Therapy Dog Visit

In June of 2010 I contacted Susquehanna Service Dogs (SSD) in Harrisburg, PA about possibly applying for an assistive dog for our daughter Miss B. We filled out the paperwork for an application and had a visit at their office several months back and found out we could be eligible for a dog. So today we met with a volunteer who owns a therapy dog for about an hour and a half at a local mall to see how Miss B would do, and here are some pictures of the time we spent.

Here Miss B is meeting Ember, a 6 year old female black lab, for the first time. Her owner, Diane, and Diane's 19 year old daughter Jamie came to help us see what life would be like with a service dog. She answered questions and shared experiences she has had with other people requesting dogs.

Diane had a bag of treats for Miss B to wear to help her praise Ember. Ember is a therapy dog which Diane brings in to schools to do demonstrations, and she uses Ember to give opportunities for people like Miss B to try out and see how they like working with an assistance dog.

Miss B loves animals and can't help but kiss them. We knew she'd adjust to Ember in short order.

Diane talked about Ember and how to take care of her. Ember is spayed now, but several years back she did have a litter of puppies for SSD to use as service dogs. They were all named after things in space since her husband was a star gazer. Currently there are two litters of puppies recently born to the program. The first group is named after Civil War people: George Meade, Joshua Chamberlain, Clara Barton, Julia Ward Howe and Harriet Beecher  Stow. The second litter is named after games: Yahtzee, Atari and Rummy. They can be seen on the site's puppy cam. 

She gave Miss B a brush to slick her coat.

More kisses.

More explanations. Puppies begin their positive reinforcement training as early as 7 weeks of age. Diane explained they are given "click" sounds and treats every time they do something the trainer wants them to do. If the puppy is working on "sit" the trainer will not say anything, but just stand still. The dog wants to please, so it will begin doing all sorts of things to earn a reward. If the dog sits, a click will sound and a treat will be given. This is done over and over until the puppy/dog does it. Then the word command "sit" will be added. It seemed to work very well for Ember.

Here is an exercise where Diane put two treats on Ember's paws and told her to "leave it." After a short while she picked up the treats and rewarded Ember with them for good behavior. Perhaps the dog can model some good behavior for Miss B.

Getting ready to talk a walk through the mall. Diane had a list of things she wanted Miss B to run through during the course of our session.

The dog is constantly rewarded for good behavior with a "clicker" the human hold in their hand, a small device that emits a clicking sound when you press it, and a treat (small bits of kibble which are part of the dog's daily diet). Miss B will learn how to train her dog to do new tasks if needed to help her out in day to day living.

Here they stopped because there was a small problem with the leash getting caught under Ember's front leg, as we who walk dogs always encounter. She gave the command "fix" to Ember and the dog just lifted her leg out of the tangle.

People were very curious to see a service dog in the mall and many stopped by to ask questions or just watch. Service Dogs are allowed to travel everywhere with their partner: malls, restaurants, churches, schools, airplanes.

Here Diane was showing two other commands like "up" and "off." Ember did wonderfully.

Diane's daughter, Jamie, also helped Miss B with a few things. They put duct tape on their thighs and gave Ember the command to "touch." She did it every time. Since dogs are color blind, the trainers use duct tape to show the dogs what to touch. Diane even had an expensive piece of equipment (an 18" dowel rod with duct tape attached to the end like a flag) to use to show Ember exactly what she wanted her to touch. It was amazing to watch.

The dog was commanded to "lap," and Ember rested on Jamie's legs with her front forearms providing a feeling of pressure. Ember also knows "visit" where she goes up to a person and rests her head in their lap.

A return of kisses to Miss B for all those goodies.

Ember up close. She was rarely distracted from her "work."

I think Ember needs another treat. Miss B had to wipe her hand each time the dog licked the treat from her palm.

Here Miss B was tasked with giving Ember 10 clicks and treats before they reached the next bench. There was a lot for her to remember to do: the clicker, the treats, holding the leash, counting to 10, watching where you walked. It was a lot to take in.

Another task Ember could do was press a button. Diane is explaining to Miss B how this would work. Ember. She can also turn lights off, which will be a great benefit to our electricity bill.

Resting at the end.

One more hug and kiss.

Miss B and Jamie with Ember. A nice Oreo cookie sandwich of girl-dog-girl.

Our next step will be to have a home visit in conjunction with another public outing with another therapy dog. If all goes well, Miss B will have the opportunity to visit with a few dogs in the late stages of training. These dogs are about 1 1/2-2 years old. If one of these dogs is a suitable match for Miss B, it will be further trained to address the specific needs of our daughter. Then there will be a 2 1/2 week daily class where the dog and human partner will be paired up and learn all kinds of skills for working together. It's a long, drawn out process, but we're wading through it with anticipation and excitement.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King