Service Dog Archives - Page 5 of 34

Introducing Distractions to Your Dog Training – Video

July 3, 2014

Distractions are what really get our dogs in trouble.

It’s not that they aren’t listening to us. It’s not that they’re ignoring us. They simply can’t do what we ask in the face of distractions.

In our last article, we showed you how we introduced outdoor distractions. But what if your dog can’t listen outside, even in a quiet backyard? Or what if you don’t have a quiet backyard and directly out your door is the hustle and bustle and there’s no “in between.”

Start your distraction training inside. It’s much easier to work on distractions indoors because you control the distractions (because you are the distraction!).

Remember when working on distractions:

introduce distractions systematically (not all at once, but piecemeal)
if your dog can’t do the behavior for which you’ve asked, don’t ask multiple times — simply reduce your distraction
make sure you’re using a really high-value treat
if your dog can’t do the distraction, find the point at which he can be successful

Here’s a video to give you some ideas and show you how to reduce your distractions if your dog’s having a hard time.

Teaching Your Dog Down with Distractions – Video

June 26, 2014

Distractions are every dog owner’s nemesis.

Distractions are what cause your dog to be “stubborn,” to “not listen,” and to be “hardheaded.”

Yeah, no.

Your dog isn’t any of those things. He’s just distracted. Really.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the video I posted yesterday — our outtake from the video you’ll be seeing today.

Levi understands the word “down.” However — and this is the really important part — he can’t concentrate on doing the actual behavior when other stuff is going on. That doesn’t mean he’s ignoring me, blowing me off, or stupid. He’s distracted!

You can’t punish a dog for being distracted. (Well, I guess technically you can, but man, what a jerkface you’d be for doing that.)

To avoid becoming a jerkface, try this instead:

Step 1

Relax all your other criteria. You don’t care if it takes repeated cues. You don’t care how quickly your dog responds. You just care that your dog can do the behavior in the face of distractions.

Step 2

Take your dog to a quiet location outdoors and ask for the behavior. In our case, we’re working to improve Levi’s down.

Step 3

If your dog can’t do the behavior, either cue him again or move him further from the distraction.

Step 4

When he does the behavior, click and treat with an extraordinarily delicious treat.

Things to Remember

Use a really delicious treat. I’m talking steak, salmon, chicken, tripe, meatballs, etc.
If your dog can’t do the behavior, move further away from the distraction.
Your goal is that the dog is successful. This isn’t a test! You’re allowed to help your dog!
Don’t worry if you have to give the cue twice.
Don’t worry if the dog does the behavior quickly.

How to Fix Your Dog’s Behavior

June 12, 2014

Your dog isn’t ignoring you.

Your dog isn’t stubborn. He’s not blowing you off.

Nope, you’re not getting off that easy. Your dog just doesn’t know what you think he knows. Don’t worry, the fix is easy and you’ll learn how to fix just about any behavior you’ve taught your dog.

The folks at the service dog organization for which I’m raising Levi have requested that I clean up and improve his “down” behavior. There are a few specific complaints they’d like me to address:

it takes him awhile to start the down after he’s asked
occasionally it takes him too long to execute the down once he’s started
he will sometimes need two different cues (the word “down” and the hand signal)
when he’s in public, he has a harder time doing all the above

Sound like a big problem? Nah, it’s actually just a few little ones that are relatively easy to clean up.

It’s easy to see where inexperienced people could say that Levi was ignoring me when I ask him for the down. “Because he doesn’t want to do it.” Or “because he’s stubborn.” That’s the easy way out and doesn’t give you any sort of plan for improving the dog’s behavior.

That’s passing the buck and it doesn’t fly here at Smart Dog U: you’re the trainer, it’s your responsibility to fix it!

Let’s look at each piece of our puzzle and deconstruct each one.

This is how professional trainers solve problems everyday, but it’s not limited to just the professionals.

You can take the information here and work on your dog’s own issues using these same techniques.

It takes Levi awhile to start the down after he’s asked.

This is called latency. The amount of time it takes the dog to start the behavior after he hears the cue.

It takes Levi a while to do the down once he’s started.

This is called speed. The amount of time it takes the dog to actually do the behavior once he’s started it.

Sometimes Levi needs me to ask him to down twice, with the word and the hand signal.

