# Service Dog Training



## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

As I mentioned in a recent post, I am downsizing. My plan is to place Emma as a Service Dog. 

She has solid nerves, balanced drives, but lacks intensity for most work. She is perfectly sensitive to handler, works for delayed rewards and praise. She had foundations for public access and tasks when she was 6 - 12 weeks old and again about 5 months ago. She has her CGC, has shown little need for training for public access, so on to task training. 

I’m starting this thread to document her training a bit, and so others can use any information here for handler-trained service dogs. Also, I always bungle something up, so you guys that do clicker training might be able to help.

The list of tasks to train is long and overwhelming, but breaks down to:
Retrieve/Carry tasks
Retrieve dropped items
Retrieve targeted/named items
Search out unseen item (Example: find car keys)
Carry bags or groceries, bucket of items, etc
Pick up trash from floor
Deposit tasks
Place items in specified areas (Examples: put clothes in 
laundry basket, put dishes in sink, give money to cashier)
Tug tasks
Remove socks and shoes
Cover handler with blanket
Move large items (jacket, bedspread etc)
Pull basket of items from room to room
Open doors with tug strap
Nudge tasks
Open/Close doors
Hold dust pan for handler
Other
Pull wheelchair
Stand stay and brace to assist transferring

My goal is 6 months to 1 year.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma got removing socks faster than I expected, as she really works at it! This will need review from time to time, and it will be addressed again when we're actually dealing with a wheelchair.

Removing shoes... that's something else. She's figured the untying laces part. I'm having her grab the heel tab (on tennis shoes) but she doesn't get to pull DOWN. Then she *should* pull on the toe of the shoe to remove it - but instead she pushes down. This will take some doing to fix, but I think if I can get her to understand it's the same motion as removing socks, we should be in good shape.

Nudge door closed... Emma has learned the nose nudge. She can close the car door and latch it. BUT, there's a problem - she offers this. So now, I am chaining together the sequence of unloading from the car and closing the door to minimize the chance of her randomly offering slamming a car door (that could be bad!).

Next on the agenda is continuing retrieving all sorts of items, beginning depositing and beginning tugging.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Interesting Anne, What breed is Emma? I've been doing Service Dog stuff with Tatch as well. More how it reflects on my own disability. She braces me now and helps me get up off the floor or low furniture. 

I want to get a clic stik so I can start to get her to target stuff I want her to pick up. She will search and get a item that I hide on her so that might be able to work for keys or phone. 

Keep us posted on how you make out.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma is an APBT. Assuming she makes it through, she won't be the first APBT service dog.

Geoff - I use a wooden spoon for targeting.  I am trying to use a laser pointer, but I have not gotten any success with this.

Maybe a strap lift would work for Tatch to help you get up from a low seat? It's literally playing tug with the dog with a strong strap, the dog pulls you up.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Nice about her being a APBT .. 

I like the idea about the clik stik basically because of the clicker as she already knows what 'click' means. 

As for the laser pointer would you have an idea why Emma targets more onto the wooden spoon vs the laser? 

I've got a email into Lynn Cheffins to do a Service Dog Harness with a Strap lift not unlike this .. Still waiting to hear from her though ..








But with a handle like this .. on top of the central handle


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

That looks nice. I've seen some of Lynn's work so I'm betting you won't be disappointed.

I have an active dogs padded vest, sewed on two loops and got a ladder/utility hook from a hardware store. (The kind made of tubular steel.) I put a rubber hose over the middle of the hook for a handle, put the hook ends through the rings on the vest and put the ends through the loops I had sewn in. Worked beautifully for a rigid handle. Somewhere I have photos of it in use. I think I'll dig those up and post them.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma can't find the laser. 
Abby can find it, but she doesn't understand the point, so she get's stressed.
Kado is a laser chaser - insane.

I think it's a bit strange how different the response is between the 3.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

That would be great to see pictures of your padded vest. I'd love to see the utility hook in action just for what I have in mind for my own use.

Yes Lynn's stuff is the bomb. She put together a prototype summer training vest for me from a description and a picture .. out of the box it was perfect. All the mushers up here use her bags and other equipment.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

We got started on deposit tasks this week. She already goes to a touch pad, so I ask her to pick up and item, walk with her to the touch pad and out her. Big jackpot. 

I'm expecting her to connect the dots - get the item and take it to the touch pad without me having to lead in any way. At that time, I plan to switch the touch pad with a basket or box.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

We expanded on the nose nudge to close the car door and brought it indoors for closing the fridge, oven and dishwasher. She has yet to learn a hard nudge to latch a door (think dishwasher), but the person she is training for is able enough that it shouldn't be necessary.

I did one short session of tug play and named the behavior "pull." I also did some review on removing socks that day, also using the command "pull." Yesterday, on a whim, I tied her tug to the oven door and gave her the cues "Open the Door. Get it! Pull!" and she grabs the tug, and backs up, pulling the door open. That was easy training. 

We did run into a potential problem - the same one as with closing the car door. She knows the behavior is rewarded, so she offers it. That could be bad. We were also working the "leave it" and "wait" commands during this session.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I spend some time with the person I am hoping to place Emma with (if everything works out). She would be asked to fetch blankets and pillows. So we worked on that today and it went well. It was funny at first to watch her try to retrieve while she was standing on it. I laid back and let her figure it out and she did, quickly.

