#CookPupdate: Charlie Bear is on track for December graduation

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard news about our Charlie Bear, and we’re happy to report that he’s been one busy pup!

Since we last heard from our friends at the Indiana Canine Assistant Network (ICAN), Charlie completed his Level 1 and 2 training at the Pendleton Correctional Facility and is now finishing his training at the Indiana Women’s Prison. Here, Charlie will start learning the most advanced tasks and client-specific skills that will prepare him to be the companion of someone with special physical or emotional needs. This includes skills such as opening doors, picking up dropped items, providing balance, turning light switches on and off, and finding help when needed. Charlie will also learn the invaluable skills of alerting to low blood sugar and interrupting a repetitive motion of a child with autism or the panic attack of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Just like when he was in the men’s prison, Charlie leaves the women’s prison every few weeks and stays with an ICAN volunteer so that he can continue to develop social skills and be in the everyday world. The volunteer he stays with has a diabetic alert dog named Mo, and the two have become best buddies!

Charlie’s new handler in the women’s prison is named Edith. Since Edith hasn’t been with Charlie very long, Sean Diamond, ICAN’s director of training, gave us a quick summary on how he’s doing:

Charlie is now a 19 month-old “young man” and is progressing in his maturity and training very, very nicely. He has been moved from Pendleton to Indiana Women’s Prison in Indianapolis to focus on advanced cues and prepare for graduation. He is right on target to graduate in December of this year. We will identify the type of placement that would be the best fit for Charlie over the next 5-6 months, before we start identifying specific applicants.

He knows in the neighborhood of 30 to 34 cues at this time and is moving on to advanced Level 3 cues. Those will include retrieves off the floor, off of tables, retrieves out of a refrigerator and/or cabinet, opening and closing doors, drawers, etc. It will include pulling objects such as a laundry basket, cane, walker, etc. to people. It will also include “find help,” which is when he needs to go alert someone else that the client needs help and nudges that person until they follow him to the client. These are just a few of the cues he is beginning to be taught at this time.

He is a very friendly dog to adults and children. He does well with other dogs. If there is one behavior that we are focusing on improving the most leading up to graduation, it is calm greetings. He is excited to see people and dogs, but we are currently focusing on him not going forward on the leash to greet anyone and putting stimulus control on the behavior where he is greeted when the handler allows…and the people come to him so he doesn’t go forward on leash. This is a crucial behavior for mobility and balance assist clients.

Charlie is an easy dog to manage and he is a pleasure to teach as he processes information well and enjoys the interaction with the person, which makes teaching so much easier. He does very, very well in stores, restaurants, and other public places.

We are looking forward to working towards placement with an applicant this fall and graduation in December. Thank you for all your support of Charlie and ICAN!

We’re also excited that it’s now possible to give Charlie a snuggle whenever you want! For a limited time, Charlie stuffed animals will be available through the Cook Store.