Team Training
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Getting a Successor Dog

Ever alert Team training lasts for two weeks. Being invited to attend training does not guarantee that I will return with a dog. Even though I have been part of a successful service team for almost 12 years, I must still fulfill the course requirements and pass all the exams to get a dog.

This site is a brief overview of the CCI processes. For more information, visit their website.

How it works -- From the Beginning

CCI has its own breeding program. Breeder dogs are kept by volunteers called breeder-caretakers (BCs). The BCs for the female dogs are responsible for taking the female to CCI when she is in season to be bred. They attend to her through her pregnancy and birthing process. The watch over the pups until they are whelped at about 8 weeks. During those first 8 weeks, they work with the pups to get them used to being handled and in some cases they are almost house broken. At that time, they turn the pups over to CCI to start their training.

8 weeks to 14 months

CCI has a wonderful group of volunteers that take the pups into their homes. They are called puppy raisers. It is their responsibility to give the pups basic obedience lessons. They also take the pups everywhere to socialize them and expose them to as many different environments as possible. This helps us as graduates since the pups know how to behave in public places such as restaurants and stores, airports and planes, and crowded places.

Advanced Training

At about 14 months, they are turned back into CCI for advanced training. We like to call it CCI University. It is there that they take the basic commands that they learned and put them together to form more complex tasks that assist us in so many ways. They can turn light switches on and off, open and close doors and drawers, and retrieve items (among many other talents).

Team Training

Team training is when the applicants to receive assistance dogs attend one of CCI's 5 regional training centers to go to learn to be as smart as their dogs. After all, the dogs at this point have received 2 years of training.

My first team training was intense (as I know this one will be, but at least I have some background to hang it all on). Shelby was the first dog I ever had. They teach us all the commands that the dogs know. Plus we learn to care for the dogs, learn how to teach new commands, learn to take control and be the team leader, and learn what it takes to be successful dog handlers.

We are also taught about public access right and public etiquette (both how we should act in public, and how to handle folks that want to pet our dogs all the time). There are lectures on motivation, correction, veterinary care, grooming. In other words, we are well prepared to leave class with a dog's leash in our hand.

Getting a dog

Now there is a constant flow of puppies being raised and trained. As an applicant, I do not get a choice of what sex or breed of dog I will get. The dogs are already named. The instructors have years of experience understanding dog psychology and our application process is very involved so that they get a really good idea of our style, needs, and abilities.

Going into class, they have an idea which of the dogs they have available will be a good match with each of us, but we spend the first couple of days working with many different dogs. The instructors are watching us to see how we interact with the different types of dogs.

On the third day, they make a preliminary match. This is the dog that they think we will work best with. Throughout the rest of training, they may be switching us off if there are problems with the match.

Over the course of the 2 weeks of training, we attend lots of lectures and go on field trips to restaurants, shopping centers, feed stores and colleges. We are learning the dog's quirks, and they are learning ours.

The last day of class, in addition to a final exam, we take a solo trip to the mall to ensure we are solid in our public presentation.

The next day is graduation. At the ceremony, the dog's puppy raiser (that may not have seen the dog in 6 to 8 months) is reunited briefly with their charge. They then present the leash to the new graduate and life partner.

How long do they work?

The normal working life of a Canine Companion is 8 to 10 years. I have been very blessed to have been working with Shelby for almost 12 years. She is truly an exceptional dog.