Quote Originally Posted by recycling goddess
k they have some questions robin.

how old are the puppies when YOU get them.

They are born there, we have breeder mom and dads in volunteer homes, but the moms come to Canine Assistants to have and raise their babies. We start training them at a week old, their first command is "Settle" which we start with holding them on their backs and rubbing their bellies.

I've even had the honor of helping with a few "C" sections when we've had Wednesday night outings (out to dinner and the movies) and get a call from the staff vet to send folks back to assist. We assist by forming a line of volunteers, each with a warmed towel to get the puppies breathing and remover the mucus from their mouths and noses. Always wonderful to witness!


It's very cute on puppy outings when we go to the grocery store or a sandwich shop with puppies in baby slings! Since they are in training, even as pups, they have access.

how long do you train them.

Most are a year and a half to three years old. We don't have many 3 year olds now that we're not doing pure bred labs any longer, but rather breeding the labs with goldens, which retains the lab look, but it's a much calmer dog. I love the labs energy, but some of our pure bred labs have been so high strung that some have failed out of the program. We always take the high energy ones to the local drug enforcement agencies to be tested to see if they'll be good drug dogs. If not, they are placed in private homes as pets (usually with one of our volunteers).

how many dogs have your trained in total.
As a certified volunteer trainer, my role is to take dogs home with me at least once a month for at least a weekend (but sometimes as long as two weeks, and they go to work with me then). We reinforce the training that their staff trainers have done, expose them to our pets, teach them house manners, house break them, etc. I'd say over six years, I've worked with over 100 dogs.

My local grocery store always says "no dog?" when I don't have one with me! They love them!

thanks robin!