Service Dog Picnic

Service Dog Picnic!

October 17th from 11am to 1pm

You must RSVP to get the location.

All teams are welcome no matter if you're just starting your Service Dog journey or if your a full working SD Team. 

We will start out with a short walk and/or training exercise. Then stop for calm, settles at picnic tables while we eat. Everyone brings their own lunch or snacks. And don't forget the dog treats for your puppers!

One of the biggest challenges we face is running into undertrained dogs in public places. When Azul was younger, we didn't have other teams to practice with. Now there are multiple teams in this area! So let's get together and help each other out!

There is a suggested $5 donation to attend to cover the costs of training supplies and such. 

Please RSVP via text at 906-399-0548 or email to yooperpaws@gmail.com.

Service Dog Public Access Class

 Announcing the NEW Crazy2Calm Canine Coaches Service Dog Public Access Class!

Yooper Paws of Love is pleased to be partnering with the Crazy2Calm Canine Coaches to bring the SD Public Access Class to all our clients. This class is designed to help Owner Trainers have a smooth transition between training in pet friendly environments to training in NON PET environments such as grocery stores, medical appointments, and public places that typically do not allow dogs.

The Crazy2Calm Canine Coaches are pleased to now offer this virtual class that will include some work at your own pace classroom materials, small group Zoom meetings every 2 weeks, and 1-on-1 support from the trainers.  In this class we will be going over the basic laws that impact Service Dogs, the basic skills and manners that is appropriate for all Service Dogs, and the finer points of making this transition successful for both the Handler and the Service Dog in Training. 

The SD Public Access Class is a designed as a follow up class to the SD Foundations Class that we released last year. The Foundations Class goes over how to teach important skills such as basic targets, basic positioning (heel, middle, tuck), leash manners, stay/settle, and recall. 

The Public Access Class is designed to help the student figure out where and when to use those skills more successfully in public spaces. We will also be going over common challenging topics such as dealing with the public and other general Service Dog Etiquette info. We will also be offering a Public Access Skills Evaluation at the end of the class. While it is not required by ADA for Service Dogs to be certified by an organization, we feel that many teams value the ability to say that a 3rd Party Organization provided an assessment of skills. Therefore we will not be offering a "certification" that your dog is a Service Dog, but will be offering an Evaluation Checklist and Certificate that states your Team has been evaluated and meets the ethical skills & manners of a Service Dog Team.

(While this review and evaluation process is offered to the students in this class, it is not required to complete the class. The evaluation process is also available to SD Teams that are not taking this class!)

The first week will include a release of written materials on Monday, May 22nd! Then the following week on Tuesday, May 30th at 8pm Central will be the first group Zoom session.  If you are unable to participate in the Zoom session, it will be recorded and added to the classroom the day after the meeting.  We will continue this pattern of Week 1: Materials will be released (Mon-Thurs)& Week 2: Zoom meeting (Tues at 8pm Central) will take place for a series of 12 weeks in total. There are 6 total lessons with 2 weeks to work on each lesson.

The cost of this class is $150 for 12 weeks of support via small group and 1-on-1 chats with the trainer.  You will have access to the virtual classroom materials for 1 year after the start of the class.  Scholarships are available if needed so please include that request on your registration form.

Please fill out the registration from below and you will receive an email from one of the trainers with payment information and class details.

Thank you for filling out this registration form!  If you do not hear from us within 48 hrs, please email crazy2calmcaninecoaches@gmail.com for assistance.

Walking with a Service Dog

How do I take a morning walk with my Service Dog Azul?

Very much like any other dog and human would do. You see, some SD Handlers believe that a dog can't learn the difference between a working heel and a free sniff-a-bout kind of walk where the dog is allowed to walk in front, behind, beside you...where ever they want. This video is to demonstrate that dogs can generalize these cues to the environments you train them in.

The key is consistency in your set up.

Here are my simple criteria that tells Azul what to expect. Azul always wears a harness and a short traffic lead attached to his harness no matter what type of walk we are doing. Some handlers will use different gear, an exercise harness for sniffing and a working harness for heeling and increased focus. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact I do this with my younger dogs. But I hate switching gear out so I end up phasing out that gear change.

