Of Canidae

Nor, he/him, 22. Purebred enthusiast. Dog sideblog - I follow from @cobbled.

[psikonauti]

Mirko Hanák (Czech, 1921-1971)

[kangals]

since i’ve seen some discussions floating around recently on dogblr regarding desexing dogs and its effects, i did stumble across this new study today and thought it might be topical to share it:

Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for 35 Breeds of Dogs: Associated Joint Disorders, Cancers, and Urinary Incontinence

i’m not going to breakdown the entire study (if you’re not interested in a specific breed i suggest at least reading the discussion section at the end), but essentially they took 35 different breeds and studied the occurrence of common health problems typically related (or viewed as related) to desexing. based on those findings, they also gave a general recommendation of what age range desexing should occur in either sex of each breed.

what i found most interesting was how wildly different the results were based on breed and sex, even within the same breed. for example, in jack russel terriers, desexing at any age was not linked to any noticeable increase in cancer risk, while golden retrievers had an increased risk after desexing. desexing a rottweiler increased the risk of joint diseases, but desexing a great dane does not. male standard poodles that were desexed had an increased cancer risk, while desexed females did not.

ideally the study should definitely be expanded upon with larger sample sizes, and go into detail regarding lifestyle, well-bred vs not, etc, but i thought it was super fascinating to see how incredibly variable the effects (if any) of desexing are. it just reinforces that making blanket statements about its effects (”intact dogs will get cancer!” “neutered dogs will have joint problems!” etc etc) continues to be a stupid thing to do, and that the choice of whether to desex a dog or not should be based on the INDIVIDUAL dog, and it’s INDIVIDUAL risk factors based on breed, sex, and lifestyle. don’t let internet forums tell you what is and isn’t right for your dog!

that being said, i totally checked to see if this study was going to yell at me for desexing my dogs lmao. i was pleasantly surprised to see that collies were one of the studied breeds (albeit with a smaller sample size), and the results of the collie study were as follows:

joint disorders were more common in males than females, but desexing at any age did not seem to have an impact on this

intact males had a higher cancer occurrence than intact females, and desexed males showed no change in that. however, females spayed at less than 6 months of age had a sharply increased cancer risk (possibly skewed due to the small sample size)

intact females had a 4% occurrence of mammary cancer, and a 16% occurrence of pyometra (the highest of all 35 breeds studied)

females desexed between 6-11 months had a 13% occurrence of urinary incontinence

based on this study, for collies the recommendations for males are that desexing can be done pretty much whenever after 6 months, as it doesn’t seem to have any appreciable effect on joint or cancer occurrence. females it’s recommended to desex between 12 and 23 months to minimize the risks of cancer, urinary incontinence, and pyometra. stellina just got spayed at 14 months, so it was nice to see that there was no data contraindicating this in this study. 

but this is why it’s so important to take the individual dog into account! ex: one of the largest studies that gets commonly cited in discussions about desexing focused on golden retrievers. in this study it confirms that female goldens are at an increased risk of both cancer and joint problems after being desexed at any age, to the point where the study even recommends leaving them intact if possible. if i had used the golden data for stellina, i’d be way freaked out about desexing her! or if she was a golden and i used collie data, i’d be missing out on some key risk factors! because that’s ignoring the fact that collies and goldens are different breeds with different risk factors and that you can’t just use one data point for every dog and expect it to be accurate.

anyway in conclusion: there are no hard and fast guarantees with desexing, aside from the fact that it removes reproductive capability. risks and benefits will vary greatly depending on the breed, sex, and lifestyle of the dog, so it’s important to make any medical decisions with your individual dog in mind. this is not a one-size-fits-all type of debate.

[gustavowasright-deactivated2022]

A dog getting excited over a reinforcer is not inherently valuable information about that dog’s drive for the reinforcer. Plenty of dogs get excited and aroused when served their dinner, but take that kibble out of the bowl and ask them to work for it, and they won’t do so immediately like a dog with high food drive would. Obviously, foundation, habits, and routine all matter a lot here, but a high drive dog doesn’t have same kind of prerequisites and stipulations that a lower drive dog does to achieve and sustain high drive. It goes back to what people have been talking a lot, that drive and arousal are not the same thing. Obviously, high drive dogs benefit from foundation and may have stipulations of their own, and lower drive dogs can still work effectively for those reinforcers and enjoy doing so, but: increased difficulty and delay don’t deter a high drive dog from its goal. Obstacles send a high drive dog’s determination and arousal higher before they make them lower. Vs the dogs who may have a high degree of arousal in the face of a specific reinforcer, but need smaller increments in training to sustain that arousal.

[doberbutts]

While some people have different definitions of course, my mentors described it like this:

A dog with a healthy appetite eats its kibble out of a bowl quickly.

A dog with high food drive gets bored eating out of the bowl, but loves actually doing things for said food. Puzzle toys, training, enrichment games, etc. Working for the food inherently makes the food more valuable.

