Training Rescue Dogs as Service Dogs for Veterans

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
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