Field Trips are Going to the Dogs!

[img_assist|nid=625|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=115|height=147]BC Field Trips is pleased to announce a new project in partnership with Pacific Assistance Dogs (PADS). PADS raises and trains assistance dogs for people who are facing the challenges of life with a physical disability or who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. These dogs allow PADS clients to experience a greater level of independence and an enhanced quality of life.

For the first 18 months of their lives, PADS puppies live with volunteer puppy-raisers. A puppy-raiser is the first and very important step toward placing a working dog with a PADS applicant. In this time, socialization and exposure to a wide range of experiences prepare puppies to do their important work. Field trips to community settings are a key component of this period of puppy development. New experiences, especially challenging ones in noisy or unpredictable environments are opportunties for puppies to build the confidence they need to move on to advanced training.
 

The story...

What made us think of this? Krista (one of the Field Trip Fair crew, and in her non-Field Trip Fair life a special education teacher) was at the Capilano Suspension Bridge with her toddler son, following another family through the Treetops Adventure - a series of wooden bridges suspended through the trees. This family included mom, dad, a teenage girl and her assistance dog. The dog was comfortably trundling accross each bridge, up and down steps and going with the flow of the movement of the bridge. Wow, she thought, whoever trained that dog got him ready for everything! The following weekend her family celebrated Mother's Day at a PADS fundraising event (in a hotel ballroom, on carpet!), complete with PADS puppies in training. The lightbulb went on, and now we're inviting 12 field trip sites to make this project come to life.

Dogs in museums, parks and heritage sites?

Once they have completed training and go into service with clients, assistance dogs legally have access to all of the same public spaces their human partners do. Puppies in training have government issued identification that provides them goodwill access to these same places. Your site may well already have had visits from puppies-in-training! The best way to ensure great 'museum manners' is to provide puppies the opportunity to practice, right from the beginning of their training. Your site can be part of helping to build a community of museum savvy assistance dogs and to actively let individuals with disabilites who have assitance dogs know that they and their canine assistants will feel welcome at your site. This project is a formal way to:

  • provide a great training experience for assistance dogs in training;
  • say 'thanks' to volunteer puppy-raising families by helping them provide their puppies with a wide range of training experiences and removing any financial barrier to doing so;
  • review issues of accessibility on your site with staff and volunteers;
  • show good community and social responsibility by actively letting all guests know that you are a welcoming and accessible site for individuals with disabilities and their assistance dogs. PADS will publish the names of participating sites in their newsletter - a distribution of 10,000 quarterly - to let both puppy-raising families and clients know of your participation in the project.

What do we need to do to become a Proud PADS Puppyraising Partner?

  • Talk with the administrative powers that be on your site to secure approval.
  • Provide free access for PADS puppies in their training capes and a minimum of two human companions at any time during the designated field trip weekend.
  • Choose a 'third weekend of the month' that your institution would like to offer free access to PADS puppy-raising families. Consider whether your site would be better suited for a winter visit or a summer stroll outdoors?
  • Be willing to have a sign placed at your entrance that states "We are a Proud PADS Puppy-raising Partner" (sign provided by PADS)
  • Be willing to communicate your sites participation in this project to staff to ensure PADS families feel welcome. Think of this as a great staff development opportunity to review and discuss issues of accessibility at your site.
  • Be willing to have guest services staff hand out info sheets about PADS to other patrons who ask about the Puppies on Site sign. (print materials provided by PADS)
  • Consider what new experiences your site / current exhibit might offer for puppies-in-training and communicate this to PADS. For example, the HR MacMillan Space Centre is the first organization to officially join the project. At their site, dogs may be exposesd to loud rocket explosions or fires. These are great, confidence building experiences for puppies!

FAQ's

 

  • Accidents - happen to everybody, but if you're a PADS puppy, your puppy-raiser comes with a clean up kit and takes responsibility for any incidents.
  • How many PADS dogs will participate in any field trip? - At any given time PADS has from 25 - 40 dogs in the puppy-raising component of their program. Families reside all over the Lower Mainland. Field trips are an optional activity for these families, so not everyone would attend.
  • Is our site really appropriate? - Anywhere that the public attends is an appropriate opportunity for a PADS puppy-in-training. If you have specific questions, let's talk!

The schedule

Proud Puppyraising Partner

Month

Dates

Vancouver Police Museum
 
 September  19, 20
IMAX Theatre at Canada Place
 
 October  17, 18, 19
 
  HR MacMillan Space Centre
 
 November  14, 15, 16
 Fort Langley National Historic Site & Langley Museum  December  12, 13, 14
 BC Sports Hall of Fame
 
 January  16, 17, 18
  Burnaby Art Gallery
 
February
 
20, 21, 22
 
  Maplewood Farm
 
March
 
20, 21, 22
 
 Canadian Museum of Flight
 
April
 
17, 18, 19
 
  Capilano Suspension Bridge
 
May
 
15, 16, 17
 
Gulf of Georgia Cannery
 
June
 
19, 20, 21
 
 Aldor Acres Dairy Centre
 
July
 
17, 18, 19
 
  Carousel Theatre
 
 August  14, 15, 16

 

Contact us for more information, if you have questions, or to add your institution to this exciting project!

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