Public Service

Yesterday, an unexpected opportunity occurred for Glimmer during our training session at our local Safeway store. She met and interacted with two of our city’s police officers. This was a first-time experience for her; I wasn’t sure how she would respond to the uniform or to all the equipment on their belts. But, as you can see in the photo below, she handled the experience just fine:

I am advancing Glimmer’s training to include being around service vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances – with and without lights and sirens going. It’s important that she is exposed to as many common sights and sounds as possible so that she learns to be relaxed and calm. In daily life, when we are out and about, service vehicles are everywhere; conditioning her to such things is vital to her success as a Support animal, as well as to her general health. A calm, relaxed dog is a healthy dog…

Because she is so incredibly social, introducing Glimmer to the people who operate service vehicles not only gives her something she really enjoys, it also facilitates the conditioning process. By creating positive associations such as that depicted in the photo above, not only will she be relaxed around the vehicles and the uniforms, Glimmer will be more likely to let them help her if she is ever injured in an accident.

Today I am making arrangements with our local fire hall and our district police station to introduce Glimmer to the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us all safe and secure. We have a fantastic force of police, fire, and paramedic service people who are happy to assist with this type of training when they have the time and availability.

Have a great day, everyone, and remember: Stay calm and lead on.