Brigadoon Service Dogs

We're delighted to announce that Brigadoon is now a proud member of the Seahawks?#TaskForce12?for the 2024/25 season! This is a group of twelve Washington based non-profits who are dedicated to aiding veterans & active duty individuals throughout Washington state. We are excited to collaborate with the Seahawks this season to show our solidarity with our veterans! Go Hawks! #12s?#veterans?#salutetoservice?#gohawks?#taskforce12?#seattle?#seahawks?#seattleseahawks?#nfl?#brigadoonservicedogs

***WE ARE TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO NEW APPLICANTS*** Over the last two months we have received over 150 submissions from prospective clients. Due to our limited capacity, we need to take time to carefully review all of the submissions. If you have completed the initial eligibility screening, you can expect to hear from us in the coming weeks for any next steps. For those who have not yet completed the screening, we anticipate being able to accept new perspective applicants once again towards the end of 2024. Thanks for considering Brigadoon!

Boost the Brigade! Join the Brigadoon Brigade and help our mission with your recurring gift! The Brigadoon Brigade is made up of our most loyal and valued partners. For twenty years we have been a Whatcom County and Washington State success story. With your on-going support, we can continue to grow in our ability to serve those whose lives are transformed with the assistance of our service dogs. Your Small Monthly Gift Makes a Huge Difference By making automatic donations every month at any level, we are able to plan and budget more efficiently in order to raise and train even more of these amazing dogs and help our community grow together. Choose how much and how long you would like to donate, change the amount, or cancel at any time. Become part of the Brigade today and watch your donation help change a life! https://buff.ly/3vK2SKj

Today we officially launch our new logo and website (www.brigadoondogs.org). A significant refresh to celebrate our 20th anniversary this year after nearly two decades in service to the community. Check it out and follow us on Facebook and Instagram!

Tomorrow is a big day at Brigadoon! We are excited to welcome you to our Open House between 11:00-3:00PM. If you haven't already RSVP'd, remember to do so using this link: https://buff.ly/3v2mOYr Just a reminder, service dogs only please, no personal pets. ???? ?? ?? We are also launching our rebrand and new website first thing tomorrow morning! ?? As part of our 20th anniversary, we've reimagined our look and digital presence and are excited to finally be able to share it with you! We also thought it would be fun to raise one dollar for every day we’ve been in operation to help support the many efforts that produced our spring graduating class! So stay tuned, lots of exciting things happening this weekend!

Happy #TrainingTuesday ?????? Today we’re addressing the last letter in puppy TACOS ?? Remember, TACOS is an acronym used within the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) for foundational dog behaviors that we’ve adapted within our puppy raising program. The final letter in TACOS is S, which stands for Settling ?? Teaching puppies how to settle, or to calmly relax in a designated space, is an important aspect of their training and overall well-being. Service dogs need to be able to be relaxed and restful across many settings: at home, in public, when things are going on around them, when they are alone, when crated, when leashed, and so on. In public settings, we often need our dogs settled in “standby” mode, while the handler focuses on what they need to take care of. This is different from having the dog in a cued down-stay, where the pup is engaged and waiting for the next cue. Dogs that are patiently relaxing without leaving their handlers or acting inappropriately are demonstrating an essential skill that looks easy, yet is harder for most dogs than focusing when the handler is “working them” by asking for cued behaviors. It makes us so happy to see Clover, Hope, Yume, Benjamin and Fortune settle so nicely! https://lnkd.in/gDpNreJz?

