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October 31, 2011

We've been raising service dogs since 2001. That handsome dog on the left is the very first dog we raised: Rocky. He died earlier this year, sadly. He was loved by two families: ours and the family who needed him as a service dog. It was quite a life.

We turned Ike in yesterday to Hero Dogs. He's now onto the second leg of his journey in becoming a service dog. He'll stay with Hero Dogs for another six months or so, receiving advanced training, then he'll go onto be paired with a service man or woman who needs Ike's assistance.

At each turn-in, I think a lot about the dog, naturally. I wonder if we're doing right by the dogs. They didn't sign up to become service dogs. They don't know that when we leave them at the agency, their life changes immediately. It's not like we tell them as puppies "This is just temporary. Don't get used to it. There are big changes for you, buddy."

My husband tried to console me with the thought that NO DOG chooses his home, his people, his environment. Neither do horses. Or cows. Or any animal, really. And he's right. Of course he's right. Transitions are just tough, no matter how you frame them.

It's a grand job, really, being a service dog. I think it's a much better life than the average pet dog has, to be honest. The service dog has a purpose. He's mentally stimulated every single day. He's more than loved, he's needed. He gets to go everywhere with his person. And that's pretty darn cool.

But of course, I'm a little melancholy around turn-in time. It makes me want to invent a way to communicate with Caysun so I can tell her that we've got big things planned for her. That in another year, she, too, will move on from our house (and from our dogs) to a brand new life.

But because I will fail in my quest to invent a new dog-human communication device, I will simply raise Caysun the best I can: give her lots of love, teach her to be flexible, and to enjoy change.

Ike (left) excels at flexibility. That dog is happy anywhere there are people. Or dogs. Or birds. Or wind. Or food. Or…whatever. He'll be happy wherever he lands, as long as there's a friendly hand to pet him.

We bid Ike farewell yesterday. We'll see him again – we've been invited to stop by Hero Dogs whenever we need an "Ikey fix." Which makes us feel good and soothes the sting of turn-in just a little bit.

Like every other service dog we've raised, seeing Ike with his new partner will be the medicine that will cure this melancholy. Rock on, Ikey! We'll see you soon, Boggy Doggy!

New Puppy = Everyone’s On the Same Page…Or Else

September 14, 2011

Ever want to peek behind the curtain of life with a dog trainer? Here's your chance. Complements of my (really wonderful) husband (despite the story I'm about to tell, in which he's the villain.)

So. I'm working really hard to get Caysun's Crate Love going. I'm crating her at different times of the day. For varying amounts of time. With me in the room sometimes, and sometimes not.

She's doing a great job. On the left you can see Caysun with her "big brother" Ike. She looks perfectly happy, doesn't she?

All day today, I'm working with Caysun, fiddling with different criteria of Crate Love. In between, I still have a real job to do — dog training and all the administrative tasks that go along with the job. The admin work is a job all unto itself, but I digress…

For me, crating is the ultimate "safety net" for both me and for the dog. I can work without worry or wonder. House training stays on track. There are no chewed shoes. It's great.

So. After working all day in my office (and with Caysun), off I go, merrily on my way to actually train some dogs (go figure), and I leave the Crate Love task to that really wonderful husband I mentioned earlier. The dogs are in his care for about 5 hours.

I come home and say to him "It smells like poop in here." (Hey, you wanted to peek behind the curtain, I'm not covering anything up – this is the real deal here.)

He says, "Yeah, the puppy pooped."

"Yeah, no kidding," I'm thinking, but I'm smart enough to keep that in my head. I ask innocently: "Was she in her crate?"

"No, I was in the shower."

"In the shower?! IN THE SHOWER?! You can't leave a 9.5 week old puppy unattended to TAKE A SHOWER!" Again, these are my thoughts, not my words. (Ok, so now I'm editing a little bit. There was some cursing in my thoughts. Four letter words. That start with F.)

What I actually said: "You can crate her while you're in the shower. That's actually a really good time to crate her." (Doesn't that sound better than a lot of F words?)

I swallowed a lot more bad words and went about my business. It was difficult – I worked all day today (and yesterday, and the day before) on getting Caysun comfortable in her crate. Crating her while he was in the shower would have been perfect practice for her. (And clearly, for him, too!)

So while I'm going about my business, I find another pile of poop! This one's in the dog bed! In the dog bed! And I was wondering why none of the dogs wanted to sleep in the bed…I had just found my answer.

I couldn't resist a see-I-told-you-so smart aleck remark about the value of crating, but I did limit it to just one.

I come out to the living room to move the crate into the bedroom, where Caysun sleeps in her crate – happily, I might add! - each night, and what do I run into? A big puddle of puppy pee.

