It's a new week at Doggie Do Good,

and the puppies are back on campus.

(upbeat music)

A week is an eternity in the life of a puppy,

and if any dogs haven't been working hard

on their studies, it'll show.

Only the best pups will one day graduate Puppy Prep.

(upbeat music)

Last week, the trainers noticed

eight month old Kaya preferred the company

of people to other dogs.

This week, it's beginning to look like more of the same.

After a brief hello to the people, however,

she begins to play with the other pups;

a good sign for her socialization.

The biggest change this week is with the oldest pup;

the dog formerly known as Deacon.

Like many of the dogs here,

Deacon already has a family waiting

for him to finish training.

Graduation is never assured,

but if he passes he'll be going to his forever

family in only two weeks.

Over the weekend, that family informed

Doggie Do Good that they want to

name their dog (sighing) Demian.

This isn't unusual.

Dogs sometimes go through several names

before getting their permanent name,

and for the pups it's actually not that big of a deal.

The trainers begin transitioning a dog

to a new name by using both.

For instance, when they want the newly

christened Demian to come, trainers will say:

- [Karyn] Deacon, Demian, Deacon, Demian, come.

And when the dog reacts,

they praise the dog using its new name.

After as little as a few days,

the trainers can begin to drop the old name,

and just call for Demian.

- Good boy, good come Demian.

Demian release.

After some morning exercise,

the dogs leave the paddock for some down-stay drills.

(light music)

German shepard Tank seems distracted.

It appears Karyn has a treat.

While Kaya and Luke are only mildly

interested in the feline,

Tank can barely contain himself.

This isn't new.

During the coming months Tank will need

to work on better suppressing his prey drive.

His future family needs to count on him

staying focused when he encounters other animals.

The moment that trainer Nece is distracted,

Tank makes a move,

but he never had a chance.

Karyn releases the cat, but Tank is shook.

It'll be a while before he can regain focus,

losing valuable class time.

(cat meows)

Meanwhile, most of the younger dogs appear to be doing well.

A frisbee may be tempting, but these pups know it's a trick.

As for Remmy, after her tough day

at the beach last week,

Remmy needs to be on her best behavior today.

It's not looking good.

Trainer Karyn fetches the eight month old golden

and puts her back into down-stay.

Remmy should be growing out of this behavior by now.

If she continues to break like this

over the next few months,

the trainers will have some difficult

conversations about her continued enrollment.

If Remmy's in search of a roll model,

Demian's her guy.

He, too, used to have problems staying still,

but now, even when he's not laying down,

he holds his ground.

Even when Paul claps for him,

until he hears the word release,

Demian knows to stay.

- [Paul] Demian, release.

Demian knows he did well.

He has a family waiting for him,

and they're counting on this training

to help them for years to come.

One woman who's thankful for that training is Kallie.

Kallie is blind on her right side,

and after being struck by a car she never saw coming,

she knew getting a service dog could save her life.

Doggie Do Good took Kallie's needs

and trained Belgian Malinois Canaan

to meet them perfectly.

Maybe you didn't notice, but all the pups

in training learned to heel on the left side of a person.

Canaan, however, was specially trained

since a pup to walk on the right.

This way, he can move in front of Kallie

if something is about to hit her.

At 10 years old, Canaan is around

the age of retirement for most service dogs.

When it's time for Canaan to hang up the harness,

he'll live out the remainder of his days

loved by Kallie and her family as a non-working pet.

To get dogs like Canaan comfortable around traffic,

the puppies need to take field trips like the one today;

to the bus station.

Not all field trips can be to the beach.

No matter what, a new location means

another local flavor of grass to sample,

and also new challenges.

They may seem boring to us,

but buses are a common reason puppies

flunk out of service dog school.

The loud noises,

(bus hisses)

cramped spaces,

and sudden movements are all huge challenges for a puppy.

If a dog can't become comfortable around a bus,

there aren't many options left

for a puppy other than expulsion.

While they wait to work with the trainers around

the buses, the pups hold tight near some benches.

If a puppy were to break from their down-stay

and run into traffic, it could be fatal.

Because of this risk, all of the dogs

are tied up during down-stay.

Even someone as far along in their schooling as Deacon.

Demian. I meant Demian.

One of the first to take a lap around the buses is Luke.

As the bus makes noises, Luke is curious but not frightened.

