Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Training Trick Brings Unintended Consequences

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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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Pay No Attention to the People Behind the Curtain

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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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Guide Dog Puppy Camp!

Before you get too excited, no, we aren’t offering camp here on campus this summer. Puppy Camp is for our puppies-in-training and a very important part of the process of making great guide dogs.

Certified trainer Karen Mersereau explains the thought process behind Puppy Camp and why it is so important during training.  For the puppy raisers out there, you may recognize this piece as it was originally posted on the Blue Coat Journal in May 2011. Sometimes I think the second most feared phrase in puppy raising after “time for IFT” (in-for-training – when the dogs come back to campus for formal harness training) is “time for puppy camp.” I can understand this. You like this dog. You just got them somewhat under control and singing off the same page with you (or at least out of the same songbook). The last thing you want is to send them off to someone else. But puppy camp is a very important part of the dog’s socialization. Our dogs …

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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Spring Break is a Family Affair at This Campus

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…

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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Good News From Southeastern's Walkathon Wrap-Up

Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Walkathon was last weekend. In case you didn’t make it to Vinoy Park, here’s a wrap-up of the day’s events.

It was a gorgeous day March 3 down by the waterfront in St. Petersburg when people gathered for the 26th Annual Southeastern Guide Dogs Walkathon. The site was laid out with a variety of activities for the whole family – there were three giant bounce houses/slides for the kids, food trucks with delicious fare, dog massage, and a giant tent that housed both of Southeastern’s gift shops. By dinner the day got even better with volunteer awards and a big surprise for Southeastern Guide Dogs. The walk was led by Petey, the First Pup of St. Petersburg, and Miss St. Pete.  The line of walkers seemed never-ending as they made their way along the 3K walk. Many different breeds of dog were in attendance from Great Pyrenees to teacup Pomeranians, all…

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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Getting Ready for the Walkathon

Southeastern Guide Dogs’ Walkathon is this weekend. Ever wonder what it takes to put on such an event? Here’s the breakdown by the numbers.

Saturday, March 3 is the 26th Annual Southeastern Guide Dogs Walkathon.  While the walk participants likely just spend a little bit of time getting ready to walk, at Southeastern we have been planning this event for the past year.  Here’s a snapshot at what all goes into getting ready for Walkathon. Number of Southeastern Guide Dogs Staff at the walk: 68 Number of Volunteers at the walk: 170 Number of trained dogs for blindfold walks: 20 Number of Fundraisers: 1,986 Number of Fundraisers who created sitstaygive.org pages: 246 Number of Tents: 8 Length of walk: 3K Number of food trucks: 3 Pounds of BBQ Chefs Rob & Lance will be cooking: 100 Number of Silent Auction items: 35 Number of raffle prizes: 3 (including the $10,000 grand prize) …

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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Dog Walking 101

Do you have a very friendly dog that loves everyone they meet? Not everyone does, so here are a few tips when you are out walking.

I’ve mentioned my Schnauzers a couple of times before. Freud is very friendly and loves people – so much so that if he sees someone approaching he will sit down, and refuse to move until he has been greeted. However, he has had a couple of bad experiences with bigger dogs and is now a bit leery. Anna is super-lovable at home, but when she is out walking, she is very skittish around other dogs and apt to be very protective if approached. Last week while we were out on our daily two mile walk, we saw a man and his obviously young, large golden retriever heading in our direction. I moved my pair off to the side, and had them sit so that the rambunctious adolescent could make his way past.  As they got closer, the dog began straining against …

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Puppy Hugs Available for Valentine’s Day

Looking for a unique gift for Valentine’s Day? How about independence and freedom?

It is estimated that Americans will spend approximately $13 billion, that’s BILLION, with a B, on Valentine’s Day this year.  While I admit it is really nice to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers, box of chocolates, and enjoy a nice night out, let’s see just what could be done if that $13 billion were used a different way.  With $13 billion, Southeastern Guide Dogs could breed, raise, train, place and provide follow-up care for more than 216,000 guide dog teams.  Or we could feed more than 35,700,000 dogs-in-training for a year.  Or $3,700,000+ people could have puppies-in-training named after them.  Or we could purchase more than 43,000,000 guide dog harnesses and leashes. Wow! To bring those numbers down to more feasible terms, the …

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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

Graduate Profile: Gabrielle Lozano & Jock

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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Weekly Tails From Southeastern Guide Dogs

I Command You To…

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…

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