@optimism-is-not-real - Tumblr Blog

cementforbones-deactivated20171

love this.

I feel like my days are spent with the never-ending explanation of invisible disabilities. One day, I hope empathy is the norm over judgment.

sad-goddess-blog

person: there’s something i have to tell you my anxiety: *the pink panther theme*

smoofza

Working on “center” with “forward” and “back”! Then loose leash walking/heel where VSEPR holds position and keeps with his persons pace. Finished it off with practicing “leave it”.

So proud of my puppy ❤

smoofza

VSEPR learned “finish” today! Above is him practicing finish, front, and loose lead walking next to a wheelchair. He’s still having a hard time with distractions on walks but we will get there!

He used to have noise sensitivity that made him fearful near a wheelchair going over cement cracks, but we’ve worked through it. Yay! Progress!

trainingfaith

I was wondering what Faith is being trained to do exactly, especially for self harm disruption?

Hi Anon! Faith has a wide variety of tasks including:

DPT (deep pressure therapy): it’s where the dog is trained to apply pressure onto you; it’s proven to calm you down and lower blood pressure. When sitting, Faith puts her chest on my lap and leans against my lap and stomach. When lying she lies across my body. It helps keep me calm and focused, she does it a lot and it’s one of her most useful tasks!

Response/Grounding: responding to a panic attack. For her this is pushing herself into my face to help distract me from what’s going on and to help ground me

Blocking & Guarding: where the dog creates a barrier, this could be between me and a person, or a crowd for example. Some people get in too close which can be triggering for me so by doing this Faith increases the space between us. Guarding (though the term is deceiving there is NO aggression involved) can also be where the dog is trained to “watch your back” and keep people approaching too close behind. Faith does this when I’m standing in line.

Dissociation Disruptions: hard one to explain but I’ll try. I often start to dissociate when I’m in heavy crowds. It’s where I sort of zone out, and I can picture myself, but I can’t control myself. I can’t speak, I can’t think clearly, nothing seems real, I can’t really “see” (my mind stops processing information and things turn a dark shade of blue) and I get confused. Faith is learning to disrupt these episodes by nosing my leg, as well as guiding me out of whatever building I am in. Here’s a post on how I trained it.

Migraine Alert: Faith will paw at me to let my know if a migraine is coming. I don’t always realize it is happening so her alerts will help me avoid having to potentially spend several hours up to two days in bed with more pain than I want to describe. Here’s a post on how I trained it.

Self Harm Disruptions: Faith will jump up and pester me until I stop the behavior. She will also cover the area where I self harm and won’t let the blade touch my skin. Here’s a post on how I trained it.

Hope this helps :)

adventureswithshadowsd

-this is a practice not a real panic/anxiety attack-

Shadows full response to panic. First he lays his head on me to let me know, If I ignore him then he begins nudging my hands. If that still doesn’t work he instantly moves into DPT, and mouthed my hands to get me to stop clenching them, and finally licking my face to ground me and bring me back. I’m so proud that this response is fully proofed now!

secret-agent-sargent

Service Dog Things that are ShitToTrain™

There are a lot of things that are obviously difficult to train, like learning to ignore distractions like other dogs, screaming kids, and food, but there are a few things that are surprisingly ShitToTrain™ your service dog.

Putting a Read More because this got long.

Keep reading

psychdogblog

Apps for Service Dog Training

A list of useful apps for those of you who are training your own Service Dogs (or are just looking for some cool apps to help with your SD). I only have an iPhone, and I am unsure if these are on both IOS and Android, however I suspect most of these are or there is at least a similar one. (This will be updated as I find more apps).

- Riley

Nagdu - While this app was created for the National Association of Guide Dog Users, it is helpful for anyone with a service dog. It has the entirety of the ADA Service Dog section, individual State Laws, and general guidance with things like hotels, restaurents, and other places of buisness. Free

BringFido - This allows you to find pet friendly hotels, restaurants, parks, beaches, and tons more. You can also book your hotel, look up their pet policy, and use filters to find the hotels that would best fit your dog. Super useful for dogs who are not 100% PA trained and are not protected by state laws - do some training and be a little less anxious about it. Free

Pet Coach - App that connects you to dog trainers, vets, and nutritionists if you have questions about troubleshooting problems or ensuring that your pup is maintaining a proper weight. Free

iClicker - Self explanatory: Sometimes you forget your clicker in a moment of brain fog or you simply don’t want to bring a physical clicker with you. iClicker is simple - just press the clicker button and have your volume on. Free

Keep reading

anxietyservicedogs

My 10 Basic Service Dog ‘Rules.’

These are the rules that our fosters and dogs must follow. These rules, in my opinion, help to create well rounded Service Dogs both at home and in public. Several of these rules I say should apply to pets as well.

So here we go, 10 basic Service Dog rules. They are in no particular order.

No human food what-so-ever. The dog is not allowed to eat any food that has fallen to the floor while cooking or by accident. Nor should the handler or the handlers family feed the dog human food. The exception to this rule is for things like plain yogurt or such things used to help settle upset stomachs, help digestion, dietary requirements, etc.

The dog is not allowed on couches or beds unless invited.

The dog is not allowed to take ANYTHING from a human unless given permission. This includes everything from treats, to toys. We use the command “take.”

The only person allowed to interact with the dog when working (IE when the dog is wearing their vest) is their handler or the person holding the leash. (Trainers/Handlers may always interact with the dog.)

Do not let the dog drag you to where they want to pee. They must go where you tell them and preferably on command. The latter part may take some training. Basically just say “go pee” or something like that when they are going.

Do not allow the dog to mark. This has to do with training them to pee on command. (So useful for long trips, especially flying.)

Do not allow the dog to clean themselves in public. (You know I don’t mean their paws.)

The dog may NEVER jump on people to greet them. The only time jumping on someone is acceptable is for interruptions, alerting, etc.

Do not play tug-o-war with the dog. This is because you want the dog to give you whatever their holding and not think it’s time to play.

The dog may not leave a vehicle until given permission.

Edit: These are what we use for our dogs. Your dog isn’t a bad SD or you aren’t a bad handler if you don’t use all of these.

smoofza

Working on “back” without turning and keeping his persons pace (needs a lot of work!), then side stepping away at his persons pace, some body-awareness with a step-stool, and finally “sit/stay” while a person walks behind him!