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Service Dog Training: Coffee Shop? Check!

February 28, 2014

Levi’s list of Places to Visit whilst a puppy is quite long.

We’re working hard to get to every place before he’s 16 weeks old, which is when puppy socialization comes to a close. It’s been bitterly cold this winter, making getting out and about not only inconvenient but also painful.

A puppy’s socialization window waits for no man!

So, we bundle up and we go places with the puppy. Today’s escapade involved an unchecked box on our “Places to Visit” list: a coffee shop.

The idea of puppy socialization is to expose the pup in a fun, easy way to new places, sounds, experiences, sights and sounds.

I met a couple of friends for lunch, went prepared with goodies and Levi’s settle blanket and checked “coffee shop” off our list! Levi used the opportunity to catch up on some zzzz’s and spent most of the lunch dreaming (of chasing squirrels?) next to our table. He’d occasionally wake up, take a look around, but generally fell right back into into a lazy slumber.

It’s experiences like this that help shape his world view, that help him learn to settle and relax in any location no matter what else is going on.

Still ahead on Levi’s List of Places to visit:

gym
pool
kid’s sporting event
exercise path
indoor mall
outdoor mall

We’ll be able to get out and about a lot more if winter ever transitions into spring and the temperatures get back above freezing. Until then, we’ll keep bundling up and taking short and sweet trips.

Talk to me: where did you take your pup to socialize him when he was under 18 weeks?

How to Teach Your Dog to Settle

February 27, 2014

The doorbell rings, and chaos reigns.

The dog is barking at the door, you’re trying to pull him back so he doesn’t run out when the door opens — all the while your guests are waiting on the other side of the door, out in the cold. And once the guests are inside, now the dog is jumping on them!

There’s an easy solution: teach your dog to settle.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your dog could run to his bed, lay quietly and wait until your guests come in the door? Settle is the answer you’ve been looking for.

To teach this, start with some really good treats in a bowl, your clicker, and an appropriately sized mat. (A bath mat from your local big box store works perfectly for teaching this. Inexpensive, portable, and won’t slide around.)

Step 1: Drop the mat down in front of you and be ready to click the instant the dog steps a paw on the mat.

Step 2: When you click, deliver a treat off the mat. We need the dog to hop off the mat, so he can earn another click and treat when he wanders back on.

Step 3: Stay quiet (and patient) as your dog figures out that his foot on the mat earns him a click. Resist the urge to point to, pull your dog over to, or otherwise “help” your dog get to the mat. Let your clicker do all the talking.

Step 4: As your dog catches on, you’ll notice that he’s almost always getting at least one paw on the mat. Great! Now you’re ready to “raise the bar,” and reward only when there are two paws on the mat.

Step 5: Continue to click and treat every time your dog has two pas on the mat until he’s almost always getting at least two paws on the mat. Then raise the bar and click only when there are three paws on the mat. Then only when he has all four paws on the mat.

Step 6: When you’re willing to bet me $100 that your dog will come to the mat and put all four feet on the mat, you’re ready to wait for your dog to sit. The “wait” part is very important — resist the urge to ask your dog to sit. Remain silent. Let the clicker do all the communication. Click only when your dog volunteers a sit (on the mat). I promise you, the sit will happen if you’re patient.

Step 7: After the dog is reliably coming to the mat and sitting automatically, you’re going to wait for him to lie down. Again, no talking, just wait and then click and treat when it happens.

It’s that easy to teach your dog to go settle on a mat.

Things we need to add to make this useful in real life: a name (settle), distractions (doorbell ringing, for instance), distance (so you don’t have to go to the mat with the dog), duration (how long can he stay there?), and direction (so you don’t have to always face the mat in order for this to work).

Puppy Training: Teach Self Control Around Food

February 11, 2014

Labrador puppy looking at treat hand, waiting politely for food. — Levi waits patiently for his treat.

Puppies are like sponges.

They soak up everything — good habits, bad habits, learn new things, and visit new places. When raising a puppy destined for service work, we like to capitalize on that “drink it all in” attitude and give the puppy all the learning he’s interested in taking in.

I thought it would be fun to share with you Levi’s learning goals for his first month in training.