I know in my personal experience, my parents have a dog with a ‘healthy appetite’- their chow x Mocha who turned 10 on Valentine’s Day. Mocha finishes her bowl quickly… but has no interest in working for food. She’ll get 3 treats in and then completely disengage.

Creed also hoovers up his food from a bowl, but when given food he’s made it clear he doesn’t like he’s actually even more interested in finishing his meal if I stick it in a wobbler. Or if I ask him to do some obedience for it. He doesn’t just want to be given food. He wants to so something to earn food.

I do think it’s a high/low food drive argument, but I also think it may be in part foundation. Creed was NEVER just handed food, he was always asked to perform some task before getting anything edible from anyone. Mocha, on the other hand, gets free stuff all the time. Her desire to actually work for things is lower because she’s never been told that she has to earn what she gets by anyone other than me. My parents certainly don’t do it! This, I think, is where training can take what you might have already had to really work hard for, and squash a lot of hopes you had to get to a certain point unless you totally reinvent the way you interact with your dog. Dogs are rarely just one or the other, after all.

[doberbutts]

A question posed on FB from a trainer friend turned into this.

I have a new lab client that is 6 months old, all of 45lbs, and has learned the art of getting low to the ground and really digging her feet in to pull forward. Her handlers are a middle aged woman that’s a solid foot shorter than me and probably 2/3 of my body weight, and her young daughter who appears to be 60lbs soaking wet. I can control this dog fairly easily even with my back injury, she’s nothing compared to the giant breed clients. But I’ve seen this puppy literally pull this woman off her feet, and the daughter reports being drug on her stomach.

With or without the use of aversive tools- and I mean nylon aversives such as haltis and EZ walks as well as metal aversives like prong and slip collars- how would you address this problem?

Keep in mind that stopping all forward motion has resulted in injury to the owners, and that this dog wants continuous motion, not necessarily forward motion, so turning around does not put a dent in the behavior of pretending she’s a weight pull champion.

Open question to all. Stay civil or get blocked. This is not a debate, but a situation that is far from the ideal training theory question and also not specifically my own dog to work. How would you do this for a client, not a dog that became yours?

[placesmydogsleeps]

As a trainer, I’ve encountered similar scenarios many times (most notably a 78-year-old woman with an adolescent GSD; she was in very real danger of falling and breaking something, even just coming to training class).

What has worked best for me is shaping for a more relaxed leash by marking and rewarding the moments of lowest pulling intensity. (I’m a clicker trainer, so I most commonly use click/treat, but I’ve also done this with verbal mark/present favorite toy, etc. The key is to accurately mark the instant the dog relieves leash pressure.) By rewarding less and less intense pulling, I can eventually get the dog to an acceptable level of leash pressure (which is determined by its owner’s preference, rather than a specific rule of how much slack there is in the leash).

When we have achieved a loose/r leash while standing still, I’ll take one step forward and mark before the dog hits the end of the leash. Repeat until the dog is stepping forward and hesitating just inside the length of the leash, knowing I’m going to click before he gets there. Then we work up to two or three steps, and so on, until the dog is walking nicely and I can reward randomly along the walk. Once the dog realizes that relaxed walking still gets him where he wants to go, the pulling usually isn’t as much of an issue.

(Note: When I have the owner work on this, I usually make them loop the leash around their belt or waist and keep their hands free, so they can’t pull back against the leash. Sometimes humans are just as guilty of keeping the leash tight as the dogs are, and the more they pull back, the more the dogs will pull against them.)

[behaviornerdwithahat]

Generally same as @placesmydogsleeps. I also like to use head collars in this type of situation because it gives some weight advantage and also changes the picture.

1. Teach dog to keep pressure off leash while stationary. Leash held by foot or immovable object.

I start with a ground tether. Essentially step on leash or tie leash to a secure object that can hold dog for you. Click for releasing pressure or keeping pressure off. Try to click/ treat at least 2-3 times before dog goes back to end of leash, ideally dog never goes back to end of leash since staying close is so reinforcing. Add distractions just outside of dogs radius and continue to click/treat for releasing or no pressure. This is great because it turns distractions into a cue to LLW.

2. Move leash to hand. Repeat. 

3. Teach collar/pressure cues.

In non distracting environment, apply small amount of pressure to collar in various directions. Click/treat for releasing pressure. Gradually decrease amount of pressure needed to be applied to leash before it becomes relevant to the dog and increase amount of effort required on dogs part for click/treat. 

4. Do while moving.

I realize that was an extremely brief rundown. Thats because it is much better explained by watching it in action. See the first 9 videos of this playlist…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ2jh1mDaLsKQ7k6yHx-5CwdnmezN4S-u

[egggheads]

All of this.

My approach would be

1) head halter. Normally i would say front clip easy walk but for a young lab that determined I would fear for the poor terrors shoulders. No reason I normally say easy walker other than head halter compliance is an extra step and some cliets can’t be trusted not to leash pop on one.