This is a cueing problem. Levi doesn’t know one of the cues, most likely.

In public, Levi’s down behavior deteriorates. Everything’s slower, and he needs more than two cues.

Behaviors have to be dead solid to be immune to distractions. That Levi’s behaviors deteriorate in public means that he’s not ignoring me — he doesn’t understand the down as solidly as we thought.

Now, doesn’t that seem a lot more workable than simply saying “My dog is ignoring me?”

Here’s how we’ll fix the first problem: the latency (the amount of time it takes the dog to start the behavior).

Ask the dog to do the behavior, down in this case several times in a row. Count the number of seconds it takes the dog to start the behavior. Find the average amount of time it takes. From this point forward, when you’re working on latency, you will only click and treat those downs that have a shorter latency than your average. For Levi, his average was about one second. I will only click and treat the downs that start less than one second after I cue him. The other, longer-to-start downs won’t get clicked and treated at all. Levi will soon realize that only those faster ones count.

Additionally, I can help Levi by cleaning up my own cues, by getting him jazzed up with some super-short and energetic play breaks, and by clicking him the instant I start to see him start the down process (instead of waiting for him to get all the way into the down).

We’ll address the next problem in next week’s video. Stay tuned, you can use these techniques to spiffy up your own dog’s behavior.

Schooner! An Update on the Great Dane Service Dog (in training)

June 9, 2014

It’s a lot of work to be a service dog.

Schooner is back at his service dog organization and was featured in their latest mailing. Of course, I’m partial to the big ox, but I think the mailing provides an accurate look into what a service dog does, who needs a service dog, and the work that goes into training a dog to work in service to a person. Written by the Executive Director. (The picture isn’t the one depicting her experience in the story below, rather it’s a puppy picture of Schooner and I about nine months ago in our local grocery.)

What is the expression? “Don’t try this at home?”

Part of training a service dog means taking them places they might go in their working life. The grocery store is an obvious choice. But Whole Foods on the Friday before Easter is a perfect example of not thinking ahead.

The store was unusually crowded and I had elected to bring Schooner who is unusually large, currently weighing in at 147 pounds and still growing. Schooner is a Great Dane learning to be a balance dog and his primary task is to walk with care so that his intended recipient, who has a form of Muscular Dystrophy, can use him for stability.

As we entered the store, Schooner’s nose was not on the ground, so I was lulled into a false sense of security. Rather, it was in the air, sniffing the displays of food samples right at the mouth- and eye-level of a dog that stands thirty four inches tall. When it came to his “leave it” cue, amnesia set in. What was that block of cheese doing on display in the pasta section anyway?

In the meat department, I noticed a tick on Schooner’s leg just as he noticed the display of fish on ice. Without thinking (my modus operandi for the day) I pulled the tick off. Now what was I supposed to do with it? While holding Schooner with one hand and the tick in the other, I assured all the guys who came out from behind the meat counter that no, Schooner was not going to ingest all their fish, and yes, he eats a lot.

People are attracted to Schooner’s size and several people asked to pet him. Although I said, “Of course,” I struggled to keep his focus on his work. It’s a simple fact that people will reach out and touch him so he needs to learn to ignore them and other distractions. It’s like walking the Pope or the Dalai Lama for all the attention he attracts and all the hands that reach out.

Schooner and I will soon return to Whole foods because the truth is we have to master the place. That’s what it means to train a service dog — it’s not just about learning to open doors or retrieve items, it’s about keeping it together no matter where you are. So we will go back again and again until Schooner can walk like a gentleman, remember his cues, act like there’s not an enormous display of meat, fish, or cheese — even though there is — and when all the guys in the mean department come out to say hello, he won’t drag me over so he can lick their aprons.

Schooner’s partner will be completing high school next year and then will go off to college where she will undoubtedly be in places as distracting and crowded as Whole Foods. Schooner must be able to negotiate crowds, deal with things he has never seen before, and remain steady. She has had multiple surgeries to keep her legs from turning in so she can continue to walk as long as possible. She fights hard to do everything a young person enjoys. Schooner’s job is to ease her struggle so she can participate more fully, rather than declining to participate because she is tired, weak, or worries about falling down.

