It’s been over a year since SSD Belle entered our lives and hearts. Named by the Barcoding team and sponsored by Honeywell, she has exceeded our expectations! SSD Belle is now in Advanced Training, the next phase of her potential service dog career.
During Advanced Training the dogs live on-site at the SSD training center (in Grantville, PA) from Monday-Friday and return home with their puppy raisers or sitters on the weekends (or weeks that they have off) from training. During this time the dogs are assigned a professional trainer who continues to evaluate their suitability for potential placement as a service dog.
Additionally, the trainers spend lots of time learning the dog’s strengths and weaknesses to determine what tasks they may naturally enjoy or excel at. This information will help the training staff select potential partners (individuals with disabilities) and invite them to meet Belle in a few months. SSD Belle spends lots of time every day playing outside with other dogs, snuggling with volunteers in our relaxation room, and practicing working with new (to her) volunteers out in public. Her focus on training now will be on further advancing the skills she learned during puppy raising and teaching foundational behaviors that may be used for task training in the future.
Barcoding has been a long-time partner with Susquehanna Service Dogs and we always look forward to these PUP-dates. Visit their official site to learn more or become a sponsor today.
Susquehanna Service Dogs is a program of Keystone Human Services and has been breeding, raising, training, and placing assistance dogs in Pennsylvania and the surrounding states since 1993. SSD is an accredited member of Assistance Dogs International.