My walking style predictor is the leash I use, or more specifically the length of leash I use. Places where Azul is free to sniff around I use a 6 ft or longer leash, quite often my homemade 10 ft leash. Places where I want Azul in work mode, I use a leash that is 4 ft or shorter, often an 18-24 inch traffic lead. And no matter where we are walking, my leash is almost always attached to a waist belt or shoulder strap as my hands would frequently drop the leash. The other set of criteria that I train is environmental. Most often outdoors walks are meant for Azul's enrichment and he is free to sniff, while indoor walks are meant for work and he should stay close in his loose heel. There are a few exceptions to this rule. Outdoor places such as exhibit space at an arboretum, conservatory, or memorial garden are working environments with a short traffic leash and heel required. There are also a few pet friendly stores such as the pet store where our main goal is to allow Azul to smell, so here we use a 4-6 ft leash and I follow Azul around unless I need to ask him to avoid a certain aisle or animal. Azul also knows that he has lots of friends at Tractor Supply, Home Depot, and our local library so the chances of me giving him permission to socialize is much higher in these locations then other places. So you see, I'm pretty far from having exact established criteria for walking. I make exceptions all the time! For the most part Azul knows those exceptions in our local environments. But that is also where verbal cues and hand signals come in to play. If I need Azul to do something other then what the leash predicts, a simple cue tells him what I need from him in that moment. Because Azul is a Medical Alert & Response Service Dog, he has to be ready to work pretty much 24/7 no matter what environment we are in. Azul is trained for some light mobility tasks including forward momentum and counterbalance to help prevent me from falling. Due to multiple issues with my disability I fall often which can lead to further complications and his tasks help to reduce that risk.

In this video you can see how he helps me walking down a hill and pulling me a hill. This takes place during our normal morning walk which I would not be able to do without his support. So here he is working for a short period of HIS sniff-a-bout and exploration walk.

Azul has learned to switch back and forth from work mode to play mode at a moments notice. On average he works less then an accumulation of 2 hrs a day but he's always ready. Often the work Azul does goes unnoticed by those around us. That is by design! It's important to me that Azul and I work as a team to take care of each other. That means that I watch out for his needs to explore the environment by planning to spend more time sniffing and looking around in new environments. Azul watches out for my needs by frequently checking in with me to see how I feel and what I need. Often he knows I'm going to need help long before I know I need help.

We are still working to increase those check in's in high distracting environments such as when we are walking with friends or working with clients but as Azul gets older this becomes easier. Adolescence is a long and trying time for both handler and dog. My next blog will focus on using environmental processing to help your adolescent dog be more successful.

Building Up Interactions with Children

Azul loves children and pretty much always has, yet I still needed to approach interactions with youth by training smarter!

Azul was born into a house with 4 young girls and with me he has had lots of experience with my grandkids.  This has helped build his desire to interact with kids.  As a Service Dog, I frequently need Azul to go into public spaces where kids will be present.  And as a Therapy Dog, we often visit places where there are larger groups of children that all want to see him.  Not all dogs will enjoy doing educational presentations with large groups of children or enjoy laying in the library while youth read to them.  For this blog, I'm going to describe the slow approach I took to help Azul increase his love for interacting with children of all ages.

Azul at 4 months interacting with 2 girls on the library stairs while a concert was taking place across the street.  We were sitting at a safe distance far away from the music with just a few people coming and going on the library stairs.  These girls played the Pick One game with Azul!

  

By watching from a distance at parks and community events Azul learned to be calm around larger groups of people with kids running around playing nearby.

 

Azul learned to watch my grandkids playing with a wide variety of toys inside and outside the house.

  

 

Azul learned the cues for when to interact with kids, when to give his focus to the kids, and when he was free to play with this those kids by working with friends and family members on walks, while camping, and during training sessions.

 

Spending the day at a quiet park with my kids & grandkids.  Azul had time to play on the playground equipment with my adult children and relaxed on the bench with me while the kids played.

 

Then we practiced some pre-public access training skills at an ice cream shop with the grandkids.  Azul had previously practiced at quiet, outdoor patios.  But when we were ready to add in more distractions we were able to practice his under my seat tuck with family.  A few months later we were on vacation and had a meal at a picnic area with 18 family members for Azul to ignore.  I allow him to visit with family freely during non-meal time.  However at meal time, even in outdoor environments such as the campground we practice his Service Dog skills of laying under my seat or on a mat beside me.

