Day Four of Team Training began with an introduction to the various pieces of equipment that Canine Companions for Independence assistance dog teams may use when at home and out in public. In particular, the instructors explained, different collars may be used at different times and in different settings, depending in part on the team's needs, the dog's responsiveness, and the handler's skill and comfort level. Notably, during equipment introductions, clear emphasis was placed on the importance of upholding the assistance dog image in the public eye, always an issue of relevance but especially critical in today's times.
True to their word, the instructors delegated greater responsibility for the care of the dogs to their new handlers over time, explaining that on this day students would be keeping their pre-matched dogs during the lunch hour (rather than returning them to their crates as done for the previous three days). Come noontime, students would be responsible for toileting their dogs and maintaining their dogs' behavior while also eating lunch, an approximation of a very real scenario soon to come.
The morning continued with a simulated "lunch" scenario, followed by soundwork practice. At this point we are still working on the door chime sound with our respective dogs, consistently advancing our expectations of the intensity and/or persistence of their alerts while also introducing new conditions (such as increasing the distance between ourselves and the sound or ourselves and the dogs). A lecture on canine health rounded out the morning's events. Graduates and dog-lovers may also have felt apprehensive or worried after learning about the many potential threats to our dogs' health that are lurking out there.
Following lunch (again, thank you, amazing Voluncheers!), the instructors began to prepare students for the first night to be spent at home (or in the dorms) with their respective pre-matched dogs. A lecture on dogs' daily needs was then presented, culminating with an activity in which students were asked to draw their future daily schedules with ample time given for toileting, feeding, exercising, grooming, and training.
Afterward, we commenced soundwork practice with our dogs, this time with a second sound, that of a timer beeping. The dogs have already had substantial practice alerting their trainers to this sound, but at this time they were asked to alert their new handlers instead. In turn, the students applied what they had learned about soundwork and their respective dogs in order to problem-solve and support their dogs in this novel arrangement. We are encouraged to remember that our dogs are learning at all times, all the time.
Day Four wrapped up with an additional round of command practice as well as the introduction of commands which would prove handy that night at home/the dorm rooms. Quizzes on the day's lectures were then handed out, and class was dismissed.