Blog 8: What i have learned so far

1. What have you learned how to do since you started working on your senior project?
Since I began working and researching my topic I have learned that to make a successful guide dog you need to have extreme dedication and focus, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week you will be disciplining and teaching your dog formal G.D.A (Guide Dogs of America) commands. I have also learned that the most effective way to train your dog is to use verbal praise and affection;if you are training your dog with doggy treats he/she will learn to expect a treat after they have followed a command and you won't always have a supply of doggy treats handy and eventually they will become disobedient. Another thing that I have learned is to recognize different types of illnesses depending on what symptoms the dog has.

2. Post evidence of this accomplishment.

3. What research helped you to do this and how?
My research that helped me to achieve this is the G.D.A. Puppy Manuel that.I received when I had my home interview. This Manuel contained a wide range of topics from what to expect as your puppy grows older to what types of toys your puppy is aloud to play with. This Manuel informed me on the diet the guide dog in training should stick to, what illness and diseases I have to be aware of and how and when the formal commands should be used.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1. Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent study component.
   For my independent study i will be raising a guide dog puppy.

2. Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hours work requirement.

  I plan on meeting the 30 hours by becoming a guide dog puppy raiser. When i begin to raise my puppy i will get hands on experience and a first person view on what it actually takes to raise a guide dog.

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your EQ?   

My independent study component relates a great deal to my essential question because in my eq i have to answer the question of how to raise and train a guide dog, so when i get my puppy i will get to personally experience all the hard work that goes into training a guide dog.

Blog 6: Defining the Essential Question

(1) What is your EQ?
What is the best way to raise and train a guide dog?
(2) Define the words in your EQ to make sure we are on the same page regarding what your EQ means.
Best: highest quality, most satisfactory
Train: teaching the traits and characteristics that are expected in a guide dog.
Raise: giving a healthy environment to grow from a 8 week old puppy to a 19 month old young adult. 
(3) What are some possible answers to your EQ so far?
Obedience
Disapline
Companionship
(4) What has been your most important source and why?  Be specific.  If it is a person, name them and what they do, if it is an article, book or video, name the title and author. 
My most important source of information has been the Puppy Manuel that Sandy, my puppy raiser leader, gave me. It contains very valuable information that is relevant to my guide dog puppy, it covers topics such as the formal commands we have to use; heel, leave it, down, sit, to basic things like the proper way of teaching our puppy their name.

Second Interview Questions

For my second interview i am planning on interviewing a guide dog puppy raiser.


1. When did you first become involved with raising guide dogs?
2. What was your reason to becoming a guide dog raiser?
3. How long have you been a guide dog puppy raiser?
4.When you first became a guide dog trainer were you required to take any dog obedience classes?
5. What do you feel after you see your dog graduate and go to a guide dog applicant?
6. From your experience, what do you feel makes a good guide dog raiser?