We built a bit on depositing items into a basket, but the main focus was on pulling the basket full of items from one location to another. I was really happy with Emma's problem solving skills and how she figured it out. She even figured how to pull the basket around in a circle so the tug is on the end that is the direction she's trying to move the basket. 

I need to focus on retrieve tasks and start over on them. She's really not good at finding the item I'm asking for. She cues off of me pointing it out and her future handler won't be able to do this. I'm thinking to backchain the retrieve and to switch it up a lot. By working on one item at a time, I was always resetting the item (therefore touching it and pointing at it) and she cued off of that heavily.

Another area of work is really in foundations. In doing trick, stunt and high jump training, I wanted to get the maximum motivation from a dog, so I withheld food excpet for training. But I've got a dog that's fawning on my hands and has a totally different attitude when she sees I have food. I need to break apart the training=food connection. I am thankful she responds well to rythym, movement, praise, petting and play for reward, so it is a matter of handler training, not so much the dog training.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Recently, I've been pushing the obedience.

Taught a "Zen" command (relaxation + down stay) and have been working that in distraction (dog park, sidewalk in shopping district).

Her retrieve was previously for a dropped item. I've built on that to go to a stationary object and retrieve. Future work will include FINDING the object.

She got started on "look high" to look on a table, counter etc to find an object to retrieve.

She's on the cuddly side so continuing to work on NOT soliciting attention. I have been working this as a recall/call-off and I'm very pleased with her progress. She'll think about seeking attention and choose to recall on her own.

Depositing tasks are going slowly. Started on depositing the remote to the coffee table yesterday.

Reviewed opening/closing car door, oven, dishwasher, drawers - all good there.

She's ready to start on pulling (a wheelchair). She's been in harness since she was tiny and is capable of starting a 150 pound weight. She might be a small dog (33 lbs) but I have no doubts about her physical ability to pull a wheelchair. She seems to be comfortable with the presence of a wheelchair.

I plan to start by having her at heel while I'm sitting in a chair. Just teaching her tight and loose, naming tight "Pull" adding the bridge of "Go." Then I plan to do the same with me in an office chair with wheels. At that time, I need to teach her to lead right and left turns, to stop, and also I need to teach her to STAY and brace (slow a wheelchair going down an incline). After I feel she's really solid, it will be time to get her trained on actually pulling a wheelchair.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Multitasking... Shopping becomes dog training. I love it!

Emma has been very consistent with her behavior in public so I'm starting to take her with me. This will not only reinforce her good behavior, but will start to teach her the patterns of when to close a door vs. open it. Real life stuff instead of training exercises.

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling totally ambitious so I focused on off-leash sit stays and "Zen" down stays. Park her in an aisle while I get whatever I'm looking for or have her in a "Zen" down while I'm having an employee help me find something.

I really should bring something (like a pop can or bottle) into a store for her to practice the retrieve in a store environment.


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## Kris Dow (Jun 15, 2008)

I just wanted to say how interesting I'm finding this thread. I may come back to it sometime- Pirate could easily pick stuff up off the floor for me, and that'd be superhandy when my back is bad. 

Plus, it's just interesting to see how things progress. Have you had any trouble with anyone about taking her into stores? (I assume she has some kind of 'service dog in training' indicator?)


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I have not had a problem in stores. I do use an ID cape vest, but not the "In Training" patch because I'm too cheap to buy another set of patches. IMO, her behavior speaks more than the ID. 

She really excels in the "unobtrusive" area. It's not very often that she is noticed.



> I just wanted to say how interesting I'm finding this thread. I may come back to it sometime- Pirate could easily pick stuff up off the floor for me, and that'd be superhandy when my back is bad.


 I'll never have a regular pet dog again. Even a pet can learn to earn its keep. It took me 4 years to figure it out with Abby (avatar dog), but she was picking up trash and bits off the floor and throwing them away, picking up laundry and putting it in a basket, throwing away diapers, etc. Why not?! :lol:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I've asked my boss if I can bring her to work with me. I should find out within a week. (Although I am expecting a big NO on it.) This would be a big step forward as the person she is intended for works at an office and she will need to be unobtrusive AND able to work consistently in an office environment.

Emma is just over 25% through her training, strictly on the minimum number of hours required for most Service Dog certification programs. She has foundations done for all of her skills, although some (pulling and depositing tasks) need a lot of development still.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Retrieving dropped items in public is successful!  It's kinda fun. I was at the bank with a loooong wait today. A couple kids were talking with their mom and me about her training. I dropped my pen, paper and keys (not all at once) to show the kids one of things a Service Dog can do for a disabled person.

Retrieving object of a shelf actually worked. Emma picked out and retrieved a couple cans of cat food for me. Also had her try taking an object off a hig shelf. She didn't actually retrieve it, but dropped it to me which I thought was acceptable. This needs a lot of work, but I was pleasantly surprised with her first tries.

In a supercenter store, I put some items in my basket and walked away from it. I named "basket" and asked her to "get it" and she dragged the basket over to me. Clumsy but functional. 

In the school supplies section, she held a NICE sit-stay with all the crazy screaming kids and frazzled parents running around, while I found what I needed.

