Training a service dog

[shimmerz]

I wanted to start this posting because I know of a few people on the board who are attempting to train their own service dog and was wondering if a thread specifically for asking questions of others who have experience with this might be a help.

You know, 'my dog won't do this - any ideas?' Good resources you have found. Best breeds. Are rescue dogs a viable option. How to get a dog to respond to you when you are in the depths of dissociationville, things like that. Doesn't even have to be a service dog. Could be a dog that you use for grounding who has either learned themselves to help you or have been trained to do so.

I guess as a first question, I would ask any of you who have actually trained your own dogs and are willing to be a part of a kind of support group for others who have questions, to make themselves known in this thread.

Just a thought.

 

[hodge]

I rescued my Misha and I never really trained her. She was just naturally empathetic and loving. She'd come up to me when I was lying on the couch and kiss my face and lie down next to me. I set a few boundaries for her. On walks I made her sit at corners before we crossed the street. She didn't get Milkbones at night till she sat down. Sorry, that's the extent of my training.

Good thread, though. I'll be watching it in case another dog falls into our laps.

 

[SeanCharles]

I like this idea! Considering I am going through this and while I am not going to self promote here, I have done years of research while knowing that there is are sites out there that allow one to pay a fee and can get the equipment to masquerade their dog as a service dog, I do not advise using any of those sites.

For starters, a Service Dog is a working dog, much like being given crutches when you've broken a leg or arm. I am not saying this to imply what may already be known, my point here is that there is a distinction. There are Service Dogs allowed to accompany the handler in public while there are dogs that are strictly for emotional support which do have public access. Service Dogs take training and those tasks are for disability mitigation. Those who know me, likely remember Sheba, who was not a rescue, she was a shelter adoption and for many reasons was not my service dog, she was my emotional support.

Winnie however is my Service Dog candidate as was a rescue from a person who cared and needed to rehome her after the surrender to the rescuer. Winnie and I have been doing much assistance work while we will be doing formal training as well. One of the major keys in a Service Dog is performing tasks that augment a disability. There is a site that I often refer to that has a breakdown of tasks specific for PTSD and I am not sure if sharing that in this post would not be going against the rules.

If anyone has any questions, I can answer from my own experience. The formal training that Winnie and I will be undergoing in due time is the Canine Good Citizen Training and that doesn't make her a Service dog, she will have to pass a test. There is another member here who may chime in here as well.

I will leave this for now so this doesn't get overly lengthy.

 

[Ka-9]

I'm happy to assist anyone with training questions. I don't think I'd enjoy formally training dogs any more, although I do everyday stuff with the 4 I have.

But I suppose I have a decent bank of professional knowledge that could be put to use for good purposes if it helps someone.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Thanks @shimmerz! Chopper is VERY early in his training so I was going to start a thread a bit later but I'll post here. Though, as you can tell by my diary, I post every day so I'll not take over your thread.

Chopper is my American Pitbull Terrier. He is 4 yrs old (so I am starting way late and training past bad training and negitive learned behavior).

There are many challenges but what makes him a great dog to be a service dog: he is a very laid back calm dog. I have learned that there are many pitbull service dogs in my research that I did preparing for this. They are VERY intelligent and are also extremely loyal. What helps is I also have physical challenges that he will be helping me with and he is also very sensitive to me in distress. He already wakes me in bad nightmares and I didn't teach him to do that. He also already runs to find someone when I yell help. I didn't teach him that either.

Just about any breed would be good given that their temperment is right.

I am NOT buying into fast training of remote collars as I have seen all over the place. That is cruel in my opinion and I am not into fast but rather soild.

We started with "focus" which is eye contact and he has a nature to avoid due to me...yelling. So it's a challenge to work through. It is the first thing I do no matter what I am doing and I will ask for focus throughout any other training I am doing.

I am using a clicker and treats. That way of training is soild if done right and you faze out both the clicker and the treats so you don't need them forever.

