I feel as if I have learned a lifetime worth of information, but I know Robbie has plenty more to teach me in the next 6-8 years of our life as a working team. That being said, however, I keep a running list of things that I wish people had told me and I things I plan to do differently with the next dog, and things I can improve upon or remember with Robbie. I have a friend who will be welcoming a new dog into their life soon, a prospect who will hopefully be everything they need. I have been meaning to make an advice list in general, but the advent of my friend's prospect going home soon compelled me to write it all down, finally. I am positive that this list, which is already massive, will only grow with time. But for now, here are 36 things that either I wish someone had told me or that I am grateful we had as prior knowledge.
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Looking back, we did a pretty good job of covering our bases and teaching Robbie stellar obedience in the first 6 months after adoption. We worked with a highly capable trainer who helped us take Robbie from fundamental obedience to precision obedience. We felt secure enough in his trust and loyalty to have him off-leash in our un-fenced yard after about 5 months of training, and while it seemed to take forever, his bracing task was rock solid by Christmas. However, there are a few things that I wish we had taken the time to devote more training time towards in those first few months. Primarily, that would be teaching Robbie to "tuck", working with his retrieve, teaching him more focus, building up his confidence, and noise desensitization. Robbie was a little over a year when we adopted him, still young enough to be molded, but beyond those formable puppy years where new things can be introduced in a positive way that stay with the dog throughout their life. We had no way of knowing if anything had been burned into his mind of "scary - stay away," which can become difficult when taking a dog out into public. Hopefully, my notes here will aid another handler in the early stages of their owner-training adventure. 1. TUCKIf your service dog weighs over 50 lbs, teaching them how to curl up in a smaller version of themselves is vital for public access. Many times your dog will need to curl up under a small table or lay under chairs, and need to be able to lay so that they are comfortable but not constantly breaking the down command. Robbie loves to sprawl. In his off time, he will naturally tuck into a ball, and we did overlay the command a lot, which helped some. We taught his to tuck by curling up in an office chair, and most recently a box, but he doesn't like being tucked unless it his decision. He's stubborn that way. There have been plenty of situations in public where I needed him to be able to tuck, but had to make do with what he could give, whether that was partial sprawling or constantly checking to make sure he stayed in a sphinx style down. 2. TAKE/GIVEWe did start this early, like a month after adoption, but I wish we had tried a different way to teach it. Robbie came with zero natural retrieve, meaning he could care less about having something in his mouth. He was a very independent dog in the prison program, and played by himself more than with his handlers, so teaching fetch was extremely difficult. He'd go after something, but would refuse to return with it. So our trainer pushed us to do the forced retrieve with an ear pinch. I'm not proud of it, though I have to admit that it did work. Looking back though, I believe that over time we could have gotten him to take by making it always be a fun thing (the ear pinch made it very much not fun for anyone) and with a lot of patience. Robbie is making great strides with this task, and luckily it is not his primary task, but still we have days where if he doesn't want it, he will completely ignore us no matter what tone of voice we use. He may never be rock solid on this the way he is with bracing or opening doors. We taught it soon enough, but we could have done better. 3. FOCUSHonestly, I did try and work with Robbie on this command. I knew how important it was, but after weeks of never making progress, I gave up too soon. Now I am trying to re-teach it and am gaining his attention more and more each week, but still don't always have it when I need it. I understand that this is a command that will get stronger as the pup matures, but that is not a good enough reason to neglect it when the dog is young. In the house, I can snap my fingers, say "Focus" and there is a 85% chance he will give me his eyes. In public, however, there is like a 45% chance. This makes doing tasks such as touching a handicap button extremely difficult. If he isn't paying attention to where I am pointing, he will respond to the command to "touch" but ends up pawing at air or clawing at walls instead. Lesson learned: DO NOT GIVE UP! It took me a long time to learn that absolute patience is the key to training a working animal. 4. CONFIDENCE WORKConfidence work, agility, boosters - all terms are basically the same thing. A confidence booster is something that the dog can do in a moment of uncertainty or stress to feel emboldened again. For Robbie, running over tarps or bubble wrap, jumping onto tables or chairs, and soaring over an obstacle are all confidence boosters. We do these as training games, part of training combinations to improve focus and timing, and also as intermissions when a training exercise gets too overwhelming for him. Find what your dog loves to do, give a name, and use it to your advantage. Robbie also loves belly crawling, so we gave it a name and it actually comes in handy in public more than we thought. I wish we had figured this out sooner, though, because before we learned to make training fun, there were a lot of stressful days and times when Robbie could have used a boost to feel more accomplished and less frustrated. Confidence will carry over into public access work and general training because your dog will be more likely to be okay with strange noises, events, and places, as well as walking on different surfaces. 5. NOISE/OBJECT/ACTIVITY DESENSITIZATIONWe did this about once a week. That was not enough! He seemed bold initially, but after one thing took him by surprise, it suddenly seemed as if everything could take him by surprise. It didn't help that we live in the country where the stimuli is totally different from that of a city's and we only go into town once a week, if that. Even things that don't seem like they should be an issue may be unsettling to your dog if not introduced properly and positively. We weren't even thinking one day, and had Robbie outside with us when my fiance was shooting for fun. Robbie was about 50 feet away when Adam fired his rifle and Robbie bolted. I got him back to heel, and we walked around for a bit trying to get his focus back and do things he could be praised for, but that day has made desensitizing him to both gunfire and fireworks extremely difficult. Also, we don't know why but if you even touch a long nose lighter, Robbie will leave the room, get extra dodgy, and just blank out on commands. He is kind of like a kid who knows he doesn't want to watch scary movies, but keeps peeking anyways. He isn't a basket case about things, but he does bob his head, stress yawn, and even refuse commands depending on what it is. He typically recovers quickly, and will perform tasks even if he is unsure, but I wish he was more rock solid. Next dog, I want to work with desensitization as devoutly as commands and tasks. |
My Name is Sally...I have a condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. This blog is about my journey training Robbie, a dog who helped me regain independence, confidence, and achieve the impossible in the face of my disability. It continues on with the training of Austin, Robbie's successor. Check Out... - "More than a Dog" was published on a site called The Mighty Categories
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