IFT Day: Your Loss, Our Gain

Probably the most difficult day of raising a puppy is the day you return the dog for IFT. You've just spent the last 14-18 months putting your heart and soul into this dog. You've taken a small puppy and lived through housebreaking, hoovering, the teenage years; you've taught the dog numerous commands, taken him everywhere, been with him nearly 24 hours a day. He is now a well-mannered, obedient, confident dog. So naturally, we want him back. It's time to complete his training and turn him into a well-mannered, obedient, confident guide dog. And no matter how much you tell yourself that the dog has a greater purpose in life, that you are giving someone the gift of mobility and independence, it still hurts to give him back. A lot.

So I want to tell you a couple things from the other side of the fence. It may seem like the dogs disappear into a big black hole of a kennel where they are just one namelss dog among many. Nothing could be further from the truth. Everyone in the Training Department, from kennel assistants to trainers, loves all the dogs and knows them by name and by sight. The KA's especially, quickly learn all the personality quirks of each dog. Throw a name at them and they will tell you anything you want to know about that dog.

Trainers get really excited when their new string of dogs comes in. Before the dogs arrive, we bug the puppy department for the list of IFT dogs and pour over it, looking at names, the breeds. Usually the dogs come in while we are still in class, but once they are here, every training team makes it a point to sneak up to the receiving kennel one afternoon to see their new dogs. These are the dogs that will consume our work days for the next several months. These are the dogs, some of them at least, that will go into class with us and become someone's guide dog.

I guess my point here is that while IFT might be a dreaded and despised event in PuppyLand, here at guide dog school it's much anticipated. We know how much you love the dogs and how hard it can be to send them back to us. We know how much work you put into the dogs. A simple thank you will never be enough, but on behalf of all my colleagues: Thank You. We couldn't do our job without you.

The Village Has Spoken

Thank you for all the responses to our question "what do you want to see in the Blue Coat Journal." The top three requests were:
1) More pictures of IFT dogs
2) More information about what happens to the dogs between IFT and graduation.
3) More information on training tips and techiques for puppies, including what is expected at different ages.

Please watch for all of this and more in future posts. Thanks again for taking the time to respond!

Class Matches

Here are the matches for the current class of students. Congratulations!

Doc 1I7 BLM raised by Cathy Johnson - Ocala, FL group

River 6EE6 YLxGF raised by David & Melissa Longo - St Pete, FL group

Basia 5E7 BLM raised by Becky Heaton - Hilton Head, SC group

Ron 2A7 YLM raised by Aaron Bisberg - Ft. Lauderdale, FL group

Dipaolo 7E7 BLM raised by Denay Payton - Nashville, TN group

Sierra 4A7 YLF raised by Lesa Kretschmer - Ft. Lauderdale, FL group

Jack 2H7 BLM raised by Ed & Karen Morris - South Alabama group

It Takes A Village to Make a Blog

So the Blue Coat Journal has been up and at it for about 8 months now. Time to take stock, don't you think? I want to hear what you think about the blog. Although I find writing for this blog very entertaining, that's not the reason it exists. It's all about you. It's your blog and it should serve the needs of PuppyLand.


So let me have it: what you like, what you don't like, what you want to see on the blog that you haven't yet seen. Please suggest topics that you want discussed, avenues to be explored.


You can make your suggestions two ways: either leave a comment in the comment section (please remember to identify yourself) or you can send me an email at the address listed on the right under "Contact Us". Thanks!

Take a Break? Gimme a Break!

It seems that our switch to "Take a Break" has caused no small amount of consternation and teeth gnashing in PuppyLand. Some of the concerns I've heard is that the phrase doesn't make sense, it's too long, it doesn't always fit the circumstances, or it tells the dog he can act crazy. All are good issues to look at but this might take a few minutes. Comfy? Alrighty, then. Here we go. Cue the Shakespeare allusions.

A Rose By Any Other Name
A lot of you just don't appear to like the words "take a break." I was speaking about this with a puppy raiser from St. Pete the other day and I think she expressed the problem best: people are getting hung up on the actual meaning of the words "take a break". When you understand English, it means "Relax, go do what ever you want. Knock yourself out." Although it may seem otherwise, dogs don't actually understand English. They only understand sound patterns. You could say anything as a command, even a nonsense sound, and as long as you were consistent, they would understand it to mean sit, or whatever. We could use the phrase "cheese and crackers" just as successfully as "take a break" for a release command. It's more important to remember what the command should mean to our dogs: "you are released from the last thing I told you to do. You can do whatever you choose, within established parameters." This is what the command "OK" meant. We haven't changed the meaning of the command, we've only changed the words or more importantly, the sound the dogs are interpreting.

To Take a Break or Not To Take a Break
Another area of concern is when to use "take a break." To decide if "take a break" is appropriate, think about whether the next thing you want the dog to do has a command associated with it. If it does, use that command. If not, use "take a break". Here are a couple scenarios: The dog is on a sit stay to get into a car. Release the dog with another command: "in". On the other hand, at feeding time the dog is on a sit stay while you put the food on the floor. There is no "eat your food" command, so how do you release the dog to eat? "Take a break." I guarantee you that the dog, once released from the stay, will start to eat. It works in the kennel with the IFT dogs. The same thing applies to releasing dogs to play in a yard or when you end a forward walk.

Method to Our Madness
The main point is for the dog to learn that "take a break" means "you are released from the last thing I told you to do.You can do whatever you choose, within established parameters. " The easiest way to teach this is to use it to release your dog from a stay as an obedience exercise. When doing a stay as an obedience exercise, release the dog with "take a break" and take a couple steps forward to get the dog to move. Once the dog moves, praise the dog. Don't be surprised if the dog is hesitant to move at first. I'm sure they are thinking, "Seriously? Is this a set up?" But remember to praise them once they move after the command and they will soon catch on to what "take a break' means.

I hope this has helped. If you still have questions or concerns, please post them in the comments section. Thanks for all you do for Southeastern Guide Dogs!