Graduation and Home

Sorry to be so behind in our final post, it has been a very busy couple of days!

Friday was our final class. We learned about the transition home and all the things we needed to do in order to make Orella's move to Indiana legal. The take home message, "Ask Eric!" We were given a checklist of things to do in the next three months and lots of advice for keeping Orella's training up to snuff.

At lunch, we got to meet Orella's puppy raiser Charon. What an amazing woman! She gave Miles a scrap book of Orella as a puppy. The album showed Orella's arrival to Charon as a puppy all the way through when she returned Orella to CCI at the end of her puppy training. It was really need to see her as a teeny puppy and all the adventures she had at obedience training, parades, and other outings with the other CCI puppies in her area. Knowing what a loving and sweet dog Orella is, we are amazed (and fortunate) that Charon was able to part with her!

After lunch, we had the graduation ceremony. Boy, this was bigger and crazier than we expected! Puppy raisers, our training class, past graduates, and family members were all present.  There had to be 50 dogs in the room and all of the dogs were better behaved than some of the people! All the puppy raisers with dogs that were being turned in after their intensive training were recognized. There were a LOT of dogs along with their dedicated puppy raisers! There was a slide show of all the puppies, which was very cute. Four graduates from a special March team training were also recognized. Our team training class was then recognized individually. Each recipient went to the front of the room and the CCI instructors said a little about each recipient. The puppy raisers then brought up each recipient's dog and turned over the leash. There was not a dry eye in the room! There was a final slide show of all the recipients with some action shots from our trip to the zoo. It was a very nice program.

We then returned home in an attempt to return things to a new normal. Orella has settled in well and loves spending time with Miles just hanging out. She has also been helping him calm down. Miles really is his best self when one of his hands is touching her. Malcolm has been enjoying being our training helper (he is the pretend shopkeeper when we practice credit card transactions and the distraction when we are working on other skills). Our walks through the neighborhood have been filled with many distractions as all the other dogs have noticed Orella and she does seem curious about them. We may need to use the "try harder" collar with her on our next walk! 

Day 11

Thursday was Exam day! Spoiler alert, we passed! We had a practical, a written final, and our public certification (for both Wil and I). We passed them all.

Welcome to the family, Orella! We are happy to have you. Graduation on Friday and we get to meet the puppy raiser. It is certain to be an emotional day.

Day 10

Classes have been a little more casual: less lecture, more practicing and working with the dogs, and more problem solving situations we may encounter in public. We went through the practical test today as a group. This involved a series of typical tasks including picking objects up off the floor, turning light switches on and off, opening and closing doors, and dropping the leash and calling the dog toward you ("losing" control of the dog, then regaining control of the dog).  We feel that there will be no problem with the entire class passing the practical.

We also went through a series of distraction scenarios. The dogs were put through their paces with food on the floor for the entire series of exercises. We have to admit, our dog is pretty motivated by food, but seems to ignore it at CCI. A series of other distractions like the vacuum cleaner running, one of the staff members dressed as a construction worker walking around and calling the dogs, squeaky toys, umbrellas opening and closing, and a remote control car were presented to the dogs and handlers. The goal was for the dogs to ignore the distractions and stay focused. Some of the dogs reacted, but it was up to us to keep them under control. Next, our instructors set us up for one of the ultimate challenges, a field trip to the Columbus Zoo.

The zoo was filled with school children, families of all kinds, a variety of animals with their requisite odors and noises (even another dog that was with a zoo worker), food all over the ground, and general chaos and pandemonium. The instructors tested us by having the dogs do a series of commands in this very distraction-full environment. The thinking is, if our dogs can perform here, we can have every confidence that they will perform in less distracted situations. We avoided exhibits where the dogs would upset the animals (the large cats, the wolves, the kangaroos, and the monkeys). Even though service animals are allowed within the zoo, if they upset the zoo animals, we could be asked to leave. Needless to say, Miles had a great time! He liked the fish the best, but didn't really seem to be impressed by the manatees - they were huge!

We had another quiet evening. We took a trip to the pool, had a quiet dinner, and some relaxation. Our practical exam is at 10:20 tomorrow morning and our public access test is in the afternoon at a different mall from yesterday. We also have our written final to complete. I am sure that the instructors have given us all the tools we need to be a successful dog team. Miles is loving the interaction in the evenings and our dog chooses to be close to him most of the time.