I'm very impressed with her progress. It's better than I expected. I have my hands full with a toddler and shopping, so she's doing this almost all off leash. (She IS wearing a leash.)


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Sounds fantastic! Great job!


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Did a pre-placement public access test yesterday. She passed on all points. NBD. But nice anyway.

I'm starting to chain some individual tasks together in order to apply them. As in - tug a drawer open, put her feet up on it, pull out an item, bring it too me, puch the drawer closed with her nose. She's needing a lot of encouragement and it's sloppy as all get out, but definitely a start.

And I'm taking some time off from training, but doing some foundation work inbetween. Emma has been an outdoor kennel dog. Not even house trained. I had been staying with family that are strictly no-dog-in-the-house. But I got my house back and she's with me there to work on the place command, vraous command, not begging for food(!), and general manners. Still doing public access for keeping her training journal going. I'm completely swamped with working on the house so for now, that's about all I can do. And it looks like she's will be going into heat in the next couple weeks and I'm unsure if that will affect her behavior.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Apparently I can't break myself away from training. :lol:

Emma learned "high finds" to jump up on the counter to retrieve an object out of reach, drop the item off the counter, jump down and retrieve the item.

Emma learned to open cabinet doors without using a tug device.

Emma is making progress on depositing items.

Emma learned to carry/retrieve plastic shopping bags with stuff in them.

And we got a chance to practice a "loose dog scenario" on our walk. It was on a country road. The house on the right has 3 yappy corgis and a crazy BS (herding dogs) going nuts behind a fence and the house on the left has two small growly dogs. I had Emma sit in the road and sent the little growly pissers home. Emma held the stay.  Good girl!


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Excellent work! :wink:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Hah! She's the one doing all the work! :lol:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma was giving me a non-response for retrieving an item (Over the last month). I assumed it was confusion. I went through and retaught her the retrieve and object names. Still getting a non-response. I removed all confusion. One familiar item, familiar location. Target item obviously (pick it up, show it to her, (even have her tug it), put it down, finger target) then ask for retrieve. Non-response. At that point, I realized it was simply a refusal.

I started using my "no" marker for non-respnse, still rewarding corrct responses. Nope. Nothing.

I had her on a prong and a gentle leader (our normal combination at the moment) so I put the leash on the prong. I *thought* she was wise to this, so I repeated. Nothing.

I started giving a leash correction for non-response. It took a while. She tried to shut down, but I worked her straight through it. When she offered ANY response at all, even if unrelated to the retrieve, I only used a no-reward marker. After a few in a row her brain turned on, she was like "This sucks!" and she retrieved the item without hesitation. HUGE reward. Probably the biggest of her life. Then some play in drive, simple OB and back to the retrieve.

We went round and round for 45 minutes or so until her rate of response was satisfactory. Then to make sure she wouldn't be left with stress over the retrieve, I used very high frequency of valuable rewards for the simplest retreiving tasks.

*Sigh* It's not suppossed to work this way.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

The question is "why" did she refuse? Texture, taste, size? 
Find out why she refused and the correction phase wont be needed, hopefully.


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## Jennifer Marshall (Dec 13, 2007)

How long have you been working at this? How much variety is there in your routine? Are you doing other things, teaching other things, or are you only/primarily focusing on the retrieves?

How long was this training going well, in the beginning?

I hit a wall like this with Cajun. I got so excited about my progress that I just kept teaching new items and going back to old items and it was just retrieve retrieve retrieve retrieve! He stopped retrieving. He would not even go get his kong. If I told him to bring it to me, he would lie down and for lack of a better word.. "sulk."

If you have not been doing much for variety in her training and started really focusing on the retrieves, it could just be she is bored with it. Think if you had a dog sit all the time. Just walk in a circle and sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. Even a dog with great OB is going to get worn down and bored from this.

If you have been varying sessions and overall training, going back to things she knows, great! If you haven't already, start teaching something new, something simple. A lot of people tend to only work on teaching one new thing at a time, as if starting one thing and then another will overly confuse a dog. It won't unless you are using the same commands or gestures.

I would recommend to vary her sessions more. 45 minutes on one thing sounds like a really long time, especially after she showed you she was losing interest. I understand the process you went through and think it was good to show her that refusing is not an option, but try breaking things up into pieces more. If she is slowing down in her response after a few times, go to something else. Instead of endless retrieves, do a down and a sit and a heel and focus and anything else you can think of, bring the energy level back up before asking again.

It's easy to get frustrated when a dog refuses a command it knows, but dogs get bored too!


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## Michele McAtee (Apr 10, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> I started giving a leash correction for non-response. It took a while. She tried to shut down, but I worked her straight through it. When she offered ANY response at all, even if unrelated to the retrieve, I only used a no-reward marker. After a few in a row her brain turned on, she was like "This sucks!" and she retrieved the item without hesitation. HUGE reward. Probably the biggest of her life. Then some play in drive, simple OB and back to the retrieve.
> 
> We went round and round for 45 minutes or so until her rate of response was satisfactory. Then to make sure she wouldn't be left with stress over the retrieve, I used very high frequency of valuable rewards for the simplest retreiving tasks.
> 
> *Sigh* It's not suppossed to work this way.