With this week’s #TrainingTuesday ?????? we’re continuing our focus on puppy TACOS ?? TACOS is an acronym used within the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) for foundational dog behaviors that we’ve adapted within our puppy raising program. The fourth letter in TACOS is O, which stands for Offering and Operant. We want our puppies to be eager to explore the training environment and offer new behaviors. The dogs learn that in some training contexts, especially a formal training session, we want them to act first or “offer” behavior. We don’t want them to stand around waiting for us to cue them or to be lured. Training is a dialogue between the learner (dog) and teacher (person), not a series of one-way instructions. Using?clicker training, our trainers will then be able to click and treat any number of behaviors based on what they are trying to teach the pup in that session. In shaping, we can click the puppies for small behaviors that eventually progress to a more complex goal behavior. In our example, Patriot is being shaped to put his head through his harness. The puppies learn that their own movements or actions will earn them reinforcement. This is the hallmark of operant conditioning. An “operant” dog understands that his own behavior drives consequences. Actions ‘make’ the click and treat happen. The pups will then continue to offer the behaviors that they believe earned those clicks and treats, allowing us to start adding a cue to pair with the goal behavior. Through clicker training, we can teach many new cued behaviors while having fun with the pups! https://lnkd.in/g4-_fu7h

Happy Tuesday everyone! We’re halfway through puppy TACOS ?? with this weeks’ #TrainingTuesday ?????? Remember, TACOS is an acronym used within the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) for foundational dog behaviors that we’ve adapted within our puppy raising program. The third letter in TACOS is C, which stands for Cues, or Cueing ??? Cues are?a signal to the puppy that now is the time to do a particular behavior, and that they can receive reinforcement for doing the behavior that has been cued. It’s important that the puppies learn the association between individual cues and corresponding behaviors. Throughout the training process, our dogs are expected to be able to acquire new cued behaviors and differentiate between them. The puppies are learning the general concept that the cue given—typically a verbal one—matters.?For example, we want the pups to learn that when we say “sit,” they will get reinforced for sitting and not for lying down.?The puppies also learn that in many situations, especially when in public, they should wait for a cue from their handler rather than guessing or taking action. Watch as Hope practices “touch”, “sit”, “stay”, “come” and “bed”. We first introduce several foundational cued behaviors and have the puppies practice distinguishing between them before adding additional cues and behaviors.?Our service dogs will learn to perform and distinguish between more than 40 different cued behaviors by the time they graduate! https://lnkd.in/gBd7FPUa

Happy #TrainingTuesday ?????? Let’s keep it going with puppy TACOS ?? Remember, TACOS is an acronym used within the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) for foundational dog behaviors that we’ve adapted within our puppy raising program. The second letter in TACOS is A, which stands for Attention ?? It’s essential that puppies learn to give attention to their handler. Training requires a puppy that is looking for connection and information from their human partner. Giving attention is a prerequisite behavior for nearly all training! Our puppies learn that the “default” mode for being in a class setting or in a public space (“working mode”) is to give attention to their handler. For everyday life, we teach the puppies to respond to their names, come when called, check-in on their own, and make eye contact on cue. Paying attention is also necessary for loose-leash walking skills, as the puppies learn to pace their handlers & adjust to changes in direction or speed. We also practice releasing the dogs from having to give attention to allow them to play or sniff and then requesting attention again. As reinforcement, we can both give a treat and let the puppy go back to playing or sniffing good smells. This teaches our pups to focus when needed and provides them with clearer communication about when it’s perfectly fine for them to remove attention from us to enjoy other things in life. Our pups enjoy giving (and getting) attention so much that we often joke that they need a “go away” cue.??? You can see that Yume, Hope, Benjamin and Koda were doing a great job at giving attention last week while training in a busy grocery store. https://lnkd.in/g8ajZjNe

Sadly not every dog we induct into our program will make it to being placed with a client for a life of service. Patriot, a seven month old Lab started with us, but as he was progressing through training we noticed he was fearful of unexpected and sometimes sudden stimuli. In Patriot’s case that could be a single or double bark sometimes when seeing a new person or the erratic movement of a young child. While we attempted behavior modification through force-free training methods and positive reinforcement during those situations, it was soon obvious to us that a life of service was not in Patriot’s future. That would have been too much to ask of him, and an unnecessary stressor for a client. Dog welfare is paramount to us, and for that reason we carefully screened a number of applicants to find the absolute best environment possible for Patriot to live his best life. He will be an incredible addition to their family, and will have an environment where he can live comfortably and without fear. Those interested in providing one of our release dogs a similar safe and loving forever home can submit the application found on our website to [email protected]. We keep applications on file for one year to be considered for future dogs released from our program. Congratulations Patriot!!!