puppies inside

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A full agenda, inside

April 11, 2014

Chippewa

RELAXATION PROTOCOL

Starting our training session with the relaxation protocol is a great way to set a calm and attentive atmosphere. Tammy reads instructions to the group and has them vary positions. First the dogs sit, then stand, then relax into a down.

Two men stand with black labs sitting at their left sides. Both men are looking down at the puppies. The first man, on the left, is wearing blue pants and a white t-shirt. The puppy is wearing a baby-blue working jacket and is facing him slightly. The other man on the right is african american and is wearing the blue pants and shirt prison uniform. His puppy is looking up at him. There are lunch tables in the background.

FLDs Baker and Sammy sit next to Cody and Ro.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform is leaning over a yellow lab, placing a treat in her mouth. The lab is lying on the tile floor, her leash is draped across her front legs. She is wearing panties because she is in heat. A second man is leaning against a lunch table with his hands crossed at his waist. He is bald with tatoos on his foreamrs, he is wearing green prison pants and a white t-shirt.

Abe gives FLD Zella a treat while Doug looks on. (Zella is wearing panties because she is in heat. Every puppy is a potential breeder for Leader Dogs for the Blind, so they are not spayed or neutered until after they return for training.)

NAME RECOGNITION

With settled puppies, Tammy has the handlers practice "name recognition." She and I step to each team and lightly distract the puppies with a quiet "Well, hello puppy!" or a soft clap. The goal is that the puppy will look back at the handler when its name is called. One time. All the teams do well. Then Tammy and I approach with a bit more enthusiasm. This is more of a challenge!

A floor-level photo of a young black lab trying to approach the camera. Her right front paw is mid-air. A man, sitting down on a stool attached to a lunch table, is holding the pup's collar in his right hand and her leash in his left. He is wearing a white t-shirt and blue pants with an orange strip. His head and shoulders are out of view. There is another table to the right of the puppy.

FLD Ashley has a difficult time resisting me. Good catch Robert!

SIT / DOWN / STAND AROUND THE WORLD

One way to "proof" a puppy (checking to see if it knows its commands) is to ask for a behavior from a not-so-typical, not-in-heel position. Think your puppy knows "sit?" Try asking it to sit with your back turned, or from five feet away, or while sitting in a chair or kneeling on the floor. Tammy says this exercise demonstrates where work is needed.

A man is standing on the left side with his back to a black lab. The man is bald and is wearing blue prison pants and a white t-shirt. He has his hands clasped in front of him and is looking over his left shoulder. The puppy is sitting on the tile floor a foot or so behind the man and is looking up at him. The pup's leash is lying on the floor. The puppy is wearing a blue Future Leader Dog bandana. There are several men with their puppies in the background to the right.

Justin peaks over his shoulder at FLD Nell, who sits on cue.

MEET & GREETS / HANDLER'S EXAMS

We practice meet and greets and everyone without a puppy gets in on the action. The room is filled with mayhem, but the puppies (for the most part) take everything in stride.

Next up - handler's exams. Tammy and I get the honors of putting our hands on each puppy. We check eyes, ears, teeth, lift each paw and run a slicker brush down their backs. FLD Ashely is very wiggly. "You can support her by her collar," I tell her raiser, Robert. "And try holding some treats in your hand right in front of her nose."

A man is kneeling on his right knee with a german shepherd puppy sitting between his knees. The man is holding something in his right hand above the puppy's snout. The man is looking at the camera, he has a goatee and is bald. He has tatoos on his forearm. He is wearing green pants and a white t-shirt. The puppy's leash is handing down in front of him. There are a few men in the background.

FLD Chewy looks like he is eager for more food!

We also check the puppies' weight using the Purina ® Body Condition Tool. We have the men rate their puppies on a scale from one (severely underweight) to nine (clinically obese). Numbers four and five (ribs can be felt, a waist is visible from above, and there is a "tummy tuck" visible from the side) are "ideal."

Tammy suggests that FLD Chewy's team raise his daily food allotment, as she thinks he feels a bit underweight.

GAMES

With the idea that training should be fun, Tammy comes up with all sorts of games which challenge the puppies' self-control. Stay tuned...

Monday, June 30, 2014

The worst thing

April 11, 2014

Chippewa

No matter how early we wake up to park the puppies, feed the puppies, feed ourselves, haul crates and puppies and luggage back into the van, we always fall behind schedule. Today we end up 15 minutes late.

