Secret Service and White House Dog Breeds
Dog-loving visitors at the White House sometimes wonder why they see several breeds of dogs there, even though the Secret Service uses exclusively Belgian Malinois. The answer can be found a great book, "Secret Service Dogs: The Heroes Who Protect the President of the United States" by Maria Goodavage. Ms. Goodavage writes about the bomb-sniffing PSCO dogs that are used in the White House that are non-Malinois breeds like Labrador retrievers and Springer Spaniels.
The anacronym PSCO stands for Personel Screening Open Area. The program use these non-Belgian Malinois began in 2014 because the Belgian Malinois scare people and thus people move away from them (which is what you don't want when the dog is supposed to sniff out explosives people might be carrying). These bomb-sniffing PSCO dogs are also known as:
Friendly Dogs
Floppy Eared Dogs
These "Friendly Dogs" (the term used most often) are working dogs and they wear a black vest. Friendly Dogs are friendly, but they still shouldn't be petted by visitors because they have an important job to do. If you want to ask questions of the handler, they might give a quick answer, but since they're working, the author says that a Secret Service employee will often come over to answer questions, instead.
Parade magazine had an article on White House dogs with this picture by Maria Goodavage:
Alumni Magazine article about Pawsitivity
From the Carleton College Alumni Magazine, “The Voice”: Link
One Day Apprentice: Julie Greene Coleman ’92 and Tomkin Coleman ’91
By John Nolter
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Test to assess a rescue dog for reactivity
The following is our version of the BARC (Behavior Assessment Reactivity Checklist) that we use to assess dogs that might be trained to help people with disabilities.
This is not a full dog behavior assessment checklist because our version assumes that someone has told you the dog is nice and friendly (good with other dogs, not hyper, etc.)
If you don't know much about the dog (or there is a chance that the dog might be aggressive), then you'll want a more complete version of the dog behavior assessment checklist
Put a checkmark next to the answer that best describes the dog when you meet them.
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Thank you!
Thank you, anonymous donor who sent Pawsitivity the eight packages of training treats off of Pawsitivity's Amazon wishlist! The dogs love them!
If you want to buy some training treats for the dogs (or toys, or any other number of items), just go to Pawsitivity's Amazon Wishlist, and they'll be mailed directly to Pawsitivity's dogs in training!
Service Dog Rights
Service dogs can go to public buildings, private offices, and nonprofit centers (including churches) that are available to the public. They can't stay in the aisle, however, because they would block people from walking, and they're not allowed on seats (they have to be on the ground). Also, when a dog would interfere with the mission of the place, they can be prohibited (an example would be a sterile operating room). But if the person with a disability is allowed to go somewhere, generally the person's service dog is allowed, too, so the dog can help them. Some places, like airplanes or rental housing, have laws that allow other kinds of helper dogs, such as emotional support dogs, but the rules for service dogs still apply. The following photo is of Henry and his service dog, Bailey.
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Desensitizing with Ella
Also, figure-eight training:
Confidence-building with Ella
Using the “Look at That” (LAT) technique from Leslie McDevitt that we learned at the Karen Pryor Training Rach with Ken Ramirez (as part of our continuous improvement policy), Ella is living new and unusual surfaces, and loving all sorts of new people in her life (including this sweet baby!)