CONNECTICUT, USA — NEADS service dogs in training are laser-focused on learning and having fun, and it's all for a specific purpose.
NEADS is a nonprofit that provides service dogs for people who are Deaf or have a disability that a service dog would help with.
Inside the puppy preschool, there are plenty of personalities.
“We get a huge variety, we have sleepy ones [...] and some that like to jump around and play all day,” said trainer Meghan Kropf.
These puppies have started their training journey since they started to walk and hopefully work as service dogs in the future.
Kropf said that their training aims to get the puppies used to all kinds of things they'll experience in the real world and to ensure they are confident before they experience a more stressful setting as a service dog.
At six and a half weeks, Katie Albertini who oversees puppy breeding and training can already spot strengths.
“Sometimes you will see puppies who are leaders of the pack who go and do things on their own and then sometimes you will have puppies who are more reserved who will go and do things if they see a sibling do it,” she said.
At around eight weeks, it’s exam time.
“In the temperament test, the puppy is put through a series of exercises with a handler, and the exercises involve exploring a new space, checking out a novel object, responding to noises such as a vacuum cleaner,” said Albertini. "We see how the puppy responds to heights; a moving mop so do they have an interest in chasing things."
These evaluations help trainers determine if the pups will continue in the roughly two-year program to eventually become service dogs for someone in need.
Successful puppy preschool graduates will head to puppy raisers or prison programs for additional training. Others find homes through adoption.
FOX61 is sponsoring a NEADS service puppy, and it needs a name!
Please vote here for your favorite name, and it will be announced on the FOX61 Morning News on Friday.
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Keith McGilvery is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at kmcgilvery@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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