Tasks that I was Chopper to do for me eventually is:

• wake me in nightmares (more consistantly and less severe)
• Calm (head on lap to help me calm
• Alert me to anxiety cues I have
• Deep pressure therapy (dog's weight across you to help you ground)
• Block (to lay between me and others for more personal space)
• Walk in before me in a strange enviroment
• Pull (to pull me up)
• Hold (to hold the position and let me pull up on him)
• Steady (let me push down on him to help me off of a seat)
• Open some doors
• Close some doors
• Pick up objects and bring them to me

Gear we have currently:

• Service dog vest (with 3 patches: service dog which it came with, service dog in training, and service dog no touch no eye contact no distraction)
• A head collar which helps tremdously with pulling outside and is helping me VERY quickly with heal and my new command "go sniff"
• A gentle leader easy walk harness (clips on the chest. On it's way)
• A 3 way adjustable lead (a life saver)
• A seat belt harness (will only be using the seat belt part)
• Clicker with a squnchy key chain to put around my wrist and a clip to clip it to the treat bag
• A thousand bags of training treats to find his jackpot treat
• A treat bag
• And about 80 great training videos from youtube I found and emailed to myself, some service dog but most are basic skills to help build a good foundation along with days upond days upon days of research
• A collasable travel dog bowl with a clip
• And a wounderful supportive therapist that will let me use his office to train proper Dr office etiquette

And I had to learn very fast to be patient, VERY consistant, and have an upbeat high pitched tone. He is almost doing a perfect heal just 3 days into having the head collar because of this. You MUST be consistent and remember to build that good foundation, strong foundation of basic commands before training new tasks. A strong foundation to be able to build on. This means do it over and over and over until you have factored out the clicker and treat and know he/she will do it 100% of the time.

Fazing out the treats and clicker is to use it every other then random.

So say i click and treat on every sit. Now its sit down. Then its sit down stand down. Then its sit. Then down. Then sit down stay come down sit. Then its sit down. Basically your dog has no idea when he will get a click and treat and lessen and lessen until you dont need it.

MANY youtube videos on how to "charge" the clicker and a word like "yes" and how to use it (and not use it) and how to faze it and the treats out. Basically the clicker means "i like what you did there and a reward is on its way". And timing is everything.

And i also taught Chopper how to follow the treat with the clicker so when i was to lure him (like between me and an object to learn "heal" or under my legs as "under", each step or attempt in the right direction is a click and treat asking them to go a little further each time. Once that is without much effort you add your cue word. Then once that is reliable you slowly move the object away.

Sorry, now i am rambling. Chopper is technically less then a week in his training and doesn't pull. Does almost a perfect heal outside though i haven't traimed heal yet, focuses on me when he would avoid before, does a perfect stay without moving before i give him the release cue, sits each time i stop and again focuses on me when before he avoided, and even stopped me when i forgot to give him the command.

I will start to teach him to touch a post it soon and other smaller tasks.

The thing is not every dog is a service dog and not every dog can become a service dog. You much be sure that the dog can pass the public access test and would be smart to take the CGC too.

I'll update as I go along but certianly not every day as I do in my diary.

 

[shimmerz]

Agreed. I wasn't suggesting that for this that posting. Just that people who have/are training their own dogs would, idk, register themselves in that thread so that if others were having problems there would be a resource for others to know who to contact if they were having problems.

I wasn't suggested at all a redirect of your diary. I think you have some very important information here. The thought came to me when Desi shared with you the videos that you both found so helpful. Perhaps something like that would be good for that thread, but I will leave it with you as to whether you wanted to be involved at all. :hug:

 

[lostforgottensoul]

The thought came to me when Desi shared with you the videos that you both found so helpful. Perhaps something like that would be good for that thread

My diary or this thread? I have about a bazillon videos but one specifc trainer that trains his germ sheps extremely well with a clicker and I love his approach.

I can share some good vids if you'd like.

I just didn't want to over take this thread when I post about Chopper's training every day and sometimes several times a day. Just didn't want to take over your thread is all.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Tasks that I was Chopper to do for me eventually is:

I forgot to add pressing buttons such as an elevator button and/or a cross walk button. Also to turn on lights before we enter would be another task.

