Ivy: Service Dog In Training

Ivy, a Golden Retriever, is with us for Custom Service Dog Training. She will soon be partnered with a young, disabled child. Because he’s quite young, his parents will be instructed on how to handle Ivy as a fully functioning Service Dog. They will serve as the Assistant Handlers, especially when Ivy accompanies her little boy in public places.

I used her image to practice painting with acrylics:

Here are some videos we recorded during Ivy’s training in public.
As a Service Dog, Ivy needs to learn patience, exceptional obedience, negotiating weird, challenging or tight spaces, partnership, trust and respect – even for a handler who can’t always impose his will upon her. Ivy is doing great and we can’t wait to see her and her special boy.

When we work in public, most often Robert handles the dog and I do the filming. On occasion, Robert tries to make me laugh…like in this clip where he asks Ivy her opinion regarding the purchase of a toilet seat!

One of the elements of the Public Access Test that we offer to our students at the end of their Handler Instruction phase, is the drop-the-leash while walking. Here, Robert asks Ivy to heel beside him while he also is pushing a cart. Good girl, Ivy!

You may wonder when a Service Dog will ever need to be transported on a wheeled cart, but that’s not the point of this practice. This is an exercise in Trust. The dog learns to trust that her handler may ask her to do something that feels very uncomfortable, perhaps even dangerous to the dog, but that she won’t be harmed if she obeys. Obedience is part of this Trust. If you are going to ask a dog to obey (regardless of the activity), you have must prevent the dog from being hurt. That goes almost without saying, but I’ve learned that it’s something I need to say. Only then will the dog believe in your authority the next time you ask her to go somewhere or do something she would rather object to experiencing.

In general, dogs aren’t all that gung-ho about getting into unknown tight spaces. A Service Dog will need to accompany her handler into a public restroom, or fit on public transportation. We use this tight shower stall at the DIY center to help Ivy learn about our standards for her behavior.

Asking Ivy to learn how to go down the slide in a playground is another exercise in trust. While Ivy had worked on going up and down the steps of various pieces of equipment, this video recorded the very first time she was asked to slide back to the ground. I think she did a great job.

Some dogs arrive for training having lived in a house with stairs. They are adept at the climb and descent, but not in work mode aside a handler. It’s sometimes a challenge to teach these dogs that stairs are not about the race! Other dogs arrive without much experience negotiating stairs and are not certain they can accomplish the task. Training a dog to properly negotiate stairs is always included in our public training outings.

To use the Merry-Go-Round as a training aid, Robert had to let go of Ivy’s leash. That isn’t a problem after sufficient time has spent achieving authentic obedience and Ivy had learned to trust in Robert’s authority. The leash is just a tool. Leashes don’t control dogs. A properly forged relationship does that job. It’s called a mental leash.

Not all training happens in public. We have plenty of distractions for an up-and-coming Service dog right in our own home.

We are looking forward to Ivy’s Handler Instruction when we will transfer her back to her family and her favorite little boy!