 

Azul learned to ignore over 22 family members during meal time while we were camping before we went with these same family members into a restaurant as a Service Dog.  This was as much training for the family as it was for Azul.  He had already done quiet restaurant training with 1-2 friends and family members.  But taking this time during a family camp allowed us to set the boundaries of petting and play with all our friends when it was not meal time and totally ignoring everyone (and everyone else not trying to interact with Azul) during meal time.

As an adolescent Azul needed to go back to the park and other outdoor settings to remind him when to interact with people and when to ignore people.  By the time he was 2, Azul had generalized this to pretty much all environments.  This led us to be able to do one of our latest adventures....The Kid's Play Area during a birthday party!

     

 

This environment was far more stimulating then anything we had done before.  At 2.5 Azul is pretty much ready for anything or anywhere I need to go.  He handled this environment far better then I did.  Our next adventure is going to be the aquarium!

I hope you enjoyed this photo blog about building up interactions and the ability to ignore children by starting in low distraction environments and slowly building up.  This is extremely important for training Service Dogs!  If we move too quickly, putting them in environments they have not built up to yet, we run the risk of making them fearful around kids or in those environments.  

It's way more beneficial to Train Smarter, Not Harder! 

 

Independently Training Your Service Dog

 

I have a page on this site filled with SD Tips with links to the laws involving Service Dogs (SD) and various training.  For this blog I want to focus more on some of the personal experiences and hardships that happen when you are disabled enough to need a Service Dog yet want to do the daily care and training yourself.  If you follow any of my social media pages & groups, you'd know that I speak with lots of other SD Handlers around the world and I see many of the same struggles over and over.

Self Doubt

One of the biggest challenges is often getting past the personal struggle of doubting if a Service Dog is really needed.  For years the thought was you had to be blind or in a wheelchair to qualify for your dog.  It seems that it's only been common to use a SD for other disabilities for the last 5-10 yrs.  In fact the Federal Law that covers Service Dogs and defines what a disability means in order to qualify for a SD, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), was signed into law 32 years ago.  It often takes a very long time for a person to admit that they are disabled enough to benefit from the use of a SD in day to day life.  Often times the individual lacks support from 1 or more family members that makes them have self doubt all the more.  Then the interactions with the general public any time you leave the house with your SD adds to this self doubt yet again.  I struggled with this really hard for about a year and still every now and then if I've been having a run of good health I wonder if I really need Azul with me everywhere.

Daily Care

In my opinion, starting with a young puppy is the best way to ensure success in training a Service Dog.  However, many disabled people (including myself) struggle with being able to care for a young pup and adolescent dog that is not yet fully trained.  Costs for routine care are often more then an individual can afford.  A dog has to have certain needs met before you can train them to do anything; food, water, shelter, going out to potty, exercise, enrichment activities, mental stimulation...it all adds up as far as financial cost and physical energy of the main caretaker.  

The puppy sleeping arrangements of needing to potty every few hours causing lack of sleep is just the beginning.  Then setting up a daily routine that meets your puppy's needs and allows you to get your day to day life activities accomplished can be quite challenging.  Then puppy grows up to become an adolescent which throws even more challenges in fitting everything into one day.  With my first SD, I made the mistake of giving her tons of exercise and keeping her busy because I thought that was what was needed.  Unfortunately that creates a dog that NEEDS to keep busy and much of SD life is being calm and doing nothing.  With Azul I started calming behaviors and settling down routines from the very beginning.  We also visited tons of new environments to simply sit there and do nothing.  I get asked all the time if Azul is a typical hyper Husky and my answer is always, "Nope, he's the calmest dog I've ever met!"

Now that Azul is mostly an adult, his needs for day to day activity are much less then when he was younger, but he still has physical needs that are sometimes hard for me to achieve on bad health days, especially when I have a month like this July where every single day is a bad health day.  There are days where all we've been able to do is play flirt pole for 2 short bursts of 5 minutes at different points of the day.  Azul does fine with this for a day or two, but after some time he needs to go explore and sniff whether I feel like it or not.

Training Challenges

The first major challenge in training is that you either train too little or too much or don't realize what training is most important.  There are tons of professional dog trainers out there who can teach you the basic concepts to force free training which is a never ending journey as there is always another way to apply something or problem solve for your struggles.  Then there are several SD Trainers that will guide new handlers attempting to train a SD.  (This is also goes back to financial issues and how much you can afford to spend on learning.)  With all of these professionals and dog training being an unregulated field, it can be hard to weed out the good trainers from the bad.  Often, we need to have more then one dog training professional in our contact list to accomplish all our goals.

