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When ASDOG puppies are 8 weeks of
age they go to live with volunteer puppy raisers until they
are between 12 and 15 months of age, The puppy raisers have lessons with
an ASDOG trainer every two weeks and are taught to use food, toys and
affection rewards to train their dogs, to anticipate and prevent unwanted
behaviour and to provide as many safe socialisation opportunities as possible
for the puppy.
Once the puppies are between 12 and 14 months old they are evaluated for
temperament
and deemed safe and fit for training, they are X-rayed to check for hip
and elbow soundness.
If successful, the first two or three months for the dog is spent in teaching
obedience and the
tasks the dog will perform. The latter part of their training focuses
on being out and about in
public places and travelling on public transport.
Puppies being raised for ASDOG live in the puppies raiser’s house
with their family, learn to be
in a crate happily at night, are at home alone for a maximum of 4 hours
at a time, attend fortnightly training sessions and are taken out and
about in the community from an early age.
Raising puppies for ASDOG is no small task. The puppies’ future roles
as Assistance Dogs have
to be kept in mind at all times and there are more rules the puppy raisers
need to abide by than
do most pet owners. And with the socialisation required, this adds up
to quite a responsibility!
People raise puppies for many reasons. Sometimes they like to give something
to society, they may like to have a dog without the 10 to 15 year commitment
of obtaining their own dog or often,
it’s simply because these people like puppies!
Of course it’s not easy giving up a trained puppy, but there’s
always the satisfaction of knowing
that a person with a physical disability will have a new ‘friend’
and support at hand.
Please contact us on 1300 788 721 or information@asdog.org.au
if you would like to help.
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