Long before a Dogs Inc dog helps a person navigate a busy intersection, supports a veteran with a disability or provides assistance to someone facing another significant challenge, its journey begins as a tiny Labrador retriever puppy in Palmetto.
Becoming a working dog does not happen overnight.
Dogs Inc, formerly known as Southeastern Guide Dogs, says it takes about two years to raise and train each dog. The process combines carefully planned breeding and early puppy development with months of volunteer puppy raising and advanced professional instruction at the organization’s Canine University.
From the first days of life through graduation, each stage is designed to determine not only what a dog can learn, but which career best fits that individual dog’s abilities and temperament.
It Starts With Genetics
The journey begins before a puppy is born.
Dogs Inc uses a data-driven genetics and reproduction program designed to produce healthy, intelligent dogs with characteristics suited for working careers.
The organization breeds and trains Labrador retrievers, a breed selected for qualities that include intelligence, trainability, gentle temperament and overall health.
Once puppies arrive, their education begins almost immediately.
Dogs Inc begins working with puppies when they are just days old. During their earliest weeks, puppies receive care and developmental experiences intended to prepare them for the increasingly complex world they will encounter as they grow.
The organization’s puppy development team cares for its youngest dogs and their mothers during their first weeks of life, a relatively short period that can influence a dog’s future development.
From Puppy Academy to a Volunteer Home
At approximately eight weeks old, a major transition begins.
Puppies leave their earliest stage of training and go home with volunteer puppy raisers.
The volunteers become an important part of the Dogs Inc training process because future working dogs need much more than the ability to follow commands. They must learn how to behave appropriately while experiencing everyday life.
Puppy raisers help teach basic cues, good house manners and socialization.
That means exposing puppies to the sights, sounds and situations they may encounter as adults. Everyday experiences can become lessons as puppies learn to remain calm, confident and focused while navigating the world around them.
Dogs Inc offers puppy-raising commitments of three, six or 12 months, and volunteers can participate from across the United States. Puppy sitters can also provide temporary care when raisers need assistance.
Eventually, the puppy that entered a volunteer’s home returns to Dogs Inc ready for the next level of its education.
Going to Canine University
Back on campus, the young dogs enter what Dogs Inc calls Canine University.
The facility, which opened in 2018 as part of a major expansion of the Palmetto campus, includes specialized spaces for advanced canine training.
Here, certified instructors take over much of the dog’s education.
Training becomes more advanced and increasingly specific to the careers available through Dogs Inc. Guide dogs, for example, must learn more than 40 cues and skills before graduation. Service dogs learn approximately 15 to 20 specialized cues and skills.
But Canine University isn’t simply about determining whether a dog can perform a list of tasks.
Trainers are also watching the dog.
Confidence, temperament, decision-making abilities, behavior and individual preferences can all help determine where a dog will ultimately be most successful.
Every Dog Has a Different Career Path
Not every puppy born at Dogs Inc will become a guide dog.
That is expected.
Dogs Inc evaluates each dog’s strengths and preferences as it develops. Some dogs demonstrate the qualities necessary for guide work. Others may be better suited for service work or one of the organization’s specialized programs.
Guide dogs are trained to assist people with vision loss, while service dogs can be prepared to help veterans with disabilities. Dogs Inc also has specialized programs serving children and families.
The organization is also training scent service dogs to assist people living with Type 1 diabetes. Those dogs learn to recognize scent changes associated with blood sugar levels so they can provide an alert.
Dogs Inc describes the career-selection process as allowing dogs, through their behavior and abilities, to show trainers which work best suits them.
Some dogs may not ultimately be suited for one of the organization’s working-dog programs. Those dogs can still find another path, including possible adoption by their puppy raiser or placement through the organization’s adoption program.
The goal is not to force every dog into the same career. It is to find the right role for each dog.
Finding the Right Person
Training the dog is only part of creating a successful working partnership.
The right dog must also be matched with the right person.
Dogs Inc serves clients throughout the United States and provides its dogs and services at no cost to recipients.
Once a dog has demonstrated that it has the skills and characteristics needed for a particular career, the matching process considers the needs of the person who will ultimately work with that dog.
The partnership then requires another form of education: the person and dog must learn how to work together as a team.
For guide dog recipients, that can mean learning to recognize and trust the dog’s decisions while traveling together. For someone receiving a service dog, training centers on the skills the dog will use to assist that individual.
A successful match brings together two separate training journeys — one for the dog and one for the person — into a single partnership.
Graduation Is a Beginning
Graduation represents the culmination of roughly two years of breeding, puppy development, socialization, volunteer involvement, professional training and matching.
But it isn’t the end of Dogs Inc’s involvement.
The organization provides follow-up and alumni support for its working teams after they leave campus.
For the dog, the journey that began in Palmetto has finally reached its purpose. The lessons learned as a tiny puppy, experiences shared with a volunteer puppy raiser and advanced skills developed at Canine University are now put to use in everyday life.
For the recipient, graduation can mark the beginning of greater independence, confidence and companionship.
And behind every graduating team is a much larger group of people who helped make it possible: breeders and veterinary professionals, puppy development staff, volunteer puppy raisers and sitters, trainers, donors and other supporters.
Manatee County residents can also see portions of that journey firsthand. Dogs Inc offers campus tours and a Dog Skills Showcase at its Palmetto campus, giving visitors an opportunity to learn how puppies develop into highly trained working dogs.
Dogs Inc also continues to seek volunteers, including puppy raisers who can help prepare the next generation of dogs for their future careers.
To learn more about Dogs Inc, puppy raising, its programs, campus experiences or ways to support the organization, visit DogsInc.org.