Remember to Keep Up With Your Training Logs!
Hey guys! I wanted to give a quick reminder of how important training logs are if you are owner-training a service dog. If you got your dog from a professional training program, the program will have in-depth records of your dog’s training (and usually some form of “certification” on top of that). If you owner trained your dog, it’s extremely important that you have these logs as well! If an issue ever arrises with your service dog, they will serve as one of your only proofs of training.
While proof of training cannot be used as terms for entering a public establishment, they can be used as terms for receiving service dog related benefits (such as free county or state dog registration, discounts from certain companies, etc). They will also serve a very important purpose if you ever wind up in court due to your dog.
Even if your dog is already half-way through his training and you didn’t log anything previously, you can still start now! Here’s a sample log to fill out each week.
Sample Service Dog Training Log
Owner Trainer’s Name: [jamie doe]
Dog’s Name: [kennel’s my shining star “jack”]
Breed: [golden retriever]
Gender: [male]
Age: [2 years, 4 months; your best guess if you have a shelter dog]
Week of: [19-25 Nov 2017]
Hours:[8.5] ([6] On Site) + ([2.5] Outings)
Health: [bath & nails trimmed in tuestday, heartworm preventative given on saturday, brushed daily, and vet appointment scheduled for next week. diet remained the same. no health concerns.]
Problems: [barked in the hospital room when a nurse knocked on the door]
Outings: [.5 hrs spent in walmart with permission on tuesday, 1 hr spent at the hospital with permission accompanied by (trainer name) on thursday, and 1 hr spent in intermediate obedience training class with (trainer name) at (training facility) on friday.]
Socialization: [dog was exposed in a positve mannor to tile floors, grass, gravel, men with beards, children, other dogs, stairs, elivators, rubbinc alcohol, etc. use the blow socialization shart to give you ideas. he was nervous around metal slat stairs, people with hats, revolving doors, and escalators.]
Obedience: [practiced CGC behaviors at home and in the local park under moderate distractions. broke long distance down stay when a child ran up to say hi. his heeling was slightly distracted.]
Service Dog Tasks: [practiced brace indoors and on park benches around the community. still needs work in holding his stand stay for londer durations. practiced panic attack alert at home, and he alerted in public for the first time on tuesday in walmart.]
Manners: [worked on impulse control around food and open doors. still needs work in not jumpin up on guests when they enter the home. still likes to dart out the door if left open.]
Comments: [enrolled in a novice trick dog class, cgc test scheduled for next saturday, and purchased a new “in training” vest for jack from indistrial puppy.]
Keep these logs in a binder along with certificates of your dog passing the CGC exams, public access test, etc. It’s also a good diea to have vieos of your dog on hand (video of the public access test, and videos of him tasking).
I hope this helps ❤
~ Lex (& Faith…. & Defiance)
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