I agree with Jennifer Marshall's thoughts here. Round and round for 45 mins? What happened to short and sweet, variable training?

I do like the JACKPOT treating idea though. (ie: HUGE reward, probably the best one of her life) Perhaps stop when she does that and come back to it later, in essence, leave her wanting more??? 

Just some thoughts I have after reading this thread. Sounds like awesome work you are doing with her!!! very very


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Videos! 

Retrieve dropped item: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYph4chqbzk
Retrieve item: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUh-Ev2Uaiw
Retrieve/Deposit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci0oWXNwi-I
Retrieve basket: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ze8EYGul0
Close door: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6LcLz5_kYM

I do train her in long sessions - which are broken up into short segments. New commands, review, play, obedience, relax are all part of a training session. 

G2G - more later.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Watching more of my videos... I talk too much. Too many repeated commands. 

The entire effect has been "poisoning cues" referring to a Karen Pryor article which I entirely disagree with. Except that this dog has understood it this way.

So... :banghead: back to square one for a while. Square one is more fun anyway. I have some new behaviors to teach her, so we're gonna have a bit more fun than usual.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Watching videos - going back through the training journal - all 10 months of it. *sigh* Finding a lot of things I could/should be doing better.

She's become reactive versus active is her task training. She is still active in OB. 

Interesting because she gets corrected in OB, but only no-reward marker and verbal correction in task training. But *duh* she's handler sensitive. I'll be doing her a favor to drop out all the verbal corrections and use leash corrections that she is less stressed about. (When I get that far.)

Last few hours of training were spent hanging out and marking just about every little behavior she offered. Not a whole heck of a lot these days. I set some rules - no sniffing and stay in the room - rather than keep her on leash. She did offer a retrieve of a new object, closing a door and nudging an object. YAy! She offers 1 behavior per hour. Or something like that. :lol:

So....

Things started going downhill on when we started depositing tasks. Specifically, she had a superstition. SHE believed "get it" meant "go get it and bring it to you" and I define it as "get it into your mouth, hold it and wait for the next cue." So this was causing stress on every behavior that has "get it" as part of the chain. O - that's EVERYTHING we're working on now. So from this superstition, (and me not figuring it out)all of her tasks have suffered. 

But now I know where to back up to and a few things about the way she learns - and how she doesn't. 

Any ideas on clearing up the superstition for her?


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

While waiting on task training until I get a plan, I'm working out some other bugs I've been procrastinating on.

Skittering feet on a plastic crate pan and tail banging on the wire is a big pet peeve. She's totally calm in crate except when I'm about to get her out. She's learning to sit calmly. I put in a bed since there's no way to get her to stop wagging. 

Sending to crate from distance/out of sight. She loves that bed in there so no biggie.

Taking treats nicely. We've worked out a way to treat without bloodshed, but I don't think it will transfer to someone else. So using a "three strikes you're out" (I feed treats until she gets three verbal corrections and then on to the next thing) and hand feeding all meals, I'm teaching a specific way to accept a treat politely. She *gets* it totally, but needs continued work on self-control when she's excited. I hope she gets this soon because it's cutting back on how much food she gets per day. I'll have to train more to get her more opportunities for treats or something. Dunno. I hope she gets it quick so I don't have to worry about it. She's pretty maxed out for the amount of time spent training.

Not flipping into heel constantly. :lol: Not reverting back to OB when confused, but staying operant.

We'll get there..... someday.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Watching videos - going back through the training journal - all 10 months of it. *sigh* Finding a lot of things I could/should be doing better.
> 
> She's become reactive versus active is her task training. She is still active in OB.
> 
> ...


Are you working on the "depositing tasks" at the same time your asking for a retrieve of the article?
Work "at" the basket/etc where the dog does the depositing and just give the dog articles to deposit. Take the retrieve out of it untill each part is solid.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I trained it separate and then start to mix it up - apparently too soon. The really awful one is if she takes the item from my hand to deposit. She HAS to drop it, then pick it up, then deposit. Because she always picks an item off the floor and deposits it in a basket. :lol:

But I'm definitely going to be going back to square one, freeshape (all versions of) it, put a cue on it, drill it.

I gotta be careful about her picking up patterns. She really connects things more than I'm used to. Like when I was just trying to mark every operant behavior (other than sniffing or leaving the room) I inadvertently trained her to pace in a specific pattern. Grr. :lol:

Today I trained her 15 minutes in the morning (working otwards operant), 30 minutes at lunch (working towards operant), 30 minutes evening (handfeeding). She hung out for about an hour with me while I was cleaning the basement (that's significant... not the cleaning part... the hanging out time. we don't do that.) Then when I came back upstairs, well. This is what I got: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5A0fNYZ2co&feature=user

Apparently she misses the "conversation." She looks awful (attitude-wise). And if she doesn't hurry up and totally get the polite treat-taking while excited by tomorrow, or I don't come up with a better way to do this, she's gonna be way too thin by tomorrow evening. 

I'll probably give her a snack before training (1/4 her daily ration before each session might work). She's way confused and stressed out so maybe double that for a few days?? I definitely don't want to give her a snack afterwards. "Yay! training is over - how awesome is that?!" Yeah. Not a good idea, IMO.

