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This past week, we also had to read two fascinating articles that I absolutely love and feel like they apply to a lot of what I go through as a trainer of services dogs.
This one is by Service Dog Society and helps to breakdown what a service dog is, how they differ from other working dogs. One of my favorite quotes from this article is that "Service Dogs LOVE what they do." This quote can not be any truer, when I watch Tory, Coco, Ganther, or any of the dogs work, there is just a change in them when you ask them for something. They almost light up and to me that is what brings me the most "proud mom" moments and happiness as a trainer. Don't ever think that these dogs don't love what they are doing and they would prefer to be at home for 8 hours and only get to see their person for 4 hours before they go back to sleep again. The next one is also by Service Dog Society. This one applies most to what it's like to live with a service dog and a lot of it also applies to me as a trainer. The most applicable quote is "Going out with a Service Dog is akin to going out with a young child." This applies so much. No longer can I just walk anywhere in my own world, I am always looking out for food on the ground that I need to avoid, listening for noises that may scare the dog, watching out and avoiding people who will just come up and pet the dog or may be scared of the dog. It is honestly like having a child with you all the time, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
This week with the new interns and new dogs, we have been going back to the basics with our cues. This next week, we are tasked with working with the dogs on Heel and Side, which are just the dogs being on your left or right side respectively. To get the dog to switch positions, we are working on Around, in which the dog goes behind you (while walking or standing) to change from a Side to a Heel or a Heel to a Side, which is really helpful when you're in public and you need the dog to change positions, the dog just does (it also helps if you see someone who might try to distract the dog while they're working and you're walking). We also are tasked with working on Closer, which is just having the dog get closer to you when you are walking or out in public. In the ideal situation, the dog would always be on a loose leash (so like a "J" is how Linda always describes it). Ganther will definitely need work on this because when he wants to see something, you're going to see it too and really quickly, or if he has to poop, he's going to make sure he poops RIGHT away. But like I said, he is so eager to please me that I can see just a little bit of work on it from my part and a few short sessions and he'll be well on his way to improving! We also are tasked with working on Tug, where the dog takes a tug rope and opens doors, fridges, close doors, and other such things. Ganther will definitely need help to work on this because last semester a door closed a little too quickly and now he's a little shy about closing doors. We're also supposed to work on Fix with the dogs. Ganther has this down pretty solidly, we've been working on it a little bit this past week.
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June 2020
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