Partners and Paws Summer 2021

Our dogs spend two years learning the 40 tasks and skills they will need to help their future partners. By the time they are ready to be matched, every single one of them will know how to open and close doors, retrieve items and place them in their partner’s hands or lap, hold and carry items, pick up dropped items, throw things away, help with the laundry, turn lights on and off, go for help, and many other skills. Behind THE SCENES

Specialized Training

Scan the code or visit saintfrancisdogs.org/penny to see Penny in action!

Once matched, our trainers spend the weeks between matching and placement teaching our dogs specialized skills and tweaking certain skills to best serve their future partners. Just as each partner is unique, each dog has unique strengths and learns specialized commands to fit their individual partner’s needs. Penny was recently matched, and her new partner keeps critical medications in two different places - the refrigerator and in her bathroom. Fetching a medicine bag from a refrigerator and opening cabinets are parts of our standard curriculum for our dogs, but ensuring that Penny knows which medicine bag she is going for and that she is able to retrieve very quickly were important for the safety of her partner. Penny’s trainer, Debbie, has been working with her to teach a new command - “bag” - to indicate that the medicine from the bathroom is needed. Now, Penny is able to differentiate between “refrigerator” and “bag” accurately and quickly retrieving the correct medicine for her partner. Penny’s partner may also need Penny to alert her family that something is not right by barking persistently and loudly. Her partner may not be able to give a command loudly or clearly when she needs Penny to do this, so Debbie has also worked with Penny on responding to the “speak” command, whether it is given clearly or not, and she will bark without ceasing until someone releases her.

These specialized skills will bring Penny’s new partner peace of mind, safety, and independence. This training process enables us to prepare each dog we match specifically for the partner they are matched with, ensuring a life-changing partnership for years to come.

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