Today was visiting day for Canine IL. We had our last presentation from Semper Fido, who train shelter dogs to be service dogs for veterans who suffer from PTSD and traumatic brain injury. The presentation was very moving. Today, we had a total of 9 canine visitors. We want to thank their owners for...
Continue readingWhat a Day!
Today was busy! In the morning we visited the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. We met an 8-week old Golden Retriever puppy, Riley. Then we learned how the dogs are kept fit to work, with stretches and exercises and how they start training dogs in basic skills like scent detection and search. The trainers...
Continue readingTuesday, 3/27 Tunnels to Treats
*woof* – calling all furry friends and furry friend lovers, Today was quite eventful. We started off with a daily reading from Inside of a Dog. After that we boarded the bus and ventured to Ev-Ry Farm to see dogs perform the sport called Earth Dog. Ev-Ry Farm is owned by Dr. Ann...
Continue readingCanine Corner: Puppies, Cows, Cats, and Ferrets at PSPCA
Today was fabulous! We traveled to the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, (the PSPCA). Our guide Mandy took us on a tour of the shelter. We saw horses, baby bulls, chickens, turtles, and of course dogs and cats. We learned about all the important work that the...
Continue readingCanine Corner Day 1
Today we went to the New Brunswick Kennel Club Dog Show at the NJ Expo Center in Edison, NJ. It was definitely worth the bus ride. As our pictures show, we petted lots and lots of dogs. We learned that some dogs are very big...
Continue readingA Wonderful End to a Fabulous Week
Today, we presented our projects and PSAs, everything from Canine Epilepsy Awareness to Doggie Olympics to a very pretty water park for dogs. Also Mr. Sussman brought his wonderful dog Boo (after Boo Radley) and his even more wonderful daughter Anna. We had breakfast and wrote thank you notes. It was a good end...
Continue readingDog Days, #5 — Kennels, Terriers, and Dachshunds, Oh My!
Today we switched groups. Half of us stayed back and repeated yesterday’s dog friendliness assessment of Moorestown and then kept working on their projects. The other half of the group went back to the Animal Adoption Center, but this time we went much earlier so we’d be able to help clean the kennels. We...
Continue readingVisit to the Animal Adoption Center and Tour de Moorestown
Today half of us stayed at school and half of us went to the AAC shelter in Lindenwold. Back at school, we walked around Main Street to evaluate how pet friendly Main Street and other streets were. We noticed that some restaurants have outdoor seating that can allow canine companions to stay with them....
Continue readingCanines Day 3: Penn Vet Working Dog Center
Today was a great day! We started the day by learning about the origins of dogs and the process of domestication, including the amazing Russian silver foxes that were domesticated just a few generations by selecting and breeding for positive behavior towards humans (and also started to look more doglike in the process!). Our...
Continue readingDog Days
We started off our dreary Monday morning by enjoying some breakfast food and watching dog development videos (the socialization period starts around 3-4 weeks, when the pups’ eyes open and they can hear, and lasts only until about 12 weeks!). We then got on the bus and headed off to our first park, Timber Creek!...
Continue readingDogs!
Today we started our adventure of DOGGO exploration. We went to Monster Pets and learned about dog nutrition and the marketing of different foods. The presenter, a dog trainer and dog food company rep, shamed Mr. Sussman about his food choice (and advocated for a certain dog food company that employed her!) while also educating...
Continue readingOur last day with pups!
Today we traveled to Wildwood to attend a dog show. We saw lots of different types of dogs! The takeaway for our week of studying canine social intelligence is summed up in the following question, to which we asked students to respond: Canines are unique among non-human animals in establishing strong social ties with...
Continue readingPuppies on Patrol
Today we visited the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. It is a research center that trains scent working dogs, including cancer detection dogs, diabetes detection dogs, search and rescue dogs, bomb detection dogs, and more. We got a tour of the facilities. We even got to help socialize the 8 week old German...
Continue readingOf bulldogs and border collies … and shelter dogs
Yesterday’s destinations were visited by different groups; we had some canine visitors to cheer us!...
Continue readingEnglish Setters and Shelter Dogs
Today started off when we met Alex Van Meter (19) and Abigail Van Meter (14), who showed up to talk to us about handling and showing dogs with their champion English Setter dogs, Juniper and Haley. They are both prize winning Junior Handlers. Alex showed us how to pose the dogs and what was...
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