Lake’s Training is Progressing Beautifully!
Genesis Assistance Dogs, Inc. knows that training a puppy can be the most challenging and yet the most rewarding road you’ll ever travel! Lake’s training is no exception. Training a puppy on his journey to becoming an assistance dog takes an extra dash of patience, a slathering of compassion and a total commitment to excellence. We provide our pups with consistent training that is tempered with the perfect balance between command and the eagerness to please. Let’s take a peek at what’s happening with 8-month-old Lake’s training.
Lake still resides with his initial puppy raising family. He socializes with other Genesis Assistance Dogs in training most weekends and at various times throughout the week. Our trainer, Jennifer Bielen is sure to be present at many of these socialization meetings to ensure that the dogs are interacting well and following commands. She also provides Lake with his one-on-one training sessions to help reinforce already learned commands and to introduce new ones.
Our newest pup-in-training is a very bright student! He has learned the basic commands of come, sit, down, stay, out and leave it. These commands are reinforced daily and will continue to be reinforced by each puppy raiser and of course his eventual human partner. He has also learned to perform task-oriented work. Lake can touch and push – which will facilitate the pushing of handicap door opening buttons and turning on light switches. He has learned under – which is his command for going under the table. He can retrieve and give, and turn lights on with a rocker switch.
Our star student can open cabinets doors and drawers, and close them. Unfortunately, he loves opening the pantry door when he hasn’t received the command and while we adore his enthusiasm to show us what he can do, he is really trying to find the potato chips! Jen and his puppy raisers are diligently working to help him understand that he should only open doors upon command. This is a perfect example of when the extra dash of patience comes in when puppy raising!
Lake is a tall boy and is very strong. He has the gentle mouth of a golden retriever and the spirit to match. He is affectionate and very social. His puppy raisers share that he gets lots of walks and dog play dates and he absolutely adores his frequent visits to the beach! We hope you enjoy learning about his progress; watching him reach his full potential as a Genesis Assistance Dog!
Click on the following link to observe a task-oriented command. Lake at 8 months