Learning more about dog training brings about another challenge that many disabled individuals struggle with and that is cognitive issues due to brain injury, auto-immune diseases, and other traumas.  This challenge often becomes the one that is nearly possible to overcome simply because you can't find a way to take the information your trying to learn and apply it to your dog.  The phrase, "Easier said then done!" comes to mind here.  As someone who has brain fog, challenges with finding the right words, and a horrible memory, this is has been a huge hurdle.  Again this is why it helps to have a large network in the dog training world to help you when your overlooking something or can't figure out what your missing.

Often people search for that one template or training plan that works for them with their dog and that simply doesn't exist because every person is a unique individual and so is every dog.  Andrew Hale from Dog Centered Care is always referring to this as an individual's Emotional Truth.  When it comes to past experiences no two people are the same, so if you begin to look at the emotional journey that you undertake when training your own SD you can only go on YOUR emotional truth.  

Training also brings about a whole other level of self doubt when we get exhausted or frustrated with ourselves feeling like we are letting our dog down.  This can come from feeling like we are not training enough due to physical abilities or having other complications like not being able to drive to the location we'd like to do training in.  Feeling frustrated and helpless can then cause further health issues and send us into a spiral we can't seem to get out of.

As a Trainer, Behavior Consultant, and Canine Coach let me just say that the easiest way to get across all the training hurdles is to find a professional or mentor (or a few) that share your training style and that you are totally comfortable communicating with.  You need to be able to let this trainer see your best work and your worst days and feel comforted by the fact they want to support you without judgement.  If you're still searching for your support network, consider joining my Working Paws Facebook group which is filled with lots of knowledgeable and supportive people.

We all face challenges in day to day life, but getting over these 3 common challenges have made a huge difference in who I am as an individual, as a trainer, and as a mentor!  

My August Theme of the Month will be "Train Smarter, Not Harder!" and is going to involve lots of simple shaping exercises and environmental processing.  Here is to hoping August is a much better month then July!

Using a Service Dog to Gain Independence!

 So here it, July 16th and I'm just not getting to a point where I can write my first blog using the theme "Independence!"  If you know me personally, you probably already know that I've been struggling with symptoms caused by my disabilities for the last few weeks.  In the last 18 or so days, I've had about 3 where I didn't have a migraine or autoimmune issue dragging me down.  But I don't want this to be a "Woe is Me" post and I'm not going to go into tons of details about my medical issues.  Instead I want to focus on how my Service Dog, Azul, makes it so that I can be more active and independent in my day to day life despite my disability.

AZUL, MY LITTLE BOY BLUE

My Heart, Mi corazón, My Little Goober

Migraine Alert & Response is Azul's #1 job.  Since I have more migraine days then not, Azul is trained to pick up on changes in migraines and alert me to when it's going to get bad before it gets bad.  Thanks to a medication routine, I have one med that reduces the impact or prevents the migraine from becoming severe most of the time and one med that I can take as a rescue to stop a migraine that is about to be pushed over the edge of my threshold.  Azul knows this by scent change in a way that I could never tell myself.  Migraines effect me kind of like a wave, most days (including right now) I have pain that ranges from level 2-4 non-stop and that sometimes makes me wonder, is it going to get worse.  Since I don't want to take meds needlessly just in case the pain is going to get bad, Azul's ability to alert before it gets bad helps me to avoid taking meds too early.  On average Azul will alert to impending doom about 45-55 minutes before I fall over in misery.  This allows me to get my rescue meds on board rapidly which makes a world of difference in the activity I'm able to do that day!  

Azul is also trained to find my meds & water to help me take them if I'm not able to get up and go get them myself.  This might not seem like much, but it's amazingly helpful on those days where the migraine hits hard and fast.

Azul is also trained to alert to a rapid increase in my auto-immune flares and episodes of extreme dizziness or vertigo.

These medical alerts make it possible for me to do routine things such as grocery shopping, driving, and even going to see my dog training clients without fear of getting someone and doubling over in pain being unable to make it back home.  Since I'm the main driver for family, running most of the errands and taking care of business this is extremely important!

