#owner training problems

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Working on some unofficial deep pressure therapy (DPT) during a presyncope episode.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Mandana. We prepped for a puppy. Lost our rental house. Had a couple weeks to move. One week to prep for the puppy again at the new house and now we’ve been living with said puppy for a week.

We’ve been really mindful of the effect this has had on Mandana and Hubbins has really stepped up with her. She’s been getting physical therapy three times a day as well as decompression walks, jogs, scooter runs and A LOT of enrichment as prescribed by our behavior consultant.

Mandana has hypothyroidism which is pretty common in Malinois and like a Shetland pony, she gains weight on air. We also changed her kibble right before we moved to something hydrolyzed but it has more calories. That combined with all of the extra enrichment has led to some conspicuous weight gain.

We’ve had to get what we lovingly call her Fat Gurl collar because now that we have a puppy we need her to wear a collar for long periods of time and her custom martingales are too tight.

But after a week with Taravali we finally have settled into a pretty nice routine and Mandana is feeling a lot more relaxed at home. We’re starting to cut back on the extra calories & add in more physical exercise. Hopefully we can get her beach body back before Summer 😁

[migrainepup]

My classmates want to understand service dog trainer’s problems! Please fill this form out if you’re willing to help!

“Hello, we are a group of students at Olin College of Engineering. This semester, we are working on a user-oriented design project focused on improving the lives of service dog trainers and people involved with the service dog development process. Our main goal right now is to gather as many contacts and as much information as possible. If you would like to help us on our project, please fill in your contact information in the Google Form linked below. Any information gathered from this form and from talking to you will be kept confidential. Thank you for your time. We hope to talk with you soon!”

https://goo.gl/forms/hWHQ3NERXDUNRF0n2

Filling it out helps, and so does reblogging so more people see it and fill it out.

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Still goof’n around in her shoes 😅

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Taravali did really great today. We practiced with her shoes some more. I’m hoping to get her comfortable enough in them that she will be able to wear them while doing public access this winter.

Afterwards I took her to Costco (sans shoes) This was her second trip to Costco and she has already improved so much. She gave me way more focus & eye contact than I would ever ask of a working service dog. Everyone was complimenting how well trained she was not knowing she has very limited public access experience.

We even had our first service dog encounter and it was a poodle! They turned a blind corner and almost ran into us. Their service dog was well behaved and they continued to walk down a different aisle. Taravali handled it so well. She pulled a bit to try to see around the corner where they disappeared but after a few seconds she was back on track like it never happened. No spooking. No whining. Just right back to offering eye contact and volunteering a tight heel or sit/down when appropriate. If anything she was even more focused on me after the encounter.

We had a decompression walk at the park when we were done training and she really enjoyed it. I started to introduce tattle training when she was a baby but I haven’t been on top of it lately so I was surprised how quickly she started to “tattle” (run to me to express her excitement instead of chasing after the exciting thing) about all the squirrels and even another dog. Since it was a decompression walk I let her greet a few willing people. She needs to understand that it’s ok for people to pet her but only when she has permission.

When we got home she was ready for a nap which was great timing because Mandana was due for a bath. It was a really tough day for me but it’s so encouraging to see her training coming along.

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Taravali got a mouthful of toxic mushrooms this morning. I wasn’t sure how poisonous they were to dogs and she was going to run so I sent Mandana to catch her.

We have been working on recall & leave it but I’m not a professional trainer and she’s not advanced enough that I would bet her life on it. There are other ways to deal with this like getting a high value treat or toy but this required a quicker and more reliable response.

Taravali is not a gulper. She prefers to hold things in her mouth and explore them before eating so I wasn’t too concerned about her swallowing it while Mandana was chasing her. Besides that “Go Get’em” is a game Hubbins & I have played with Mandana for years. It’s a GENTLE catch & hold game. Although not the ideal situation, I wasn’t actively encouraging her to attack Taravali. I was cuing her to grab her jacket and hold her. Which she was happy to do!

Afterwards I immediately put Taravali on a leash and worked on auto leave it with the mushrooms and she took to that very well.

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Taravali figured out how to jump our 32” fences the day before Fourth of July 🫠

She wasn’t even doing it because of the fireworks. She saw Mandana and wanted to play. I knew this day was coming but she’s just shy of 7 months old and noise sensitive so the timing is AWFUL.

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Just started teaching Taravali how to open her mouth for meds (empty pill buddy treats). So far I’ve just had her watch Mandana & copy her but as time goes on I’ll work it into something more concrete.

Can’t get over her funny sound effects 😂