Jay – Service Pup In Training

This is four month old Jay from our recent Kindred x Normal litter. I’m doing some simple, early training that will help him develop into a great Service Dog. He is currently available to the right individual who is seeking to partner with a Service Dog.

Here are some short videos of the fun training I’ve been doing with Jay.

Circle left and right can become a response behavior for a shift-from-normal condition (PTSD episode, panic attack, diabetic alert etc…)

Shake with a paw can become a response behavior. It can also become an “ice breaker” for a disabled child’s Service Dog to encourage other kids to interact with the disabled child.
Paws up (which usually includes the dog putting his paws on the handler – although Jay’s not currently making contact with my lap) can help alleviate anxiety or interrupt a shift-from-normal event.

Touch It with nose – can be used in a variety of ways, including asking the dog to touch the handler as an interrupt behavior. It can also be used for physical tasks such as pushing the Open button at a hospital entry door or pushing shut a cabinet door.

I’ve even started Jay on some very early scent work. After he was reliable with “touch it”, I introduced a small can with a perforated top in which the specific scent is enclosed (in this case a very small drop of Anise oil on a cotton swab.) I swapped the cue words “touch it” to “sniff it” on the scented can, which he quickly assimilated. Next, I added a blank (perforated but empty) can as a second option. In this video, I’ve added a third blank can. He was rewarded only if he touched the scented can. He is catching onto this task quite quickly.

Scent work can be used in a variety of tasks, including finding a specific item or diabetic alert. In the beginning we don’t care what scent he learns to discriminate – just that he learns we are asking him to discriminate an item by its scent. From that jumping point, the dog learns quickly to include a variety of different scents.

It’s been very fun working with Jay. I never fret about when a pup will be placed in his forever home, and in this case it has been a blessing that his original placement couldn’t follow through. I have enjoyed every moment wit this pup.