Service Dog Positioning

Service Dog Positioning Skills

Service dogs (SD) need to be able to move in a variety of positions to be out of the handler's way and other people that may be around them.  A heel or loose leash walk near their handler is often the most important and sometimes most difficult to train.  Often training a heel becomes so important that people forget to train other positions for being able to direct the SD to an out of the way location in relation to the handler.  I use games to teach my dog to be comfortable in a wide variety of positions and put verbal or body language cues to direct my dog.  Early in the games stage, I try to figure out what might come natural for me to say or do when I want me dog to move to a specific position.  If it comes natural for me, it will be easier for me to be consistent in the cue and it will be effortless to do in public when our SD is fully trained.

This video shows a wide variety of positions Azul learned at a pretty young age.  I taught each position independently, then put them all together for a fun focus building game before we went into a public location for PA training.  I always make a habit of allowing my SD to sniff and potty if needed before going inside a public location.  Then I ask for a few quick positions to make sure he is focused and ready to work before going inside.  When we shot this video, we had another SDiT (Service Dog in Training) with us who needed a few extra minutes of sniffing before entering so we played our position game to help Azul stay in focus for the training session.  The boy in this video is one of Azul's favorite playmates so he is intentionally causing a distraction for Azul so that I can practice working around distractions.

Common Positions

When walking in a heel, I will typically have Azul on my right side.  But sometimes there may be something unsafe or too distracting for Azul so I need him to switch to my left side while we are moving.  I use the cue Switch for this and taught it with a hand target that started behind my back and moved to the side I needed him on.  Along with Switch, we use Follow which means to walk right behind me, commonly when we are moving thru a narrow passage.

Under my legs is a position we use mostly in fun and games, but it comes in handy if we are in a crowded area such as waiting in a line.  I make this an exciting place to be with tons of reinforcement available; treats, tug, praise, etc.  This position becomes a default position so if Azul is scared or not sure where he should be, he quickly moves into this default position.  And currently I'm added this to his recall cue so that when he comes to me away from a distraction, he will run through my legs.

Along with the under position, we work on Azul paying attention to the leash and backing out of position so he doesn't get tangled or trip me.  Since I mostly use a handsfree leash when Azul is working as a Service Dog, it's super important to me that he knows how to prevent leash tangles.  This is easiest for us when Azul walks forward into position and backs out of position.  He can be facing me or facing my back.  We also practice holding this position while sitting, standing, and laying down.  The body cue is simply spreading my feet apart for a wider stance.  At first I made deliberate movements with sound, but now a subtle move is all it takes.  We also practice walking forwards and backwards in this positions.

 

Another common position is a Tuck Under my legs while I'm sitting down.  This is most useful in waiting rooms, restaurants, and locations where we expect to be sitting on a chair or bench for a period of time.  I taught this to Azul at a pretty young age by using a food lure to get him into position several times, then also reinforcing it whenever he offered the position.  This position can vary to fit the seat your sitting position.  If I'm sitting in an open chair, Azul can back into position with his hind end under the chair and his head and front legs between my feet.  He can also go under 2 chairs long ways if we are going out to eat with family so he's completely under chairs instead of taking up feet space at a crowded table.  Or we also use this position under a table in a booth so that other people are not accidently kicking or stepping on Azul.

The Positions Game

This video was recorded during a fun refocusing Position Game at a fairly crowded store.  If Azul is distracted and I need to get him to refocus, we can find a quiet aisle or corner to play this fun game to help him refocus.  The game is designed to rapidly move through several learned positions at a quick rate with lots of reinforcement.  I use hand targets to teach most of these positions, and often use a mix of verbal cues and hand targets during the game.  We always start and end the game in a heel position, then change up the order of the positions I ask for.  This video starts in a heel, does a quick spin and spread of legs for the under position cue.  The mistake I made, is that I didn't wait for Azul to finish the spin before giving the body cue for under so he missed it and I give it a second time.  As he backs out of the under position, I spin and start walking again which implies that he should get back into the heel position.  When he is ready for the next move, he looks up at me to see what's next.  At this point I give him the follow signal and start backing away from him quickly.  This tells him to spin and follow me quickly and we can use this if I see something unsafe or a distraction heading our way and I want to quickly get out of the way before Azul loses focus.  Once we've moved out of the way of a possible distraction, I will start moving forward again which is an automatic cue for Azul to return to the heal position.  This video was recorded with the help of another team, so you may see another dog head appear briefly.  This somewhat represents a distraction we quickly can escape from, but this dog is part of a team that we train with regularly so it's not distracting Azul at all.

