Sophie is sitting so nicely next to her handler. Great job Sophie! Keep up the excellent work!
I always tell people that every time I am with a service dog I am training. I am either training for good behavior or I am training for the kind of behavior I don’t want. A great example of this statement is actually happening at my house right now. My daughter’s young service dog in training is tethered to my desk. She doesn’t like the fact that she is stuck there because she knows that one of our other service dogs is enjoying a tasty bone down the hall in the laundry room. She has started to whine and bark and with each passing moment she is getting louder and louder.
Now I have two choices, one will help fix her undesirable behavior and the other will cause her behavior to get much worse. The correct choice is to ignore her, don’t talk to her, and don’t look at her until she is quiet. The choice I want to make is to yell at her, to tell her to be quiet because quite frankly she is driving me insane! I will resist this temptation because in the long run it will only make her bark louder and longer the next time. Dogs are kind of like kids. They are looking for attention and they don’t really care whether the attention they get is positive or negative.
Finally Silence!
Since I began working on this post about 5-10 minutes have passed and Talia has just stopped barking. She is lying down on her dog bed next to my desk. Now is the perfect opportunity to teach her how to get the attention she so desperately desires. I take a moment to look over at her and tell her “good girl, good quiet”. I may even walk into the kitchen and get her a small treat if she can maintain her silence for ten minutes or so. Then again, I may not give her anything except praise, but because I resisted the incredible temptation to yell at her, the next time she is tethered to the desk and starts barking it will take a lot less time for her to quiet down.
Waiting by the door to embark on the days journey.
This brings us to our most recent field trip to the Park Meadows Mall. Many of my friends make the mistake of thinking that service dog training starts the minute we get to class or arrive at a field trip destination but that assumption would be incorrect. Depending on how far along the dog is in their training it may start by having them retrieve their leash and vest or it may start by having them stand patiently while I get them dressed. Then we proceed to the next step, getting out the door. All of my dogs are expected to wait patiently at ALL doors and let their human go through the doorway first! Making sure that the human enters the doorway first is incredibly important to the hierarchy of the pack. If I have a dog that is having a hard time with this concept I just shut the door and start over. I will repeat this process as many times as it takes until they “wait” where they are supposed to. Once I cross the threshold I will give them the “okay” to follow me out the door.
Safety first!
The next training opportunity on any outing is the car ride. In my opinion, ALL dogs should lie down or wear a dog seat belt while riding in a vehicle. It is just a matter of safety for both the human and the dog. If you just happened to be involved in a car accident or suddenly needed to slam on your brakes, you and your dog will be much safer if your dog is lying down. I am very opinionated about this particular subject and whenever possible I prefer that my dogs lie behind the front seat of my vehicle on the floor. It really doesn’t take much time to teach a dog this skill. It does take a little patience but most of all, like everything else we teach our dogs, it just takes a lot of consistency. You never know someday the effort you put into this may save a life. In fact it may save your life or the life of your dog.
Tori, patiently awaiting her turn to exit the vehicle.
Upon arriving at our destination my service dog must exit the vehicle appropriately. For my service dog in training this means that he should stay in the vehicle, even with the door open until I tell him that it is “okay” for him to exit. If my dog is having a difficult time understanding that he needs to wait I just go ahead and shut the door and start over. Just like any other door I repeat this as many times as it takes. Again this is more than just good manners, it is also very important to the safety of your service dog.
Duntada giving a perfect example of how service dogs should lie beneath the table whenever possible.
On this particular outing we were all meeting up inside the mall near the entrance to Macy’s. Seven service dogs and their handlers were able to attend. It was a great turn out considering how close it was to the holidays. Our assignment was to walk our service dogs around the mall which gives them the opportunity to work on unusual sights, unusual sounds, and their crowd skills. Our next task was to ride the elevator up to the second floor. We all met up at the food court where we were assigned the task of walking up and down the aisles while our service dogs resisted the temptation to clean up all the food that had been spilled on the floor. Every dog there, including the puppies, must have done an awesome job resisting temptation because I did not see any of the dogs get even one bite. We finished up the day by visiting amongst each other while enjoying a refreshing cold drink.