Azul also helps with light mobility tasks.  Chronic illness can cause some pretty extreme fatigue on any given day.  Some days walking 2-3 miles unassisted, yet other days even walking 20 feet without assistance is an extreme challenge.  This gets even more difficult if I'm walking on uneven or slippery surfaces.  Azul is trained to walk at my side providing a slight forward pull and provide counterbalance assistance when need.  This assistance makes it possible for me to hiking, kayaking, and attend events with my friends and family.

There are some other random tasks that Azul is trained to assist me with.  For example, if I'm out and about with a family member and suddenly become disoriented he will help me find a family member by name which can save valuable energy for where I need it most.  He also is trained to help me find my car, which is amazing on days where my memory is fading fast.  Azul will also tell me when I've been pushing myself too hard and need to sit down to take a break.

I commonly get asked how I can be disabled when I look totally normal.  And to that, my answer is always that I would gladly trade places with someone to allow them to walk in my shoes for a day.  That is not medically possible and honestly I wouldn't wish my ailments on my worst enemy.  I'm just thankful that I have a Service Dog that is able to help through each day and I'm not quite sure what I would do without him.

Virtual SD Foundations Classroom

 Announcing the new Virtual Service Dog Foundations Class

If you are a new Owner Trainer that is just starting out on your training journey with a young or new dog that you hope will become a Service Dog then this is the perfect class for you!

In partnership with Cindy Campbell Dog Training, we are pleased to now offer this virtual class that will include some work at your own pace classroom materials, small group Zoom meetings every 2 weeks, and 1-on-1 support from the trainers.  In this class we will be going over the basic laws that impact Service Dogs, tips for training Public Access, and the beginning skills all Service Dogs should be trained in no matter what tasks they will be trained to do in the future.

Small group Zoom sessions begin on August 4th!  If you are unable to participate in the Zoom session, it will be recorded and added to the classroom the day after the meeting.  Zoom sessions will take place every other Thursday night at 9PM Central/7PM Pacific.

The cost of this class is $100 for 12 weeks of support via small group and 1-on-1 chats with the trainer.  You will have access to the virtual classroom materials for 1 year after the start of the class.  Scholarships are available if needed so please include that request on your registration form.

Please fill out the registration from below and you will receive an email from one of the trainers with payment information and class details.

Thank you for filling out this registration form!  If you do not hear from us within 24 hrs, please email yooperpaws@gmail.com for assistance.

Teaching Scent Based Alerts

Medical Alert Workgroup - Scent Based Alerts

**Early Bird Price: $75 if registered before July 31st!

Yooper Paws of Love and Cindy Campbell Dog Training are again partnering to bring you another Medical Alert Workgroup to teach you how to train your Service Dog to do Medical Alerts for a wide variety of medical disabilities that present with scent based indicators of a need for action.  

We will be focusing on training a specific alert behavior the dog can do to let their human know a medical issue is about to happen based on the dog smelling a biological change in their handler.

This is geared toward the following alerts:

• Migraine Alerts
• Diabetic Alerts
• Cardiac Alerts

This workgroup will meet for 6 Zoom based sessions beginning Wednesday, September 4th  and taking place every other Wednesday night for the next 12 weeks.  It's not mandatory to participate in the Zoom meeting as each meeting will be recorded and a replay made available.  But it's definitely more beneficial for you to participate live and ask your questions during the Zoom meeting.  

We will also be using our +R SD Task group on Facebook as a platform for group communication between Zoom meetings and can start a Facebook Messenger Chat for those in the workgroup that want meeting reminders and help with the assigned homework.  Yes!  There will be homework!  After each Zoom you will have 1 or 2 actions to do with your dog in the training process.  These should take you less then 5 minutes a day, but are best if you can do them daily and why we meet every other week so you have time to build up your SD team between the Zoom Meetings.

For this to be successful, we must keep the Workgroup small and therefore we ask that you only participate if you have already have a Service Dog or Service Dog in Training that is at least 1 yr old or older and that you have been training together as a team for at least 6 months.

The cost of this class is $125, which is an awesome deal considering all the information and support we offer to all the workgroup participants!  If you'd like to register, please fill out the form below.  You will receive an email with payment options once your registration has been processed and you have been approved as a participant.  

**Scholarships are available, please fill out the registration form selecting the scholarship option.

Thank you for registering!  

