Preparing for Lacey
Tonight, Lacey arrives at our home, where her training for life as a working dog will begin. My dog, Glimmer, will be assisting me with Lacey’s basic obedience training. Not only is Glimmer an incredibly patient dog, she is also a phenomenal teacher, and Lacey will greatly benefit from Glimmer’s mentoring.
While we are fostering Lacey, I will be working very closely with her forever family. They will be learning basic obedience, as well as the commands Lacey will be taught to execute when her autistic human child is exhibiting the behaviors that indicate he is overwhelmed and unable to cope with a situation. It is very important that Lacey’s forever family participates in both her upbringing and her training; I believe in familiarizing a working dog with their forever family while they’re in training so that when the time comes for them to be together full-time, the transition from my home to their full-time home won’t be stressful for either the family or the dog.
On that note, it’s time to get preparations underway for Lacey’s arrival. Have a great day!
Lacey
Meet Lacey, an 8-week-old Yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix. Lacey is just 8 weeks old (born just before Christmas 2014), and though she was not our first choice at the first viewing, she showed us at the second viewing that she was the right match for the autistic human child she will be raised and trained to work with.
At the first viewing, Lacey exhibited anxiety and insecurity, she whined a lot, and she did not respond favorably to any of the temperament tests or the few stimuli-responses tests we were able to conduct. However, when the human child was brought to the second viewing, last night, she made a beeline directly towards the child and stayed close to him while he played. He overbalanced himself, once, and fell on the floor; Lacey immediately ran to him to make sure he was okay, and she stayed with him until he got up. And when the child picked her up the wrong way, instead of fighting him, whining, or nipping at him, she became very still and waited for his parent to take control of the situation. Then, she went right back to the child and continued spending time with him.
Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, Lacey’s first year of life will be spent living in two homes: my home, and the home of her new family. When she is old enough to take the Canine Good Neighbor test, and when she passes it and receives her certification, she will then live with her forever family full-time. In the meantime, Lacey will get the socialization and training she needs, as well as work experience with her human child. Once she is in her forever home full-time, her training will become more specialized to include support and assistance to her human child.
Welcome, Lacey!
Happy Dawgs Obedience Training 