A message from the director and co director:

We want to address the current issue with PAD Biscotti, as we’re sure if most of you haven’t heard yet, you will soon. Although it is extremely rare for PAD to ask for a dog to be returned from a team, due to concerns about Biscotti’s well being and continued training, we picked him up today. We’ve had many conversations to attempt resolve numerous safety issues over the past 5 weeks. Due to the fact that we were unable to get adequate cooperation, we finally had to intervene to ensure the dog’s health and safety. PAD Biscotti will be seen by our veterinarians, and when cleared for work we will re-evaluate his ability to continue in training. We hope that you all understand how devastating this is for everyone involved, especially Biscotti.

Sincerely,

Linzey Zoccola and Cory Grimm

Biscotti has been on medical leave since returning to PAD.  During this leave, we’ve been giving him a lot of wonderful time to be a puppy, including food toys, snuggles in bed and long walks.  His volunteer Puppy Trainers are going a great job at this important break.

Biscotti is learning to walk on a Gentle Leader, while still working on loose leash lessons on his collar, this will allow his trainers to handle him safely.  Gentle Leaders are wonderful tools, and we will use them also with partners that need additional safety measures taken with their dogs.

<This weekend they took Biscotti on a long walk around a beautiful cemetery across the street from his Puppy Trainers home.  He is learning quickly that the Gentle Leader is not a bad thing, and we are so proud of their work!  Though Biscotti has returned to us with significant behavioral set backs surrounding fear, his trainers are working through them and we hope he will continue to make great progress and soon be back to the confident and social Labrador we know he is.

On Tuesday, Biscotti will undergo surgery to have a growth removed from his lip. So today, he had two very important visitors over for a play date Рhis littermates Rogue and Squeak!  Rogue and Squeak are not in training to be service dogs, but are wonderful loved pets.   The litter will be 8 months old on the 9th of May, and it was great to catch up while they romped in the 3/4 acre of fenced in grass at PAD.

We will be posting updates as he recovers, his health improves and we evaluation him for continued assistance dog training