Just trying to find how to go backwards. She needs to be at least a little operant. She offers a sit stay and stay and stay.... I'm marking everything that won't bite me in the arse later (sniffing, pacing, etc)


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Dogs can get dependant on "conversation".
I've seen people do a lot of talking during training then on a trial field the dog looks for it and can get confused without all the chatter. :wink:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Anne Vaini said:


> The list of tasks to train is long and overwhelming, but breaks down to:
> Retrieve/Carry tasks
> Retrieve dropped items
> Retrieve targeted/named items
> ...


I'm doing a Mark Muir :lol: Mark is a disc-dog trainer/performer that pushes his dogs really hard / trains at a fast rate and occassionally de-motivates them. He also sometimes fails to appreciate how GOOD his dogs are. He's a good guy - I learn a lot from him.

I've been training tasks with Emma for 2 months. 
She reliably retrieves dropped items. 
She retrieves many named items, with occassional confusion with object names.
She able to search out seen, unfamilar/unnamed objects. The goal is to work towards searching out unseen items.
She can carry plastic and canvas bags, baskets. She isn't fluent in carrying the bags. I'd like her to be able to take bags from a cashier, and put bags in the car.
She can pick up trash from the floor. 
She can deposit items to a basket on the floor. This needs work on more varied items and baskets. 
She can remove socks and slip-on shoes. My goal is for her to be able to remove regualr shoes too and she has a start on that.
She can tug a large basket with a strap to retrieve it.
She can tug/retrieve a blanket.
She can pull open/nudge closed doors in many applications. 
I am working on a new design of harness vest for wheelchair pulling tasks.
I've dropped the "dustpan" task off the list.
I've dropped "cover handler with blanket" task off the list.

I have new tasks added to the list:

Paw a touch pad automatic door opener
Open a latched door with a lever-style door knob
Tug open and HOLD open heavy door

There's more, I just can't think of them now.

The best part about a training journal for me is the list of goals at the begininning. That way, when I'm feeling frustrated, I go back and see how the dog is doing according to my original list. Usually I'm happy with the dog's progress, but this time I'm amazed!

Waiting for her to get back to operant is frustrating for me, so I'm gonna keep looking at all she has accomplished and be happy.

My goal is not to place a fully trained dog. Her handler needs to be active in training her so her tasks can be adapted to the handler's home, schedule, lifestyle and needs. 

Holy crap. This is going fast. :lol:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

She's BACK! Thank God! Huge relief.  

Her enthusiasm was back and she was offering behaviors again - not just OB, but new behaviors, tasks and a couple new applications of tasks.

Stress/confusion isn't on the deposit - she was offering that. It's narrowed down to only the superstition and I can get around it by using a different cue for taking something from me. That should clear up confusion.

I'm so happy to be away from the "conversation" and repeated cues. I'm gonna fade out some of that stuff and stick to things that are intuitive.

She does follow eye movements and will take it as a cue. As in - I can look at her - look at a door, look back at her and she'll open the door. I need to stick this sort of cue to make it really easy for her future partner. Also head movements - for fuss, backing up etc.

*Happy sigh*


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I started working on pulling a wheelchair. First, I had her a heel, me sitting down in a chair, and a wall to my left so she couldn't turn. I C/T-ed for putting tension on the harness. Using "Fuss" as cue to back up and quite pulling. Nice!

Then I had her at heel, me standing and not against a wall. The goal was to do the same an see if she turned or spun without the wall there. Nope.

So the next step was teaching her to drag/pull me as I'm walking. Funny to teach a dog HOW to pull on lead. :lol: I'm giving her some distance, she seems to be a bit confused/distracted by me walking too close. That's OK. I want to teach her to "cart" too - pulling the wheelchair from directly in front of the handler - not pulling from heel.

Pretty cool stuff. This will be her main task, so I'm relieved that it is going smoothly. I have some harness and equipment making to do! Yeah. and I need to find a wheelchair to use for training. :lol: Not sure what I'll do with it in a week after she figures it out. I need something to get me through until she's good enough that she can practice pulling a wheelchair in a store. Maybe a rolling office chair will be good enough? Then go to a store and push around the wheelchair until she's OK with it, and then have a seat and hope to God she pulls and doesn't embarrass the life out of me.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Don't spend to much time teaching the dog how to pull the chair till you get a harness. You don't want it to learn that it can pull while on lead if the wheel chair pulling will be the primary function of the dog. Just a thought!


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Got the harness. Gotta love making my own equipment. :lol:


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Ann I'm getting this picture in my head of office-chair racing....kind of like and Office Iditarod.....
You might be able to rent wheelchair from a medical supply place - if they ask why you need a wheelchair you can just tell them you sustained an injury when you fell off the office chair your dog was pulling....


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Lynn Cheffins said:


> Ann I'm getting this picture in my head of office-chair racing....kind of like and Office Iditarod.....
> You might be able to rent wheelchair from a medical supply place - if they ask why you need a wheelchair you can just tell them you sustained an injury when you fell off the office chair your dog was pulling....


 
:-o :-o :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
My old mind has way to much visual imgination!
Ben Hur around the board room table! [-X


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Pulling is going nicely. No worries there. I'm so glad I had her in harness and weight pulling as a baby.