Upon arrival at the Chippewa Correctional Facility, we apologize to the staff members who meet us at the visitor entrance. They tell us they joke about it now. They never expect us when we say we're going to be there.

We must be infected with "yooper-time."

Our session starts with a bit of social time. The lunchroom tables are pushed to the perimeter of the room where the guys sit with puppies "under" their seats.

Four men sit on stools attached to a table on the left side of the picture. On man sits just out of view on the right side. The first man is an african american wearing the prison blue uniform. He has this hands clasped on his lap and below him a black lab is lying on the tile floor. The next man is leaning back with his arms folded, he is wearing blue pants and a white t-shirt. The next man is wearing a white t-shirt and light maroon pants. He is leaning over looking down at a golden retriever that is lying under him on the floor. He is petting the puppy with his left hand and his right elbow is on the table. The fourth man is just visible behind the third man, he is wearing a white t-shirt and looking away to the right. The man out of view is wearing the prison blue uniform and hs holding the leash of a black lab that is lying on the floor between his legs.

Teammates Ro and Aaron sit with FLD Sammy; Morrison tends to FLD Bravo with Cory at his back.

Tammy and I circle the room, an informal "meet and greet" with each team.

After a quick rundown of the skills we want to work on, Tammy takes John aside to sign the puppy-raising contract and review the paperwork for the newest arrival, FLD Ekco. I visit each team to ask the same two questions Tammy asked the inmates at Baraga.

1. Tell me something good about your puppy.

Many of the puppies are smart, intelligent, and attentive. Others are confident, loveable, and have a great recall. FLD Bravo's team says that the pup's "clingy-ness" is both good and bad. "We call him the old man."

2. What are you struggling with and need to work harder on?

Some puppies are overly friendly, or "ambitious socially" as Abe describes FLD Zella. A few rush stairs. Cori says that FLD Baker has a great stay, but is jumpy with loud noises. "She spooked at the cleaning cart," he reports. Baker got away from him and bolted. She ran through Unit 8, up the stairs and almost to his room before someone caught her. "She is fast!" he says. The worst thing, according to Scott, is the thought of giving FLD Drummond away.

Saying good-bye is on everyone's mind today. When Tammy and I leave this afternoon, we will be taking FLDs Nell, Zella and Tara back to Leader Dogs for the Blind to begin their formal training.

But first, we have work to do...

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Furlough fun

April 10, 2014

en route to Chippewa

We have the rest of the day to get back east across the UP. Along the way we head straight onto E. Munising Ave in the town of Munising, instead of taking the sharp right turn that is a continuation of M-28. It is less than two miles to Munising Falls. Tammy thinks it is a good idea to take the golden boys, FLDs Drummond and Bravo, for a short hike. We are eager to stretch our legs, too.

The trail to the falls is snow covered, but packed down enough to walk on. Mostly.

A woman dressed all in blue wearing sunglasses appears to be kneeling on a snowcovered path with a golden retriever in front of her. There is a wooded fence along the path with trees in the background.

No, Tammy is NOT kneeling next to FLD Drummond. Her right leg sunk into the snow up to her knee!

The same woman is bracing her hands on the golden retriever as she struggles to pull her right leg out of the snow. She is blurry, but the dog is in good focus.

FLD Drummond holds still as Tammy extracts her leg.

A golden retriever is rolling in a snow bank, he has smashed his head into the snow. A brown leather leash is attached ot his collar.

FLD Bravo takes a snow bath.

Two golden retrievers stand in front of a wooden fence, their leashes are tied to the fend. They are facing each other but are looking at the camera. There is snow all around and in the background is a tall partly frozen waterfall, coming down from a limestone cliff. There are some small fir trees to the left and bare limbed hardwood trees to the right.

FLDs Bravo and Drummond strike a post at Munising Falls.

A cloer shot of the two goldens, who are now close together. One of them is sitting underneath the other one that is standing. The sitting golden has his eyes closed and looks like he is smiling. The dog that is standing is also smiling and is looking to the right. They are in front of the wooden fence, and all the rest is snow.

Silly Bravo can't get close enough to his buddy Drummond.

