Service Dogs

Dogs like to have jobs. The more jobs they have the happier they seem to be. Dogs definitely have a stronger work ethic than most humans. Keeping them busy in my opinion is a very good thing. Training your dog to do service dog tasks is a great ways to keep them employed and have much needed help.

About a year ago I got a call from a client Carol who was having some challenges with her Pomeranian puppy, Holly. Carol was experiencing the typical puppy challenges of potty training, barking, and running amuck. I went to her home and helped her get Holly on a puppy training program. Carol lives with her wonderful adult son William who just happens to be in a wheelchair. I suggested to Carol that we train Holly to be a service dog for William. Carol wasn’t sure that Holly was up to the task because she is a Pomeranian. I told her we would probably need to modify some of the techniques for Holly’s size but we should give it a try.

We started by teaching Holly three simple skills of push, pull and carry. Holly learns the ‘paws-up’ command so she could close doors and cabinets. She learned the ‘pull’ command which is just a variation of tug of war. We placed straps on doorknobs and encouraged Holly to pull the strap causing the door to open. She would pull until the front door was wide open and William could easily roll inside. She would then, with the command of close, pull the strap in the other direction causing the door to close behind her.

We transferred this skill to helping William remove his socks. Holly has mastered the skills of pulling Williams socks off his feet with not damage to flesh or material. It wouldn’t take much to have her place the socks in a laundry bin.

Since William has difficulty picking up items when dropped, we taught Holly to retrieve paper money, a cell phone and keys. Holly knows the names of the items and when she retrieves them she places them on Williams lap. Carol and William went one step further with the keys, they placed a piece of leather on the key ring to make it easier for Holly to pick up and smell. They then taught her the game of ‘find the keys’. They hide the keys and ask her to find them. She is so excited to play this game that she searches the entire home until she locates them and runs to William to place them on his lap. This is such a brilliant skill that I am now teaching my dog to do the same since I frequently lose my keys.

Another skill we taught Holly is ‘Go for help’. We borrowed the techniques from search and rescue and applied them to the home front. William will be in one room with Holly. He will give the command ‘go for help’ Holly will run through the home until she locates Carol and tug on her clothing or bark. Carol then says ‘show me’ and Holly runs back to William with Carol following.

These skills are not that different then teaching your dog rollover or any other canine trick. All the skills were broken down into small simple steps that Holly could master. We then built on those achievements with more tasks until Holly knew what we were asking her to do and she could link all the steps together with a simple command. This training is so effective due to the great relationship between Holly and her humans. Carol and William are tirelessly dedicated to the training and extremely patient and persistent.

Holly does the tasks because she enjoys it and she is rewarded always for her hard work.

By the way Holly isn’t even two years old.

Sallie Palmer teaches private lessons and group classes in Ukiah, Redwood Valley and Willits. For more information go to www.wellmanneredmutts.net or 707-463-DOGS