I found an online article at cci.org. The article is titled “Training assistance dogs” and was written and published by a member or director of cci.org.
This article tells us how service dogs are trained and prepared to be used by those who need them. The first step of raising a service dog is to go through the puppy raisers. These people raise the puppies and teach them basic skills like sitting, laying down, and overall obedience. Once this stage of the training is completed, the dogs are sent to Canine Companions where they undergo a six-nine month training course. The first few weeks are the easiest for the dogs. They undergo a few tests and x-rays to make sure they are in good health. The first three months the dogs are reintroduced to the basic obedience commands they learned from their puppy raisers. The Canine Companions then build off of these basic obedience commands. The puppies who are able to pass their first part of training then get to move onto the second part. The second part of the training lasts close to three months. During these three months the dogs are taught over forty different commands. The dogs are screened to see if they are really capable of being service dogs and those dogs who are capable of being service dogs are then paired with the recipient and they are both trained together. This session last two weeks and the dog and companion are taught proper care. Once this is completed the dogs graduate into service dogs and receive their official Canine Companion certificate. The service dogs always have follow up sessions to make sure that they are performing to what they are expected to. The Canine Companions also want to make sure that the owner is satisfied and that the dog is not being harmed.
This article was very interesting. I understood that the dogs went through extensive training, but I had no clue that it took upwards of 8 months. The Puppy trainers are just like what the Wildcat service dogs are here. A program that trains puppies to have basic obedience skills and such. What happens if the dogs aren’t fit for being service dogs? Are they giving up for adoption, or are they put into a shelter? To help further my research I can look more into detail at what exactly a puppy trainer does and how they go about doing it.
Link to Article
I agree with your comment about this article to be interesting. I had no idea that the puppies would be trained so diligently before becoming a service dog. I was also curious as to if the puppy raisers have to go to a school or get a degree to earn that title in responsibility?
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