Second Service Dog Class

Several weeks ago we welcomed two new dogs into our *active* Service Dog training program. Jade is a Giant Schnauzer and Lexi is a Springer Spaniel. Jade is being trained as a Physical Assistant dog and Lexi is working to become an Emotional Assistant. Both are doing well for their prospective *jobs*.

Jade learns fast and is very eager to do her job. She is assisting her owner in a variety of ways already. She has learned to help her off with her clothes, open wheelchair access doors, retrieve a variety of items as instructed pick up things that her owner drops and hand them back to her, and to *go get______* when her owner needs help. She will go to that person, paw them and then lead them back to where ever her owner is at. She is in the process of learning to drop items into a basket or throw things into the trash.

Lexi has a little more trouble staying focused to her task, but she too is learning to open wheelchair access doors, *give hugs*, pick up items that have been dropped, and generally stay at her owners side, lending comfort and support when needed. She is working on bringing items back as directed (medicine bottles etc).

We have been working at various stores, Castleton Mall, and an ever changing array of eating establishments. Both Lexi and Lade are doing extremely well in the LEAVE IT department. Two weeks ago we were working at the food court in Castleton Mall where I pushed the envelope on their LEAVE IT training. To start with the owners were to go get in line (a line of their choosing), order food and or drink and pay for it. Their dogs needed to remain in a polite sit position at the owners side. When they received their orders they were to go sit down with their dogs under their tables out of the way. The dogs were not to bother any other patrons, nor disturb their owners in any way. The dogs all did really well with this so I *upped* the stakes again.

I bought a plain hot dog and had them cut it into pieces. I put them in the card board *boat* and placed it on the floor between the two tables/dogs. Neither bothered it or broke their position under the tables. Seeing this we upped it a little bit more. I took the hot dog pieces and scattered them in a line on the floor. I then had each owner/dog team practice the conscious decision leave it while walking their dogs past the food. Since they did well with this exercise we tested them further. I had the owner put their dog on a sit stay on one end of the line of food and then they moved down to the other end. We stationed helpers along the line just in case one of the dogs made a break for the food. After leaving them to sit/stay for 30 seconds or so, the owners then called their dogs to COME. Jade went first in this exercise and never bothered with the food or tried to run beyond her owner. EXCELLANT JOB JADE!

Next was Lexi's turn, she too did well though she made one try for the food with the second hot dog piece she went past. Our helper grabbed the food back from her as her owner corrected her. We then tried again, each dog/team running through this exercise several times. Each time after Lexi's first mistake was a good run for her as well. GOOD JOB LEXI!

All in all both of these teams are doing very well and have progressed nicely in their training. We have three more classes to go through before we test off for their first level. In tonight's class we will be at the local hospital working our dogs in the elevators, hallways and the lobby. I have high hopes for them both! After this class completes we will be welcoming one or two more into our program. Keep looking for us!

And please remember, the dogs are in training and are not to be petted while working! We all thank you for your co operation.

Kristi
Service Dog Trainer

Furthering the training with our Service Dogs

Our two current Service Dog in training puppies have completed their second round of obedience training and are doing VERY well. They both passed their Canine Good Citizen tests and have ordered their Service Dog vest and badges. Both Jade and Lexi are off to be spayed now, but when they have healed and are ready to rejoin us, we will be out hitting the stores malls and restaurants with them, furthering their training. When we work together you will be once again seeing Lugnut, Sophie 1 and Sophie 2 leading the way, with Lexi and Jade working hard to catch up to their skill levels. Soon we will also have Jake, an American Pit Bull joining us, along wth Aster the Airedale. Both Jake and Aster have a long way to go though, as they are  involved in just their first training class.

Most often you will see our class working at the Castleton mall on Thursday evenings, but during the week the owners train and practice with their dogs all over town. Please keep in mind when you see us out and about working (either as a group or individually) that these are Service Dogs in training. When you see their vests you will know who we are!

This means; please try not to disturb them and please DO NOT PET! They are working hard to learn how to be model canine workers in a busy environment. Their ultimate goals are in being able to help their owners in whatever Service Dog tasks they are needed for. They do need to learn to concentrate and not go seeking attention from others. This is hard to teach our dogs when we have others coming up and petting without thinking.

We all know how hard it can be for true dog lovers to pass them by, if you ask ahead and not just reach out to pet, many times we will give the dogs permission to be petted. Then it is ok, but please try not to just reach out to them first. Give us a chance to give the dogs the release for it first. We thank you for your co-operation in this!

