Friday, May 4, 2012
This week we have another guest post from trainer Karen Mersereau – it’s all about an interesting situation we experienced when we started using clicker training during the early phases of guide dog training.
We all have had unintended consequences, like supporting the Girl Scouts by buying four boxes of cookies, and then having to amp up your workouts to get rid of the pounds they added to your thighs. Well, here’s the story of other unintended consequences brought about by treats. Puppy raisers know not to make their dogs sit at curbs while waiting to cross the street. This creates a bad habit that trainers have to break when we get the dogs in for guide dog training. So, I couldn't figure out why I had a whole string of dogs sitting at curbs. After a few days of puzzling over this, and watching the dogs closely, I suddenly realized that the dogs weren't sitting for the curb, they were sitting for the treats that are part of clicker training…
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
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Friday, April 13, 2012
For the next couple of weeks, we’re going to take a look behind the scenes at Southeastern Guide Dogs and learn about all the people who have a hand in creating great guide dogs.
It’s funny, whenever I tell someone I work for Southeastern Guide Dogs, they immediately ask if I am a trainer. Clearly they must not know my personal dogs if they think I could make a living training dogs. Well, I am here to say that training guide dogs is not the only way to have a career with Southeastern Guide Dogs. There are many people who work behind the scenes to produce world class guide dogs. Let’s start at the beginning with our Genetics and Reproduction Department. Our Breeding Manager and Technician are responsible for ensuring that we have the highest quality dogs to train as guides. They keep detailed pedigrees on each of our breeders to make sure genetically there is enough diversity within the breeding colony, determine…
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/pay-no-attention-to-the-people-behind-the-curtain
1832133
/locations/6779279
Friday, March 16, 2012
Southeastern Guide Dogs’ campus has been abuzz all week with Spring Break visitors. Here’s how you can bring the Spring Break fun home all year.
With Spring Break come big crowds for Puppy Hugging and Dog Walking on Southeastern Guide Dogs’ campus. Southeastern is the only guide dog school that opens its campus five days a week to the general public to enlist their help in socializing the puppies and exercising the dogs-in-training and people come in carloads to the picturesque campus. While this socialization and exercise is very important, there are also other ways the whole family can get involved with Southeastern Guide Dogs. One major way would be to become puppy raisers. These selfless folks bring a cuddly bundle of puppy energy into their homes, love it, teach it basic obedience and expose it to the wide world. Then once the pup has become a well-behaved dog, they return it…
27.58313
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-a-family-affair
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/locations/6599396
Friday, February 3, 2012
This week saw another group of students graduate with their new guides. Here is just one of those amazing people’s story, as told by Leslie Rowe (lrowe@greatwords.net).
Gabrielle Lozano, 22, has been blind since she was a three-year-old from the effects of a tumor on her optic nerve. But this hasn’t stopped her from reaching for her dreams, and now a wonderful black Lab named Jock is here to help her reach even farther. Before meeting her new guide dog, Gabrielle has experienced a bit of local fame. Google her name and you’ll discover that she inspired many by graduating from Manatee Technical Institute with a culinary arts degree. Today, Gabrielle is making plans to open her own catering business, aptly named Blind Ambitions. She knows her way around a commercial kitchen better than many sighted people. While students as young as 18 are eligible to receive a guide dog, Gabrielle waited until now to apply…
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/graduate-profile-gabrielle-lozano-jock
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/locations/6308312
Friday, January 27, 2012
Guide dogs learn 40-plus commands during their training. Here’s a glance at what those commands entail.
While it may have taken my sweetheart of a Schnauzer, Freud, two years to learn “sit,” such is not the case for guide dogs-in-training. By the time they are two years old, they have learned more than 40 commands. These guide dog commands can be roughly broken down into three different categories; obedience commands; directional commands; and “find the” commands. The obedience commands are the starting point for the pups and they begin right from the start at Southeastern Guide Dogs. The puppies all take part in Early Puppy Socialization where they are introduced to the collar, leash, puppy coat and a variety of obedience commands. By the time they go home with their Puppy Raisers at 9 to 10 weeks of age, the puppies have certainly heard…
27.58313
-82.52345
Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-i-command-you-to
1832133
/locations/6249345
Friday, January 20, 2012
Last week we learned all about Puppy Raising, but in case you aren’t ready for such a big a commitment, here are some other ways you can get involved with Southeastern Guide Dogs.
It takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 368 people to breed, whelp, raise and train a guide dog for Southeastern Guide Dogs. Wonder how they do it? Well, it is all thanks to the support of a group of very loyal volunteers. Puppy Raisers give of themselves tirelessly for more than a year so that these wonderful dogs may one day be provided to a visually impaired individual all at no charge. But, those aren’t the only volunteers who play an integral part in Southeastern’s mission. Here is a snapshot of the different volunteer opportunities available at Southeastern Guide Dogs. Breeder Host Homes How would you like to give of yourself simply by just loving and caring for a dog? In order to produce the traits required for successful …
27.58313
-82.52345
Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-we-want-you-to-volunteer
1832133
/locations/6205939
Friday, January 13, 2012
Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Puppy Raisers selflessly give of themselves 24/7 for at least a year, so that someone else can have their independence. Here’s a profile of just one such family.
Could you take ownership of a cute cuddly 10-week-old puppy, love and train it for more than a year, spend practically every moment with that dog showing it the wide world around you and then just when it is starting to shake off the puppy playfulness, give it back? That is what happens nearly 200 times a year at Southeastern Guide Dogs. Volunteer Puppy Raisers are responsible for giving Southeastern’s guide dogs the solid base on which a world class dog grows. But they don’t always start off at Southeastern as Puppy Raisers, sometimes they get eased into the position. Shay Doerner and her family are the perfect examples. In 2005 Shay and Brian Doerner were looking for a pet to grow up with their three kids. Having heard about …
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-she-s-been-committed-in-a-good-way-since-2005
1832133
/locations/6173785
Friday, December 9, 2011
With just two weeks left for holiday shopping, here are some gift ideas that may not have crossed your mind.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday now faint memories, and just two more weeks left before Christmas, we bet there are still people on your list that you haven’t checked off. Whether it is that uncle who has everything or your boss, shopping can be difficult. So why not avoid the lines and mayhem and do something for the greater good instead? Newly expanded and opened on Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Palmetto campus has a fabulous Gift Shop! Visitors can shop in a homey atmosphere for a wide variety of pet-centered gifts, and the best thing…all proceeds go toward funding Southeastern’s mission. For those of you to our south, the unique pet boutique in Southeastern’s Discovery Center on Main Street in downtown Sarasota is chock-full of goodies…
27.58313
-82.52345
Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-holiday-gift-giving
1832133
/locations/5982224
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Since it’s time to put that turkey on the table, the staff at Southeastern Guide Dogs wanted to share what they are thankful for.
I offer up the weekly column a day early so that I can share with you all what we are thankful for here at Southeastern Guide Dogs. As we went around the office here's what everyone had to say: I am thankful for friends and family, especially the addition of a new daughter-in-law. I finally have a girl and didn’t have to go through labor! Leslie — Puppy Raising Services I am thankful for another wonderful year with my very special guide dog, ‘Troy’ and to Southeastern Guide Dogs for providing this wonderful gift to me and others like me who are visually impaired, at no charge. Helen – Development Department Fozzy's return to health! (Fozzy was in for training and had an adverse reaction during a routine surgery. Dave along with a few …
27.58313
-82.52345
Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-giving-thanks
1832133
/locations/5873485
Friday, November 18, 2011
How would you like to handle tiny puppies to start them on the road to be a guide dog? As an Early Puppy Socialization volunteer, you can!
Training for guide dog work starts early for the puppies at Southeastern Guide Dogs. Each litter of puppies born on campus is handled by people right from the very start. Their first two weeks are spent in a whelping suite with their mother, and staff members dote on them throughout the day, making sure they are getting the love and attention needed to thrive. At two weeks, the puppies move over to the Nursery area. Here they begin being handled by volunteers who have drawn the lucky position of helping out with Early Puppy Socialization. To start, the pups are picked up and gently turned on their backs; they get their paws massaged, and their ears lightly pulled – all to get them used to being handled. Next the puppies’ real training …
27.58313
-82.52345
Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-early-education-for-our-puppies
1832133
/locations/5831083
Sonya Simpkins
3:37 pm on Tuesday, December 13, 2011
I love the guide dog puppy-in-training gift idea! That's brilliant, because all too often, Christmas puppies end up back in the shelters where they will most likely be euthanized. Here are a few more reasons puppies make bad Christmas gifts, including a post from a shelter director that should scare you right out of buying that puppy. http://www.ilovedogs.com/2011/12/3-reasons-puppies-make-bad-… more ›