Training Rescue Dogs as Service Dogs for Veterans

Canines With a Cause held its annual retreat this past month in Park City, UT, giving the staff a chance to bond and brainstorm for the upcoming year. A hot topic of discussion was the development of a fun, reliable foster program for our canines entering and/or exiting our program. As many of you know, a unique trait that makes CWAC different from other service dog programs is that we often source potential canine candidates from rescues, shelters or by donation. That being said, timing can be tricky when it comes to pairing our candidates with our new veterans because they are in need of transitional housing until they find their forever home. CWAC’s long-term goal is to find property in the Salt Lake City area to use as a boarding and training facility but until then we turning to the public to help us short-term. So expect to see a fun, revitalization of the Paw Squad, CWAC’s foster program in the coming months!

In Reno, we have 5 on-going teams training with trainer Seamus. In Utah, we have 4 teams working with trainer Harleigh. Nick & Puzzola, CJ & Renji and Troy & Megatron are all in Beginner class while Chelsea & Poptart are grinding through Advanced level. Those in our Beginner classes are working on instilling basic commands in their canines like, “sit,” “wait,” “down.” Veterans are also training their canines harness/leash-up manners, plus directional changes and touch/hand targeting. After roughly 56hrs of training and 8 weeks of working the program, these beginners will prep to take the Canines Good Citizen (CGC) test.

Some can already see and feel a positive shift from training their own service dog. For instance, Megatron has given Troy a new purpose in life, getting him out of the house to exercise and train, developing a daily routine. Same can be said for Bill & Rocky, our Reno team going through Beginner's class. John is more active with Max and takes advantage of and engages in more opportunities. CJ & Renji are also a very happy pair. Renji gets along perfectly with both CJ’s son, partner and their other dog. Renji follows them around everywhere and remains very sweet and gentle inside the home. Not to mention, Renji has great leash manners which makes it easy for both CJ and his partner to walk.

It is quite a privilege to see the transformation in veterans as the work towards something both significant and lifesaving. We look forward to updating you all with progress and exciting news to come. And as always, thank you for supporting Canines With a Cause!

Spring has now turned into summer; with nice weather, we operate on all cylinders! In Reno, we have 5 veteran teams in training. Bill and Rocky are the newest team. Rocky is a graduate of the prison program. In Utah, we have 3 different classes going and are working on starting an all-level class. Veteran team Troy and Megatron recently completed Foundations class. Megatron is also a recent graduate of our prison program and like Rocky his pre-training is making it easy for Troy to learn clean. Foundations class focuses on getting the human half of the team up to speed on caring for and training a service dog. We go over ADA, animal husbandry, safety, body language and basic learning theory, dog training lingo and handler skills.

Utah trainer, Harleigh, weighs in on what veterans can expect during Foundations class, “Learning handler skills is a big hurdle; things like the handler’s timing, hand/body placement, order of cues, what to reward, and delivery of treats are just a few of the things handlers have to learn to juggle in their head all while paying attention to their dog. I like to tell people it’s like learning to drive a car. All the different petals, mirrors, gauges, nobs, rules, etc are a lot at first, but with practice, they become second nature. By using foundation class to build their handler skills, they’ll have an easier time in the beginner class and can focus on the skills needed to pass the CGC test.”

Shifting gears, we wanted to inform our donors that Canines With a Cause is honored to have recently been selected to participate in the "Wounded Warrior Service Dogs Program" (WWSDP) funded by the Department of Defense and managed by the Uniformed Services University.

Aligned with its Congressional intent, the goal of the WWSDP is to facilitate the provision of service dogs to military beneficiaries and veterans. The objectives of the WWSDP will be to work collaboratively with non-profit service dog training organizations to share best practices in the training of service dogs, the education and matching of service dogs with qualifying service members and veterans, safety practices to protect dogs and the public, and the use of data-driven decisions to help the improvement of existing programs and service dog certification for Post-Traumatic Stress, Military Sexual Trauma and Traumatic Brain Injury dogs for service members and veterans.

As always, thank you for your support! For the latest visit our website or keep up with us on social media at @CaninesWithaCause.

Links:

• CWAC website
• CWAC Instagram page
• CWAC Facebook page