2) test for what would be highest reward for the dog. Pulling and moving forward to NEW THINGS NEW THINGS is obviously very highly rewarding. If we want any traction we have to win out over it. Lab, naturally, I’d look to special smelly food. Maybe hotdogs, freeze dried liver, something at that level to start.

3) build a muscle memory. For a dog that ramped up we want to stack the deck in our favor. Start in the lowest pressure place- the home with no leash. Lure the dog to an approximate heel, no need to be picky, take a step still luring, click and treat. Do this for a few days before increasing steps slowly before clicking.

At about 5 steps reliable do it over again from the top with the leash.

At a reliable 10 steps lured start to target, reducing steps to 5 to start with.

3) increase distraction. With a reliable lure move to a secure area like a back yard or training yard. Repeat from the very top on leash.

Get back up to those 10 steps targeted, reliable.

4) big world. AMP UP REWARD LEVEL. Do the same from the top at your front door. Get up to 5 steps reliable targeted if you can.

5) this step is very much based on progress but the essential is to get to a point where you are pairing a cue and fading the target.

Increase steps between reward after that and increase distraction after that. Not both at the same time if can be helped.

I would also pair in a solid “wait” since I only can imagine this dog is a door dasher.

Of course this would be changed and tailored as the dog progressed or didn’t.

[dogdelirious]

Some really awesome ideas, but I have to disagree on using the head halter in this situation. I think that could lead to a very bad injury. In my opinion, head halters aren’t actually for dogs that *pull.* They’re for reinforcing check-ins/focus. Plus, it sounds like this dog is already so hyperfocused on his environment that pushing him over threshold could be way too easily accomplished with any aversive. You all know I’m a balanced trainer, but this is a situation where I would try my hardest to avoid any sort of aversive. I wouldn’t want to add any extra stimulation to this dog.

Aside from that, I think the methods here are all good options. My specialty is in sports training and trialing, not behavioral modification, so I don’t have too much else to add here.

[cynological]

OP requested suggestions that don’t involve aversives INCLUDING head halters. There are plenty of ways to fix it with aversive tools, regardless of what kind you use.

My guess for how to do this:

I would consider starting the dog with dragging the leash, and work on teaching off leash heeling first. That would build focus and engagement and also teach the dog where you want it to be.

Red light/green light is also a good game to play, on or off leash, and if the dog is rewarded by motion, you can add in impulse control exercises like sits/downs randomly as well as asking for spins. Teaching the dog how to back up on command could also prove useful.

Teach giving into leash pressure as a separate exercise. I think Michael Ellis had a good video about that.

Also put going to sniff on cue, and use that as a reward. That bit worked really well for my dog.

[doberbutts]

Ah actually, I’m totally cool with suggestions with and without aversives, including head halters. My phrasing was actually to try and encourage folks like @placesmydogsleeps to post, because I would be really interested in their answer (as always- even if our training styles are different, I feel as if I learn a lot from their training theory posts). And it worked, so I’m happy about it! :) Of course there are ways to fix it with aversives too, and I wanted to hear what the balanced crowd had to say on that, but I also wanted to see how our more FF folks would tackle the same problem. Like I said, not a debate, just a sharing of theory regarding a real life non-idealized situation.

Part of the reason I gave the strict parameters I did was because this is a client dog. This is why I’m interested in what the dog training professions have to say, rather than just dogblr itself- there is a big difference in how you approach a situation with a client vs how you’d handle it if it was a dog you owned and lived with. For this dog, for instance, I would likely use a slip or prong to stop the behavior in its tracks, combine that with some actual training regarding focus, correct positioning, making good choices, and some management changes to fix the constant over-arousal, and I wouldn’t sweat if I didn’t see results for several weeks while fixing all the other holes in her foundation. Clients, however, want fast, they want immediate progress, and they want to stay in their comfort zone. This requires me to think about this in a completely different way- no client wants to hear “your foundation is shit and we basically have to start completely over if you want a solid leash walking behavior like you see in my dog” on week 4 out of 6 total classes- especially not when there’s been a sudden trainer change of hands and my other trainer’s problem child becomes my problem child.

The path I gave them on Sunday was as follows:

>add an aversive tool to slow the progression of the behavior. In this dog’s case, it was an EZ walk harness. The dog had previously tried a halti and the owners reported panicked behavior. I assume the dog was not properly introduced, but I also assume they do not want to wait however long it takes to desensitize this particular dog to said tool. The main reason this was an important first step is because, while I agree that training needs to happen with her at a stand-still, she does still need to be able to be taken out while leashed to potty, to the vet, to the store for training, etc. This training isn’t going to happen overnight, so they need a management tool to prevent her from continuing to hurt them.

