"He is a Goldador," said Jenn Rissler, who is raising Honor, a four-month-old puppy for Phoenix Assistance Dogs (PAD). Honor, who is all black except for one white spot on his stomach, does not look much like a gold breed of anything, but Rissler is quick to pull up photos of Honor's mom, a white golden retriever, and his dad, a black Labrador retriever.

Rissler became a volunteer puppy raiser for PAD in January, when she received a dog that was soon deemed too fearful for assistance work and released to become a pet. Her second dog, Colby, moved on to his next phase of training toward becoming a school facility dog in early August. "Children are (Colby's) passion, and Linzey didn't want to train that out of him," explained Rissler. Linzey is Linzey Zoccola, who founded PAD in 2009. Zoccola believes it is important to match a dog's personality to the type of work he will be doing in the future.

Rissler has been working to train Honor since he came to live with the Rissler family at 13 weeks of age. He was housebroken within about three weeks of arrival. Basic commands are next, including learning to touch her hand with his nose, a command trainers can build on to teach Honor to open a door. "He knows 'sit' and 'down,'" said Rissler, who explained that Honor is learning to sit patiently under her legs in a restaurant. He also knows the commands "leave it" and "off." Treats are handed out liberally during this stage of training.

In addition, Rissler takes Honor to two PAD training sessions each month - one private and one group lesson. She has worked with both Zoccola and PAD trainer Terri Willner. Rissler is also tasked with taking Honor into the community. "Experiences are vital," she said, noting that she has taken Honor to restaurants and on a trip to Pittsburgh. While he is out and about, Honor wears a special vest with a no-pull harness underneath and a Martingale collar.

"(Puppies in training) are allowed basically everywhere," said Rissler, who added the pups have the same rights as service dogs, providing they are not causing issues.

Support from PAD during the puppy-raising experience has been plentiful, according to Rissler. "Linzey sends out information regularly about infections going around," she said, adding that there is a PAD Training Club on Facebook where information for puppy raisers is posted. "There are videos, things to read, modules to learn from, and housebreaking tips," said Rissler. "There's a lot of support."

For his part, Honor has proven himself to be very teachable. "He is easy to train. He's so intelligent," said Rissler, who added that as a dog lover, she has been excited to learn about high-reward treats and scatter training techniques, which she can now use with other dogs.

Readers who would like to learn more may visit http://padcentral.org or search for "Phoenix Assistance Dogs" on Facebook.