Day 9

Today was a really fun day. Yes, training can be fun! Our morning lecture was with the Development and PR folks. As our dog will have a CCI vest on at all times, we serve as one face of CCI and we need to be able to answer all sorts of questions from people who approach us. As a not-for-profit organization, CCI relies on private sponsorships and donations (both personal and corporate) for all their funding. We need to understand where to direct people should they inquire in that area. It is our goal to involve Blue III (Trip), Butler's bulldog mascot, at some of the CCI fundraisers in Indianapolis! Next one is October 5 in Fishers, IN!

The instructors put together some fun and challenging training games. The challenges: 1) All of the dogs had to go Up (front paws on the tabletop) on a table and hold that position together for 15 seconds (I kept picturing a deck of cards being dealt!). If one dog came off the table before the 15 seconds was over the count began again. 2) Individual teams practiced retrieving items from the table (a sandwich in a bag and a water bottle) and returned to their spot to deliver the items. 3) Different items were passed around the room from dog to dog. These items were either a food container (passed by Pushing) or a pool noodle (passed by one dog carrying it to the next dog). 4) Finally, all of the dogs had to retrieve a picture off of a clothesline. It was really nice to see a fun side to team training where we all got to be part of a team together.

Our day ended with a field trip to Polaris Mall. We had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and our dog did a good job being "invisible." We gathered for a group photo (which we can't wait to see) and then split into groups for a training trip through the mall. The mall was not as busy as it was when we visited on Sunday, so that was nice. Part of the training involved going through all of the items on the public access certification checklist. We passed all of the tasks without a problem. We have no worries that we will be able to pass our certification test on Thursday. We then made a quick trip to the pet store for a toy for the dog (a rubber chicken), then back for a quiet evening.

Day 8

Sorry to not post yesterday. It was a day off and we used it to mostly chill out, get to know the dog better, and relax. Plus it was Mother's Day. :-)

Class today was about how to teach tasks specifically tailored to the recipient. This could include getting a drink from the refrigerator while the recipient remains in another room. Many of the male recipients over a certain age were very interested in teaching their dogs this particular sequence! We were far more interested in teaching the "Go to Miles" command sequence, so we will begin work on this in our advanced training at home. We also had the opportunity to put some of our problem solving skills into practice by working through various challenges set up throughout the facility by the instructors. Some involved using commands and tasks that we had worked on last week. Others involved a specific problem that we had not yet encountered in class. For these tasks, we had to figure out how to train the dog to help solve the challenge.

The dog also had a quick trip to the vet for a check. It was nice to see the staff keeping up with the health of the dogs as others had quick checks as well. Everything was fine and the dog was back in time for our field trip to Meijer. For those of you not from the midwest, Meijer is similar to a super Target. We traveled around the store playing a game where each recipient chose two tasks for the dogs to do and we rotated around the group. We were also interacting with the public (some shoppers didn't seem too happy to see so many dogs in the store), but we had no problems and our dogs were very well behaved.

Big adventure planned tomorrow. The next field trip is to Polaris Mall! We had a brief preview as part of our day off... And we will try to take pictures tomorrow. Both of us were working so hard today that we didn't have time to take any!

Day 6

We finished our first week of class and things are starting to settle into a little bit of a routine. We arrived for our Saturday class at 9 am with dog in tow. Each recipient shared with the group how their evening had gone. Everyone had a good night and it was interesting to hear who had a dog that ate quickly, whose dog DIDN'T toilet at all (!), who had a dog that liked to play for two hours, etc. We had a lecture about how dogs learn, which augmented information from previous lectures.

Lunch was our first field trip. The goal was to practice appropriate behavior in a public setting. We had intended to go to Cracker Barrel, but the one hour wait was too long. So, after re-loading all eleven students and their dogs back into our vehicles, we went down the road to Bob Evans. We were seated right away and all our dogs behaved very well in public. A well trained service dog should be "invisible" in public settings, and the dogs successfully met this goal. All our dogs were tucked out of the way under the tables and were silent. As a matter of fact, our dog has not barked once since the beginning of class on Monday! The Bob Evans staff was very accommodating (and one even knew she shouldn't pet the dogs even though she really wanted to!), and made it a very enjoyable experience. Sorry we don't have any pictures of the big trip.

