Mentoring Monday: The steps to becoming an OFP-certified team challenge each of us differently. Since 2012 I have worked with three of my own service dogs, and helped to train hundreds of others. I believe the three common hurdles for every team are developing trust, improving communication, and accepting imperfection. We need to trust our dogs; to do that, we must believe in the program and trust our instructors. We must learn to communicate effectively with our dogs and with other humans. Most challenging, however, is letting go of unrealistic expectations of perfection from ourselves and our dogs. Striving for perfection is the goal of daily training. We will achieve episodes of perfection that will last hours, or only minutes. Enjoying those episodes without requiring constant flawlessness helps us develop a positive relationship with our dogs & the world around us. Please join us today in celebrating NEAR-perfection from our three newest OFP-certified teams: Gilroy Police Officer Odell with therapy dog Maui, and service teams Janet with Jenny, and Alexsondra with Bronson! (fb)

At Operation Freedom Paws, we empower our clients to take an active role in their healing by committing to a 48-week service dog training program. It’s not easy, but it’s life changing. Every client trains their own dog. Every program is 100% free of charge. Every success story is made possible by people like you. Want to help us keep changing lives? Here’s how: Donate Online — https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/OperationFreedomPaws Volunteer — Be part of the team that supports our mission daily Share Our Story — Awareness saves lives #ServiceDogsChangeLives #SupportOurMission #OFPCommunity #CommunityStrong #ThankYou #OperationFreedomPaw #SupportTheMission #OperationFreedomPaws #DonateVolunteerHeal #OFPStrong #ServiceDogsSaveLives #VeteranSupport #Volunteer (fb)