I'm at work for 5 hours and there are (at least) three puddles or piles when I return. Really?!

Clearly, I need to spend a little more time working with my husband than I do the puppy. Clearly, the pup's got the Crate Love thing down pat. Just wished the husband did, too.

Teaching is Time Well Spent

June 24, 2011

I'm sitting in a wheelchair, Ike faithfully by my side. I cue "let's go" and Ike moves forward with me. Going straight is pretty easy for Ike, he learns quickly to keep his feet out of the way and settles at an even pace. We're at Harris Teeter grocery store, doing a training field trip and I'm in a wheelchair to help mimic Ike's future surroundings.

Here comes the hard part — now we have to turn. It's an inside turn, which means Ike has to actually go backward just a bit to keep out of the way. His circle has to be tighter (smaller) than the wheelchair's circle. Uh-oh. We've not practiced this before.

With the clicker, all things are possible. And fast.

In only three tries, I'm communicating to Ike that moving backward is a good thing. It's a pretty complex skill, I think, for a dog to acquire. He has to go the opposite way from his handler. I've spent a year teaching him that being next to me is a really good idea.

The clicker gives Ike the information he needs: what behavior he should repeat. The precision of the click — and the fact that Ike's been clicker trained from 8-weeks of age — gets a behavior happening pretty darn quick.

The turn/back still needs work. A lot of it. But with the clicker, nothing's out of our reach. And it's fast. Because Ike knows the clicker, knows he can count on the clicker for information, he's ready and willing to learn. He wants to figure out this new game. He's a full and willing partner.

And did I mention he's not only smart, but pretty stinkin' cute, too? Brains and beauty… This picture's from Ike's adventure to Lake Anna, more on that in the next post.

Grilled Pork + Feta = Easy Subway Trip for Ike

April 29, 2011

Part of becoming a service dog involves getting used to a lot of different sights and sounds. Ike had a field trip today to our local commuter train station.

It's highly likely that in his lifetime as a service dog, Ike and his partner will need to take public transportation. It's crucial to make these experiences fun for Ike.

To that end, I brought lots of yummy treats. Not just any treats, though. I brought the really yummy and smelly stuff: feta cheese and tiny pieces of grilled pork chop (leftover from dinner a few nights ago).

Ike doesn't normally get this really delicious stuff in his everyday training. Going to WalMart isn't a big deal to him now. Going with me while I get my hair cut is old hat. The treats I use for those locations are more mundane (but still pretty tasty) because he's used to those situations.

But a train station? That's big. And potentially scary.

The grilled pork and feta cheese helped Ike create favorable associations with the potentially scary train. The noise of the station, lurching left and right on the train ride, the hustle and bustle of people, and the screeching and banging that a fast-moving train makes – any one of those could have thrown Ike into a tail spin.

The feta and grilled pork helped ensure that his train ride was a fabulous experience.

In addition to the really good food, I was careful to lower my standards for Ike. He was in a strange place. With lots of odd sounds. And almost every person there was a stranger to him. So instead of asking him for newly trained behaviors, I asked him for the very easy ones – the behaviors he's been doing since he was a pup. And he got paid BIG for each of those behaviors!

This allowed Ikey to build up his confidence, to realize he really could lie down even on the rocking and rolling train. He really could sit as the train came into the station.

If you're raising a puppy, remember to use very good food treats when you're taking your pup somewhere new. Also remember to lower your standards if you're training somewhere distracting or potentially scary. Let your dog take his time exploring and deciding when he feels comfortable. The more positive experiences your pup has, the more likely he'll become a confident, well-mannered dog.

There's a lot more training ahead for Ike. But his first introduction to the trains and buses earned an A+ today! Next time we go back, we'll likely raise his criteria slightly — maybe I'll ask him to sit for a little longer. Or expect him to watch me a little more. And maybe he'll get the feta and grilled pork every second or third treat. But by really upping the treat value this first time, I've created a positive association with trains and with training. And that's priceless.

Different Dogs, Different Rules

April 22, 2011

If you live with more than one dog, do the same rules apply to both?

I suppose in most homes, the dogs have the same rules. But in our house, different dogs have different rules.

Ike, the service pup in training, has the most rules to follow. His life is relatively structured, as he's going to have an important job – helping a disabled veteran lead a full life.

The other three dogs in the house have pretty relaxed rules. They're pet dogs, they don't have the same expectations placed on them as Ike.

That must be confusing, right? Ike's rules are different — more strict even — than the rest of the dogs in the house.

Not really. Ike's rules have been in place since the day he crossed the threshold. And they've never varied. They're the same every day, no matter what.

What rules are different for Ike? It would probably be easier to list what isn't different!