You will receive an email once we process your registration.  Feel free to reach out to yooperpaws@gmail.com if you have any additional questions.

Service Dog Myths

 

I haven't written as many blogs about myths as I wanted to this month.  Sometimes life with disability gets in the way of my best laid plans.  But I wanted to tackle a few common Service Dog (SD) Myths that I hear quite often.  People tend to think it would be so cool to be able to take your dog with you everywhere you go, but they often don't understand really what that means.  Also people commonly believe that SD's only help blind people or people in wheelchairs, therefore people who look OK are either training that dog for another disabled person or they are faking a need for a SD.  And last but not least, people commonly believe that SD's are forced into working and never get a break.  Those are the myths I want to tackle first, how the general public thinks life with a SD should be.

Myth: Seeing Eye Dogs are the only true Service Dogs.

While this is rapidly changing as more and more people are using SD's for a wide variety of disabilities, I still regularly here these questions when out in public with Azul.  "When will he go to his handler or real disabled person?"  "Won't it be hard to give him up once he completes training?"  "It's so kind of you to train SD's!"  The problem with all these questions, which are simple enough is that rarely do people think that I'm disabled enough to need a SD and so I must be training Azul for someone else.

This is why, typically when I'm able, I don't mind taking the time to explain all the many ways Azul helps me in day to day life.  I have no problem talking about his tasks, but that also opens me up to talking about my medical issues.  Not all handlers want to disclose their medical conditions and it's pretty rude of a total stranger in a business to ask for details about a person's medical history.   But that is exactly what all these questions imply for a SD handler with invisible disabilities.

So what is an invisible disability?  This is a term that is growing in popularity and basically means that it is a medical condition that is not easily determined by simply looking at a person.  It's easy to see a person in a wheelchair, or missing a limb, or blind as disabled.  But the American with Disabilities Act defines disability as an impairment that limits a person from doing daily tasks on a regular basis.

Myth:  An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a type of Service Animal.

An Emotional Support Animal can be any type of animal that provides comfort  simply by being present without any required training.  A Service Animal (in the USA) can only be a dog or miniature horse that is task trained to mitigate a person's disability.  ESA's only have access to private housing and often require a letter from a Doctor to be approved.  This allows a qualified person to rent a home in a place that would typically not be pet friendly such as on a college campus or apartment and have the ESA in that living environment.  A Service Animal on the other, under ADA, has access to public access environments when they accompany their human, disabled handler in those spaces, even when that environment does not allow pets.  This would include stores and restaurants that sell food, hospitals, and other places where allowing pets would be against the local health codes.  Health codes vary from state to state and county to county, so you would need to check with the local Health Dept to see if a business is able to be pet friendly or not.  If a business is not pet friendly, only a Service Dog that is task trained to assist a disabled person would be allowed in that business.

Myth:  Service Animals must be trained by a specialized organization or program that provides those Service Dogs to disabled people.

This is totally not true!  While there are some programs and businesses that train Service Dogs, there is no requirement (in the USA) for a Service Animal to be trained by a professional.  Many organizations that train Service Dogs have astronomically high fees often costing the disabled handler more then $20,000 to obtain the animal.  This is unaffordable to many disabled people and there the ADA does not require Service Animals to be trained by accredited programs.  Many disabled people choose to train their own Service Animal with the help of 1 or more local dog trainers and by networking with other Service Animal Handlers who have experience.

There are many more Service Dog Myths out there!  Here is an ADA Link for some common misconceptions about Service Dogs.

(This blog was to be part of the Foolish Follies of April, but I never got a chance to finish it!

Please forgive me for the delay!)

Medical Alert Workgroup - Sight Based Alerts

 

Yooper Paws of Love and Cindy Campbell Dog Training are again partnering to bring you another Medical Alert Workgroup to teach you how to train your Service Dog to do Medical Alerts for a wide variety of medical disabilities that present with behavior based indicators of a need for action.  This is wide range of medical conditions from seizures to psych issues and so much in between.  We will be focusing on training a specific alert behavior the dog can do to let their human know a medical issue is about to happen based on the dog seeing (or hearing) a certain triggering behavior.

This workgroup will meet for 6 Zoom based sessions beginning Monday, May 18th and taking place every other Monday night for the next 12 weeks.  It's not mandatory to participate in the Zoom meeting as each meeting will be recorded and a replay made available.  But it's definitely more beneficial for you to participate live and ask your questions during the Zoom meeting.  

