COMMITTED CANINE

Dolly is a sister to Rock and Riff. She was raised by her owner, and is back with us for Custom Training.

Here are some videos of a recent trip to Menard’s for Public Access training.

Several Skills:

• Drop the Leash while walking
• Verbal Down on quiet command (no hand signal or leash correction)
• Refrain From Triggering on a Fidgety Handler or Moving leash
• Prompt Take-off on quiet command (no hand signals or leash corrections)
• Relaxed, tight circle heeling

Negotiating Challenging Stairs:

• The stairs in this situation are:
  • OPEN, which offer more challenge for a dog
  • made of heavily slip resistant, perforated metal
• Watch Dolly match the pace of the handler during ascent and descent
• Observe Dolly paying attention to the handler’s needs

Physical Aptitude, Confidence and Trust in the Handler

Teaching Dolly to remain calm and relaxed while mounting and then riding a moving cart helps her to develop motor skills, self-confidence and trust in her handler.

Environmental & Handler Distractions

In this video, Dolly experiences environmental distraction like passing shoppers and a worker moving a large cart down a nearby isle. Additionally, she is subjected to a fidgeting handler, a leash that is under her legs, and the fact that any security she might feel being “connected” to her handler via the leash is gone. In order for a person with a disability to be able to negotiate normal life (like shopping trips in public places), we feel it’s necessary to expose a dog-in-training to all types of distractions to help her become calm and relaxed regardless of all types of distractions.

Walking Calmly Next to a Shopping Cart

Whether it’s a shopping cart, baby stroller, walker, cane or another person, a Service Dog must be able to partner with the handler and adjust to changing circumstances.

Ignoring Habits

We all love consistency – dogs as much as people. As dog trainers, that attention to consistency can become a bad habit that a dog may learn to expect from the trainer. One of those a trainer might develop is to quickly praise / pet a dog at the “end of an exercise.” In Real Life, there’s no “end to an exercise.” There’s just “moving through life.” In this clip, after the Leash Drop “exercise,” Robert refrains from petting Dolly when they come to a stop. She wasn’t ruffled and she didn’t attempt to seek praise. Then, again during the Drop the Leash practice, rather than coming to a “standard stop,” Robert decided to turn and face Dolly, which a dog could consider a bit odd. Again, Dolly remained calm, relaxed and compliant.

Everyday Life

Service Dogs can assist people in many ways. The ADA requires that they are trained to perform tasks which help mitigate a disability of a person with a disability. However, much of the time, they just need to stay calm and relaxed with their person as she moves through daily life. If the dog were to require constant attention or feedback from the handler, the benefit of having the dog could easily become a burden. This video shows a little snip-it of how we expect a dog to ‘partner’ with her handler; a person who wants to be able to actually shop for things in a store, not have to constantly focus on the dog’s behavior.