>completely changing the relationship with the leash. Any leash tension whatsoever = no more moving. No more death grips on the leash. Proactive instead of reactive handling. The dog is walked on the right, the leash is held in the left hand to prevent the owner from creating artificial tension as they walk. Reward reward reward for every single step of good behavior, complete halt and redirect for any pulling, yanking, lunging, or other such dangerous habits. More talking to the dog and less expecting her to be a mind reader. No leash corrections- if she feels a correction from that aversive it’s because you stopped moving and she kept going, not because you swung your arm back to correct her (another reason for the leash to be held in the opposite hand to where the dog is- harder to correct). Consistent leash lengths, consistent expectation of where you want the dog to be. Stop moving your body to fix her position, start asking her to move her body back where you want it to be. No dragging her back into position, get her to recognize that tension = you are out of place, get back to where you need to be if you want to keep walking forward. Stop on a dime, feet apart, and stay there until she takes that step backwards you’re looking for. If it means it takes you 10 minutes to get down the driveway, then that’s 10 minutes of training you’re ahead of schedule on. No more cheating “just this once” by letting her plow right through because you’re in a hurry/don’t want to deal with it/think my instructions are a waste of time.

>Avoidance of instant-failure situations; see a dog ahead of you? make space. spotted a deer? get her attention before she sees the deer and walk the other way. This ties into being proactive instead of reactive, but it’s still huge. I had always applied this to my reactive/aggressive dog clients but hadn’t thought of adapting it to my regular obedience clients, until I watched one of my mentors do it with his.

>300 peck. I’d always used a modified version of this with my own dogs and a stay, but again, I never thought about how it could be useful for client dogs until a mentor brought it up. Now I use it for everything! Modify as needed, distance/duration/distraction being the key focus, until she is able to generalize the behavior to simply behaving nicely while leashed at all times. Start with a dragging leash or a leash tied to something in a small area, and begin rewarding for being in the correct place, and work up steadily from there.

>Oh Shit!!! ™ Recovery; when life doesn’t go your way, don’t panic, just move. Suddenly rushed by an offleash dog? Kids come barreling towards you screaming DOGGY at the top of their lungs? She saw that rabbit before you did and now you’re eating dirt while still being drug along the ground by your very excited dog? Find a way to leave the situation with the most minimal amount of fuss, and then do that. Put your dog behind you and back the both of you away from the dog. Hold out your hands and shout for the kids to stop while moving your dog further away. Roll into a more upright position to put on the brakes and then assess the damage once you’ve regained control. Don’t get mad. Just move. You’re already done for the day so you might as well roll with the punches and figure out what to do about it when the dust settles.

>finally, their challenge homework; go to dog friendly areas that you know she will be distracted by, find a quiet spot, and just work on her ability to hang out quietly in that spot. I prefer using a down for this, because then if the dog moves I have that much more time to ask for a reposition before the dog starts jumping/lunging, but in theory you could use a sit or even a stand. not necessarily a rigid stay, just asking her to hang out and be calm with you in an area that provides a decent amount of temptation. this is also the very first thing I do with every single one of my SD clients, what I did with Creed, and what I plan to do with NextSD. You don’t have to stay long, but you are looking for the ability to ask your dog to just settle next to you and watch the world go by. be smart about choosing your locations- don’t go to a dog event for your first one, go to the local park down the street during a lower traffic time and pick a spot away from everyone else until you’re confident you have control.

In any case, keep ‘em coming. I’m always interested to hear how other trainers would handle the same problem.

[babyanimalgifs]

[danandarnold-deactivated2024102]

@fabricatedghost

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

This may look cute, but that’s actually a really uncomfortable dog. The entire video is filled with avoidance behaviors (turning the head away), and the tension on the dog’s face (especially around the eyes and the base of the ears) once the egg is in it’s mouth is a dead giveaway. Yes, the dog’s tail wags a bit - but in this case it’s not a sign of the dog being happy. The dog is sitting stiffly, avoiding the person’s hands, and trying really hard to make the human happy while really uncomfortable. 

[scoretheearth]

I just took a few vids of Teener performing a ‘hold it’ that shows a really nice contrast against the demeanor of the golden retriever. Relaxed face muscles, soft eyes, no side glances, ears perked. Can’t be sure why the golden looks so stressed, but if that’s the face you are looking at when you are training or interacting your dog, you’re definitely doing something wrong.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

These are a really great visual contrast to the first clip, thank you for adding them! You can see that while there’s a little tension around Teener’s mouth in these videos, it’s mostly focused at the back of the mouth - where he needs to keep muscle tension in order to hold onto things - rather than the entire skin of the lips, as the first dog shows. Teener’s eyes are focused and the skin around them is taught in use, but it’s not a hard tightness. (In the first video, I can’t quite tell what he’s holding, but it appears to be some sort of crunchy treat.)

A bunch of people in the notes questioned why it was important to talk about the first video. For those of you that did: you’re right in that the dog is not being abused, nor is it the end of the world that he’s being made uncomfortable for a little bit. But it’s still really important to teach people to understand how the body language of an uncomfortable dog differs from that of a truly happy one, because being able to telling the difference might matter quite a lot in another situation and be the difference between someone getting bit or not. Videos like the original one are actually super important in that learning process because they’re an example of dog giving off mixed signals. 