Are You Overwhelmed?

 Are you overwhelmed when it comes to training your dog?

Being overwhelmed is a common problem that many dog owners struggle to get passed.  Whether your current dog is more challenging then previous dogs, your current schedule is too much, or your health and well being is not where you'd like it to be.  All of these things lead becoming too overwhelmed to focus on training your dog.  This month my focus is on developing the bond with your dog, becoming the handler/dog team of your dreams.  In this post I'm going to talk about that deeper connection with your dog that you are looking for.  It may seem like the other posts all point to things you may be doing wrong with your dog training.  But this post is going to focus on what you are doing right with your dog training.  Because I'm 100% sure that if you've found your way to my site, that you ARE doing some things right with your dog!  And I'm pretty sure your already doing the #1 action that is most likely to help improve your human-dog bond and develop the teamwork you've always wanted.

Here it is!  Are you ready?  The #1 most important thing that I believe you can & should do with your dog...HAVE A DAILY CONNECTION.  Ok, what does that mean?  This is not a one size fits all kind answer.  You are an individual & your dog is an individual.  You both have different needs.  You both have different skills & abilities.  And you both have different things that you love!  And the trick to being a great team is finding something you both love to do together.  This can be anything from participating in dog sports, hiking through the woods, snuggling on the couch, playing silly games, or really anything that you both love.  As a dog owner, we all go through emotional stages where we feel love for our dogs & feel loved by our dogs.  Then life gets turned upside down, and we wonder if we really are the best person for our dogs or is the dog the best dog for us.  As humans we all have really strong emotions, that often we can't control or understand.  We easily get overwhelmed with trying to do what's best for everyone around us, including our dogs.  We have a great LOVE for our dogs.

But I bet if you really looked at your situation, you would see how much your dog LOVES you!  Animals are far better at showing unconditional love then we are as people.  If someone always shows up late for a meeting or event, we tend to get annoyed.  But if you show up late for a session with your dog, they don't get annoyed because they are happy that we've arrived.  If you leave your dog home, when you return they happily welcome you home.  Now if you always walk your dog at the same time every day then one day your plans change, they will probably let you know you are forgetting something, but they still love to go for that walk when you can fit it into your schedule.  How many times have you had a bad day and then made a grumpy comment to your dog...Go Lay Down! Just stop it!  Enough already!  But you know that as soon as your emotions even out or that stress level you're feeling goes down, your dog will be right there hoping to enjoy some time with you.

Dog trainers frequently make the statement that "You're stress or emotions travel down the leash to your dog.  This is mostly used to refer to fearful dogs, when a known trigger appears we as people tense up and our dogs feel that.  But this also applies to the good feeling emotions that we have.  If you are relaxed, your dog will often relax.  If you are feeling silly, your dog will often do silly things to make you laugh.  If you have a ton of energy from an adrenaline rush, your dog is very likely to match that energy level.  So if you are feeling overwhelmed in a training session with your dog, chances are that dog is going to get overwhelmed real quickly.  Are your frustrated?  Are you confused?  We can't stop it from happening, our dogs are too good at reading our emotions.  So what can we do?  

Another common imagery among dog trainers is to use buckets to keep track of stress levels.  On any given day our "stress bucket" or our "fun bucket" might be empty, overflowing or somewhere in the middle.  As the human part of the team, we can somewhat predict how certain activities will add to certain buckets.  And while we may not be able to control every aspect of the day, we can add to the most important buckets (love, exercise, brain power, confidence) and work to keep the undesired buckets (overwhelm, anxious, fatigue) from overflowing.  And the best way to manage our buckets is to understand which activities add to each bucket.  Again since we are all individuals and so are our dogs, this is not a one-size-fits-all problem.  

