Day Five: The First Week Comes To A Close

Yes, I have been remiss in not posting more, but not without remorse! Today was the fifth day of Team Training and the end of our first week. The special event of the day was the class field trip to Home Depot, marking students' first off-campus outing with canine accompaniment - most assuredly, under the supervision and with the guidance and encouragement of the instructors. 

The first field trip and the ones that follow it are exciting and meaningful events. For a number of students, this trip marks the first time that they are out in public with an assistance dog by their side. Suddenly, the highly anticipated and once-abstract concept of oneself "plus" one's Hearing Dog is embodied, felt, and known in the most visible way and in a most visible place - e.g. in a shopping mall, a restaurant, a grocery store. I'm intrigued by the internal processes that run through students' minds during these times. As a Team Training student in 2007 with Hearing Dog Maya, I was acutely aware of and curious about the public's reactions while we were out and about on these field trips. Thoughts and inquiries flitted through my mind while making my way up and down the aisles with sweet Maya. 

This time around, I noticed, I felt more present, less pensive. My palm quietly traced the span of my dog's head, enjoyed the silkiness of an ear, and playfully patted my dog's side at the completion of complex tasks. I enjoyed observing my classmates with their dogs, enjoyed watching the reactions, behaviors, and expressions of dogs and people alike. The instructors watched as well, at times sharing feedback and offering suggestions and at others hanging back as students used their own judgment with their dogs.

After returning from our field trip, we practiced commands in the Great Room of Gittinger Hall and were again treated to a wonderful lunch by the Voluncheers (thank you, Voluncheers!). After lunch, we commenced soundwork practice with a focus on the third sound introduced by the instructors, that of a doorknock. Again I loved the instructors' emphasis on the importance of enjoying the training process, which should be enjoyable for both person and dog. After a number of soundwork rounds and repetitions, class was "Released" (dismissed) for the weekend.

Day Four: The First Night Together

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.

Day Three: Another Beginning

On Day Three of Team Training, we jumped right back into soundwork practice, this time exclusively with the dogs with which we were pre-matched. Soundwork training is fun and fascinating for me. Identifying a sound source is like a wonderful puzzle that the Hearing Dog team has to solve together, with communications exchanged between both team members. In the form of impromptu responses, trained behaviors, and issued commands, dog and human collaborate to achieve a goal, and that is to return both parties to the source of the sound, where a reward awaits both. The Hearing Dog's paycheck is food and praise, and I believe that dogs can and do enjoy the orienting, alerting, and localizing process so much that their dynamism and enjoyment contributes to a self-rewarding, performance-enhancing loop. So much the better if their human partner shares in that joy! What sweetness, to play together in this way!

Day One, the First Day of Class

Today was Day One of Team Training: the First Day of Class.

Instruction during Hearing Dog Team Training occurs in the Great Room of Gittinger Hall, the dorm where students stay during training. This affords instructors, dogs, and students the opportunity to work and train together in a number of different settings that may resemble students' home and community environments to varying degrees. The Gittinger Hall Great Room has a lounging area with a sofa, comfy chairs, TV, bookshelves, and even a fireplace. It was against this backdrop that our two trusty instructors were standing at precisely 9 am, in front of a table adorned with folders, papers, audio equipment, and a computer. Immediately behind them was a screen that had been lowered from the ceiling.

Students were seated at two slighly-angled, adjoining tables across from the instructors. Another table was set up behind the students, this one for their partners, friends, and training assistants. Ten solid minutes were devoted to ensuring that students' personal assistive listening devices were working in harmony with the wireless FM (frequency moderation) system that's looped around the Great Room. Instructors spoke into microphones clipped to their shirts to test out students' understanding. Once everyone indicated satisfaction with the communication system in place, the instructors introduced themselves, and student introductions were repeated as well. We were shy just one student, who happened at that very moment to be driving across the country with her spouse after their flight was cancelled.