I think Emma is getting very close to placement. I need to go through her obedience and reinforce longer stays - particularly in a restaurant environment where she hasn't had as much practice. Then right before placement, go through everything and build up very high rates of rewards.

I can't progress on most things without having additional applications. Those need to be trained specific to a new environment. I'll place her as a green dog. The new handler has to learn to communicate with her and there's no better way than through training.

I plan to place her and have the new handler only doing foundation training with her for a couple weeks. Then go through the 8 weeks obedience program and a mock CGC test with the new handler.

Then go trough task training - retraining to apply the skills to the handler's specific needs.

Then go out for public access training. A couple supervised outings, a public access test and signing some contracts...

I'm contacting my first pick for a future handler sometime in the next week to see if the person is interested. Otherwise on to plans B, C and D :lol: We've got plenty of time to figure out the perfect placement for her.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I tried something new with Emma over the weekend. I _played_ with her. Like hung out and bonded with her. :lol: Her life has been crate-poo-train-eat for the last year. Yesterday, we went for a long walk at a university and played tug with sticks, retrieving trash and goofing off for a while. Fun! I was happy to see her retrieve tasks hold up when I allowed her to be roaming a bit off lead and not asking for obedience. She does a nice job of picking up the trash that the students leave behind. :lol: I was happy to see that permitting petting did not cause her to solicit attention. I was completely thrilled with her response to other dogs.

On the walk, I put her on her pulling harness to introducing the concept of leading and imprinting words for turns. She's still not completely comfortable with being in front and pulling, but she's beginning to get the idea.

The Labor Day weekend gave some opportunities for new environments for training. A local thrift store has a HUGE sale, so she got more practice on crowds and narrow aisles. A fundraiser carnival had generators, fire trucks, loud music, and food on the ground. She did fine.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

I like reading your updates. I hope she ends up in a great placement.

I am a firm beleiver in letting dogs (even working ones) have a little time to be...well.... dogs:smile: Glad you enjoyed a little time off with Emma.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Jennifer - I've always been concerned about a dogs work ethic. I've had some bad experiences. After so much training with Emma I'm starting to relax a bit. If she can get up off the couch and fetch whatever I've asked for, then it's good. If she gets so comfy that she can't work, then she needs more structure. 

Still moving forward on the pulling. My focus is on "breaking out a weight" or building confidence in pulling with no real result. This is important for her primary purpose which is to assist the handler in moving the wheelchair over rough ground or up an incline.

She's really having a hard time understanding the left turn. No problem on the right. Interesting, she has no problem sliding over to the left to prevent pulling me off the pavement. Go figure. She was having a light-bulb moment exactly when I ran out of treats and had to go back to work. I'm curious to see if it pays off and she is starting to understand the left turn.

We started in on bracing to assist a person transferring from wheelchair to other seat. She is still unsure of the stand position (after 14 months of training it in OB :banghead: ) but has absolutely no problem with bracing once she is in the stand. Sturdy little dog. I'm very pleased with the bracing. She is progressing much more quickly than other dogs I have worked with on bracing. 

So YAY! :lol:

Emma has passed the 2/3 mark for training hours and training goals.


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## Jennifer Coulter (Sep 18, 2007)

Anne do you ever worry about the people you place the dog with ruining all your hard work and letting the dog lounge on the sofa eating bon bons thinking that it would be no big deal? (just an example but you know what I mean)

Do you do follow up work, or once the dog is bought that is it? What kind of training does the new owner get?


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Heck yeah! :lol: I worry about everything!

I mentioned a couple posts back my plan for placing her and getting her and her new handler to work together. Y'know, a lot of people think that do training is all smoke and mirrors and mystical stuff. They think a service dog will work because of "the bond" and not because of training. Not that bonding with a service dog is bad, but it doesn't take the place of training. 

I'll do a lot of handler training, and the person who has her can always come back to me for training at any time.

I am considering what to put in her contracts and I'm considering a clause about - if the dog is not actively used to perform tasks to assist a handler with disabilities, the dog must be promptly returned to the Trainer. Not sure about how to word that. She's too good of a dog to "waste" as a pet.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

That light-bulb-moment on the left turn was genuine. It's not smooth, but it's getting there.

Bracing - really nice. She's standing still and taking sufficient weight for a handler to transfer between two seats. I don't have to do much more on that - a bit of review time and again.

Holy buckets - just a few things left:

Paw a touch pad automatic door opener
Open a latched door with a lever-style door knob
Tug open and HOLD open heavy door


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma is with a dogsitter for a few days. I left some very basic instructions - no begging, no scavenging and must wait quietly for food. I'm very curious to see what her behavior is when I get her back.

College students are back and the streets in that area are trashed after the first Saturday night at the bars. Emma and I went down there, practiced obedience. Then I had her pick up the trash and drop it in the trash bins. Too fun and funny. I think I'll make a habit of this. It's awesome training for her, fun for me, and good for the community.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Tug open and HOLD open heavy door


I would like to read about that training and how it goes, if you get a chance....


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Haha. I would too. :lol: There isn't a whole lot of help out there for this sort of training.

She can tug on Q and tug to open a door. So it is a matter of building confidence and then duration. Actually, I need to find a door to teach her on.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

O.M.G.