[friendly-animals]

(Source)

[the-pasta-pack]

[servicedogstuff-blog]

About

What is a SD?

Service Dog Law

Everything you need to know before training

Things that make a SD unsuitable

printable and downloads

General Advice:

1

2

3

4

5

6

Training

Getting started

11 Tricks to Teach a Dog

How to clicker train

First 5 skills to teach an SD

List of things to include in socialization

5 vital public access skills

Public Access test videos

Task training general

leash walking and heeling

Phase 1-4 training videos

Distress response

Focus and Impulse control

Basic training article

Hand signals

more basics

clicker training tips

many training articles

“stay” tips

training blog

using treat “levels”

training a rescue dog

training a herding/hunting dog

Day to Day

School with an SD

How to be a good Service Dog team

How to handle an access challenge

Gear

Head to toe recommendations

vest I use currently and will use

fun/funny/colorful SD patches

more patches

even more patches

another vest option

[adventureswithshadowsd]

Good starter list for service dog prospect socialization. 8-16 weeks is they key window for properly socializing a pup. This time period determines how your dog thinks, feels, and acts toward new situations or setting. While you can work against habits that come from bad socialization it’s a lot of work.

edit: if I would also add it’s very important to socialize your pup to be grabbed at, pulled at, talked to, drive by petting, being touched unexpectedly etc as these are all things pup must be able to ignore, and getting them used to these types of things pup will need to be able to ignore!

[daphnetheservicedog]

Service dog obedience checklist

Howdy!

I wanted to post my personal service dog obedience checklist that I strive for when working with a new trainee.

Basic/advanced obedience training:

-sit on command -down on command -stand on command -eye contact on command -relieve themselves on command -sit and stay from a distance of 30 ft -down and stay from a distance of 30 ft -stand and stay from a distance of 30 ft -recall off lead -heeling -heeling through tight quarters (in front of or behind the handler) -be left with a stranger in the event of an emergency -accept a muzzle in the event of an emergency -stop on command -slow down on command -back up on command facing handler -enter / exit building in a controlled heel -load / unload from vehicle -place -under -heel off lead -greeting strangers from the sit position -leave dropped food

[smoofza]

Hi! I was wondering what places you'd recommend for public access training?

Hey!

This depends a lot on you, your dog, and where you are. I presume you live in the US. 

Regardless of whether your state protects SDiTs and owner-trainers public access (PA) rights, I’d look at what your goals are and why you’re training there. My not-so-master-list of PA skills/environments include:

Loading/unloading safely from vehicle

Exposure to hundreds of different people who look and act differently (INCLUDING kids)

Crossing streets safely

Confidence near traffic

Walking near carts, being okay near carts (holding a stay when a cart passes by is a big one)

Entering lots of different door ways (automatic doors, double doors, glass doors, wood doors, sliding doors, etc)

Confidence on as many surfaces as possible (asphalt, cement, tile, carpet, grass, etc)

Focus around food and other distracting smells

Settling in an office/meeting/class environment

Exposure to exercise equipment (treadmills sound, look, and smell weird)

Working near all sorts of dogs (you will encounter fake and under-trained SDs and your SDiT will, at some point, decide they’re done working and be the hooligan themselves- trust me.)

Waiting in line

Checking out from all sorts of check out counters

Movie  theaters

Airport security (I’ve found government buildings like a capitol or courthouse provide a pretty good, lower-stress way to be near x-ray machines and security guards) 

 I’m a huge fan of parking lot training: you can practice a lot of the above skills without even entering a store. For the first few months I had VSEPR we’d just go to different parking lots and store entrances and watch people go in and out of stores and practice cues in new places. This helped him to learn to manage stress in new places and also not overload him by dragging him through a parking lot and into a store when he was not ready. 

If you live in a state that protects SDiTs and owner-trainers in public, you’ve got a lot of options. I’ve found Walmart tends to have more dogs who should not be in stores while Target doesn’t like having dogs at all. So Target, in my experience, is a bit easier to train in if you’re worried about other dogs. I like smaller businesses to practice his heeling and body awareness just because the aisles tend to be much narrower.  I try to remember to go places with a few goals in mind (like ignoring food, working near carts, or desensitizing to statues and other weird figures). I then try to select where I’m going in order to set VSEPR up for success with those goals. At the same time, just because I legally can train VSEPR almost anywhere doesn’t mean I should (I don’t need to bring him to a restaurant that very much does not want me there if I’m training him to enter doors calmly). 

If you live in a state that doesn’t protect SDiTs and owner-trainers in public, you can always go to pet friendly places (other than petsmart and petco*) for most skills (your dog probably can work on many of the same skills in Home Depot’s hardware aisle as they would in Walmart’s). Once your dog is task trained and already has a solid foundation in public (and is housebroken), you can move on to not-pet friendly places (like Target and most restaurants). 