Our morning began with the first of many informational lectures that the instructors will present over the next two weeks. This lecture was an Orientation to Team Training that introduced students to the basic outlines of the Team Training process. The lecture touched on instructors' expectations for students, what students can expect of the instructors, the outline of the course, and the ways in which the instructors' interaction with students will evolve over the two weeks, moving stylistically from directive instruction to coaching as students gain knowledge and make increasingly independent decisions regarding themselves and their dogs. Emphasis was placed on instructors' desire to see students return home with their new dogs as "good, successful teams."

As puppy raisers and graduates know, much consideration has been given to structure and to structured communication, both within the Team Training environment and with people outside (such as the puppy raisers who are anxiously awaiting news about their dogs). For anyone who has ever wished for greater transparency, rest assured that this system is implemented with the success of the new assistance dog teams in mind. The instructors explained the importance of the pre-matching process; that is, the dogs with whom students are initially placed are the dogs who the instructors believe will continue on to work with those students. At the same time, these are deemed "pre-matches" for a reason; arrangements may be changed at any time for a number of factors, again with the success and safety of the team in mind. Reflecting back on my own experiences, I am confident that instructors have students' and dogs' best interests in mind, and that great consideration is given to every decision made.

Something of note to me during the lecture was the emphasis on considerate communication. The instructors paused to ask if students needed repetition, handed out copies of the PowerPoint for students to read, and requested that students share responsibility for ensuring that they understand all the material shared. It was at this time that I realized again how wonderful and fortunate I felt: the specialness of that feeling of having no limits, that anything great can and will happen, that good and sweet things are in store, and that possibilities are unlimited. That good butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling.

An introduction to the soundwork sequence and a few practice sessions with "Fluffy," the campus resident stuffed animal dog, introduced students to the basics of Hearing Dog soundwork. The instructors had students practice issuing the commands and executing the sequence associated with soundwork. The successful completion of this soundwork sequence will help the dogs in training transfer their skills onto new their partners and will assist these fledgling Hearing Dog teams in mastering new sounds as they travel home.

We then ate a delicious lunch prepared and served by volunteers, who joined us at the table for a communal meal. More introductions were made, great food was enjoyed, and the meal was a welcome respite from an intensive morning of listening and learning. Thank you, volunteers!!!

The afternoon contained an additional lecture during which students learned about principles of leadership, the reactionary and emotional nature of dogs, how to get and keep dogs' attention, and - very importantly - how to motivate dogs in order to encourage the repetition of desirable behaviors! Then came the much-anticipated first of several rotations with different dogs - how all of our eyes followed their every movement! - and I worked with some absolutely wonderful dogs. I'm keenly aware that, as the instructors remind Team Training students, what we see of the dogs during the first few days of training is merely the tip of the iceberg, only a partial and very incomplete picture of who they fully are. I can honestly look back on my Team Training from 2007 and say that what I saw in Maya then was the tippiest tip tip of the iceberg. I'm  incredibly excited to get to learn about and become familiar with New Dog's character over time.

Back in class, we began soundwork, working with different dogs on the first of a few sounds we'll practice over the next two weeks, the door chime. These rotations gave students the opportunity to develop muscle memory and improve their skills while instructors observed students' handling skills and styles in interacting with the dogs. An additional rotation later in the afternoon allowed us to work on basic obedience commands with the dogs on leash next to us. Fluffy (see above) and the famous Carpet Dog also made an appearance. Carpet Dog is a repurposed industrial-sized spool with handles which is managed by one of the instructors, acting as a dog. Students interact with Carpet Dog in order to hone their timing and corrections. 

Class ended with a check-in, overview of the day, and quizzes on the lectures given that day! Yes, we do have homework!

At 4:00 pm, staff members arrived from around campus in order to introduce themselves and meet the new students. I was counting my lucky stars to have gotten to know some of the wonderful people on this campus. Canine Companions has a truly fine team at Northwest and National headquarters.

As I write this, we're about to begin our second day of class, so I'll wrap this up and check in later. Suffice to say this place, and these people, and these dogs are the stuff of dreams.

Thank you, Canine Companions!