Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What a Service Dog Can and Cannot do in Public

What a Service Dog in BC Can and Cannot do in Public

While this article is written for US readers, it is very appropriate to BC Service Dog behaviors in public as well.

Basically, if your dog is being a nuisance (barking, jumping on or annoying others etc), an establishment can ask you to remove your dog if you have made no effort to control your dog or if that attempt makes no improvement.
If your dog defecates or urinates in an inappropriate location, they can legally ask you to leave.

Read the link  

Monday, July 1, 2013

Research Done on Service Dogs Training and Use

Ray Coppinger did a study on service dogs training and use. I am not sure if he covers owner-trained or not, but he does bring an important message:
Handlers put undue physical and emotional stress on their dogs by improper training and poor communication with them. Make sure your dog is trained to a high enough degree that she can perform her job comfortably and efficiently in the environments that you need her to. Ensure you have a good working relationship and strong communication in all venues before asking her to work with you.

Read abstract

Friday, June 21, 2013

So You Would Like A Service Dog... Common Questions

Here is a wonderful article if you are considering a service dog. The info and link are focussed on Ontario, but the main ideas apply across the board. Also be sure to read the replies below the thread for insight from SD owners.

Read article.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Tip: Teaching Your Social Service Dog to Focus on You and Ignore Strangers

All service dogs need to be comfortable being approached by and interacting with strangers as well as being handler by groomers, veterinarians etc. However, that does not mean that you want your service dog hanging on their every word, lavishing attention on them or even mugging them for attention, food or toys.

If you have a dog who really enjoys interacting with the public (highly human social dog), the behavior is self-rewarding and you would prefer your dog to be more focussed on you, make sure that all rewards come from you and never from the strangers. Choose high value rewards as well, especially in the beginning. 

If all rewards come from you, you will find that your dog naturally turns to you after a brief directed greeting, when in doubt of what to do or to be reinforced after doing a service task. 

How to Approach Training: 


For interactions with the public, start with a person the dog is familiar with.  Cue the dog to hand target the friend (toe, knee or offered hand), but the reward always comes from you. That way, the dog must turn to you, is rewarded in position while standing in front of you and is ready to perform a cue to do "something else". Work your way up to a person unknown to the dog, then to friendly strangers you meet who can follow instructions well. Always start with highly controlled situations and work to less controlled situations as the dog shows success.

That "something else" could be a sit or down to prevent over-interest or over-engagement in the other person, eye contact with you, or a cue for the dog to do a task for you that does not involve the other person. As the dog is successful in doing those behaviors, start incorporating cues that do involve the other person (such as carrying an object from that person back to you), but the person, instead of being a magnet of the dog's attention, becomes another object in the process of the dog completing the task. You may want to to start with some fun tasks like running around the person, walking between their legs, weaving between two people, doing send outs to a paw target to do a behavior past the person and return to you etc. Be creative.

A quick beginners tip is to engage your dog in simple behaviors that can be rewarded with a high rate of reinforcement when first learning how to focus on you (and minimizing interaction with the stranger). With success, you can decrease the rate of reinforcement and add in duration type behaviors such as a sit stay or down stay between the simple tasks. Then ask for slightly more complicated tasks working your way up the level of difficulty.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Service Dogs and Correction-based collars (such as prong or pinch collars or choke chains)

Well, I've tried to stay neutral on this issue (that is to stay private in my personal opinions against prongs and other tools that use punishment to train a dog to walk on a loose leash) but I found a fantastic blog post that's too good not to share.

Service dogs need to have the level of training that they are reliable on leash no matter the distraction. If the handler feels the need to wear such a corrective device, the dog needs to go back to basic training around distractions, or the dog needs to be counter conditioned or systematically desensitized not to be reactive to the trigger (stimuli). In such high level training that is needed, there are acceptable excuses.  Excuses such as: that the person doesn't have the physical ability to handle the dog, or that the dog is too large to be expected to walk on a loose leash or that the dog has a history of reactivity due to abuse, being attacked etc. Using such collars, especially on a long-term basis is an admission of faulty or inadequate training.  The dog need to be retrained before going out into public access work.

Bottom line is that we need to look at the world from the dog's perspective and have some empathy for the dog and the difficult job she must do for the human partner. That empathy must extend past when it is convenient for the handler. Training and behavior modification, not use of a punishment-based management tool, is called for.

Somehow, I get the feeling that the blog author will never again use a prong on any of her dogs or those she trains or advocates for.

Pinch Me

Friday, April 5, 2013

Teaching a Service Dog to Settle

Here is a link to a few wonderful exercises that teach a dog to learn to settle, or be calm in any environment.

Chill Out