Growing Up Puppy - Scout's Journey

Over at the discussion boards, I mentioned service learning projects that I use in conjunction with some of my courses.  One is Small Animal Breeds & Behavior, where students learn to identify common companion animal breeds, and study behavior development and problems.  This video is from Southeastern Guide Dogs, one community organization where students might choose to do service hours.  Would you believe that your volunteer work can be as easy as puppy hugging?!  Or dog walking?  Because these dogs are born with a purpose, they must go through critical development periods in very specific ways, so puppy hugging comes with rules about letting puppies play tug of war or growl at each other or play bite.  Dog walking comes with rules too!  Walkers aren't allowed to correct or offer commands to the dogs; this might interfere with their real training, so you get quite a workout walking the pups...



I chose this video to share because it shows some of the techniques that look plain enough on the outside (puppies on non-level surfaces, novel textures and colors, puppies going everywhere with the puppy raiser, etc.), but that veterinary technology students are learning the meaning behind.  Everything is done with the intent to produce a perfect service dog in the end!