Ike is crated when we're not home. The other dogs are not.
Ike eats all of his meals out of a food-stuffed toy. The other dogs eat out of a bowl.
Ike eats in his crate. The other dogs eat in the kitchen.
Ike has to wait for his release signal ("at ease") before going outside. The other dogs just have to wait for the door to be opened.
Ike has to sit before I pet him. The other dogs get pets for free.
Ike's not allowed on the furniture. The other dogs live on our furniture.

You get the picture: Ike's day-to-day life is different than his housemates. But this doesn't cause him any confusion. His rules never vary, they're the same every single day.

So don't be afraid to have different rules for different dogs — but only if you're consistent enough to remember the rules and apply them to the appropriate dog(s)!

P.S. Don't think that because Ike lives with a lot of rules, he's miserable. This guy loves his rules! (As I think most dogs do, if those rules are consistent.) His life is still pretty good: He still gets to rip it up in the backyard with his housemates. He still gets lots of love and attention from us humans. He gets just as many goodies (if not more) as his doggie housemates. Heck, he gets to go out in public with me on my errands!

Go, Go, Go and Slow, Slow, Slow

September 2, 2010

Teddy's public debut focused mainly on getting in and getting out of locations and situations rather quickly. We stayed just long enough to expose Teddy to a new situation, make it fun, and then we're outta there.

Today, we worked on settle-in-and-relax scenarios. The life of a service dog is varied – there are times when they're in and out of places lickety-split, and there are other times when they're in it for the long haul — they might as well get comfortable.

Teddy debuted today at the Frederick Chamber's lunch event with former Governor Robert Ehrlich. This was a good opportunity for Teddy for several reasons:

Many of the attendees are service-dog-savvy. Talos did a great job of breaking them in so they'd know what to expect when a woman with a young dog walks into the room. Friendly, but not exuberant greetings are the norm with most of the Chamber folks. They make for excellent and knowledgeable distractors!
I could leave if Teddy wasn't ready for the situation or if he became unruly.
The luncheon would require that Teddy be still for a considerable period of time. We've worked on this skill at home – it was time to measure our progress in the real world.
There would be manageable distractions. Lunch being served! Delicious, hot lunches! Again, if Teddy couldn't manage, I could very easily leave.
New sounds, surfaces, people to experience. Applause, carpet, draping table cloths, microphones, hustle and bustle, noisy crowds.
Lastly, this was a "quiet" event. Quiet meaning Teddy needed to settle in, relax, and take a nap.

I went well armed: clicker and treats were at the ready! Teddy's loose leash walking skills leave a lot to be desired, but we practices stopping and starting every time the leash got tight. He's still a young dog, he has self control issues – his desire is to jump and say Hi to people, but he's starting to try to maintain his decorum and restrain himself from putting paws on people. It takes a lot of work on his part, but with lots of practice, it's becoming less of an impulse and more under control.

Applause was a little startling to him. He sat bolt upright and looked curiously around the room. He didn't appear frightened, but the noise took him by surprise. After realizing that, I had my treats ready and they magically appeared immediately after any applause started. He ate the treats greedily, which means he wasn't particularly stressed.

It's important that potentially scary things (and applause can definitely be scary) be paired with very good things from the outset. By the end of the luncheon, we'd paired applause with treats appearing out of thin air about 15 times. He's beginning to look forward to applause now!

Teddy responded perfectly to his down cue (the word "down") in the midst of a crowd of people. He also took it upon himself to curl up under my chair when he really settled in. The service dogs will be taught a "go in" cue which means: tuck yourself under the table or chair and chill until I tell you otherwise. It's basically a "you're off the clock, but don't go anywhere" message. We haven't started teaching that to Teddy yet, so I was doubly pleased to see him make that choice of his own accord today. Especially when there were so many delicious smells and interesting things to check out.

He got a chance to meet Bob Ehrlich (a dog lover) and many other people today. He didn't jump or put his paws on anyone – that's an accomplishment.

One thing people don't think about very often – Teddy also had his first experience accompanying me into the ladies room. Service dogs need to learn to accompany their person everywhere. Public restrooms are one of those things that a dog needs to be introduced to early on in his training. They're small little cubes with panels that make voices sound echo-y and loud. They obscure 90% of the person in the neighboring stall — except the feet! Of course, most dogs want to duck their head under the stall to see who those feet belong to. It's a bit disconcerting to be on the other side of the stall, minding your own business, and have a dog head suddenly join you in your stall! So not only do the dogs need to get used to going into the stalls, but they have to get very good at minding their own business when they're in there!

Both of Teddy's outings have been good experiences for both of us. He's a smart little guy who seems to enjoy this new life in public.

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