After lunch was a lecture on the law and service dogs. Once again, we learned a lot of very good information. We have a handout with all the legal information we could want or need and we found out that a service dog is considered a "medical device" by legal definition, not a pet, which actually may have some tax implications for us. After the lecture, we were free for the day. Miles and his dog took this opportunity for an afternoon nap. We had another quiet evening in and we are hoping for a quiet night tonight.

Day 5

Today was a big day. We began with a lecture on safety and public access.  The class had lots of good questions and there was a great deal of discussion. It is very clear that our class is comfortable with one another as sensitive issues about disabilities in general and how much information to give strangers about our dogs were addressed. Public access could be a challenge since the public perception of what constitutes a service animal varies and we have heard examples of service dogs being denied access.

Our skills for today were "Push," "Tug," "Release," "Light," and "Switch." In addition, we worked on a series of commands in sequence to accomplish real world goals (getting a credit card from the recipient, going to a counter, giving the credit card to a cashier, getting a bag of groceries, and then giving the bag of groceries to the recipient). We are finding that we are working well as a team and Miles absolutely loves all the attention he gets from the dog.

This evening, we were able to bring our dog back to the hotel for the first time. Public access challenge number one accomplished! So far, all is going well. The dog was very interested in Miles' toy car (it just goes around a track and it is very amusing for us to watch the two of them watching the car!). The dog has been sitting quietly with Miles, even when Miles took a nap. The past two days have seen Miles much more calm, even during the boring (for him) lecture portions. These days have been very long for him without as much activity as he is used to. He is smiling much more and is engaged in more than just the training sessions now. We feel that it is because he is spending more time with the dog beside him.

Day 4

We started out the morning learning about dog grooming.  We now know more about dog ears and different grooming tools than we ever thought we would know.  We put what we learned into practice by doing some coat brushing (Miles liked this), teeth brushing, ear cleaning, and nail trimming. Throughout all of this, there was one little yelp from the dog (during the nail trimming), but otherwise all was well.  Afterward, the dog had a nice long visit in Miles' lap, which both enjoyed.  We also worked on finding a designated spot in our van for the dog and acclimating the dog to Miles' automated seat.

After a break we worked on "Get," "Hold" and "Give."  Most dogs really enjoy these skills and our dog was no exception.  At lunch, we had some special guests.  A local corporation that supports various charities, including CCI, provided lunch. Eight of their employees and the CEO came out to see the training and talk with the students.  It was a nice visit.

On the topic of lunch...  Each day, our lunches have been donated by various individuals or corporations. Many of the individuals are volunteers or donors who have either worked with CCI dogs or received a CCI dog.  There has been a ton of food each day.  It has taken a substantial amount of willpower from both of us not to overeat, although we will admit to indulging in the homemade brownies on Tuesday.

The afternoon lecture was given by a local vet and current CCI board member.  His slideshow gave a very detailed account of the dos and don'ts of canine health, common medical issues, parasites, good and bad medication (internet buyers beware!), and also gave some examples of unique trouble that a few dogs had gotten themselves into while unattended.  It was made very clear to us that while our dogs are well-trained, they are still dogs and are prone to making dog-like decisions if left to their own devices.

We continued practicing our team training for the rest of the day.  Some of the training was outside - another beautiful afternoon.  Today, goodbyes were difficult.  Miles seems to miss his dog.  It is a good thing we get to bring the dog to the hotel tomorrow night!

Day 3

Big day today!  Preliminary placements in the morning.  The dog we will be working with for the rest of the training is wonderful, with its own personality quirks, and we will work hard to make sure that we graduate so we can take this dog home.  There is a small possibility that we could still change dogs, but the trainers feel that they placed the correct dog with every recipient.

Less lecture time today and more time working with the dog.  We also moved on to much more difficult commands, especially coordinating a dog and a wheelchair through doorways. Miles still prefers more interactive commands (Lap is the current favorite), but he did very well this afternoon. The afternoon was so beautiful that we ended class outside.  The final command today was "Hurry" which is an indication to the dog that this is the appropriate time to toilet if they need to. How appropriate!