We will also be using our +R SD Task group on Facebook as a platform for group communication between Zoom meetings and can start a Facebook Messenger Chat for those in the workgroup that want meeting reminders and help with the assigned homework.  Yes!  There will be homework!  After each Zoom you will have 1 or 2 actions to do with your dog in the training process.  These should take you less then 5 minutes a day, but are best if you can do them daily and why we meet every other week so you have time to build up your SD team between the Zoom Meetings.

The cost of this class is $75, which is an awesome deal considering all the information and support we offer to all the workgroup participants!  If you'd like to register, please fill out the form below.  You will receive an email with payment options once your registration has been processed and you have been approved as a participant.  For this to be successful, we must keep the Workgroup small and therefore we ask that you only participate if you have already have a Service Dog or Service Dog in Training that is at least 1 yr old or older and that you have been training together as a team for at least 6 months.

Thank you for registering!  

You will receive an email once we process your registration.  Feel free to reach out to yooperpaws@gmail.com if you have any additional questions.

Service Dog Training with a Motorized Cart

With my disability, it's very likely that in the future I will struggle with being able to walk as I do now. Some days are a struggle now, but Azul is task trained to mitigate my mobility issues as they currently are. I want to make sure we train for that possibility so Azul is prepared.

In this video, Azul and I are just getting started and he needs to figure out where a heel position is, where to stand and wait at the end of aisles, and how to turn corners without getting under the wheels. It helps that Azul knows cues to turn left/right so I can give him a heads up before we turn the corner. And he's used to waiting at the corner, but we need to stop slightly further back then normal to be able to avoid sudden collisions. Plus this cart basically has 2 speeds, a slow creeper speed and full speed which is slightly slower then the speed we normally walk. Azul has to make adjustments for this as well.

In this video Azul is starting to become comfortable heeling next to the chair so we are starting to add in some more difficult cues.  Our biggest one is the follow cue, which means to drop behind me.  Azul is very familiar with this cue while I'm walking, but the cart means he has to move even further behind me.  He struggles with figuring this out at first, but he gets it after a few practice sessions. 

This video demonstrates Azul and I working together to figure out his best position in relation to the chair based on what I need to do. We demonstrate heel, follow (walk behind me) turn, and backing up. Then we practice paws up, stepping over the chair floor and going around.

It's important for young Service Dogs to practice this type of thing to be prepared for the future possibilities. When Azul was a young pup, we practiced remaining calm as other people moved passed us in motorized carts. At first we watched them from a distance, but slowly decreased the distance until we were walking right passed them as they moved in the opposite direction. We've practiced walking behind & beside motorized carts. The only time Azul has been with me riding a cart was for a very short ride when he was about 16 months old as we delivered one to my sister because she couldn't walk the distance to where they were parked. Azul did very well with that, or I probably would have practiced more before now. My goal is to practice about 2-3 times a year so that Azul can stay prepared should I ever need to use a cart or wheelchair for real.

#ServiceDogSkills #SDPublicAccessSkills

New Environment Training for Service Dogs

Helping Service Dogs be Successful in Early Public Access Training Sessions

Public Access Training should be among some of the last training sessions that you do with your Service Dog in Training!  Be sure to read my previous posts in this series, especially posts 9 through 11 about new environments.  This is the final post in my January series: Plan for Success and it targeted specifically at my Service Dog training clients.

Start slow by getting used to the environment before the environment!

The Car:

After getting my puppy used to riding in the car, some of our first pre-PA training sessions happen right there in the car.  We go thru drive thru's at restaurants, banks, and such, pay at the pump gas stations, and hang out in parking lots together from inside the car.  This can be done with young puppies before they are fully vaccinated and older dogs as well!  Pair the car outing with some great food and simply reward for being in the environment.  Then as the sessions advance, reward only when the dog looks toward a potential distraction such as a car driving passed, a person moving, another dog, a shopping cart, etc.  You can also start out in 5 min sessions, slowly building up to 20 minute sessions.  As you add time, you slow down your reinforcement rate and only deliver treats when something unusual happens or if you notice any fear or discomfort setting in. 

