Today we spent the entire day at the Fairfield Mall socializing dogs. Socialization is an important part of their training to become service dogs because they are exposed to many different kinds of stimuli. At the mall we were able to expose our dogs to elevators, stairs, escalators (though we were not allowed to ride on the escalators), bathrooms, glass barriers, all sorts of different people, strollers, food smells, different types of flooring, shopping carts in some places, mirrors, and small crowded shops. It is highly important to do this with the dogs because they must be taught to ignore distractions while they work once they graduate training. We each worked with five different dogs throughout the day.
We began the day at 4 Paws by assisting with the rotations of the dogs and getting them outside so they can relieve themselves after the night. Once we were done with this, we set out for the mall with a van full of dogs and three different trainers from 4 Paws. We learned later that one of the trainers, Peg, was an intern from Alaska for 4 Paws that was inspired by the service dogs she got from 4 Paws for her son. She hopes to learn from 4 Paws and begin her own organization similar to 4 Paws. Alan was absolutely thrilled to be going to the mall with seven girls. Once we got there, we stood outside in the freezing cold temperatures (come on, seriously, its Spring Break! it's not supposed to be so cold!) next to the doggie shuttle, putting collars and working dog vests on each dog. We did this each time we took out a new dog to socialize. We each then set out on our own individual journeys with our dogs throughout the mall...
Kayla began her day with a beautiful and amazing yellow lab puppy name Alanna. Alanna was only four month old but she was Kayla's best behaved dog. Alanna was very confident, and the only thing she was really nervous of was the bathroom stalls. After Alanna, Kayla worked with one of Alanna's sisters, Lizzie. Lizzie wasn't so fond of the mall... she was nervous of the mall and cried some. Kayla then was able to take a break and browse the stores some because the doggie shuttle did not bring enough dogs for everyone that time. The next two dogs were fairly well behaved but not as perfect as the adorable Alanna. Kayla did have to clean up a few potty accidents as well.
Casey worked with papillons her first two rounds. Both pups were smart and easy to work with. Flyer is training to be a seizure alert dog, and Mika is training to be a hearing aid dog. After the papillons, Casey worked with various beautiful large dogs. Overall the dogs she worked with were fairly confident and all of them loved people.
Stephanie got to work with her favorite dog, Enzo, who is an adorbale and sweet one year old black lab. She also got to work a four month old yellow lab named Noelle and a year old Chocolate lab named Indigo. Indigo and Stephanie spent most of their time hanging around the play area, which Indigo thought was torture, as she was very nervous around children. In the end, Indigo relaxed and had a great time!
Rachel spent her day with 5 well-behaved dogs, including her favorite pup, a 5 month old German Shepard named Sadie. She also got to spend time with Omri, a yellow lab pup who was able to respond to "come" as it was spelled out and even knew a little bit of math. All these dogs were awesome and are going to make amazing service dogs. They made people at the mall smile and will make some well-deserving person very happy.
Karlee met her new favorite dog, Alfalfa, who was obedient and almost ready for graduation. She also worked with Rosalie, Indigo, Oba, and Bond. All of the dogs made great progress in their socialization! Also she went shopping and bought some socks at Dicks sporting goods. And enjoyed a delicious footlong sub for lunch. Bond had some of the bread. Shhhh.
Alan spent his day with 5 great dogs as well (Clifford, Razi, Delta, Booker and Juniper). Clifford was his favorite, a yellow lab puppy. He was so mature for being only 4 months old! Overall, all the dogs that Alan worked with today made great strides in their socialization and interactions with the environment. The day at the mall was a long one (9:45-3:20), but the work with all of the dogs made it worth it!
Bridget went shopping with many different large dogs today! Her favorite was Lucy Too, who did all of her tricks without even being asked! Some of the dogs were obviously early in their training, but showed lots of hope. One dog was very scared of many things and may or may not make it into the program. Lucy Too made everyone smile and would lay down just like a frog. It was a very exhausting, but super fun day!!!
Jordan loved each and every one of her dogs she spent time with today! Ghost, Atticus, Whizz, Liem, and Kirk were all awesome in their own special way. She felt each dog had made some progress in the short time she had with them. The dogs she worked with were all lovable and put smiles on all who walked past!! You could not help but feel the warm fuzzy feelings. It was sad to see the dogs go at the end of the day.
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