Travel Training: Bergin University of Canine Studies

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned that we conduct "Learn to Ride Santa Rosa CityBus" travel training with interested groups. While those are regularly scheduled events, with portions of the class taking place on our buses during their regular services, we also conduct a very special travel training class in conjunction with the Bergin University of Canine Studies, located here in Santa Rosa. Bergin University of Canine Studies is the home of the Assistance Dog Institute, training dogs and people for assisted living situations. They also have programs for people who are learning how to train dogs and train people for assisted living situations. People come from all over the United States, the world even, to attend this program.

Periodically, Santa Rosa CityBus partners with the Bergin University of Canine Studies by providing them with one of our fixed route buses and allowing them to practice with their trainers, their dogs and their clients learning to utilize assistance dogs.

On Tuesday, July 20, one of those practice sessions took place with two trips. Each trip involved approximately 5-6 indivduals participating in the assistance dog boot camp and 3-4 individuals participating in the training instructor program. The individuals practice boarding the bus with their dogs and then the first group is taken on a short trip and returned, where they practice alighting from the bus. The assistance dog boot camp is a two-week program where the client and the dogs must learn 89 commands to function in the world. For many people in this program, this is their first experience on a bus. In the case where buses do not have low floors, the dogs must learn to have their leashes relinquished to the driver while the wheelchair lift is lowered to the street to allow the client to board the bus. In the case where buses do have low floors, the dogs can remain with their owner throughout the process.

This partnership is above and beyond the normal duties of a public transit system, but it is one of the training programs that we love to provide. If we can show people how to use our transit system to provide them with access to opportunities in life, they can feel comfortable learning how to use public transit systems elsewhere.

Learning to use public transit is a valuable life skill and we love to help with that. We also really like to hang out with puppies when we get a chance.