I think of more as we go and he isn't trained for any tasks yet as we are just a week in and we are working on stregnthing basic commands first.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I wanted to answer this more specifically then I did orginally.

Are rescue dogs a viable option.

Rescues are ALWAYS a viable option and are usually the best ones! Though I am bias as I am against buying and for rescuing only.

Training any dog for any reason is easier as a puppy and if you can I would start as a puppy but my dog is 4 yrs old and I am training past bad training, behaviors, and stuborness and it's going wonderfully.

There is a video of a vet that has a pitbull as his service dog. A patron saw the patch "stop no touch" and his breed and kicked the guy out of his place. This was the local news story. Anyway, he stated that you don't see many pitbull service dogs but they make good ones and I agree. I'd say one of the smartest and loyal dogs out there and most don't know their own strength.

How to get a dog to respond to you when you are in the depths of dissociationville

You don't. You train the dog to alert to cues. Anxiety cues come in all forms and I had to have a ton of self reflection for this one. I do things like shaking, shaking my leg fast, rocking, and what i do a TON is pick at my head. You train, indiviudally to alert you by either nudging or pawing or climbing whenever you do these anxiety behaviors and then to be more persistent when you ignore s/he. So in the end, if you are shaking your dog alerts you. If you are shaking your legs fast they alert you. If you are picking, scratching excessivfully...or anything...or dog alerts you. It interupts the cycle, grounds you and calms you at same time and helps you to not dissociate.

ETA: I just spent 3 hrs in 5 trainings to train "heal". Not perfect, not immediate, not moving, but a wonderful first day. My feet, knees, and back are POUNDING!

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Tasks that I was Chopper to do for me eventually is:

Also forgot to add find and lead me out of the nearest exit during or in the beginning of a dissociated state.

*****

Wanted to say that if you are training deep pressure therapy and are having trouble with the dog not wanting to jump up on you (I think my dog had such an issue with it because he was previously trained to not jump on me) that it is easier to start with sitting on the floor with legs straight out. I lured him with a treat over my legs then down to my lap.

Side note: Make sure your dog follows a treat and click/praise when they do as there are so many tasks and things your dog will need to do that will require luring

Anyway, he didn"t catch on right away so said "down". He still didn't catch on as he was backing up then laying down next to me, so said sit, then lowered the treat down equal to my body but beside me and said down and he finally laid down on my legs and I marked it with the clicker and he caught onto that VERY fast after that. And then used a couch cushion and 4 pillows to raise me a bit. Legs straight out then bent in a sitting position. Then on the couch no cushion then on the couch normal. To slowly increase my height.

I found that a hard task to figure out how to train so that helped a ton plus laying on my legs helped him figure out quickly that I wanted him to lay across my legs and not just up on them with his feet.

Thought I'd share that with anyone training their service dog/in training and having trouble with training DPT. There are a few ways to do DPT also so may not be applicable.

Chopper is a big dog. He is a 75lb American Pitbull Terrier so he is heavy in the chest and had his vest on so many other breeds may not have this issue with not wanting to, or not able to, jump. It was better this way as he sort of steps up onto my lap into position and it would have sucked to have 75 lbs pure muscle to jump and land on my legs with neuropathy.

Also, to add a great one, a task I call "comfort" which is his head on my leg/lap (and relaxed so I can feel the heaviness of his head) worked by luring him with a treat until his head was fully over my leg then lowered the treat slowly to just below the top of my leg (more if I wanted him to relax more meaning let the weight of his head fall on my leg more) and then marked that. Soon he was doing it without luring and that was an easy but great task.

Just a few tips I found online and figured out on my own for anyone that can use it.

 

[Tabbycat925]

First off I think it's awesome that you want to train your service animal yourself. I've always been more of a cat person and I've had 2 emotional support cats successfully trained to wake me from nightmares and they were perfect for grounding me in moments of stress. I think doing it yourself provides a closer connection and you can slip in specifics on how exactly things work with you. There are videos you can watch. As for breeds I would go with larger breeds. I got advice from an amazing trainer out where I live. He said larger breed just seem to connect better with his clients. The one I witnessed and learned from was a German shepherd. beautiful animal and she was super keen to changes in mood. I hope all goes well. Remember you can always ask a local trainer about it. They are there to help people not steal money. Good luck.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

As for breeds I would go with larger breeds. I got advice from an amazing trainer out where I live. He said larger breed just seem to connect better with his clients.

