Photos by Allison Richardson
Far left: Paisley, Jan Broxerman's 4-month-old golden retriever puppy, sits patiently in the library of Libertyview Elementary school. Broxerman substitute teaches at the elementary school and takes Paisley with her to help the dog become accustomed to small children and large crowds.
Left: Broxterman sits with Paisley until the puppy calms down. Paisley is in the first phase of her training. The KSDS program has three stages of training, the first of which is when the dog is trained by a volunteer.
Right: Spilled candy provides an impromptu training session for Larry Braddy's dog, Cinnamon. Guide dogs and service dogs cannot be distracted or tempted by food on the ground, so they must be taught to ignore it.
oursfornow By Becka Cremer bcremer@kansan.com [ raising puppies for service ]
She has slept through my history class and peed at the Gap.
And the one time she went to church, she talked through the entire service.
So when I decided to take my puppy to a movie, I was—understandably—a little nervous.
I walked into the movie theater with the speech I give at least 20 times a day running through my head:"This dog is a service dog in training.I'm her puppy raiser:Part of what I do is make sure she is exposed to as many different things as possible ..."
But the manager of the movie theater just waved us toward the ticket counter, where I bought a ticket to Last Chance Harvey. (I couldn't risk the commotion Marley & Me or Bolt might
KSDS pups' future jobs
Guide dogs help people who are blind or visually impaired.
Service dogs perform tasks such as opening doors, retrieving dropped items and pulling manual wheelchairs for people with physical disabilities.
Social dogs are trained to work with professionals in education, counselling medicine, rehabilitation, retirement or specialty agencies. They do not have the same access rights as guide and service dogs.
Source: KSDS Puppy Rater Manual
cause.)
I am a puppy raiser for KSDS, Inc., a nonprofit organization that breeds and trains golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers as service dogs for individuals with disabilities. Someday, my puppy, Trego, will join the more than 400 working dogs placed by KSDS since 1991.She will work as a guide dog, a service dog or as a
social dog. In about 18 months—when Trego is 2 years old—I'll drive two-and-a-half hours to the KSDS training facility in Washington, Kansas, and hand over her leash. But until then, she'll live with me. My job is to keep her safe and happy and
Becoming a volunteer
I applied to be a puppy raiser for KSDS about two years ago. After a surprisingly easy application—two pages and two letters of reference—and a long wait, I was handed a 10-pound puppy on September 5, 2008. She was 2 months old. I was 22.
to teach her how to behave in public.
So when I get ready to leave the house each day, I strap Trego into her puppy in training vest and clip a leash onto her collar. Then I grab my doggie diaper bag and check my pockets: Dog food. Puppy ID. Poop bag.
That's why Trego goes everywhere with me—to the movies, to the mall and even out to eat. She needs to be exposed to as many different situations as possible, so that when she works with someone who is blind or in a wheelchair, she'll be comfortable doing her job in public.
KSDS looks for people who love dogs and are willing to take the time, energy and money to raise these puppies. They also need to be emotionally able to give the puppy up when it is called back for formal training. Debbie Tegethoff, KSDS puppy coordinator says.
they're not here because we're Paris Hilton showing off our fuzzy dog
As a puppy raiser, I am responsible for the first phase of Trego's training, the growing up
part. When I take Trego back to KSDS, she will be health and temperament tested before beginning advanced training. Then she will be paired with the person she will help and the two of them will go through team training to learn how to work
together.The entire process takes about three years.
Right now, about 100 volunteers are raising KSDS puppies, Tegethoff says, and 50 of us are in Kansas.The rest are scattered around the country, mostly in the Midwest.
We all get 'the look'
Lisa Beck and her puppy, Willow, are Lawrence residents just beginning the puppy raising process. For the past three months, Beck has been thinking about the places she'd take Willow after the dog was vaccinated for rabies and received a vest. Beck, associate director of operations for the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, plans to begin taking Willow to work every once in a while soon. She hopes the hubbub of the Office of Admissions and Scholarships will help Willow learn how to behave in public.
Now that I've been taking Trego out in public
for a few months, I'm less anxious about finding places for her to learn new things. In the beginning, though, I kept lists. Animals she needs to meet. Types of people she needs to be around. Sounds. Smells. Modes of transportation. Now, I'm much more relaxed, focusing on providing extra exposure to the types of things that make Trego uncomfortable. In the past few weeks, for example, I've vacuumed my house nearly every day and we've spent a lot of time around power tools, because Trego doesn't like loud noises.
Like me, Larry Braddy plans his day around his puppy. He takes Cinnamon places that will help the puppy learn, such as restaurants, shopping centers and the bank.
"We all get 'the look,'" says Braddy, vice chairman of the KSDS puppy raiser board."Like, What's that dog doing here?" These dogs are not just pets, Braddy says. They are working dogs that need to be allowed to do their job, whether they're at a restaurant or a bus stop.
"They're not here because we're Paris Hilton showing off our fuzzy dog," he says.
People have a lot of reservations about any dog being anywhere, and Trego and I rarely go anywhere without being stopped every few feet. Some people just want to tell me how cute she is—and she is cute—but others want an explanation."Is that a service dog?"people ask, sometimes not very nicely.I'm quick to explain what we're doing and to reassure people that, yes, it's legal to allow us to be in public places. Still, puppies in training aren't always welcome, and Kansas law does not give puppies in training the same access rights as service dogs.
When Braddy was raising his first KSDS puppy, Goblin, he says, he had to leave the dog behind when he visited his mother in the hospital. The funny thing about that, Braddy says, is that Goblin's partner has multiple sclerosis and
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February 5,2009