This is a great reaction from the eight month golden.

However, being calm around the buses is only step one.

Luke still needs to be able to work.

Even though it's loud, he keeps checking in

with the trainer to make sure he's not missing

any commands he otherwise wouldn't be able to hear.

One such command is alert.

Alert is triggered by an alarm on the trainer's watch.

And while it's difficult to make out with all

the commotion, Luke is focused enough to hear it.

Another of Luke's special abilities is pressure therapy.

Pressure can help calm those with anxiety or PTSD attacks.

Since an episode can happen anywhere,

even at a bus station, Luke needs to

always be ready to spring into action.

Great work, Luke.

Meanwhile, back with the dogs in down-stay,

trainer Paul works with Kaya on her new skill.

Steady.

It's only been a week since she was

introduced to the command at the beach,

but she is learning fast.

The dog with the most experience with steady is Demian.

- [Paul] Steady.

Today, however, he's

practicing his get-it command.

And Karyn is not making it easy.

A slick flashlight.

A measuring cup.

Even an oversized mug.

All pose challenges but Demian is persistent.

His ability to perform his most complex actions

with all the distractions of the bus station

means he's still on track to graduate in two weeks.

Keep it up, Demian.

It's Benelli's turn by the buses.

At only six months old,

Benelli is the youngest of the puppies,

and the most likely to be frightened.

To comfort her, Paul has brought her favorite toy.

At first, she's able to retrieve it with no problem.

But when the loud bus starts up,

there's a noticeable change in the pup.

Benelli doesn't finish the retrieval

and begins to move away.

It doesn't take long, though, for the puppy

to become used to the sound of the engine,

so she gets back to her drills.

Suddenly, a new noise.

(bus hisses)

Benelli drops her toy, gets low to the ground,

and begins to retreat hard.

Her only focus is getting away from the bus.

Paul recognizes she's scared and immediately

tries to encourage the chocolate lab with her favorite toy.

But Benelli doesn't respond.

Paul gets down to Benelli's level and begins to pet her.

Even still, her only focus is getting away from the bus.

This is a puppy completely shut down.

Her tail is tucked and she's lost all focus.

Paul tries to bring her back online by

rewarding her for simple down commands,

but she continues to ignore her toy.

A new toy gets Benelli's tail wagging again,

but she's still distressed.

As Benelli tries to crawl under Paul,

it becomes clear the only way to get

Benelli feeling better will be to remove her

from any sight of the bus.

Finally away from the noises of the buses,

Benelli is soon back to her playful self.

When it's time for her to go back to down-stay,

she's exhausted.

Hopefully this was just a temporary setback for the lab.

If she can't learn to face her fear of buses,

there's no way she'll pass service dog school.

Mr. Pip, it's your turn.

The undeniable Mr. Pip has had issues

with loud noises in the past.

So if he experiences any of the sounds Benelli did,

it could spell disaster for the Yorkie.

Right away he's reluctant,

and a treat from trainer Karyn works only for a moment.

When she kneels down to his level, however,

Mr. Pip discovers some courage.

Mr. Pip, this is not what a good heel looks like.

Because it shows confidence,

something Mr. Pip has struggled with in the past,

the trainer lets him pull ahead sometimes.

Unlike his bigger classmates,

Mr. Pip poses no threat of pulling his future

owners into a dangerous situation.

So go ahead and tug.

Way to make your size work for you, Mr. Pip.

Now, it's our favorite wild card's trip by the buses, Remmy.

To everyone's surprise, the eight month old

golden is doing well.

That is, until (bus hisses).

The noise frightens not just Remmy,

but trainer Karyn as well.

At first, it looks like a similar situation to Benelli.

Remmy's tail is tucked and she looks around nervously.

Unlike Benelli, however, Remmy continues

to sniff around and engage with her trainer,

even next to the tire.

When the bus makes the noise again,

Remmy responds better,

and she continues to sniff curiously.

Still, her tail remains tucked,

even when the bus pulls away.

As she approaches a turned off second bus,

the memory of the earlier noise has her scared.

Remmy will have to overcome this newfound

fear of tires to stay in service dog school,

so Karyn drops treats to build the golden's bravery.

Even though she's still nervous,

Remmy's bounced back wonderfully.

Unlike Benelli, she's stayed by the buses the whole time;

a great sign for the young pup.

Finally, it's Kaya's turn.