Service dogs are pretty amazing animals. All dogs are amazing in their own ways, but service dogs can literally make life possible for those with physical and/or emotional disabilities.
They can make the world seem less scary and allow them to be self-sufficient. And above all, like all dogs, they provide unconditional love and loyalty.
But have you ever wondered how these special service dogs learn to do all they do?
They're not born with the ability to open doors, provide comfort, and even save lives on the brink.
Instead, service dogs are trained from an early age to be best friends to those in need. And like all schooling, it starts at a young age.
The skilled trainers at Puppy Prodigies are the humans who teach adorable puppies to grow up and become adorable — and highly effective — service dogs.
And it's not just about training them to open doors and such. They also keep an eye on the dogs' growing and developing personalities to find the kind of service they'd be best at, and train them accordingly.
For example, some dogs are better suited to service with people with emotional disabilities rather than physical ones. By getting to know the pups as individuals, the trainers at Puppy Prodigies can make sure their puppies grow up to provide the best service possible.
Check out some of their adorable students below, and learn how "puppy cuddler" is a very real position — and one that everyone is dying to add to their resumes!
[H/T: Puppy Prodigies]
So, these newborn puppies are certainly adorable, but they don't look like they're quite ready to train to be service dogs, right?
Well, not according to Puppy Prodigies. The California-based program starts very young, getting even tiny puppies ready for service training. They also provide early puppyhood training to shelter puppies and puppies with behavioral problems to help them lead happy, social lives.
Their humans work with shelter and abandoned puppies from the very beginning, teaching them socialization skills and getting them ready to live a life surrounded by both dogs and humans.
If they're born and raised in shelters, dogs can miss out on these key socialization and developmental stages, which can lead to behavior problems later in life.
The people who snuggle and cuddle the tiny newborns are a special team of puppy cuddlers.
That means that yes, this is a real job!
Puppies that show particular intelligence and cooperation can be trained to become service dogs at as young as four weeks.
They work with trainers to perform tasks that will later help those with disabilities navigate through the world more easily. This puppy is being introduced to a push button, used to automatically open doors for wheelchair users.
They learn to boop it open with their noses on command. When working with a human, she'll know to perform this action on command.
Of course, different dogs are better suited for different services. A dog who likes to run and chase a lot might not work so well for someone with a physical disability, who might need a steadier dog.
Instead, a dog like this might do better as an emotional service dog, providing care and comfort for people with illnesses like PTSD.
The dogs also learn to retrieve items like mail and anything their human might need, but that's just a bit out of reach.
They also learn to pull with the help of some ropes. This puppy is opening a refrigerator.
By starting their training early, Puppy Prodigies hopes to raise generations of helpful and well-behaved dogs.
Even if the puppies don't grow up to become service dogs, the hope is to reduce behavioral problems that can lead to dogs being relinquished at shelters, and potentially euthanized. That way, more dog lives can be saved, and more human lives can be enriched.
Puppy Prodigies' students grow up to become service dogs, therapy dogs, emotional support dogs, and regular pets. They've gone on to work with kids, seniors, and veterans. One dog named Ricochet is even teaching kids with disabilities how to surf! And the humans at Puppy Prodigies are dedicated to making both human and canine lives better.
Check out more adorable puppy students on their website, and consider donating to make sure dogs and humans can keep helping each other out. And SHARE with anyone who's ever wondered how service dogs learn their stuff!