Click on the link below to see the chart. At first glance, it seems like we’re cramming a lot into four short weeks, but puppies love to learn and are capable of learning at least this much (probably more, if you had more time to teach them).

Behavior Chart for Levi’s first month

Each week shows what new concepts the puppy is expected to learn (or at least be introduced to). It’s also expected that we continue teaching everything that was introduced, as we move forward. For example, in Week 2, we’re introducing loose leash walking to Levi, and we’re also expected to continue to advance the skills we introduced in Week 1 such as recall, settle, and hurry up (house training).

I set out to make a video to show you how we teach a puppy the simple task of sitting on cue. Puppies, however, have their own agenda, and Levi took us in a different direction. In this video, Levi is about 11 weeks old, very new to training in general, and has only had maybe one or two clicker training sessions under his belt prior to filming.

What started as a “sit” video turned quickly into a “don’t mug me for the treats” video. No worries, we’ll publish the video on sitting shortly, but in the meantime, this turned out to be a more valuable lesson for Levi, and hopefully for your dog who “mugs” you for food.

How to House Train Your Puppy

February 9, 2014

Need to house train your puppy?

Potty training problems can be frustrating.We’re on our 16th service dog in-training and I’ve had plenty of practice at house training — I’ve developed an efficient and easy system.

I think puppy owners underestimate the number of times a puppy needs to go outside to do his business, which then results in accidents all over the house. The more times your puppy goes to the bathroom indoors, the more “ok” going to the bathroom inside seems to your pup. By the way, this article applies to adult dogs, too, who (for whatever reason) haven’t been house trained.

A schedule is critical for house training success.

Your pup’s potty training will take a lot longer if you don’t stick to a consistent schedule. You need to schedule two primary events:

meals
trips outside

What goes in, must come out. Put your dog’s food down at his regularly scheduled meal time, give him 15 – 20 minutes to eat his meal, then pick up the bowl until the next feeding. Letting the pup graze into his food bowl (called free feeding) sets your pup up for house training failures.

Scheduling the meals at specific intervals gives you the advantage of predicting when your pup needs to be taken outside. Allowing your pup to free feed takes the predictability out of house training and will set you back a few weeks on your house training schedule.

You also need to schedule your pup’s trips outside.

You want to give your pup lots of opportunities to go to the bathroom outside and very few (if any) opportunities to go to the bathroom inside.

Take your puppy out immediately after:

waking from a nap
letting him out of his crate
a vigorous play session
a meal
a big drink from the water bowl
he walks near the door you always go out to take him to the bathroom
he starts sniffing

A quick note about puppy training pads.

Puppy training pads are a poor choice if you want to train your puppy to go to the bathroom outside. Puppy pads have a scent on them that encourages a dog to go to the bathroom. If you want your dog to go outside to do his business, don’t use a puppy pad in the house — you’ll confuse your puppy and house training will take longer.

When you take your pup outside for his frequent bathroom breaks, carry him directly to the area in which you’d like him to do his business. Keep him on a short leash (a Flexi or retractible leash is a poor choice for many reasons). All playtime and walks happen after he does his business — just stand still (silently) until he begins to go to the bathroom.

Putting potty on cue.

I put going to the bathroom on cue so that when I need my pup to go (if I’m in a hurry, if the weather is bad, if we’re at a rest stop on a road trip — the reasons are endless, really), I can tell him when and where to do his business. To teach your pup a “go to the bathroom now, please” cue, simply say the words (we use “hurry up”) as soon as your pup starts to go to the bathroom (either pee or poop). As soon as he’s finished his business, praise him enthusiastically and then play with your pup or take him on a walk around the yard or neighborhood.

No house freedom.

Don’t give your pup a chance to make a mistake inside. Your puppy is too young to be wandering the house (or even the room you’re in) — a mistake will happen, believe me. Keep your pup tethered to you (put the leash on your pup, then hold it or attach it to your belt loop) while you’re watching tv, working on the computer, fixing dinner — whenever you can’t watch your puppy 100% of the time. Following this one tip will cut the number of mistakes your pup can make and makes the house training process much shorter.

Here’s a quick video with service puppy in-training, Levi, detailing how we house train a puppy.

Do you have house training tips that worked for you and your puppy? Please share them here (dog-friendly solutions, of course).

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