I just when througha photo album and found a photo I forgot about.

Emma at 6 weeks old in a puppy pulling harness:
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=210458&l=7dab8&id=650576100

Puppy Nap (this was at a competition. I think she was 8 weeks old):
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=234889&id=650576100

More puppy harness (also at 6 weeks) and the gorgeous green eyes she was named for:
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=210460&l=a9162&id=650576100

I can't wait to pick her up tomorrow. I hate having to pick up stuff I drop and oepning doors for myself. She has spoiled me. :lol:


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I probably shouldn't post this.... :lol: Emma MAY have a placement. There are a lot of details to work out. I'm really hoping because the person is a PERFECT personality match for Emma.

Emma is less focused after a few days with a petsitter, but nothing major. She just doesn't feel like working. :lol: I had her out for 4 hours of training yesterday. 2.5 of public access. It was a meeting, the goal for her was to be unobtrusive, and she accomplished that beautifully by sleeping through it.  And then picking up trash on a street, offlead. That was fun. Lots of drunk college students out there.

Emma and I got into an argument. She picked up a foil wrapper that still had food in it. She thought she should eat the food. She started chomping it just as she was putting it into the can. I corrected her. She followed the direction of the correction - ending up on top of the trash bin. We has a quick and "animated" discussion, which included me fishing some nasty used-to-be-bread out of her mouth. She ended up entirely IN the trash bin :lol: Would have loved video of that one.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma is 80% completed with her training hours. We're doing tons of public access training right now. Good stuff. Lots of review, nothing too special right now.

We're working more towards tugging open a heavy door and developing the pulling. 

Once she is placed, we'll go through all the training (for the beginning, as if she knows nothing) and adjust applications of tasks as needed. So, I'm not too concerned with developing tasks now.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> ... We're working more towards tugging open a heavy door


And holding it open? How is that going?


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I'm not that far yet :lol:

And I'm still trying to figure out how the handler gets the tug off the dor handle after handler and dog are inside. Doesn't quite make sense to me how this all works out. Someone explained it to me, but I didn't get it.

Because I'm not 100% sure on how to apply the skill, I'm sticking to foundations. Last thing I worked on with this was pulling a door hard - like to slam a front door closed. She's going to have to WORK to get these doors open, and she had not had to do much for the doors we worked on before. 

Becuse the door won't make noise when it opens, I don't think she will out the tug device. If she holds it for a fraction of a second, I can mark it and build duration from there.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma had a tummyache for a few days so I skipped on most training, but was doing some canine freestyle (dance moves) training to keep her mind busy. She has a blast doing it.

Anyway, today we're back to normal, and the break was good!

The displacement behaviors from the period when she was confused and stressed are gone. (Finally!)

She's operant and enthusiastic, and picking up new applications VERY quickly! 



We're counting down the training hours and working out details of her placement.

This is flying by! I'm going to miss this dog. A LOT!


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma has met her training requirements and has a placement!

Again, she is being placed as a "green" dog and will continue to be trained after placement.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Emma has met her training requirements and has a placement!
> 
> Again, she is being placed as a "green" dog and will continue to be trained after placement.


BIG congratulations. You worked hard, and so did she.


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## Lynn Cheffins (Jul 11, 2006)

Congrats! - it'll be nice to get updates as to how she is doing in her new job.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Excellent job!


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

a bit late, anne, but congrats to you and best of luck to Emma!! she is quite the pup, and IMO, you're quite the trainer--what i can only hope to be. 

what next???


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

More of the same.  Emma met her minimum training, but we're still going while her handler is working out details.

Her biggest challenges are around food (restaurants, in the kitchen, food refusal, etc). So we've been working on exercises around food.

I've started having her retrieve food off the floor. I'm picking unappetizing things to retrieve (like the butt of celery) and rewarding with tasty things. I think it would be very cool to have her retrieve bits of meat. I'm not sure if that is possible for her. Dog torture. :lol:

I will be dogless for a while after this. My life is way busy (I'm a single mom of a toddler) and, quite frankly, I'm looking forward to not having to clean up dog hair all the time! 

It's a wait-and-see. I dunno. I have a lot of work left with Emma on getting her working effectively with her new handler. I'm not thinking past that. (yet).


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Anne, the meat retrieve can be done. When I was involved with a AKC obedience club we had fun days and one of the events was retrieving hot dogs. =P~ =P~ =P~ 
It was just a matter of teaching the dog to "hold" just as you would in the beginning of retrieve.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I saw it done once at a Mike Ellis seminar. Pretty cool stuff. I think the dog was Jackson? But it's been a couple years so I don't really remember.

It was one of the things (along with Marina and L'Simba doing OB, and Mike's dog doing the positions exercise and the call-off) that left a big effect on me and got me more interested ring sport. They're on my "someday I will do that" list.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma met her handler. Mutual love at first sight. :lol:

I hope this match goes through, it looks like a good one.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Excellent!


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Emma met her handler. Mutual love at first sight. :lol:
> 
> I hope this match goes through, it looks like a good one.



That's wonderful.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma is still with me. After her surgery, I wanted to get her back into training without boring her. I taught her to turn on and off the lights. I was really surprised that it only took a 1/2 hour (in two sessions) for her to figure it out. I had tried to teach this (different dog) previously with a target, and a bait, and no luck.

