Introducing... Hamlet!

Daisy and Hamlet at the SSD kennels

I've been dreaming of raising another dog ever since I moved to State College.  To give you some background, I started raising guide dogs for the blind when I was 12 years old, and had dogs in training until I graduated from college.  In total, there were eight of them.  The dogs went everywhere with me, and I always loved the challenge of starting a new dog each year. 

Moving to State College meant leaving my old guide dog club behind, and I feared that it would also mean that my days of raising were behind me too.  The organization I raised for, Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc., doesn't place pups outside the western states, and Pennsylvania is definitively not a western state (!).   I looked into raising for an organization in New Jersey, but they wouldn't place pups with a "new" raiser this far from their campus.  Then school got busy and the Co-op got crazy and three years snuck by without a puppy.

Most of Hamlet's litter mates and their raisers.

Hamlet is a lazy puppy - so lazy he won't even get up to drink!

Luckily I met Kindle, a lab being trained for Susquehanna Service Dogs (SSD) by our friend Annabelle.  Over the last six months or so she has helped me learn about the organization, and last week we were finally matched with a puppy - Hamlet came home!
Hamlet is being raised as a service dog, which is very different from a guide dog.  The training is also  different, and I'm learning as I go.  We use a clicker and lots of treats to encourage good behaviors, and there is no negative feedback for him at all.  He's learning very quickly what we like!  Especially when we use special treats that he really loves to eat.

Jason's first try at pottying Hamlet.
He must learn to go on all types of surfaces

He will be with us for 1.5 years, and then he'll go back to advanced training in Harrisburg.  Eventually (hopefully!)  he'll be matched with someone who needs his help.  He'll likely be a wheelchair, balance, hearing, or autism dog.  For now, we're aiming to raise a nice, steady dog who is confident and calm in all situations.  Actually, right now we're just working on getting him to potty in the right place and not destroy our furniture!


I am very happy to have this dog.   Yes, he's a LOT of work right now (he pottied 16 times in the first day!), but he's also a joy.   Jason is learning about puppies and Hamlet is good at making us laugh.  He's still floppy and full of silly puppy.  That won't last for long though... he's going to be HUGE!  I'll write about our first week together in a separate post.