30/05/2023
Getting the Next Partner - Picking a Puppy
Where to get the next viable Animal Assisted Intervention candidate is a hotly debated topic. Many people get a puppy and announce this puppy is their new ¨therapy dog¨. Bare in mind this is the equivalent of having a newborn baby and announcing ¨this boy is going to be a doctor when he grows up¨ or ¨he is going to be a ballet dancer because his Dad is one¨ or ¨he's going to be a musician because music runs in the family¨. And then they set out to help their child meet those goals. They enroll him in science club, or dance classes, or buy him a guitar. There is nothing wrong with hopes and dreams when it comes to children or puppies. The only issue is it doesn´t take into account that one particular child or puppy's interests and talents. That baby may grow up to be a doctor. It is at least equally possible he will grow up to be an architect, plumber, lawyer, psychologist, or circus performer. Because that is what the child has the interest and aptitude to do.
We can discuss Nature vs. Nurture another time. However, without the ¨nature¨ all the ¨nurture¨ in the world isn't going to create a happy working dog. The handler can do all the socialization, take all the right classes, gradually expose the puppy to many people, places, things, and be the perfect (if there was such a thing) handler of a working dog, but none of that guarantees the dog will become a great, confident, happy, working partner.
Service Dog organizations like The Seeing Eye and Canine Companions for Independence do not evaluate dogs for their work as service dogs until the age of about 15 months. These are people with breeding programs designed to create dogs for the work. These puppies are raised by people with a lot of guidance from the organization with the goal of them becoming working dogs. The puppies are temperament tested by experts. Generally less than 50 percent of those puppies, at 1 year plus, will have the physical health, temperament, and aptitude to do the work. And some of these programs have been doing it for a hundred years!
So if the experts have about a fifty percent success rate, how is it that people with much less experience and expertise have a much higher instance of creating working dogs? Perhaps they don´t really. There are many examples of folks asking for advice because their future ¨therapy dog¨ is sound sensitive, sight reactive, reactive to other dogs, reactive to some people, and so on. And much great advice is given to help the dog overcome those issues. Little thought is given to the idea the puppy may not be a great candidate to put into an unpredictable work environment which is where these dogs are headed.
These puppies, with all the socialization, exposure, and training, are going to make marvelous pets but many of them will not be suited to do the work. They will be able to pass their certification examinations but will they do the work with ease and joy? Or would they be happier remaining the family pet? And who decides? And how?
There isn't an issue with getting a puppy and HOPING it will grow into a viable working partner. However it is becoming all too common to see dogs working because much time, money, and emotional energy has been spent presuming this puppy will have the temperament and aptitude to do the specific work the handler has chosen. The dogs CAN do the work, but should they?
Dogs should not be expected to grow up and meet our expectations. They should be nurtured, socialized, receive gentle exposure, and great training. Then, when they are older their aptitude, not just ability, for the work should be evaluated preferably by experts and not the dog owner. Maybe they will grow up to be an exemplary Animal Assisted Intervention dog. And maybe they will be happier doing agility, flyball, rally obedience, scent work, tracking, docking diving, going hiking, and being the amazing family pet they are destined to be.
