Service Dog Training Day Nine

We felt the sobering reality today through a remark from Karen, the director of 4 Paws. "The first year of handling a service dog is not all fun and games," she said. "It will be a year of learning. It will be a year where you will make some mistakes." But she also assured us that in this first year we will become refined service dog teams.

And so with that advice, today we started the wrap up on training. This morning we practiced our final outdoor track and reviewed obedience skills. This afternoon we had class with several of the 4 Paws staff, including Dr. Suzanne the 4 Paws vet. Here she shows us how to do a general exam on a dog to check for problems.

We've gotten the information, practiced our skills, and tomorrow we take the dog handler certification test and conclude with graduation. Then we reenter the real world with the assignment of using the things we have learned. It feels a bit scary. Yet, it is reflective of a real life life principle: it is one thing to know something from book knowledge. It is quite another thing to take what I know and actually put it into practice. Putting that knowledge to work is what makes me grow.