Every aspect of our office was built with you in mind. Our state-of-the-art technology and modern amenities make it easy to give our patients the quality dental experience they deserve. Enjoy coffee or tea from our beverage station, catch up on your favorite Netflix shows with TVs in every operatory, and stay entertained at our iPad bar. Let us know if theres anything else we can do to help you enjoy your visit. Were always looking for ways to improve!
Thrive Family Dental is proud to announce MEADOW, the newest addition to our dental family. MEADOW has received her Rehabilitative Facility Dog Training Certification through paws4people, and were excited to finally have her aboard.Did you know that theres a life-long training process that paws4people uses to train their Assistance and Facility Dogs?
Because of their internal breeding program, paws4people is able to start working with puppies almost immediately. From birth through the first 3 weeks of life, theyre exposed to a variety of neurological stimulation and sensory experiences to foster an ambulatory and exploratory nature. By week 3, the puppies are taught by food motivation, and its not uncommon for them to play independently without much supervision or destruction. They are then weaned off their mother 100% naturally, which shows a reduction in inter-litter dominance.
The first 16 weeks of life can have a permanent impact on a dogs temperament, psyche and trainability. So from weeks 3 to 20, the puppies are exposed to as many positive experiences as possible. A team of volunteers at paws4people take them on outings to expose them to different sights, sounds and textures to help equip them for their specialized training.
From 5 to 15 months, the puppies enter the paws4prisons training program where each puppy is assigned an Inmate Trainer or Inmate Trainer Team. The inmates are responsible for the care and training of each puppy as well as basic and advanced obedience skills.
At 12 months, the puppies choose their partners. The dogs are introduced to several potential clients while staff watch for bonding and matching behaviors. This process is known as a Bump, and were so excited that MEADOW chose us.
From 16 to 24 months, the dogs enter specialized training required to work in facilities. Graduation from this phase completely depends on the maturation rate of the dog. They graduate when theyre ready!
This was the stage where we got to work with MEADOW directly and integrate her into our practice. We were trained on MEADOWs commands and how to best care for her. And we were able to train her on how to work with patients.
Paws4people requires 2 tests before Facility Dogs and their handlers are fully certified. MEADOW passed a full Facility Observation Test to receive her black vest and we received custody of her. A few months later, she passed the same test to show that weve maintained the standards of our training. Thats when she got her green vest and we became an official certified working team! Facility Observation Tests, temperament evaluations, and health inspections will be done annually throughout her career.