Dont Take Your Service Dog In Training To The Dog Park!

Posted on July 7, 2008
Filed Under Care, Firsts, Jasper, Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment

i took liame and jasper to the dog park on friday. i made the tactical decision to go to westcrest insead of the unfenced doggie heaven known as marymoore since it was liames first time at a dog park and i wasent 100% positive he would return when called. normally i would not take liame to a dog park because he is training for service work but this was a exception to the rule because i had to make sure he got plenty of exercise and was calm for the night of the 4th. the ONLY reason why i felt it was OK for me to take him was that i am learning doggie body language through classes and reading, i knew what path to take him down so that his contact with other dogs was minimal and knew that the dog park would be relatively empty at the time i went.

if you are trying to train your dog to be a service dog, DO NOT TAKE YOUR DOG TO THE DOG PARK! unlike in a structured puppy play class there is no one there to supervise the interactions your dog has with others. you dont want to ruin your dog for the rest of his or her life by one single dog fight. i have heard of several different guide dogs being taken out of service because they got attacked by another dog at some point in their career and were now too afraid of other dogs to do their jobs properly. none of the guide dog/service dog schools allow you to take their puppys to dog parks for this exact reason. social interaction is crucial for a puppy, but unsupervised social interaction has the possibility of ruining your dog for the rest of its life. all of the problem dogs in the puppy classes i attended were dogs that went to doggie daycares and dog parks. no one wants to go to a dog park more than me but i cant risk my future for a couple of minutes of doggie playtime pleasure. to highlight this point even further, jasper almost got into a fight that day at the park.

Firecracker, Firecracker, Boom, Boom, Boom!

Posted on July 3, 2008
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since getting jasper, any holiday (or the days proceeding and after) where firecrakers might be enjoyed, i am no longer a willing participant. my days and nights are spent in sleeplessness, dealing with an uncontrollable panic that not even 10mg of vallium can deal with. jasper is completely terrified of firecrackers. last night a thunder and lightening storm rolled into town. about 2 am in the morning jasper started freaking out. i had given him melatonin around 6 pm not expecting there to be an issue late into the evening but it turns out i need to start watching the weather reports, apparently washington state can have thunderstorms just like the midwest. i had to end up giving jasper a vallium to get him to settle down. liame on the other hand didnt seem phased at all by the noise – thank god. i hope that in the next couple of days i am able to keep jasper from freaking out infront of liame. i dont want liame to learn that firecrackers are something to fear. my dream is to one day be able to go see the 4th of july fireworks display from the space needle. my strategies for dealing with keeping jasper calm are the following:
make as much noise as possible (fan, tv, radio)
exercise, exercise, exercise
give melatonin at least half an hour prior to the first signs of firecrackers
get a prescription for a powerful sedative from your vet at least a week before the start of the festivities and make sure you have at least several days worth of the medication

Adolescent Ears

Posted on June 30, 2008
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ive been rather lazy with my training lately and its showing. today while on his leash, liame pulled me around a like a sled this morning in an attempt to go play with jasper. additionally, his adolescent ears have been ignoring my “come” command. lately i havent been using the “nothing in life is free plan” where he has to earn his daily allotment of food just because it was kind of a hassle to carry a bait bag around with me all day. today i am switching back to the plan. i dont want adolescence to take control of my puppy.

To Sniff Or Not To Sniff?

Posted on June 4, 2008
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for some arbitrary reason i have decided that liame should no longer be sniffing the floor anywhere outside of my cubicle while his vest is on.  i dont have any idea when service dog organizations start trying to train this behavior out of their dogs but i have decided that in just about every environment it is unacceptable.  whenever i see him sniffing or licking anything i use the “leave it” command or an outright “no”.  after a few days of this, he seems to be getting the picture.  for the last several months i have only been using the leave it command only in the kitchen.  when i started thinking about what i was asking him to do, i decided that it wasent fair for me to ask him to discern whether he is in an environment where he can sniff or not.

