues throughout her life time.  It's also lots of fun for the dog and the trainer.  Training is never done.  The final picture will be us doing some final last shopping at Petsmart to bring Kindle home tomorrow!  The dog bed will actually go at the bottom of Emma's bed.  We'll soon find out if they want to sleep together.  We think they will!!!
Hi first grade!  I hope you had another great day with Mrs. McCarthy!  You started learning about maps and globes today.  You should be able to tell your parents if the Earth has more land or more water.  Tomorrow you will have another secret reader coming!  I can't tell you who!  You just have to wait and see!  Every time I earned a ticket today, I thought of you and hoped that you are doing lots of good things to earn tickets, clip up, smilies, and group points!  Have a great Thursday!  Talk to you tomorrow night, our first night with Kindle!!  Love Mrs. Wenger :))

 

Video of "go on through" cue

Day 2!

Another amazing day at team training!  We reviewed our homework with a fun game of jeopardy this morning and some clicker training basics.  The dogs were brought in sooner today to Emma's delight!  Another great greeting, but Kindle calmed down sooner today.  We worked on lots of different cues today: lap, bump, visit, heel, go on through (a doorway and turn around and stop), back, and take it-hold it-give it.  We also spent some time outside practicing loose leash walking and leave it.  Keith and I are getting better at cueing and treating Kindle while making it come from Emma.  This is really not easy, but we can tell that it is paying off.  Kindle will complete a task and most of the time will look at Emma for the reward.  That is exactly what we want!  Kindle does a beautiful lap - that is when she puts her front two paws on Emma's lap and just stays there.  This is a great opportunity for Emma to pet her and interact with her, which she did.  They also had more bonding time just chilling out and relaxing on the floor together.  Kindle always wants to be touching Emma in some way, which we love.  Kindle reminded us how much she loves water when she tried to go swimming in the water bowl today!  :)  She did get a little drink out of it, but mostly made a mess on the floor.  Hmmm, we may need to bolt her water dish to the floor!  We'll see! :) Only two more nights without Kindle at home.  We can't wait for tomorrow!!
Hello 1st grade!  I hope you had a great 1st day with Mrs. McCarthy today!  I also hope your vision checks went well.  I bet you didn't know that I would have homework!  I do!  There is a lot to learn about training dogs and how to take care of them.  Guess what we get when we are caught by the trainers doing good things with Kindle and for our games?  If you guessed tickets, you are right!!  I am getting tickets just like you do at school!  At the end of team training, we can turn them in for prizes!  :)  Have a good Wednesday and I'll be back with you tomorrow night!!  Love, Mrs. Wenger :)

1st Day of Team Training

Wow!  What a great first day of team training!  The morning was without the dogs for clicker training and practice.  Since Keith and I have so much experience with this since we started puppy sitting SSD dogs in April, we were able to use a lot of the time to work with Emma and HER handling the treat pouch and treats.  Since this is Emma's dog, it is very important that all food and treats come from her or the dog will bond with us.  That is NOT what we want.  Emma was awake and giggly all morning.  We knew that she understood that she would get to see Kindle after lunch.  After lunch, Kindle was brought in.  She was wearing her new collar we got for her - "BFFs!"  Kindle was soooo excited to see Emma that for the first 5-10 minutes she just wanted to lick and kiss her!  After everyone settled in, we began working on how to have us give the verbal cue to Kindle, but have Emma give the treat.  Not easy!  We will continue to work on it.  The best part was watching Emma and Kindle start to bond.  I could've sat and watched for hours!  Emma began touching her on her own and Kindle initiated contact as well.  We learned Emma loves the cue "bump" which would cue Kindle to bump Emma's leg with her nose.  Emma laughed every time and would move her leg back to bump Kindle to get her to do it again.  We can already see how they will teach and learn from each other.  3 more nights until we bring her home!  We can't wait to go back tomorrow!!
Hello to my first graders!!!  I hope that you enjoyed your 3-day weekend!  When you go back to school  tomorrow, I will be hard at work at "doggy school!"  I know that you will do a great job for Mrs. McCarthy.  I have everything ready for you for the week and Mrs. McCarthy will know JUST what to do.  I need each one of you to be a helper and do your best work and be on your best behavior for her.  I know you will!  I can't wait to hear if you got a blue cone at lunch at all this week!  You are so close! Green is great too!  I will miss you very much and don't forget to check in again tomorrow night and see what we learned about Kindle!!

Welcome to Our New Blog

Welcome!  We are so excited to have a blog to keep our family and friends updated with Emma and her new service dog, Kindle.  First, we want to thank you all for donating toward the costs of getting Emma her dog!!! We couldn't do it without you!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! We are overwhelmed by everyone's generosity!!  We plan to upload pictures and post updates of the process of getting Emma her service dog.  We will start Team Training on October 14th.  It will be everyday during the week until Wednesday, October 30th when we will take the public access test.  We will get to bring her home on October 17th, the first Thursday of Team Training.  We can't wait!!!  Please check in!  The next post will be when team training starts!