This is why we spend 20 weeks each winter doing the Workshop:  Building a Better Bond.  It's not that one week is the awesome, most exciting answer to all your problems.  By participating in the weekly topic for just 5 minutes a day, you can learn more about your connection with your dog finding the activities that work best for your team!  This is exactly why this workshop is great for dogs of all ages, all training levels, all roles within the family, etc.  We start out with very simple goals on Monday that any dog can accomplish.  Tuesday you will receive tips and tricks that can help you make your training sessions better.  Mix it Up Wednesday is where you will learn about games that can help you have fun together as team to accomplish your goals for the week.  All along the way, you can get help troubleshooting any problems you have.  So if you have physical limitations, our admin staff can suggest an alternative way to accomplish your goals.  If you can't find time in your day to do the activities, our admin staff can help you break down the activities to smaller steps that you slide into your day instead of a long training session that your too exhausted to make progress.  All of the admins have their own training styles and limitations, but by working together workshop participants can figure out what works best for their team.  And if your still not convinced that the Winter Workshop will help you and your dog, I recommend that you reach out to the admin team with your questions.  

The 2022-2023 Workshop Admin will include:

Penny Beeman at yooperpaws@gmail.com

Ashlynn Holt at ashlilly2014@gmail.com 

& Elliot Brooks at halcyoncanines@proton.me

For general questions about Workshop registration please email crazy2calmcaninecoaches@gmail.com for assistance.

At the Crazy2Calm Canine Coach Collaborative we are passionate about dog training and doing the best we can for our teammates.

 The Human-Dog Bond

What does it mean to have a healthy Human-Dog bond?  Every dog lover knows that dogs can enrich our lives and make us happier, healthier, and more compassionate.  Science has proven that dogs have a calming effect to their owners whether that's in the form of snuggling on the couch or being the watcher of the house while we sleep.  And if your reading my posts, there is a pretty good chance you are dog lover!  It doesn't take much for us to think of ways that our dogs improve our lives.  

But how do we improve theirs?  I'm pretty sure everyone reading this provides for the basic needs of their dog; food, water, shelter, medical care....the list goes on and on.  

Our dogs show us unconditional love.  Do we show it back to them?  

Do our dogs seem happy?  

What are some of their favorite things to do?

If given the choice, would our dogs choose US as their people?

Those are just a few of the questions we ask ourselves when we think about the bond we have with our dogs.  I've found there are 2 basic types of dog owners:   Those who believe that dogs should do as their told, be seen but not heard, and be ready and waiting to serve us.  And those who believe that dogs should have a full and meaningful life  of doing activities that we both can enjoy together.  Of course there are a few people who tend to be somewhere in the middle, wanting to have it both ways.  

And I'm guessing I just had about half of the readers decided they were not reading this post any further!  (That is their choice and that's fine!)

But for those of you that want to stick around, we can dive deeper into our dog's needs together!

