.Being.Us

First of all, let me introduce you to Coco . She's my 1-and-a-half-year-old service dog in training, and she's the light of my life     Even at her current level of training, she's made a huge difference in my life. It's possible for me to go outside now, or even to run to the nearby store for 1-2 items. I know when my asthma is acting up in time to properly medicate and avoid hospitalizations. She stops me from hurting myself by actively interrupting those behaviors and providing alternative stimulation. She helps with so many little things every day. Still, she's not fully-trained. Her biggest barriers are jumping on people who enter our home, her prey drive on walks, and chewing. She's also having trouble mastering retrieval. To be fair, the jumping and chewing are completely resolved when she's getting enough exercise, but, running at my maximum possible level doesn't give her what she needs in that department. Recently, I resolved to become ...

I've been trying to train retrieval with my service dog in training since I got her, but she's seemed to have a block about retrieval  commands specifically. She learned around 2 dozen other things during the months she was stuck on retrieval. Last night, though, we had our first really successful training session with it. I think part of the success came from us being more bonded than when we first started training, but I thought I'd share the steps that worked in training, too, in case they help anyone else:   Step 1: Put dog food/treats in a breathable cloth bag. Have Coco go get it only on command. I used “get it” at first, which she knew from playing, and then I transitioned to “get bag”. At this stage, she was chewing on the bag, trying to get the treats out, but I would still praise her for getting it when I asked. Step 2: Repeat step 1 but ask her to “bring it” once she has it. Gently pull her and the bag towards me and reward/praise when she arriv...