COMMITTED CANINE

Rock is a puppy from our April 2024 litter that we’ve retained for Service Dog training. We breed this specific cross (St. Poodle x Old English Sheepdog) because we’ve found them to be exceptional Service Dogs for both child handlers and adults with a variety of disabilities.

Here’s a short video of Rock’s first trip to a department store for Public Access training. The Farm Store we visited offers free, fresh popcorn to their shoppers. One of the clips in this video shows a shopper turning down the isle where Robert has dropped Rock’s leash and is facing away from him. Of course, as a honed handler, Robert had the “eyes in the back of his head” focused on his dog. The shopper is carrying a bag of hot, aromatic popcorn and, as the photographer, I saw Rock’s nose pick up the scent. Watch the video to see what happened next.

At the end of the video you’ll see Rock working on two different tasks. Pressing an automatic door open device requires that he uses his paw, as these devices can be too difficult to operate by touching it with his nose. He must learn to put his paw as close to the center of the button as possible.

The second tasks that I added to this video asks Rock to touch a device with his nose. In this case, it’s an electronic doorbell button, which when depressed, will ring a sound that can be secured in a remote location (this one comes with quite a good, long range.) We’re teaching Rock to perform this behavior to assist an individual who may need to summons someone who is in a different part of the home or building. I’m very impressed with Rock’s stick-to-it attitude while learning this behavior because, to be honest, I didn’t make it easy. I used the same stand to hold the Door-open button as the Ring-bell button. It was positioned in the same location in the room. The cue “Press it” is quite similar as “Touch it.” And, there were just about three minutes between when I transitioned between working the two behaviors. The key here, is for the trainer to remain quiet, calm and patient while the dog takes the time to think. Rock is brilliant, and I had all the confidence that he’d work through the problem.

We’re having fun training Rock to serve his future handler in any number of different capacities.

Rock is available to serve someone with the following needs: psychiatric, mobility and/or physical support and he’s also in early scent discrimination training (which could be used for diabetic or allergen alert.)

If you are interested in Rock, please CONTACT US.