*Yes you should train in these places but keep in mind that there are almost guaranteed to be other dogs, some of which are reactive and extremely poorly handled. Take that risk knowingly and plan accordingly.

Sorry that wasn’t super specific, if you message me and we live in similar areas I can give you more of my personal preferences with training locations!

Have a good day!

[actuallyservicedogs]

Flying With a Service Dog

This is based off my personal experience flying with a service dog: 

I have noticed that one thing that is very nerve wracking for many service dog handlers is flying with their service dog for the first time. Not knowing what to expect in a situation that is hard to train for specifically can make a person very anxious. I wanted to write a guide based on my own experience so that people had a comprehensive thing to look at!

Airlines that people have good experiences with:

Southwest

Southwest is by far the most accommodating. I flew with them. Once notified of my dog, they gave me the seat next to me for free so she could have more room. They printed out a “reserved” sign that I could sit on the seat so that no one could sit there and the flight attendants knew what was going on. They did this for free. 

Southwest has free seating. As a disabled person, you get preferred seating so you will be able to board first and get bulkhead if you want it. 

Frontier

American

Important things your dog should know:

A stellar settle.

Sit stays. 

Follow directions off leash (if you don’t use a metal free lead and want to have your dog go through the metal detector.)

Handle very busy areas.

Handle VERY loud noises. 

A good heel

Potty on artificial grass

Potty on command

A very tight tuck

Being okay with strangers touching them.

Staying even when you walk away

Before the flight:

Tell the airline that you have a service dog. It will make your flight a lot easier if people are alerted to this ahead of time.

Ask if you can have bulk head seating. These are the seats at the front of the plane that have much more foot room than any other seat. Most airlines will give you the seating for free.

Choose your seat (if you can). I find that sitting by the window is the best place so that your dog doesn’t spill out into the aisle. If you’re flying Southwest, there is open seating. And because you get preferred seating, you can choose whichever one when you get on the plane.

Do you need mobility assistance? Did you know there are people at the airport whose sole job is to push people to their destinations in wheelchairs? If you call ahead of time, you can have someone waiting for you at the check in desk to help you!

Try to limit your dog’s food and water intake. Your dog can go the day without food and with limited water. I promise they can handle it. It will help with the going to the bathroom situation. You won’t have to worry about it as much. 

What to pack:

Are you checking a bag or carrying on? Either is fine! Most airlines will give you a free carry on bag as well as personal item. So for example a backpack and a purse. They will charge you for more. If you need a bag separately for your dog’s things, you need to know this: YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR BAGS CARRYING MEDICAL EQUIPMENT. And guess what! Your dog’s supplies are part of your medical equipment! So if you need to check a bag for your dog or bring an extra carry on, you do not need to pay!

Things to pack for your dog:

Small first aid kit

Water bottle (empty – you can fill it on the other side of security)

Extra collar

Extra leash

Extra vest

Treats

2-3 days worth of dog food

Poop bags

Portable bowls

A mat/blanket for your dog

Anything in your carry on that is liquid needs to be in a 3 oz or smaller container and ALSO fit into a quartz sized plastic bag. 

When you get to the airport

If you haven’t already printed out your boarding passes at home, you need to do that first. There are kiosks that you can do this without talking to a person, but I highly suggest going up to the desk to do your check in if you can. You’ll be able to remind them about your dog and confirm things like bulkhead seating or assistance. 

Once you have your boarding pass and any bags that you’re checking taken care of, make your way towards security. DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. Find someone who works there – they’re usually wearing blue, or a white shirt with black pants. Airports are big and confusing. Flying with a dog for the first time is scary enough. It can be exacerbated by not having flown alone before.

Security

There are a few ways to go about this so I will outline all I can think of!

You do not need to remove your dog’s gear, even if there is metal on it. Put everything that you need onto the belt and then go to the metal detector. Put your dog into a sit/stay and walk through when they direct you to. Once you get through, call your dog through after you. The metal detector WILL beep. This is where your dog being okay with strangers touching them is important – your dog will get a quick pat down. That’s it! They may test your hands and your dog’s vest for explosives or chemicals with these little paper pad things, but it isn’t too complicated. 

A lot of people use metal free gear when going to the air port to make things easier. you would follow the same steps as above but your dog wouldn’t need to be patted down. 

You can also remove your dog’s gear entirely and put it through the belt with all your other belongings. Your dog needs to be good at a sit stay and you need to be able to handle them without gear, but otherwise pretty simple!

Grab your stuff afterwards and you’re done!

At the gate

There is usually a desk at or near every gate. Regardless of if you reminded them at the check in, go up to the desk and introduce yourself and remind them again of your dog. There may be something else they can do to accommodate you. That, and I find that people are more willing to help you later if they are aware of you. 

Wait until your flight!

