#mobility tasks

[mandana-the-service-pup]

A Complex Mobility Task: 📫🦮

Since moving into a house, Mandana has started to develop a habit of barking loudly when mail or packages are dropped off. Rather than punish her for this natural behavior I’m giving her the tools to deal with it in a more productive manner.

1. She rings the bell to let me know the mail was delivered.

2. She sits and waits for me to open the door and give her commands instead of bolting outside.

3. She brings the packages inside and stacks them in a pile.

4. She opens the packages for me only when I ask and only until I ask her to stop so as not to damage anything.

5. She helps me pick up items and throw trash away.

It’s a bit of extra work for me right now but she really enjoys it and it’s going to be very helpful when the training is complete.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Custom Pupcessories Harness Set

Love the design but we’re not going to do heavy mobility tasks. Has only been used for training sessions but it is designed for forward momentum and counterbalance tasks.

Side bags and handles are all detachable. Girth 26” to 33 1/2”

$100 plus whatever shipping costs (USA)

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Mandana & I are both feeling great today so we went out to do some errands. We stopped at four places and she was a rockstar at all of them. We went to a really big Menards for the first time. She did so well ignoring all the distractions and focusing on me. She has been really enjoying carrying things lately so I let her carry the bag to the car (I don’t ask her to carry things when it’s hot out and she’s panting). It wasn’t super heavy but it was a big bag and you can see her super serious thinking face in the video.

She hasn’t been showing any signs of back pain or I wouldn’t have asked her to carry something. We had a nice game of disc before we went on our shopping adventure and she’s moving fine. She only had that one incontinence incident while she was sleeping a few days ago so I think it was just the irritation from all the rain/wet fur lately. It’s dried up outside and the NeoPredef powder seems to have helped. It’s not something I worry about with this kind of public access because it has only ever happened while she was sleeping and it’s been over a year since it last happened. If she wasn’t feeling great I wouldn’t have brought her in public at all but she’s been 100% all day.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

You want to know a task I find surprisingly helpful. Being able to hand Mandana a packaged item and have her carefully open it for me. It’s not the same destruction you see when you give her cardboard for enrichment. She’s very meticulous and gentle. She doesn’t care about what’s inside the package (even if it’s food) and she takes directions very seriously. Like if I show her a pull tab she will carefully only grab that little part and pull it until it opens or until I ask her to stop.

It’s not something I planned but she really enjoys this very specific task and I find it super helpful on bad arthritic days when I can’t use my fingers without pain.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Phone Retrieval (not a tutorial)

I’m having a bad health day, so I decided we would stay home and learn a phone retrieval. Mandana is pretty enthusiastic about finding and retrieving items, so this was an fun session that went by quickly.

I used shaping to get her to pick up the silicone beads attached to an empty case. After that we practiced having her carry it to me with the weight of the phone. The final step was using it in our “Go Find…” game and attaching the word “phone” to the object. It took about 15 minutes from start to finish. She could have learned this earlier but she broke my screen protector while trying to pick up my phone (hence the strap with silicone beads)

I don’t consider this a tutorial bc there are a lot of things that go into making learning a task this simple. Clicker mechanics, shaping, picking up items, retrievals, scent-based searches, etc. I don’t want someone to watch this and get frustrated with themselves and their dog if they don’t learn it as fast. The last two years have been spent systematically teaching my dog HOW to learn and building a rapport with her. It’s ok to take things slow.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Vigilante Justice

The maintenance crew decided to block the sidewalk with brush (for days-weeks). I’m confined to a rollator now, so Mandana happily volunteered to clear the path for me.

I highly recommend checking out the content made by Pedestrian Dignity (Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube). He does a great job of highlighting why this kind of stuff matters. Also, if you aren’t familiar with the Medical Model VS Social Model of Disability then please educate yourself on it.

To put it simply, the Medical Model says I couldn’t walk on this sidewalk because I’m disabled and that the responsibility is on me to adapt to the world (which I did); whereas, the Social Model says I couldn’t walk on this sidewalk because our world is unnecessarily inaccessible by design and that accessibility is an issue that affects EVERYONE so it should be prioritized.

In this case, I’m sure the maintenance crew probably assumed most people would be able to go around the brush pile without issue. But it IS an issue. It affects the disabled, but also elderly, kids on bikes, moms pushing strollers, people walking their dogs, people driving by, abled-bodied people who are temporarily burdened (such as carrying something or if they have an injury such as a sprained/broken ankle).

If we taught our children and designed our world to prioritize accessibility, then EVERYONE would benefit.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Hips: excellent, good, fair, borderline, mild, moderate, severe

Elbows: NORMAL / DYSPLASTIC

Her spine, heart & an old wrist injury were all evaluated by the vet and X-rayed. He said everything looks great and she is clear to start conditioning & training for mobility!

[mandana-the-service-pup]

NOT LOOKING FOR ADVICE OR CRITICAL COMMENTS. Thxs

It’s been two weeks since we started making diet changes so I wanted to compare a few pictures. I didn’t think to get stacked pics before we started but I found the best comparisons I could. You can’t expect much in two weeks but I see some slight improvements.

During the first week I discovered one of her food triggers and completely removed it from her diet. I also chose replacements for her food & treats that have a better protein/fat ratio.

I don’t want to push her too much while her tummy is adjusting but we also added a few minutes of what she knows as “exercise”. I got her some balance pods (the people kind) and I’ve been using shaping to get her to put her front paws on them and do light stretches. We’ve started to add some back paws (she knows them as “feet”) but I’ve never been able to prioritize hind-end awareness so we’ve got a long way to go with that.

Muscle conditioning will come later. My main goal for now is to make sure she feels good with the ingredients she’s on, help her lose a little fat and work on getting her more fluid & comfortable with moving her body appropriately.

(I also don’t want to tackle any major training goals until she feels better)