Yet Another One

Posted on May 29, 2008
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today i made a mistake with liames training.  one of my coworkers had brought in his 8 lb dog and i allowed liame to interact with it while he had his vest on.  i placed him in a sit, waited until i had his complete attention and then told him “OK go play” exactly like i had told to do in my puppy intermediate class.  unfortunately what i forgot was that in class liame doesnt have his vest on and is free to be a normal dog.  when he is “working”, he is not supposed to interact with other dogs.  i let my love and excitement for other dogs override my thinking brain and let them sniff each other.  it took me a few minutes before i realized what was happening before i pulled liame away from the other dog, scolding myself as i walked down the hall.  i know this experience wont harm liame in the long run but i wanted readers to realize how easy it is to slip into normal dog mode when distracted.

The Limp

Posted on May 14, 2008
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liame has been dealing with a soft tissue injury for well over a month now (yes, we had it xrayed just incase). i dont know exactly how he got it but i blame myself for it. in all honesty i think it was from me jerking his head around while he had his gentle leader on. sometimes i got so frustrated with him pulling me down the street and not paying attention to me that i would practically yank his entire front half of his body back into position beside me. up until a few weeks ago, i didnt realize that you were not supposed to “yank and crank” the leash when a dog is wearing a gentle leader (or halti) because it can cause injury. i stopped doing it after i heard it but it seems like every time i put the gentle leader on and gently guide him into position, it once again aggravates his injury and im left with a limping puppy.

Puppy Junior High

Posted on May 7, 2008
Filed Under Class, Firsts, Mistakes, Things That Make Me Smile | Leave a Comment

liame went to his first puppy junior high class today and was the star pupil. he sat on his mat like he was supposed to, didnt try to play with the other dogs too much and payed attention to me. looks like he is finally learning some self control. i didnt like this teacher as much as i do the puppy kindergarten one. she seems more strict and unwilling to use other teaching methods (that arent 100% positive). not everyone can be positive 100% of the time and not every puppy can be taught using these methods.
i remember when i first got liame and he tried to get push his little puppy head into the fridge EVERY time i opened it up. no matter what positive reinforcement i used he ignored it because he just liked the fridge too much. i ended up screaming at him and even took a swipe at him in utter frustration – something i will regret for the rest of my life. that didnt even work (cuz it wasent that hard and mommy getting mad didnt mean a thing to him at that point). i ended up searching the web for something to use that would get his attention. i used a squirt bottle filled with water. within three trys and three squirts he never stuck his head in the fridge again. so the moral of the story is 100% positive reinforcement 100% of the time is great for some puppys, but not all of them.

Still Fighting It

Posted on April 3, 2008
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All this week we were till fighting the mistake I made on monday of taking Liames vest off.  I am having to keep a constant eye on him now to keep him away from Jasper.  

An interesting thing happened a couple of day ago while i was walking Jasper and Liame at work.  We were approached by another dog and Jasper went bananas.  I tried to get him to calm down by screaming “NO” at him and telling him to “SIT” but he wouldnt listen, he was too interested in the other dog. This is the main reason why I decided to go with a puppy.  I have been unsuccessful in stopping this behavior in him.  It was rather embarrassing when Liame, my 4 month old puppy immediately responded to my command to sit and sat there calmly while the other dog passed but my full fledged service dog acted inappropriately

Huge Mistake – Taking Off The Vest

Posted on April 1, 2008
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Yesterday I made a huge mistake in my training.  As an experiment, I took Liame’s vest off while at work to see if he knew the difference between the behavior he is supposed to display with the vest on and the behavior without the vest.  Turns out he knew and immediately started play biting Jasper and barking at him.  I was originally thrilled with this reaction but as I placed the vest back on him I was in for a big surprise.  Not only did he NOT stop playing once the vest was on, but decided that since he was able to play once, maybe he could play again.  Prior to this occurrence he did not play with Jasper until we arrived home.  But in the last day and a half, he has tried to play with Jasper with his vest on multiple times.  I have had to keep a constant eye on him, one time even locking him in his crate as punishment – something i havent had to do in over a month.

 

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