On the plane

Get to your seat and put down any blankets or mats you brought your dog, if any. Have your dog get into a settle/tuck and then sit down. 

I have treats ready because I hadn’t flown with my dog before and I was unsure of how she’d handle it. She got nervous during take off and landing so having the treats available is helpful.

That’s it! It’s not as scary as it seems and I’m sure afterwards, you’ll find yourself wondering why you were worried in the first place. I hope that this guide helps the anxiety in the meantime!

[folkdogs]

How do you build engagement with a dog?

Denise Fenzi has awesome free blog posts and videos online r.e. engagement (and knows much more than I do).

(also, the Dog Sports Skills books are fab for this topic among others)

Stages of Engagement Part 1

Engagement - A little more

Engagement Part 3

Rewarding Engagement and Effort

And… More Engagement

Cheerful Interruptor or Engagement?

Engagement - Yes, again

Engagement: Why the Extremes?

I also really like the book “Beyond The Backyard” by Fenzi for ideas about training your dog to work around distractions in all kinds of environments. The step-by-step plan in this book is wonderful.

[pawsitivelypowerful]

GSDs bred and used by guiding eyes for the blind, fidelco, and eye dog foundation for the blind, do you know in general what lines and breeders they use? What type of GSDs are these (am show, West German show, etc?). What makes these shepherds different from other ones?

I have no idea to be honest, but I would imagine they are probably their own line that they have developed throughout the years to get the traits they want. I’d imagine they’d breed for lower key dogs with as little prey drive as possible.

[pawsitivelypowerful]

dogz514

It’s mostly their own lines, and trading breeders and puppies between them. Every few generations they have to take outside breeders since their shepherds get too chill and don’t work well. From what I’ve seen, when they get outside breeders they’re usually from a variety of working lines. I’ve seen dogs with HGH titles and SCHH3 used. It really depends on the stability and health of the individual dog and what the school needs to add to their breeding program.

Thank you ^_^

[doberbutts]

I have some… opinions… on the fidelco dogs I’ve met.

[dogz514]

Yeah, I’ve heard things about them, mostly about management and such, but also about the stability of some of the dogs they’ve put out. I haven’t really heard of them trading dogs or breeders or anything, which I find strange, since the number of schools that still use shepherds is small and those that breed shepherds is even smaller, and they use shepherds exclusively. So, yeah…they’re, interesting…

[doberbutts]

They’re… nearish us, and one of the main people involved with the training of the dogs frequents my store on a regular basis to teach new puppy raisers and to show new handlers how to work their dogs. They are, um, interesting on the quality control of the training and handling, to put it lightly. I mean, to the point where they guy actually came up to Creed and I as we’re just putting away stock and not doing a demo at all and was super interested to know who trained Creed and upon hearing that it was me, was super interested in trying to onboard me to the program then and there. In front of his clients. That were about to be matched with the dog they brought. The “fully trained” dog they brought that still needed to be taught how to walk loose leash and ignore other dogs.

He now loudly and obnoxiously points me out to his clients every time he’s in my store about how Creed is a really trained service dog and that’s the ideal service dog behavior and if ever they have questions he can’t answer just go to me. I’m… not affiliated with them. Like at all. And he does this at least once a week. I’ve got word from others who’ve seen the org in action (and the dude himself) that can verify this is not abnormal for those folks. In fact when I started asking my roommate what the hell was going on, without me saying the org name she already knew it was about them.

I will say most of the dogs I’ve met from them haven’t been reactive or aggressive, which is good. I do see a lot of puppies with some serious fear or nerve problems starting that will need to be handled very delicately, that I would personally just wash but someone might be able to make it work I guess if they build the dog up really well. Visually they’ve been pretty par for the course WGSL/pet line type dogs. The puppy raisers don’t typically have any idea what they’re doing and just yank the dogs around on either a chain slip collar or an oversized halti, though sometimes I also see a prong necklace. They also just let their puppies run up to Creed and try to mess with him despite him being very clearly vested and labeled as a service dog (and sometimes they are offended that I don’t want their puppies distracting my medical equipment). I’ve yet to meet a dog from them I’d actually consider fully trained.

The situation doesn’t… really… help my already growing dislike for service dog organizations as a whole, sad to say.

[elizabeth-vaughan]

Fidelco is definitely one of the more “guarded” schools in terms of training methods, employment, leadership, and breeding stock. It seems like those who aren’t part of Fidelco aren’t entitled to know even the basics about those things, and those who are are discouraged from sharing their knowledge. I know of one person who raised a dog for them but quickly switched back to the original school she raised for after she turned the dog in. 

I’d love to hear more about why you dislike service dog organizations. I have to say as a longtime puppy raiser (7+ years), I’m beginning to develop a dislike of such organizations myself and would love to interact more with individuals with educated opinions and experiences. 

