Friday, March 30, 2012
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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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/puppy-camp
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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…
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-a-family-affair
1832133
/locations/6599396
Friday, March 2, 2012
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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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-getting-ready-for-walkathon
1832133
/locations/6490476
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…
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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 …
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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, 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…
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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 …
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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 …
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-early-education-for-our-puppies
1832133
/locations/5831083
Friday, November 11, 2011
In honor of Veterans Day, we wanted to share the story of one of our Veteran Assistance Dog recipients, James Patterson.
James Patterson spent years touched by the deaths of soldiers as he served in the U.S, Marines in the Gulf War and through several deployments to Iraq. He spent his career in the mortuary unit, working his way up to Chief Warrant Officer 5 in the highly specialized platoon. In Iraq Patterson commanded the unit where he and his men were exposed to horrifying sights and unimaginable situations. Eventually, after constant exposure, the tragedies caught up with him. Patterson returned home haunted by the experiences of war and suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The psychological effects of the wars were so bad that James isolated himself from his family and those who cared about him and spent his time alone on a boat. …
27.58313
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-veteran-profile-james-patterson-and-honey-girl
1832133
/locations/5785137
Friday, November 4, 2011
We have profiled a number of our students and last week you met one of our certified trainers, so this week we thought you might like to meet one of our guide dogs.
Freckles was born in April 2008 along with five brothers and three sisters to proud parents Ashley and Norm. Right from the start, Freckles was different. Her adorable face was spotted unlike any other goldador, so her name was completely apropos. Freckles was raised by a pre-vet student at the University of Florida and attended many classes with her raiser, something that would serve her well later in her career. She also was made an honorary Pledge for her raiser’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Psi, and attended meetings and even went camping with the Pledge group. Freckles came back to Southeastern Guide Dogs’ campus in October 2009 to begin her formal harness training. She quickly became a favorite of her trainer, Jen Gerrity. Freckles took …
27.58313
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Southeastern Guide Dogs
4210 77th St E, Palmetto, FL
/articles/weekly-tails-from-southeastern-guide-dogs-fabulous-fantastic-friendly-freckles
1832133
/locations/5730596
laurie barbara
11:31 am on Friday, March 30, 2012
horay for service dogs! http://www.webvet.com/main/2012/01/09/it-okay-pet-service-dog more ›