Please join GAP Service Dogs at Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton, Colorado on February 11, 2012. The new van will be arriving at 9:30am. GAP Service Dogs will be receiving a donation totaling 20% of all food sold that day with a ticket. Click here – Buffalo Wild Wings to download, print your ticket, and help GAP Service Dogs raise money for our next group of service dogs in training. We can’t wait to see you at Buffalo Wild Wings.
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In order to keep everyone working well with their service and therapy dogs over this extended break, one of our incredibly dedicated volunteers sent the rest of us some extra homework. One of our weekly assignments was as follows: This homework is aimed at keeping one eye on your dog when you are doing something like chatting, shopping, or otherwise being distracted, so that we can capitalize on a chance to correct/teach. Often when we are occupied in some way we do not notice our dogs sniffing something, going up to another dog or person, or doing some other unacceptable behavior. We then lose on an opportunity to teach/anticipate a problem and remind our dog to stay on task before a small issue escalates. This week please practice “keeping one eye on your dog” in most situations. Especially anytime your dog is in vest. Please also remember that our goal is to “praise” our dogs 10 times for every 1 “correction”.
The team at GlobalGiving wants to thank you for submitting all of your documentation on time. All of your paperwork was received and reviewed. Now we’re thrilled to inform you that you’ve been approved as a Pepsi Refresh Project Grant Recipient. Congratulations! The first disbursement of your grant is currently being processed and you can expect to receive your funds mid-January. Best of luck implementing your project. We wish you much success and look forward to reading your project report! Thank you to all of our dedicated supporters for voting for us every day during November. We couldn’t have done this without the faithful support of each and every one of you.
My sister’s dream started off in an unlikely manner. As Glenda Sathre and her husband, Rory Greenway, walked across a WalMart parking lot, Glenda leading so she could alert her husband to possible obstacles, they met a woman with a service dog heading towards a vehicle that had Guild Assistance Dog Partners, Inc. (GAP) decals on it. Click here to read the rest of the story…. Congratulations to the class of 2011! Volunteers are the backbone of Guild Assistance Dogs Partners. Without the incredible dedication and generosity of our incredibly dedicated volunteers we honestly wouldn’t be able to do this. It takes each and every volunteer at GAP Dogs to make this organization work. We have volunteers that; raise puppies, train older dogs, staff educational booths, write articles for our website, return phone calls, instruct classes, answer emails, raise necessary funds, drive the GAP van, and so on and so on. This year in addition to graduation we held a special ceremony to honor our puppy raisers, and present them with a certificate of appreciation for their years of service. Mary Ellen was presented with a special gift for raising 7 puppies for GAP Dogs, in addition to her other duties. Yes you heard that correctly. 7 puppies! With tears in her eyes she said, and I quote, “It was worth it, every tear and every smile!”. Then when someone yelled out from the back, “And even every pile?” She said, ”and yes, even every pile”. I think everyone would concur. It is definitely worth it! In honor of each and every volunteer that makes our program successful, I present you with some of our puppy raisers, and the class of 2011! Thank you, all your hard work made this day possible.
Everyone walked clear down to the other side of the mall. All the way to the pet store. It was full of all kinds of puppies. While I personally don’t like to see puppies for sale at the mall, it was a great opportunity for all the dogs to work on ignoring distractions. So of course we took advantage of it, by touring the store a few at a time. Most of the dogs did pretty well. On our way back, we found several benches that were perfect to have the dogs practice lying beneath them. We put each of the dogs under a bench, asking them to stay. A few dogs weren’t too sure they wanted to get under those benches. Once they were under the benches though they all did an excellent job on a long down stay.
So I honestly thought to myself, “Oh well, today will just be a show and go!” In case you haven’t already figured it out, what I mean by that is we show up, walk around for a 5 or 10 minutes, and then go because the weather was too crummy for anyone else to make it. Of course, I should never count my chickens before they hatch, because to my surprise 10 people were there! Great job everyone! Your dedicaton to GAP Dogs is incredible.
Gap Dogs was invited to attend this special event with several of our service dogs. We spent the day discussing the many benefits of service dogs and allowing the challenge air participants to pet some of our fo We had an incredible opportunity to spend some time visiting with Canine Companions for Independence. CCI is a very large service dog organization that places dogs all over the United States. So it was great to spend some time exchanging ideas. We even took advantage of an impromptu training opportunity. As always it was a pleasure to take part in another event that benefits Colorado communities! On September 30th 2011, the members of Puppy Rescue Mission must have been absolutely ecstatic. I can only imagine how exciting it must be to hear that your 25K Pepsi grant idea will receive its funding. That said, I hope that by the end of 2011 everyone at GAP Dogs know exactly what that moment feels like! The volunteers at Puppy Rescue Mission are doing a great thing! They are rescueing dogs and supporting our soldiers. I think we can all agree that returning home from an overseas assignment should be a time of happiness. But honestly how can you possibly look forward to going home when you feel you are leaving your partner behind in a very dangerous place? And let’s be honest here – a soldier’s dog has a job over there too! Way to go, Puppy Rescue Mission! Keep up the great work!
As soon as we arrived 18 month old Talia started practicing her long down stay out on the sidewalk in front of the store. She did a very good job staying put while her handler took pictures of everyone as they walked in from the parking lot. As we ventured inside the store the real fun began. I don’t know about your dog but my dog loves to go to the pet store! It’s his favorite place in the whole world and he is just sure that he should be able to pick out his own treats, toys, and a new kind of food while we’re there. Service and therapy dogs must learn to resist this temptation while they are working. So we walked up and down aisles practicing commands such as “leave it” and “no sniff”. We also took our dogs over to politely investigate the ferrets.
We ended our visit with a long sit or down stay in front of the toy aisle, during which time not a single dog broke their stay! Considering the fact that 5 of the dogs in our group were under two years old, I think that is awesome!
We had just finished dinner at a restaurant located on the river walk when we decided it would be fun to take a walk around the river. As we walked it started to rain. We came upon a bridge, but since we pride ourselves on being rather tough country girls, we decided to continue walking. Just as we reached the end of the river walk, the sky opened up and a flood of rain was unleashed. We were soaked within seconds and began to run for the bridge. I watched as Jasper excitedly leaped forward and then proceeded to jump straight into the river, pack and all! Oh! The fun memories we make, traveling the planet, with our service dogs by our side.
Thank you Mark and Joe for the nomination. Thank you to all the financial contributors, puppy raisers, trainers and volunteers that make GAP Dogs possible. Without all of you we never would have made it this far. I would also like to thank the recipients of our service dogs for becoming a part of the GAP family. It is an honor to have the opportunity to watch as the team work between you and your k9 partner improves one class at a time.
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