A Fast Week

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's been so long since the last blog. It's been a busy, crazy week and it's gone super fast. Monday was a holiday for us (for the 4th) and we went to a "secret spot" at the Russian River. Our expedition was led by Sae (pronounced "s-eye"-with a long i sound), a bachelor student from Japan. The picture above is her car after we returned home. She could fit FIVE dogs in her tiny little hatch back. I thought the picture was priceless. Pictured from left to right: Wolf (tiny head in the back), Troy, Sally, Viggo, Chrissy.

We had a lot of lecture this week. The best topics for me were Breeding and Selection, Birth Order Niches, and Cancer and Diabetic Detection Dogs. For Breeding and Selection, Molly (who is in charge of the breeding program here) discussed how she selects for breeding as well as what she looks for when researching breeders, lines and pedigrees. In Birth Order Niches, we discussed how birth order in people changes how they interact, develop relationships and perceive the world (first born vs. second born vs. only child vs. youngest/last child). Bonnie discussed how this could apply to birth order in litters and whether or not this information could be used to predict a pup's success as a service dog as well as if the information could be used to better match service dogs to their partners. I loved the lecture on training Cancer and Diabetic Detection Dogs. Glenn (the training director) told us about current research being conducted about a dog's ability to detect minute, trace amounts of lung, breast and ovarian cancer (and yes, they CAN differentiate between types of cancer). In the studies, dogs are able to detect ovarian cancer in it's most beginning stages-much earlier than when it would show up on a test-early detection increases the chance for that person surviving the cancer by 90%. Glenn also told us about Diabetic Detection Dogs that are being trained for people with Type I Diabetes. The dogs are able to alert on a person's blood sugar dropping even before a machine can pick it up (through blood tests). I'm totally amazed and intrigued by all of this and REALLY hope I can be involved in research like this one day!! Today we also had a little agility class. All the dogs here a taught a bit of agility to help their confidence-for me, it was as refreshing as drinking water on a blazing hot day-agility!! Yahoo!! Even though it was beginner stuff for only 45 minutes it nourished my soul! I just wish I had my Juno!

Tomorrow afternoon we get to visit Guide Dogs for the Blind-can't wait for that!!

As always, don't forget to check out Kyria's blog-she has some pictures of the dogs swimming at the river and fills in some more details about classes and lectures.


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