Harmony, who is training in Search work due to her higher energy level and prey drive, is continuing being trained in assistance tasks… after-all, if she’s going to remain here with Jillian as her handler, she’s still got demos that will need to be given!
Here is a short video of her – hope you enjoy!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH–EsBRTIg[/youtube]
Thanks to all of your support, both APAW Demo Dog Charlie and APAW’s Victor have received many votes for their video entries in Zoom Room’s contest entitled America’s Best Dog Trick!
Victor ended-up in 7th place!
Charlie was awarded Honorable Mention, so he tied with two other entries for 3rd place!!! When his prize package arrived in the mail we were entertained to see his name as the addressee 
Zoom Room wrote a blog entry for each of our boys:
Incredible Poodle Tricks by Charlie
Victor the Rescue Poodle Performs
Enjoy watching and sharing these entry videos, and stay tuned for more working videos of our APAW pooches.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZtpPzVKjY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-rXeku8oEA[/youtube]
Our big, brown ‘goober’ (aka, ‘lovable goof-ball’) has found his new home!
Donovan is a very special dog who entered the program at 1 year old. He is one of the sweetest dogs a person could meet, but a little too goofy to be relied on as a working Service Dog. We consider him a ‘Wonderful Wash-out’.
As a result, he has found a fabulous family home all for his own… and down the road as he matures he may even start doing Social/Therapy work!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpZ7c09dy-I[/youtube]
As Harmony has matured, it has become apparent that she has too much drive for a Service Dog. She is great in essentially every situation, but needs time each day to just ‘go crazy’ with a high energy game or training session. Our intention from the start was to keep her for the breeding program, rather than place her as a Service Dog. This is still our plan, now knowing that only the calmer pups will likely be suitable for Service work.
Due to her love for people, activity, and using her nose, Harmony has entered into the world of Search and Rescue. She has been doing quite well, and will hopefully one day be certified in wilderness search for lost people, handled by our Program Director, Jillian Gartner.
Harmony is almost fully-trained in Service work and is currently APAW’s back-up demo dog for giving presentations (Charlie is our main demo dog).
In addition, now that Harmony is 18 months old and can safely jump, she has started learning to play Frisbee. She is just starting to learn how to vault (push off of handler to jump higher for disc), and may eventually enter in local competitions… not many Poodles in this sport.
We are excited to announce that the next video in our ‘How to Teach…’ series has been released!
In this episode you will learn how to teach your dog the ‘Back’ command, instructing them to take a few steps backwards. ‘Back’ is another useful and usually simple command to teach. It can be used in many situations, for example moving away from an open door, or an object such as dropped food, broken glass, or yourself. It can be used in conjunction with the ‘Here’ command to get your dog into a precise position. Like most of APAW’s videos, the focus of our training is directed towards future assistance dogs.
We encourage you to film your own dog performing this (or any) command and submit a video response on YouTube.com – not only would we love to see your dog having fun with new commands, but your video will show other viewers more forms this command can take.
If you need training advice specific to your situation email us at training@AmericanPoodlesAtWork.org
Ever wondered how we teach our dogs their many tasks? Now you can find out, and teach your own dog as well!
We have created a YouTube account and will be regularly uploading new videos that cover the training of various tasks.
Here is our most recent upload:
We hope you enjoy!