The Parking Lot:

The next step is to start some training sessions outside of the car.  Practice basic manners and obedience cues in the grassy areas on the outside of parking lots, slowly moving through the parking lot.  The first thing I do when I get out of the car with a dog is give them some time to sniff around, getting familiar with the environment and taking a moment to go potty.  Before I leave the grass, I will do a few simple behaviors and make sure that my dog is calm enough to listen to my cues.  This helps you to determine if your dog is stressed or overly distracted.  If your dog is not able to listen to your cues, you are in an environment that they are not yet ready to be in so find a quieter location.  If your dog is able to follow your lead, you can continue with your training session.

Doorways:

Once my dog is comfortable on the outside edges of a parking lot, I start working on parking lot manners, mainly walking on a loose leash, stopping for traffic, and walking near people & carts.  Depending on your dog, you may be able to do this type of training for just a couple of sessions or it may take longer.  I've had dogs that needed to work in parking lots for a few months, slowly progressing to busy, more active & distracting parking lots.  Take it at your dog's pace paying attention to their emotional state and you will progress much more quickly then you think.  As you are working in parking lots, choose a slower location and time of day to slowly make your way towards the door.  Pausing outside the door to watch some people coming and going.  Take some time to run through some basic cues in this location too.  

Pet Friendly Stores:

Then when you think your dog is ready, take a few steps into the store. This should be a pet friendly store even if you are training a dog to be a Service Dog!  There are a lot more pet friendly stores then you would think, you just have to look around your community.  Hardware stores, craft stores, and sporting goods stores tend to be pet friendly, so call or stop in without your dog and see if they allow dogs in the store.  Plan your first session to be outside the store for about 15 minutes and inside the store for only 5 minutes.   With time, at your dog's rate you can start slowly transitioning it to be the opposite, 5 minutes outside and 15 minutes inside.  Stick to just one or two stores to practice in until your dog becomes extremely comfortable in those stores.  Then you can slowly add in new locations, new distractions, and longer visits.  But don't forget to stop in the grass and let your dog sniff for a few minutes then capture focus before going into any store.

Service Dogs Public Access Situations:

There is no set formula or stage that your Service Dog in Training is deemed "ready" for public access training.  But every trainer has their own guidelines or things they want to be able see in a dog before beginning public access training.  Here is a short list of my preferred behaviors that I want my dogs to know and have a history of achieving in pet friendly locations:

• The ADA states that Service Dogs must be fully potty trained before being taking into any public access related environment.  Sure accidents happen, dogs get sick, etc.  But this should be a rare occurrence that your dog has an issue in the store.  I want to see that all my dogs can potty on cue before I start working in pet friendly locations & I want to see that they have generalized that to multiple environments before I start PA training.
• The ADA also states that Service Dogs must be under handler control at all times.  While this can mean a lot of different things, but bare minimum I want my dog to be able to walk nicely on a loose leash.  I don't expect a perfect competition heel, but I want my dog to be able to follow my walking lead matching my pass and direction changes accordingly.
• I also want my dog to feel safe, calm, and comfortable walking with other people nearby.  And while this is a process that can be perfected during PA training, I want to see that my dogs remain fairly stress free or the handler is prepared to take whatever steps necessary to help the dog feel safe.  I won't take any dog in training into a place where I'm not prepared to leave immediately if they start to show signs of stress!
• Lastly, I want to have a few cues generalized to be able to use as needed in the environment; sit, down, under, wait, etc.  Each handler needs to decide these cues for themselves as there is no hard and fast right set of behaviors that are dictated by laws.  If you are not sure what you want to have in place for your Service Dog in Training I suggest you review the AKC Canine Good Citizen Test as a bare minimum standard of training.  Your dog may not be 100% perfect on all behaviors, especially if they are in the adolescent phase, but you want to be happy, comfortable, and confident in their skills before you take them into a public access environment.  Remember to practice all new skills in pet friendly environments so you can begin the proofing process before you ask your dog to do a behavior in a public access situation.

Federal laws do not cover Service Dogs in Training, only Service Dogs.  So be sure to research your state and local locals involving Service Dogs in Training before you decide to take your dog into a public access setting.  If your state does not cover Service Dogs in Training, you will also have to have your dog trained to do at least one task that mitigates your disability to meet the ADA requirements before you start Public Access Training.  If you have additional questions about how I work in new environments, please reach out to me by leaving me a comment or sending me an email.