Let's start with food!  I'm sure we all agree that our dogs need food every day.  And I'm sure we all agree that our dogs need food that will keep them healthy and fit.  But there are a few things we disagree on when it comes to feeding our dogs; what to feed our dogs, how often to feed our dogs, should we use a food bowl, should we feed in more enriching ways.  I'm not going to try to change your mind on those issues, because that is personal choice with what works best for your team & family.  But I'm going to encourage you to really think about how and why you feed your dog.  There is a well known dog myth that has to do with possession of the dog food, either I gave my dog the food and I can take back if I want to or never let the dog think that the food belongs to them.  I'm from the generation where we taught as kids to leave the dog alone while they were eating, yet somehow grew into adults that thought it was a demonstration of training to play with dogs or their food while they were eating.  Yep, I'm just going to say it...that was Alpha training at it's worst!  I'm going to challenge all of you to think about how your dog views meal time; is it fun, is it work, is it alone time, can it be a team activity?  Then I'm going to challenge all of you to allow yourself to consider that meal time can be a bonding period between you and your dog.  Who doesn't love going out for coffee or ice cream with a friend!  As people, many of us are social eaters and don't like to eat alone.  Now I'm not saying you need to play with your dog's food!  What I am saying is look for a way to use food, which happens to be a primary motivation to many dogs, as a way to grow a stronger bond.  Just search for K9 Enrichment Ideas and most of what you turn up will have to do with FOOD!  Let's learn how to use meals in our favor.  For me, that means sharing people food, when it's something healthy, with our dogs.  (I take a lot of criticism when I tell people this and I realize that is a personal choice that is not for everyone.)  My dogs know the quickest way to enjoy some of my food is to calmly lay down by my feet while I'm eating.  If they are sitting there drooling or harassing me for attention or a bite of my dinner, I don't share.  But if they are calmly resting nearby and out of the way, I'm going to reinforce that.  Now I'm not saying YOU have to share your dinner with your dogs!  All I'm saying is what can you do to make meal time more enjoyable and have more value added to your relationship during that meal time.

Exercise is another huge need we provide for our dogs.  We take them on walks.  We buy way too many toys for them to play with.  And some of us even schedule doggy playdates for our furry friends.  But when was the last time you put their needs first when you give them exercise?  A really big one that many of us do is walk our dogs.  To many of us means we strap a leash on our dogs, walk at our pace, with our rules, on our path, at our speed, until we decide to go home.  Let's face it, we control most aspects of our dog's exercise time.  Of course it's important for our dogs to learn to walk nicely on a leash without pulling us all over the world.  But is there something you can do to make that exercise time a little more enjoyable for your pup?  For example:  We have lots of places in and around our property where I can walk Azul and Cam staying close to home, so I rotate through those places maybe doing our hillside one day, a side road another day, a nearby snowmobile trail yet another day, then I also take Azul on a wide variety of trails further away from home.  Changing up the location and/or path that you walk can make that time much more enriching to your dog.  Taking a longline walk in an area with reduced distractions, allowing your dog to sniff around and choose which direction to head makes an awesome enriching activity for your dog!  There are many other ways to make walks more enriching and enjoyable.  Take a moment to think about your dog's exercise needs and look for one small change that you can make that will help you both enjoy that time together.

Training is another area where we need to take a step back and look at how we do things.  There are several different training styles; clicker training where you shape behaviors toward the good behaviors you want to see repeated, capturing the good behaviors your dog does automatically with rewards for good behavior, luring your dog into the behaviors you want them to do.  Of course all of these methods are great and add value to your relationship.  But does your dog prefer one method of training to another?  Which method works quicker for your dog?  If you find it hard to find the time to do training with your dog, then your probably tackling your training sessions all wrong.  A great training session is one where both you and your dog are having fun together and both of you are engaged in doing the activity together.  This is something I don't see very many dog trainers focusing on.  Most focus on teaching this skill by doing that activity in a one-size-fits-all approach.  But our dogs are individuals who excel in learning when it's done in a manner that they find reinforcing.  That means the path between Point A and Point B, may not be a straight line!  It's not about reaching the end point, but more about the path you take to get there.  So again, I challenge you to really think about your training sessions...are they fun for you and your dog?  And if not, what can you do to make it more fun!

If you're not sure how to make meal time, exercise time, and training time more fun so that both you and your dog stay engaged and look forward to that time together, then you really should consider joining the Winter Workshop: Building a Better Bond!  The workshop includes 20 weeks worth of activities that you and your dog can do together in just 5 minutes a day, every day.  We run a blog based website and a Facebook group dedicated to this workshop where you can read about the activities, watch videos of each activity, and ask questions to get feedback from our great admin team.  You can join at the Early Bird rate of just $30 if you register in October.  November 1st the price goes up to $50 which is still an amazing deal for the training and support that is available throughout the workshop.  All of the admin team are passionate about using force free training methods to help our dogs be the best teammate they can be!  

#K9Teamwork

#mydogmakesmebetter

#buildingabetterbond