I got some video of it yesterday. I will try to post it soon.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma's tentative placement fell through. I'm looking into other options.

And here is the video of her turning the lights off. Sorry - no audio with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVtk1prsmkM


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I'm in love. Emma has found a "forever" home here with me. She's an awesome demo dog and a good friend.

We're *free* to go back to bitework and dabbling in dog sports! :lol:


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Fantastic!


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

I'm hopeless. :lol:

A placement I had looked into last February (timing was not right), turned out to be just right. Emma has been settling in with her new handler and they're learning together. Very cool. We're anticipating some photos and video in the future and I will, of course, share with you.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> I'm hopeless. :lol:
> 
> A placement I had looked into last February (timing was not right), turned out to be just right. Emma has been settling in with her new handler and they're learning together. Very cool. We're anticipating some photos and video in the future and I will, of course, share with you.


I wanna see.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Emma's handler was injured - fell out of her wheelchair. Emma stood over her and growled at the first person who came to help. Although she did accept help and went with that person while her handler went to the ER, she got herself an instant retirement.

And I got myself an extreme high drive dog. :-? I hope my SO can tolerate her.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Anne Vaini said:


> Emma's handler was injured - fell out of her wheelchair. Emma stood over her and growled at the first person who came to help. Although she did accept help and went with that person while her handler went to the ER, she got herself an instant retirement.
> 
> And I got myself an extreme high drive dog. :-? I hope my SO can tolerate her.


What's the plan for her now?


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Anne Vaini said:


> Emma's handler was injured - fell out of her wheelchair. Emma stood over her and growled at the first person who came to help. Although she did accept help and went with that person while her handler went to the ER, she got herself an instant retirement.
> 
> And I got myself an extreme high drive dog. :-? I hope my SO can tolerate her.


Is that how it works? I mean, is the general expectation that the dog must remain passive during such events and in the event it does not it's retired? If so, roughly how often does this occur with service dogs?


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Nicole Stark said:


> Is that how it works? I mean, is the general expectation that the dog must remain passive during such events and in the event it does not it's retired? If so, roughly how often does this occur with service dogs?


Yes - the dog must be completely passive and go with the first responder. I would say it happens at least once in every service dog's lifetime. For some disabilities, the handler becoming unconscious or competely disoriented is a regular occurence.

I have a dog now that did not allow EMS to get to a house guest who expereienced seizures. So on my training list is desensitization to uniform. With my condition, I do become disoriented, but it is not so severe that it is an issue.

This is why I won't start training service dog tasks on a dog that doesn't have a CGC - (item #10). But when the handler is immobile or unconscious, it's pretty hard to predict the dog's reaction.

I will not tolerate a dog in my program growling at a person for any reason. I have high standards for our little Walt Disney dogs.

It scares me a little bit what passes as Service Dogs. I know of one that has bitten people - IN A SHOPPING MALL! I keep my standards very high because I train a lesser-known group of service dog and because I never want my clients to have problems.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Thanks for the explanation. I can see where that could become a life or death situation if the dog hindered timely medical attention/intervention or accessibility to the person in some way. I think it's a rightful standard to have considering the purpose and need for such dogs to begin with.


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

Hello Anne,

I'm doing a search for a co-worker whose son has epilepsy. He is currently 5 or 6 yrs old. He "says" he is looking for a seizure detection dog that will "protect" the child should he become incapacitated at any point in time. I'm sure he is not aware of the implications of that. Anyways, how is Emma faring? Did she find a new home with service work? Can you or anyone who is reading refer me to a few medical service dog websites. More specifically, those that train them to detect oncoming seizure activity (if there is such a thing). Any information is better than none at all. Thank you in advance for your time and response. I hope is going well with Emma and any other prospects you have.


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

*Re: Service Dog Training - Anne*

I'm doing a search for a co-worker whose son has epilepsy. He is currently 5 or 6 yrs old. He "says" he is looking for a seizure detection dog that will "protect" the child should he become incapacitated at any point in time. I'm sure he is not aware of the implications of that. Anyways, how is Emma faring? Did she find a new home with service work? Can you or anyone who is reading refer me to a few medical service dog websites. More specifically, those that train them to detect oncoming seizure activity (if there is such a thing). Any information is better than none at all. Thank you in advance for your time and response. I hope is going well with Emma and any other prospects you have.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

*Re: Service Dog Training - Anne*



Zakia Days said:


> I'm doing a search for a co-worker whose son has epilepsy. He is currently 5 or 6 yrs old. He "says" he is looking for a seizure detection dog that will "protect" the child should he become incapacitated at any point in time.


Has this person told you why he would want this? What is his reasoning? Knowing that it could prevent assistance being given to his son in time of need?


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## Zakia Days (Mar 13, 2009)

*Re: Service Dog Training - Anne*

No. It's not really my concern *why* he would want that. I'm pretty sure that is not something medical service dog people train for, so I'm not worried that he would get that. I'm also pretty certain that whichever training service he uses will explain all those little details. If you or anyone reading knows of an organization or trainer that trains dogs to detect and/or alert seizure activity please post the link(s). Thanks in advance.


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