Tammy asks me to videotape FLD Drummond walking because she said the guys had some concerns about his gait. (We don't notice anything unusual.) The beauty-boy does a nice job of what we call "connected walking." He keeps a loose leash, yielding to gentle pressure, but is not expected to maintain a tight heel position at Tammy's left side. At one point a family carrying a small, yippy dog exits the trail onto the parking lot where we are shooting; Drummond is interested, but quickly refocuses. Good boy!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

WANTED: Stairs

April 10, 2014

Baraga

Unit 8 at the Baraga Correctional Facility is stair-less. RUM Steve assured us some time ago that the construction department at the prison would build a set of stairs for the puppies. "They just won't be next to the fence," he joked.

At last, on a mild and sunny April day, the puppies have stairs. And, as promised, they are not near the fence!

A group of 16 men and six dogs post on a newly built wooden staircase. The stairs are on either side of a platform with railings. It is a bright sunny day in the prison yard, there is still snow on the ground in the background.

The Future Leader Dog teams of Baraga and the new stairs.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform is coming down a set of wooden steps that are outside on cement. He is bending over at the waist. He has a leather leash in his left hand and his right hand is hanging down at his side. He is wearing white tennis shoes. A small black lab puppy is at his left side and his coming down the steps with him, his nose is sniffing the step just below the one his is on.

Harvey helps FLD Copo negotiate the wooden steps.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform with an orange stripe down the pantleg is mostly out of view of hte camera. You can see his right leg and arm, his arm has tatoos. The man is taking one step up a wooden staircase, you can see four steps. He is presenting his right hand to a small german shepherd puppy, who is sitting at the base of the stairs, looking up at the man's hand, which likely holds a bit of kibble. It is very sunny.

FLD Dax gets a little help on his first time up.

The man dressed in the prison uniform has made it across the platform and is about to descend the steps on the other side. He is standing on the first step but the german shepherd puppy is still on the platform. The man is looking down at the puppy, who is reaching toward a woman standing off to the side of the stairs. The woman, wearing a green t-shirt, purple zipped sweatshrit (which is open) and blue jeans and sunglasses, is reaching her left hand to the puppy, in a "touch" movement to help the puppy move forward. You can see snow in the background on the ground.

Tammy offers a "touch" to FLD Dax to help him make the decision to descend the stairs. Chad waits patiently and calmly.

Finally, our training session is over. Well, almost. Tammy has the men release their puppies into play. And practice calling them out of play. Fun!

Six men are standing near a brick wallked builidng. In front of them on the cement are six puppies playing. A black lab and golden retriever are on the left side in front, another black lab, a german shepherd, another golden, and a yellow lab are grouped together on the right.

Doggy play-time!

A yellow lab puppy is on its back on the cement with its legs in the air. A black lab puppy is jumping over the yellow lab, his right front paw is smashing the yellow lab's face. The black lab's ears are flying!

FLD Copo appears to have the upper paw on FLD Axel.

A man dressed in the prison blue uniform with an orange stripe down his should and short sleeve, is kneeling on sunny cement looking down at a black lab puppy. The man is bald and is wearing glasses and his arms are tatooed. He is looking down at the puppy and holding a baby blue Future Leader Dog jacket in his left hand. He is reaching toward the lab with his right hand. The lab is facing to the right. There are legs of other men visible in the background on both sides of the kneeling man and directly behind him. There are stark shadows of the men's legs across the cement. The lab is wearing a blue collar.

FLD Copo comes nicely out of play when called.

A man with glasses wearing a dark pea coat and khakis is walking to the left of the picture. A second man is squatting on the cement, he is wearing a black baseball cap and dark jacket and blue jeans. He is lookig down at a black lab puppy that is standing in front of him with its head low by his left leg. The man is touching the puppy's body with his hands. The puppy has a leash dragging behind him.

Even the COs get into the action by calling off FLD Bear.

The man with khakis and a dark jacekt is carrying two large bags of Purina dog food on each shoulder, walking away from the back of a white Leader Dogs for the Blind van. It is very sunny with a blue sky.

RUM Steve hauls dog food (and poop bags) from the Leader Dogs for the Blind before we take off. "I like a full closet," he says about the poop bags. That's funny, I think, last month he said they had enough to last them 10 years! But I don't say anything...I don't want to mess with this guy, whose demeanor reminds me a bit of Gibbs from NCIS. I don't need a slap upside the back of my head!