Canine Companions "Leave It" Challenge

[Diane and Alma]

Just thought I'd share this. 

My daughter's Girl Scout troop met with a lady who is raising her 4th puppy for Canine Companions for Independence.  She shared this picture with the girls. 

The local CCI chapter (Gold Rush Champions) got together recently with their puppies (lab and retriever mixes).  They decided to buy hamburgers and French fries from a local restaurant and spell out the chapter logo.  They put the pups in a down-stay command as a training exercise. 

It looks like they did amazingly well.  She did say one of the youngest pups couldn't resist and gobbled up a burger before they could stop him.  She also said one of the tests at the CCI headquarters (after the puppy trainers hand over the dogs and prior to getting their companions) is to put French fries all over the floor and have the dogs walk through and not pick up any!

Needless to say, my 13 year old daughter now wants to raise a puppy for CCI.

 

 

[Bonnie and Kona]

What a great story!

[Karen and Bridget]

LOVE this!!  CCI is a fantastic organization that my family proudly supports :)

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Awesome picture and dogs!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We almost became puppy raisers for a group out of Tennessee.  I noticed that Terri Fann of Golden's and Doodles was donating a puppy to them so I contacted them about doing the puppy raising part of it!  As it turned out they contacted me immediately, but before we got it all arranged I ended up having shoulder surgery and then had to decline.

"Leave It" is an absolute must when visiting facilities with the doodles because we have encountered pills on the floor on more than one occasion.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Canine Companions for Independence is a great, great organization that does wonderful work! This is what a real service dog organization looks like. One of my favorite authors, Shelby Hearon, wrote a novel called Year of the Dog (not to be confused with the Molly Shannon movie) in which the heroine raises a puppy for a service dog organization. You might be interested in reading it: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/year-of-the-dog-shelby-hearon/11037...

[Diane and Alma]

My daughter and I were impressed with CCI too.  Thanks for the book reference!

[Kyoko]

OMG. So cool! I would love to see the video of what happened after they were release from down stay!!

[Diane and Alma]

She said they picked it all up and threw it away.  Those pups never get people food - for sure.

[Star and Goldie]

This is one test that Goldie would absolutely FAIL... but so would I! mmmmm Cheeseburgers!