She is slightly built and Schooner will outweigh her by half, another reason he must be a calm partner. During a recent fire drill at her school, she was slow to exit and said her classmates pushed past her. She feels invisible…but not for long. Not with Schooner by her side.

Our service dogs make a tremendous difference in providing independence to a person with a disability. It takes a great deal of time to educate and train each dog. Simply put, we need your help so we can train more dogs and help more people.

I hope to be there, with Schooner as my escort. I hope to see you there!

Service Dog Training: Full Circle – Caysun Graduates

April 9, 2014

It’s why we raise and train service dogs.

Aside from the day we receive the pup, the best day in a puppy raiser’s life is Graduation Day.

Sweet Baby Caysun graduated as a diabetic alert dog (DAD) last week and it was a fabulous time.

The graduation ceremony included a “Puppy Parade” in which all the dogs in training are paraded onto the stage with their puppy raisers. It was a glorious day for us because we had four dogs at the ceremony.

Caysun was graduating.

Lovely little Asti Spumante (Monti):

The oh-so-silly Schooner:

And the handsome man, Levi:

It was a fabulous reunion with the three dogs who’ve gone onto final training. There were wags and smiles from everyone (and everydog) involved.

Because three of the dogs were in the Puppy Parade, I claimed Schooner straight away.

My husband walked with Levi, and a volunteer handled Monti. (If I could’ve figured a way to hang onto all three and take them all up on stage together, I would’ve done it!)

It’s no secret that I’m a real softie and tears fall down my face at the drop of a hat.

I admit, when Schooner and I walked down the aisle and up onto the stage, I was fighting back the tears. The pride I felt walking with that dog was bursting at the seams and I couldn’t contain my pride and admiration of the dogs and the people involved in the entire process. It was a great moment.

When it was time for the graduating teams to take the stage, each puppy raiser preceded the team to introduce ourselves, tell a quick story about our pup that was graduating, and then introduce our pup with their new partner. At my first graduation a decade ago, I cried so hard on stage that my husband had to take over until I was able to pull myself together. This year, he stayed in the audience with Schooner and Levi — smart guy. He wasn’t taking a chance that I’d put him on the spot again.

I proudly spoke of Caysun and the fun we’d had together and was able to introduce her with her new partner — all without shedding one tear. I needed a tissue however, when Caysun’s partner spoke of the many positive changes Caysun has brought to her life. Hearing of the independence Caysun has provided her, the companionship, the love, the freedom… it was magical. And every recipient shared a story of the difference the dogs were making in their lives.

It’s what we puppy raisers live for, I’m telling you true.

I go back to these memories of graduation every time I turn in another puppy.

I know I’ll need to draw on the memories of these moments — remembering the overwhelming pride and happiness at seeing the dogs so happy with their people, seeing the amazing joy and independence the dogs bring…it’s the salve that soothes the sting of letting our puppies go…

Socializing a Puppy: ClickerExpo 101

March 28, 2014

Elevators. With mirrors!

Crowded meeting rooms. Projection and audio systems. Applause. Lying down for 60 minutes with dogs (puppies!) nearby. Spending the night somewhere other than home. Seeing ships on the water. Hearing dogs bark in the room next door. These are just a few of how Levi is getting his brain stretched in so many good ways this weekend accompanying me to ClickerExpo.

Exposing a pup in a happy, no-pressure way is the best way to have a dog that’s a “go anywhere” with you dog.

Because Levi’s will be a service dog, we’re working hard to ensure that he sees all kinds of different things while he’s still quite young — before he’s five months old.

As long as we let Levi go at his own pace, we have lots of fabulous treats to help him get through novel and potentially unsettling experiences (the ship’s horn blast startled us both!), he’ll grow from each experience, realizing that new and novel things aren’t scary and — better yet — they’re fun!

Downtime for your dog is important, too.

Levi’s not even five months old. A three-day conference is a lot for any dog to take, let alone a novice youngster. Which is why I’m writing this in my hotel room while Levi takes a nap at 11:00a. Giving the dog a chance to take in the new experience, and then allowing him some downtime to rest up from that experience is crucial. By allowing him to rest in a quiet, comfortable hotel room with me, he’s recharging his batteries so that he’s ready to take in more new and exciting experiences when we head back down.

Gotta run, Levi has awakened from his nap and it’s off to the doggie bathroom area!

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