Amy and I got to go to the library today to give our third presentation as part of The Dog Days of Summer event. I did great, but between you and me, Amy was not at her best, she needs more practice to get comfortable speaking in front of a new audience again. She spoke about Canine Companions and how they breed, raise and train Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers or crosses of the two, to become highly-trained assistance dogs, then shared how they get the funding to provide the dogs to people like her free of charge. She also talked about how a person should always ask permission to pet a service dog because even if it looks like they may not be working, they probably are. Although, that was an important piece of information to share, she forgot to share the biggest most important point of all, assistance dogs are ALLOWED by law to go anywhere their humans need or want to go!
When it was time to show and tell about how I am trained to increase independence by performing certain tasks, Amy demonstrated how I can pick up a piece of paper, her keys, a credit card and her seat belt. She talked about how I can help her get out of her couch, retrieve the phone, turn on and off light switches that are out of reach and how I can even help with laundry! She also talked about team training and shared video of what it's like.
For the most part, her demo was good, but there were some things she forgot to do. First, she forgot to explain that most of the commands I know are only 1-3 words, so that they are easy for me to respond to and learn. Second, when I retrieved the keys, Amy should have also explained that Lap, Step, and Visit are delivery commands - commands she can use to bring my head closer to her, making it easier to take an item; this was why I was on her lap! Finally when it came time to do the credit card and seat belt, she forgot to position herself out of the audience’s line of sight and got in the way, but don't worry, because we have recreated those for you here:
When it was time to show and tell about how I am trained to increase independence by performing certain tasks, Amy demonstrated how I can pick up a piece of paper, her keys, a credit card and her seat belt. She talked about how I can help her get out of her couch, retrieve the phone, turn on and off light switches that are out of reach and how I can even help with laundry! She also talked about team training and shared video of what it's like.
For the most part, her demo was good, but there were some things she forgot to do. First, she forgot to explain that most of the commands I know are only 1-3 words, so that they are easy for me to respond to and learn. Second, when I retrieved the keys, Amy should have also explained that Lap, Step, and Visit are delivery commands - commands she can use to bring my head closer to her, making it easier to take an item; this was why I was on her lap! Finally when it came time to do the credit card and seat belt, she forgot to position herself out of the audience’s line of sight and got in the way, but don't worry, because we have recreated those for you here: