From time to time, our service dogs need us to brave. What do I mean by this? How can a dog need us to be something? They are the ones that we need, not the other way around... right? Nope. Besides the obvious things like needing us to feed them, care for them, and be patient with them, there are times where they need us to be extremely brave & confident in our decisions regarding them. Difficult Decisions We Might or Will Encounter
Putting Your Dog First, Making Command Decisions, & Being BravePut Your Dog First Any good owner or handler should already be able to put their dog's needs before their own. After a training session, even if I am exhausted, I make sure Robbie has water & a place to rest before I take care of myself. On terrible pain days, I push myself to get out of bed in order to train, play, and care for Robbie. Every day, Robbie eats his meal before I make dinner for myself. I always make sure I have enough money saved for Robbie expenses, even though that's incredibly difficult when you have no income. If I can't exercise Robbie one day, I find another way to get him exercise. When a strange dog gallops towards us, I put myself between that dog & Robbie so that he doesn't get hurt, and he knows I will protect him from harm. It doesn't matter if I get knocked down or bitten, as long as Robbie is ok, in my opinion. And that's coming from someone whose disability causes minor injuries to be huge setbacks. Our dogs are there to save our lives and be our faithful helpers, but their needs still come first because they are living creatures, not robots. Make Command Decisions One day, you may wake up, look at your massively intimidating training logs and feel as if you have stalled out. Maybe your dog is struggling with a certain command or you have no clue how to teach them something new. Whatever the reason, you have to be able to take a step back, look outside of the current issue and make a decision on what to do and how to do it. Perhaps the decision is to not train that day, and instead play games throughout the day. Or it might be to drop that task or exercise all together if your dog shows no drive to learn or complete it. First you make your command decisions, and then you push yourself to brave enough to follow through on your choices. What if on a walk one day, a stray dog bounds out of nowhere and attacks you and your service dog. You might recover with time, but your service dog could easily develop anxiety, vigilance, and even aggression towards other dogs. You desperately need your service dog to alert to seizures or prevent falls, but you know that they can’t be asked to do public access work anymore because it makes them jumpy and stressed out. You have to make the decision to wash them out because it’s what your dog needs. You need them, but you know that they need a life where they aren’t nervous all the time. You put them first. How to Be Brave Wow. This is easily the hardest part of working with a service dog. Let's be honest. It's immensely difficult to make the decision to retire a dog, wash it out of training, or take a setback in training in order to slow things down & make changes. Finding out that your dog has a medical condition that prohibits them from working when they are only 3 years old is a devastating blow, especially when they have so much promise. Washing out after spending a year training your dog is equally terrible. Setbacks are frustrating. You spend so much time training, only to hit a bump in the road and suddenly it feels like you're moving backwards instead of improving. A quick secret for training a service dog - they say it takes 1-2 years, but really it takes the dog's entire life because training and refreshing and practicing never really ends. That timeline can easily be stressful and makes handlers, myself included, feel like they have to meet a certain agenda or timeline otherwise they aren't a good team. That's bullshit. Your team needs to work at whatever speed suits you and your dog best. Only you know what obstacles are facing you right now. Judgmental internet people will tell you that you always have a choice in how you handle things, but honestly, sometimes, you don't have a choice about how you approach those hurdles. So don't listen to ignorant strangers on Facebook, because only you know whats best for your team. Gladly welcome insight and advice, but don’t take what others say as the end all be all. Being brave means knowing when to push ahead, and when to take a break. When to change your methods and when to wash out your dog. When to begin looking for the next dog, and when to finally retire the current one. Bravery is difficult, partly because we need these partners in order to live a normal life, but ultimately they need more care and respect and royal treatment than we do. Being Brave Regarding Robbie's TrainingWhen I made the decision to adopt a dog and train it to act as a service dog for myself, I did so believing that I was currently in a stable stage of my life and was not planning on that to change anytime soon. Note: not planning on change. Here's What Went Down in Robbie's First Year with Us:
It has been a rough year since January for both of us. We are continuing his training, because none of his current problems are severe enough to warrant washing him out, but it has been discussed. Our training approach is a lot less rigorous, and I work harder to be even more patient and encouraging with him. But every day, I wake up and choose to brave with him. For me & Robbie, me being brave involves:
Closing NotesWhen you take on the responsibility of working with a service dog, remembering to be brave isn't the first thing you think about. You worry about impeccable behavior in public, reliability with commands and exercises, and working towards those golden tasks. It's easy to get lost in training and forget to put your dog's needs before your own, but it is imperative that you do. You must always remember that you two are a team. Even though your dog is there to make your life possible, they are more than a pair of crutches. Putting their needs first, making decisions for their well-being, and being brave to admit when change is needed may force you to make personal sacrifices, but ultimately, all of this will make you and your dog a stronger team.
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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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