I've seen videos of smaller breeds but the larger ones can alert better and do DPT better (in my opinion).

I've seen a ton of Australian Sheperds and Border Collies and well. There aren't a ton of pitbull service dogs but there are a few on youtube.

It is very intresting the huge change in reaction I got from people. Mind you, my dog is very sweet, loves everyone, wonderful with kids. He is just a very sweet loving dog. The reaction I usually get is one of fear. Because he is a pitbull. Worse when I started on the head collar as most think it's a muzzle. There are some open to be educated and then those very closed minded ignornant people. I put a vest on him with "service dog in training" and not one person shows fear, at all. And he is very early into training. I found that to be intresting.

The one thing I did and continue to do is massive, MASSIVE research. Days upon days (full days so 8 hrs of research a day) before we started and then I spend any time I am not training learning new techniques for training certian things we are working on. Information is priceless.

What I have found is there are the positive re-enforcement, clicker/treat trainers and this is where most owner trained service dogs fall but then then are those training with remote e collar that get amazing results, add urgency to the commands, and one owner trained service dog I saw on youtube was trained this way. I did a ton of research just on e collars. The "correct way" to use it, they say, is to use the very lowest level that the dog can feel. So that is saying level 1 -100, level 1 is something they can't feel and most stopped at 5 or 6. And they also say that at the very low level, it feels like a TENS unit. I've had a TENS unit on many times and unless its up too high it doesn't hurt. They say the dog is still happy and egar to follow commands and most seemed that way. Tail up, body langauge looked eger. Etc.

So I wanted to at least give it a try (the one big mistake I made) but the most of these trainers are using is the mini educator which is EXPENSIVE and I can't pay that much so I went with the highest rated one on amazon that was in the $20 - $30 range. Also 1 - 100 levels

A level ONE hurts on my neck and underside of my arm but not on top of my arm so I thought I would try on him and he jumped across the room and yelp. Nope, that's it. No more.

It wasn't because I wanted to shock him. More I wanted him to have a slight sensation that doesn't hurt and teach him that by following commands it goes away.

To be fair I didn't use the one that cost over $100 and more in the $200 one. I just won't pay that for something I can't pre-test on my own neck first.

Also it has vibration, sound, and light. The sound he tries to get at it and the vibration I tried but he is terrified of it and shuts down on me. So it is now in the garbage.

I feel bad I did that but there are videos of both methods and these trainers getting all of these great results and many explain it etc, etc, etc. I don't think I could get that "well what if I had tried it" out of my head without trying it.

My point, use clicker and treats and praise. You will get far better results then those of 'balanced" trainers. Be careful, if you choose a trainer, as there are MANY that use the e collar to get very fast results. I saw one that said he can turn an unruly dog into a service dog in 2 weeks with an e-collar. Sure, a shut down dog doing things for you because it has no other choice. Many trainers want fast results as that means more money. I was never under the impression I could do it fast. I was thinking he would listen to me faster once he knew what the command was down pat.

I refuse to use a prong collar, and a new thing (old) thing I found last night called an q bone or q collar. Something I saw on youtube a "pressure point harness" or anything that causes him distress.

Again, I made a mistake there but wanted to throw that out there to not fall for the millons of remote/e collar videos out there. It doesn't feel like a tens unit and even those that test it on themselves use the top of their arm or fingers. I used my neck as that is where I was putting it and it seems his neck is just as sensitive as mine. It's abusive is what it is.

So now I have to work on that fear I created. He knows the sound of the treat bag and clicker clipped on the treat bag and would run to me so excited to train. Now he is a bit worried due to yesterday so I have to build his trust back up and show him training is fun again. It won't take long as he bounces back pretty easily. I do feel terrible that I did that but I wanted to warn here against it.