WIN WIN WIN: Bootcamp to More than a Shelter

Bringing home a new puppy is guaranteed to bring limitless laughter and continuous cuteness.  It is also sure to involve forever fine-tuning and additional adjustments in the homes of the new families. At the Cochrane & Area Humane Society (CAHS), the ultimate goal of saving lives begins and ends with education for success.  The outcome is a win-win-win: for the animals, their potential homes and the staff and volunteers within the shelter.   

Because we know puppies will be puppies, in March CAHS held a Volunteer-Puppy Bootcamp, put on by Vanessa Fischbuch, Certified Professional Dog Trainer at the CAHS. 

Susan Spooner, one of the volunteers in the camp, was impressed with the “wealth of knowledge” offered by Fischbuch.

“The puppies benefit from the consistent individual training and volunteers have a wonderful opportunity to learn training techniques from an expert, as well as getting lots of puppy love,” said Spooner. 

Cultivating this culture where knowledge holds the power for long-term happy-forever-afters is a key component of what makes CAHS more than a shelter. 

During the intensive two-week training, volunteers and their matched puppy learned valuable foundations of obedience and socialization skills through positive reinforcement and consistency.  The volunteers were able to foster or spend extra time with their assigned pups outside of the training.  This practice created an opportunity for the volunteers to experience first-hand how profoundly they can make a difference in the lives of an animal, and how quickly a puppy can learn. 

The reward was the results. The advances that were made within a very short time were substantial.  Drifter, who was shy, came out of his shell; Cheerio who was older, was able to enjoy some much needed one on one time; and the four Sporty Puppies developed manners that will help them flourish in their new homes.  At the same time, our volunteers gained valuable skills to assist even more animals in the future, in the shelter and in their own lives.

If you are interested in volunteering with the dogs at the shelter, please visit our website or email volunteer@cochranehumaen.ca and start making a difference today.  Whatever your animal skill-set is, CAHS will provide many opportunities to help you help us help the animals win-win-win.

The four sessions were designed to help set the puppies up for adoption success through the development of obedience: attention, sit, down, come, loose leash walking and recall and life skills: socialization, handling, food bowl etiquette, play, behavior, boundaries, relationships and manners. 

If you have added a new furry friend to your home, CAHS offers a wide variety classes and seminars.  To find the right one for you please contact us at 403-932-2072 or view our classes at www.cochranehumane.ca

By Janaia Hutzal