growing-up-guide-pup

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Introducing Clarice! She’s the second dog trained by GUGP’a founders. “We got Clarice from Guide Dogs for the Blind on the same day that we returned Macklin for formal training. She was eight weeks old. She was a completely different experience than Macklin. Macklin was always mature, eager to work, and a very easy puppy. Clarice was sassy, stubborn, super energetic, and always wanted to play rather than work. The easiest thing for Clarice to learn was how to play tug properly. She had to wait until I told her it was okay to take the toy, and to let go when told. The hardest thing to teach her was to be settled and calm in public. My favorite memory was going out to dinner with her, and for the first time, she stayed under the table without getting up. It felt like a huge accomplishment. When Clarice was nine months old, Guide Dogs for the Blind decided that she didn’t have the right temperament for guide work, and she was released from their program. She was adopted by a wonderful family and lived a great life as a family dog.” -Amie

https://growingupguidepup.org

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Meet Macklin!  

He’s the very first service dog trained by our founders, Matt and Amie Chapman.

“I started puppy raising because I had a classmate in college who was raising a puppy, and I thought that it would be fun.Macklin was given to us from Guide Dogs for the Blind to raise for them. 

We had him from 9 weeks old until 18 months of age.We taught him basic obedience, house manners and how to be calm and relaxed in public.The hardest part of training him was giving him back. 

The best part was watching him grow and mature, and of course seeing him graduate.Macklin worked as a guide dog for a blind partner for almost 8 years before he retired.”

- Amie

https://growingupguidepup.org

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Our founders Matt and Amie Chapman trained over 20 puppies to become service dogs. We’ll introduce you to each one!

https://growingupguidepup.org

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Has the Pandemic Affected the Service Dog Industry?

GUGP founder, Amie Chapman, explains some challenges the service dog industry faces during this time, why it might take years to recover, and ways the public can help.

https://growingupguidepup.org/has-the-pandemic-affected-the-service-dog-industry/

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Come join us for our very first service dog mixer! Meet other service dog users,puppy raisers, make new friends, play some games with your dog, learn more about service dogs, and get to be the first to see an unreleased episode of Growing Up Guide Pup!

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Amie reflects on her journey with training Penny. In this blog, she talks about some of the unique experiences and difficulties in flying with a service dog in training.

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Ridesharing as a service dog handler can pose challenges and has often ended up being heavily dependent on the individual driver for the successful accommodation of a service dog to occur.

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I'm pretty sure Patrick wasn't expecting to see a bipedal reptile with teeth bigger than his the day BEFORE we returned him for formal training to become a guide dog. This is just an example of why raising puppies to help make people lives better is so much fun.

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In this blog our guest writer Nerissa Cannon discusses restricted breeds. "....It’s more important to get a dog with a drive to work, than to focus on a specific breed you have in mind. But what happens if the dog that you find works best for you is on banned breed lists all over the world?" Read more on some excellent insight to this situation and shared personal experiences by following this link!

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Patrick gets talkative during a service dog presentation Amie presents to vet tech students.

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With only a few weeks left before Patrick returns to Guide Dogs of the Desert​, Amie and Matt take him to PIER 39​. Patrick shows no hesitation when asked to navigate a mirror maze that ended up making him nauseated.

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Katie describes her feelings and time leading up to meeting her guide dog for the first time and how her life has changed for the better since that moment two years ago.

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At 17 months Patrick reaches a major milestone by not barking at a single animal while visiting Ardenwood Historic Farm. Amie and Matt expose him to pigs, chickens, peacocks, and some super friendly goats.

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At 17 months we exposed Patrick to a San Francisco ferry ride during fleet week. Patrick ran into a lot of people, crumbs on the ground, and a few illegal k9 travelers he succesfully ignored!

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"Every so often, I hear a variation on this statement: “I think of my school guide dog ID like a driver’s license.” Or, “Getting your guide dog is sort of like getting a driver’s license.” Here are Buddy's thoughts in response to that....

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At 17 month Patrick is exposed to a game night party where he had a blast playing Who Here Games and just so happend to dominate as well. To purchase your own copy of "Who Here" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XNL1NJM/ Type Coupon Code guidepup to save 10% (promotion ends 8/12/17)

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After Patrick, our plan was to finish Pilaf's Season and focus on making new connections. Well I guess we are addicted to the mission and don't know how to say no. Penny, Bernard, and Bianca kinda fell in our lap but lucky for us Brigadoon Service Dogs has become the organization we chose for them. growingupguidepup.org