Some dogs were meant for cuddling while others go on to work as rescue workers, seeing eye dogs, hospital helpers and shepherds.
However, sometimes it takes a bit of time to figure out where they will end up.
Dogs Inc puppy trainer Lindsey Greene has been training Spirit, a 1-year-old yellow Labrador from Florida, since they met in September, preparing the canine to choose a job.
“Puppy raisers are responsible for the potty training, the teething, manners, basic behavior things and then taking them out into the world so they get familiar with as many sights and sounds as possible,” said Greene, sitting in the living room of her Chester Township home. “Something like the garbage truck or whatever, things that a dog might be afraid out in the world, we take them out and try and desensitize them.
“There are some places where Dogs Inc asked them not to go, like professional sporting events. And for that she usually hangs out with my Mom, her Grammy, and she loves her Grammy.”
Greene, who is a volunteer for Dogs Inc, brings Spirit to her job at a pet insurance company, and as she is also the president of her parent-teacher organization, Spirit gets to experience many different environments that might make a dog react.
Spirit’s next stop, a doggie “university” in Florida, she will get to make a choice on what kind of job she will end up in.
“Around 18 months (old) she will go back down to the school and they kind of let them choose their career, which is really cool,” Greene said. If they don’t have the skills to be a guide dog they will try them out in some of the service dog careers. “So, they have a lot of options as to where their career will go.”
Dogs Inc is a non-profit that provides their trained dogs at no cost to recipients, including their veterinary care, future training, and dog food for life.
According to Greene, a big reason why she wanted to volunteer to be a trainer was knowing that there wasn’t a profit motive and she would help someone gain a lifelong companion without having to spend thousands of dollars in the process.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people that looked into getting a service dog and it costs $5,000 to $10,000,” she said. “Dogs Inc places the dogs with the person in need for free and they offer a lot of things to those people for the life of the working dog… It’s time and a little bit of money out of my pocket… but they help people all over the country and they do a lot. I wouldn’t feel as good that charges the person.”
“You do kind of have to change your life to make the training work because it’s a lot,” Greene said. “Everywhere you go and you take them, you have to make sure that you’re focused on what they are doing; having their manners and they are being well behaved.
“You take them and have them walk on different surfaces even at the park, twigs, leaves, rain grates and stuff like that. It’s a lot of work but it’s very rewarding.”
Greene used to foster cats for local animal shelters and during that time she learned to balance her personal feelings and her work. She added that knowing Spirit is going to make a difference in someone else’s life was a big reason why she signed up for the emotional and physical labor that goes into dog training.
“I go into it knowing that it’s temporary,” Greene said. “Even with the rescues I’m helping them get to a better life, but with her, it’s a whole different volume, she’s going to change someone’s life. So, it’s going to be hard, but it will also be easy to send her off to do that.”
Greene said she didn’t know when Spirit will be leaving her to start the next part of her journey, but it will most likely be in the springtime.
“We will get updates about how her training is going, where they see her going as far as her career, and then if the person that she is placed with is open to communication they share your information so you can stay in touch with them and continue to know how she’s doing and follow her along throughout her life as long as they are OK with that,” Greene said. “It would be really nice to send her to college but then know what happens after that too so we’re not just wondering.”