Fourth Puppy Report from CCI

I received Helper's last progress report from CCI's southwest regional office today.  It contained this note..."Bearing any unforeseen circumstances, Helper will rotate through team training".  This is wonderful news!!!!   When a dog goes to team training they are considered a fully trained assistance dog...they have made it through Puppy College!  Helper's friend Tulah (another Texas dog) is also going through Team Training in February.  Way to go girls!!!  The pic that follows was taken during an outing with Marsha at Cottonwood Art Festival.  Tulah is on the right and Helper is on the left. They were pretty young in this photo...both less than a year old.

Team training takes place during the first two weeks of February in Oceanside, California. CCI will take more dogs than they need to team training so that they have the perfect dog for the people who are there to find a special dog partner.  As an example, the February class could have 10 people looking for dogs and CCI could bring 12-15 dogs to the team training session.  During the first week of team training the class learns how to handle/care for a service dog and CCI observes how they interact with various dogs.  By the end of the first week preliminary people/dog matches are made.  During the second week the decision is made if the people/dog match works or if they need to make adjustments.  If adjustments are needed some dogs are moved to different people.

Since CCI has taken more dogs than they need to team training there are always a few dogs left after team training.  These dogs are either released, held over for the next team training in May or placed with someone in a "side placement".  A "side placement" is used when someone is getting a second or third CCI dog to replace a retiring dog.  In these cases the person getting the dog does not need two weeks of training to learn how to handle and care for their dog.

P.S.  Helper turned 2 years old on January 5th.  Happy Birthday Miss Helper!!!!