Archive for March, 2009

Can You Design Us A Logo?

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

APAW is in need of a logo for our program and we’d love to see your ideas!

Are you creative?

Do you like to sketch?

Skillful with digital art?

You could be just who we are looking for!

 

General theme we are hoping to achieve:

  • Strength/meaning of the human-canine bond
  • Suggestive of Poodle breed
  • Not specific to assistance of a person w/disability - indicative of any working role
  • Relatively simple (can be put on apparel etc.)

 

We are accepting all submissions currently and once we have a nice selection the top designs will be placed up for the public to vote on. 

Email your submission/s to info@americanpoodlesatwork.org

 

Thank you!

Vote for Charlie at Bissell!

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Charlie is a Service ‘Demo’ Dog here at American Poodles At Work, our program that focuses on training Poodles for people with disabilities.
Charlie was also featured in episode 1 of Animal Planet’s Dogs 101 series which aired Fall ’08. You can learn more about the APAW program at our main site: http://www.AmericanPoodlesAtWork.org

Charlie is entered as a contestant in the Bissell pet photo contest – winners will have a photo shoot and appear on a future Bissell product package. In addition, Bissell will be donating $1,000-$10,000 to the non-profit animal cause of the winner’s choice.

If Charlie were to win, we would choose the Assistance Dog United Campaign as the recipient. ADUC writes grants for small/young assistance dog programs, and provides vouchers to individuals looking for financial aid to cover the cost of receiving a highly trained assistance dog.
http://www.AssistanceDogUnitedCampaign.org

Can you vote for Charlie the ‘Shoveling Poodle’ this session?

Permission to crosspost and forward widely.

Thank you for supporting Poodles, and People with Disabilities throughout the US and abroad!

APAW Training Video – Back

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

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


Our New Training Videos

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

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!

APAW Demonstrates Service Dogs At Red Cross

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

As part of an outreach program sponsored by the Holden Huggable Hounds 4H club, Jillian Gartner brought Charlie (her demo dog) and Pixie (an APAW therapy dog trainee) to the Red Cross in Worcester, MA yesterday to increase community awareness. The dogs were a big hit — Charlie demonstrated his ability to read commands from cue cards, even while many a giggling gal held them. A service dog has to deal with routine distractions and Charlie showed everyone how it is done!

Like the new look?

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

We’ve refreshed our image. We hope you like it.