2018 was an interesting year for us. We had a setback or two, celebrated new milestones, and made new memories. I have a few goals in mind for 2019, but before I dive into that, I want to share a review of this year with you all. What We're Most Proud Of as a Team
Setbacks & Struggles in 2018
Our Goals for 2019 I Want to Be Better at Not Taking the Basics for Granted Robbie has moved into the part of his career where he knows all of his primary tasks and is reliably able to assist me in managing my condition. As a result of this, the things he practices the most often are his complex task commands. He practices his fundamental commands here and there, but we've stopped doing many of the exercises we did to teach those commands, and I've found myself relying more and more on the idea that since it was tuahgt to completion it should stay fresh in his head. The problems with this idea are that A) I'm a trainer and know deep down that that's not how how things work. Use it or lose it. B) Robbie is expected to know and be able to perform 55 commands to very high standards of precision and performance. He has the ability to do so, but not if I don't help him by giving him opportunities to practice each one and refresh his memory on the expectations for each. In 2019, I want to tackle this by devising a calendar of sorts for myself and schedule out what commands will get focus time each time, giving us ample time to cycle through the most important aspects of what he needs to know each week. The "how" is a work in progress. We're not "going back to basics," but rather making more of an effort to not let the basics gather dust waiting to be used. Part of the challenge is that he gets easily bored with drill work, because he likes activities that have a clear purpose, so when I embark on this goal it has to be fun and quick. However we get there, though, the point is that I need to provide him with more chances to use what he knows so that he retains it & I don't get frustrated with him when he fails to rise to what I expect. I Want to Expand Robbie's Retrieval Skills We have made monstrous strides with retrieve. From a dog who hated having things in his mouth to a dog who enjoys playing fetch and bringing me various items, he has far exceeded what we thought would be possible. The more confident he becomes with retrieve, the more I want to integrate this task into my life so that he can help me even more. You'd be surprised how many tasks rely heavily on the dog being willing to pick up, carry, bring, place items, or do all of the above while doing another action like heeling, opening doors, moving to new locations and more. Activities I'd Could Benefit from His Assistance With:
I Need to Re-Teach Robbie How to Find Human Assistance One of the lessons I learned this year is that I can't use the same word for two actions that are different. Reading this sentence, I want to say to myself, "well duh, of course you know that!" At the time, I didn't though, and I accidentally re-wrote the internal programming in Robbie's head on what "Find a Specific Person" means. Initially, the task for finding my husband meant to leave me on the ground post-fall, look for my husband, alert him that I needed assistance, then return together. This was making great progress. Then one day, in a store, I got separated from my husband and felt very disoriented. I asked Robbie to find him, and gave him some slack in the leash. He hesitated, but then began sniffing for him and lead the way. Within a few moments, he had found my husband and was so pleased with himself. We both saw the value in this task, and began focusing our "Find Person" task with this being the desired action. All was great until the day I needed Robbie to get my husband, but leave me where I was, because I was in such horrible pain and needed my husband's help in order to move. Robbie refused to leave me. He'd go a little ways in the house, then turn back, waiting for me to follow him. We'd successfully and accidentally re-programmed him. My goal for the next year is to re-teach the action of leaving me to get help, but under a different command name so that he can differentiate the actions more easily. This was a good lesson for us to learn, though, and serves as even more proof that consistency really is key. I Want to Teach Robbie How to Do "Pass" Outside of Cart Work Right now, Robbie knows that "Side" means to move sideways to the right without moving forward or backward. This is extremely helpful in close quarter positioning and setting him up for smoother turns in his cart rig. Now that he understands this command, I want to teach the same action but to the left, and call it "Pass." For all my horse followers, yes I did get this idea from watching horses perform a side-pass maneuver. We've begun practicing this with him in his cart because it keeps him in a straight line and his confidence level is higher. We're also using a prong collar because it allows me to give very slight collar pressure to cue him to move sideways as opposed to turning around. Once he can perform this command without the collar pressure, without the setting of the room we've currently been working in, and can do it off-leash entirely, I want to move it outside the cart so it can be used at other times. I Want to Improve Robbie's Confidence with Right-Side Heeling Robbie does not like right side heeling. If you've ever watched a newborn foal run alongside their momma like they've got super glue on their rib cage, Robbie's reaction to being on my right side is very similar. Over the years, I've gotten him to where this is less of a problem, but only so long as nothing else is going on around us. I want a right side heel because
I haven't made more progress with this because
What is Robbie's reaction?
So I continue to work on achieving this goal, by thinking of ways to help boost his confidence while in a right side heel. But it is a conundrum that has plagued me for a while now. I'm sure we will get there, I'm not 100% on how to get there without putting myself at risk. I Want to Be Better at Maintaining a High Level of Socialization & Exposure We live in the country, where there is no noise, no activity, and thus, very little stimulation from civilization. We like it this way because I deal with migraines and sensory overload episodes, but it does present an interesting problem for maintaining Robbie's training on all of his socialization and exposure. It was a unique issue when we first did his socialization training 3 years ago, but like some of our fundamentals, I assumed it would remain at peak performance without frequent exposure. I was wrong. He does excellent in public for the vast majority of the time, but there are times when something catches him off guard that shouldn't or he is more easily distracted by a busy store one day than he is the next. When we first began his training, we would force ourselves to go into town to do defined training exercises 3-4 times a week. We live 40 minutes away from a real city. The closest towns are virtually as dead as our own backyard. We don't like going into town because gas costs money, being in town usually means spending money, being in town triggers more flares for me, I have to rely on one of two people to drive us, and it takes time away from other activities we also need to be doing. However, this is what we signed on for - teaching him how to be and then maintaining that! Next year I want to try to revisit some of our exercises and work in public at least twice a week. Overall the lesson I've learned this year is that maintenance training is not quite the breeze I was expecting it to be. It's definitely easier, it's definitely less rigorous, but it's definitely still demanding by its own rights. I've tried my best to be open and honest about our triumphs, struggles, and and goals for the next year, even though they show some flaws in myself and in Robbie, because I want new teams and current teams to understand that no team is perfect. We have to be fluid; learn together, grow together, make mistakes together, and progress together. I've learned several key lessons about training a dog, especially a service dog, this year. Robbie is a great teacher because he is so rarely an easy dog. But we make a good team, and I know that next year is full of countless opportunities for us. Thank you for reading our post!
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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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