Service Dog puppies

Thursday night (Feb 18, 2010) we started a new puppy class. This isn't just one of our usual Puppy Kindergarten classes. There are only two puppies in this class. Both of them were in a past Puppy K class and did well. They are back now in another class, working toward becoming a Service Dog for their owners. We have a LOT of work to do and a long road to travel still. I hope you will stick with us for this ride, to watch how they grow and develop into full fledged working Service Dogs. I will update on them from time to time, keeping up with their progress. All the ups and the downs. And there WILL be some downs to work through before they complete their training in a year or two!

First we have Jade. She is a 6 month old Giant Schnauzer. Jade is doing very well with her obedience work, her focus on her owner/trainer has improved a lot since the last class, showing mom and dads determination to work with her and have her do well. Jades mom has some mobility issues that she needs a large breed dog (like Jade) to assist her with in her daily life.

We also have Lexi. Lexi is a 5 month old Springer Spaniel. Lexi's mom is a retired Veteran from our Armed Services and has specific needs she wants and needs Lexi to help her with.

Lexi has slipped back a little in her training, but she's still a youngster and some times this happens. Mom is ready to step up and do some good hard work with Lexi to get her to where she needs to be. Lexi's biggest issue right now is her focus. She is still pretty easily distracted but with some good honest work over the next several months, this is an issue we will conquer together!

Stay tuned for progress on our Service Puppies!

Congratulations Puppy Graduates!

Thursday night we concluded another Puppy K class. I have to admit the puppy classes are some of my favorites. They always make us laugh at their antics, but it is also very rewarding to see puppies come in the first night out of control and go home at the end of graduation doing so much better. Most don't go home genius's but they do go home with a much better understanding of what their owners want from them and how to do it. On the last night we run through a *test* on all the different objects we train on.

Jade is a Giant Schnauzer who will be continuing in her training, working toward becoming a Service Dog to her owner. Jade graduated with top honors in this class. Here she is showing off her skills on the LEAVE IT command.

Lexi is another puppy who is working toward an eventual Service Dog completion. Right now her biggest issue is in trying to stay focused. Last night she showed everyone she CAN in fact do this, it just takes her a bit of effort right now.

Lexi was also doing very well on her stay command, even though she is still a young and exciteable Springer. It just goes to show what training can accomplish if you set your mind and efforts to it!

Katie, our little Corgi puppy did fabulous all through the training weeks. So of course on Graduation night she decided to become a puppy *teen* and show off for everyone. Katie still graduated, she just had to remind everyone in class how adorable she can be! As long as mom could hold her focus last night Katie did a great job on her heeling.

Kiley is taking out a new page in training with Wheaton Terriers. I've worked with many and they are all so excited about every single little thing in life, getting them to focus can be a whole new challenge of it's own. Kiley however did a terrific job in graduation class and has shown a great deal of improvement through out the class. Getting her to stay is still some what of a challenge unless you can keep her focused, but as you can see Kiley can certainly do this with the best of them, given the opportunity.

Kiley also did a great job on her DOWN command. Not an easy thing for a young Wheaton to do!

Upon completion of all testing, it was time to unveil the Graduates. Helping us to unroll the Red Carpet was our *resident* training helper, Lugnut.


Congratulations to all our Puppy K Graduates and their owners! You've all done a wonderful job. The job now is to not stop working with them and let them slide backwards! We'll be seeing many of you in our next class.

Katie the Corgi and mom

  Jade the Giant Schnauzer, and mom

Sid, most improved, and mom

Kiley the Wheaton, and mom

  Lexi, the Springer and mom

                   

Service Dog Hero

Since we have a Service Dog Training Class at Best Friend's, and this is one thing we can train someones dog to do for them if needed, I thought you might find this article interesting....

We've all seen the "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" commercials and chuckled, but what if you actually did fall and weren't able to get up? What if you couldn't even push a button to call for help? What would you do? That's the situation Scottsdale, Arizona resident Joe Stalnaker found himself in this past weekend, and thankfully someone else -- his dog -- was there to help him .

Joe suffered a head injury during military training ten years ago, and has had crippling seizures ever since. He adopted his dog Buddy at the age of just eight weeks, and trained the now 18-month-old German Shepherd to check on him and to press a button on the phone to dial 911 in case of an emergency. Over the weekend when Joe suffered a seizure that left him unable to move, Buddy made the call. Amazingly, this is the fourth time since Joe has owned him that he's managed this feat.

(If you do have a disability of some kind and have the need for a Service Dog to help you or someone you know even please give Best Friends Pet Care a call, (317) 841-8182. We CAN help you!)

Dog Calls 911, Saves Owner's Life
by Tim Stevens (RSS feed) — Sep 16th 2008 at 2:57PM