On Wednesday morning, I kicked my project off by speaking to the Parkside Elementary School's K-4. The kids made for a surprisingly good crowd, reacting well to the information and to Nova's tricks, and asking some pretty funny questions. I talked about why I got Nova, what service dogs can do for people in general, and the do's and don't's of interacting with service dogs.
I called up volunteers throughout the presentation to get hands-on experience with service dog training.
After the presentation, I sat in on a class with my mentor, Amy Gutmann. The dogs were learning basic agility and using the equipment.
Thursday, after seeing the exciting agility equipment, I started the day with a private lesson from Amy on agility. Nova zoomed around the facility, learning where to crawl through tunnels, scale and descend an A-Frame, and jump through tires. He had a blast and learned a lot. After the agility lesson, I went with Amy to a private lesson-- she is trying to teach a dog American Sign Language for a deaf client. The dog was still very young, but it was catching on to basic hand gestures, which was very cool.
Friday morning, I woke up and presented to my second school, Roxbury Elementary School. This was especially cool because this is where I attended for years K-4. Unfortunately, only the kindergarten and first grade classes could attend, so the presentation was much smaller. I went over the same material as in the first one, adding more demonstrations and chances for the kids to interact because I saw how they liked it at Parkside.
Finally, I ended my Friday by sitting in on another lesson with Amy and a client, ending in a long walk around the Polo Field working on Nova and the client's dogs' heeling and obedience.
The project has been great so far!
Thanks for adding the pictures, Elijah! They make a great addition to your post, and it looks like you have been busy with training and presentations. I can't wait for your site visit so that I can see some of this first-hand.
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