@pawsitivelypowerful, I know that Guide Dog Foundation does accept donated dogs from show-type lines (poodles, goldens, and previously GSDs and smooth/rough collies, they aren’t breeding the latter three anymore) to both raise in the program and add to their breeding colony. My own dog’s sire (a golden) was a donation from a show breeder to a small school in VA who’s been used across North America by multiple schools. 

As for Guiding Eyes, they recently (last ~3-4 years) began rebuilding their GSD lines mainly with stock imported from schools in the UK and France. Not sure where those lines originated but I do know that they are now co-breeding/owning dogs with schools in both countries. Historically, they have accepted GSD donations as well, which is (if I’m recalling correctly) why they now have a large population of solid black dogs in their breeding pool. Their dogs look very different from Fidelco’s lines (as well as smaller schools such as Leader Dogs and Guide Dogs of the Desert, which heavily favor Fidelco’s more sable/bicolor phenotype), so I would reason to believe that there are at least two very different guide dog lines within the US and are outbreeding to different lines depending on the school.

[doberbutts]

WHOOPS I totally didn’t realize that this had been rebloged ages ago asking for more clarification on some things from me. Sorry about that- it took a follower of mine reblogging it today for me to see this particular reblog.

Re: Why I dislike organizations- I go over this slightly with my dislike of puppy raisers post, but outside of that…

I would say that when it comes to dogs reacting to other dogs, I haven’t really seen any service dog from an organization that’s actually capable of ignoring me walk by with Creed. Creed has been lunged at by two CCI labs, two GDB goldens, various Wounded Warriors dogs, and a good handful of assorted org dogs from some PTSD and autism orgs. In fact, most of the disabled people with org dogs that see Creed comment that they’re surprised that Creed’s better behaved than their organization-trained dog, since he’s owner-trained. I’ve even had some org handlers ask for help on fixing things with their dogs. Knowing that some of these organizations are charging upwards of $10-25k for a “fully trained” dog, and being a poor disabled person myself, I can’t imagine how angry I would be if someone sold me such an expensive dog and I had to ask someone else to help me retrain it because my life depended on it.

As more and more bad press about organizations comes out, I don’t think I’ll ever fully trust any organization to successfully raise a service dog without at least a few serious flaws I’d personally wash over. When incidents of people getting seriously ripped off and sometimes even dangerous dogs being placed, it’s really not something I’d be willing to suggest for most people anymore. There’s even been reports of some org dogs being placed with people, and then the org dogs turn around and attack their handlers. No thank you.

I also don’t like organizations because it seems like anyone that does anything with an organization feels it’s their God-given right to become the service dog police with dogs that they are not responsible for, and end up asking seriously invasive questions, harassing, badgering, taking pictures to blast the handler on social media, and otherwise bothering people who’d really rather just go about their day. Arguments on what does and does not count as a task. What a service dog can and cannot do with their handler in their handler’s free time. And I’m not talking the controversial opinions on things like bitesports- I’ve seen org people say things like “if you’re disabled enough to need a service dog then you’re too disabled to do agility with your dog” to someone that was owner training. Abled people policing the disabled has never been something I’ve been willing to keep quiet on, and I hate that it’s so prevalent in a community that should be built by disabled people.

I’ve also seen organizations put out things disparaging people with owner-trained dogs, saying they’re less trustworthy and more likely to be fake, and so anyone with an owner trained dog should be treated with suspicion and people should only ever get a dog from an organization. That we need a system more like parts of Canada, where the only service dogs you may have are from certain ADI-credited orgs. If you have a disability that those organizations don’t cover, or have a disability that there exists no organization for? That just sucks for you, doesn’t it, clearly you’re not actually disabled like people who get organization dogs. That just puts a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I’ve seen seriously poorly trained, sometimes even aggressive, dogs from those same organizations.

I’ve had puppy raisers tell me their dog was about to graduate when it’s still pulling them on the leash, grabbing food off the floor, jumping on customers at the store, trying to eat off the table… I look up organization puppy raiser qualifications and see nothing except “no experience necessary!” and “you’re responsible for everything regarding teaching the dog up until X age, when they return to us for graduation”. Really? You’re going to give the general public with zero dog experience a puppy that will become someone’s lifeline, through it’s most formulative months, and expect that to work out in the long run?

I watched someone deeply involved in CCI say on facebook, almost verbatim, “only retards need ESAs” and “if you’re actually disabled, CCI can do just about anything- if CCI can’t help you, then you’re not disabled”. You can’t really expect me to like organizations after seeing multiple similar things on social media from multiple sources.

I don’t think I’ll ever like organizations. If you [genera] work for one and you’re not like these people, then good. But I doubt I’ll ever trust the organization as a whole, even if there are some trustworthy people involved in them.

[mostlyvoidpartiallydragons]

Rhodesian Ridgeback

Hound group

LCKC all breed show, day one

July ‘18

[cobbled-remade]

Some dog photos from the past week or so.

[dogologist]

From my main~

[imalayla]

Dog park days