Fading Prompts and lures in training

Whole Dog  Journal unearthed this from their archives this morning. https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/7_5/features/Dog-Training-Tips_5629-1.html?s=FB&medium=soc_082117A
This article includes self assessment  to see which lures/ prompts you and your dog are stuck on and how to fade out needing them.

All work and No Play- Work Life Balance in Teams

Members of the public often have the idea that service dogs never get to "just be dogs". This assumption couldn't be farther from the truth, especially if a team plans to function for many years to come.The balance between working together and playing together is one that begins to be established as soon as you and your SD (or potential SD when owner training) enter into each others' lives beginning with the definition of play  for each.

 Common Dog Definitions of Play

1. Play is mutual. I want to play with you!
2. Favorite dog games include Tag, Chase, Keep Away, Sharable toys, Hide and Seek.
3. Play is enjoyable for both of us, if you are not having fun it lessens my fun.

Common Human Definitions of Play

1. Playing with your dog means toys and other dogs.
2. Play is fetch and tug.

The real definition of play of course is any activity that gets both you and your SD smiling, laughing, enjoying each others company, and leaves you both feeling recharged and connected. Teams that play together everyday strengthen their bond, lessen the effects of a stressful world, maintain training, gain insights into each others personalities, improve team members health both physically and mentally. I seem to get partnered with dogs whose sense of play requires me to "lighten up" and be able to take a well timed joke. --Yes, dogs can be practical jokers, especially those clever enough to be service dogs.-- Both Bastien and Shilo's sense of humor spanned the spectrum from out right goofiness to well time jokes including hiding right behind me, to the ever popular squeal inducing goose and sneak slurp.

Learn More About the Importance of Play for People and Dogs

1. Play and kids- http://udel.edu/~roberta/play/
2. Play, Creativity, and Lifelong Learning: WHY PLAY MATTERS FOR BOTH KIDS AND ADULTS-http://www.helpguide.org/life/creative_play_fun_games.htm 
3. Autism and Play (Book) http://books.google.com/books?id=ujE6lxdMG5IC&printsec=frontcover&dq=play+autism&source=bll&ots=574regUp8o&sig=V45TmR1psFmAAHoMHOcEpiZ3bp0&hl=en&ei=QO69TLl8kPazA_LmoMQM&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=15&sqi=2&ved=0CG4Q6AEwDg#v=onepage&q&f=false 
4. Dog Play & Exercise: Tips on what type of exercise/ play and how much is appropriate-http://hssv.convio.net/site/DocServer/dog_playandexercise.pdf?docID=1117 
5. Play with your Dog by Pat Miller http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=dtb1011 
6. Play Together - Soft Cover Book-HAPPY AND HEALTHY PLAY BETWEEN PEOPLE AND DOGS: Play is fun and frolicsome, but it is powerful stuff! Learn how to use it to enhance your relationship with your dog. http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/play-together-stay-together

7. Dog Games You Can Play if You are Physically Impaired-http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/16_6/features/dog-games-physically-impared_20758-1.html

    

May: Better Speech and Hearing Month; Hearing Dogs Lend an Ear

Hearing dogs alert people who are Deaf or severely hearing impaired to sounds in their environment that the human partners needs to know about for safety and to better function in the world. Hearing dogs can be trained to alert to everything from doorbells, alarm clocks, babies crying, home appliance noises, someone calling the handlers name,  and more. Hearing dogs unique in the service dog world as they are often both rescued/shelter dogs and small dog breeds. Historically Hearing dogs rearly worked outside the home, so issues that might have prevent a rescued dog from becoming a service dog weren't as big a concern. Today, you will still find that hearing dogs are still on the smaller side many hearing dogs are specifically breed for the work with known histories and temperaments that can handle a public life.

Standards for Hearing Dogs

Training Standards for Hearing Dogs

What Can Hearing Dogs do for their Owners?

Hearing Dogs Task List (Scroll half way down the page)

Programs Training Hearing Dogs

Dogs for the Deaf- Oregon Based places Nationwide

 The Hearing Dog Program- California based appears to place in western U.S.

Canine Companions for Independence- several regional facilities places Nationwide 

Golden Ears- Tandem Training Program Washington based (What is Tandem Training?)

Resources on Training Hearing Dogs

Book: Lend Me an Ear

Summary: An exciting book on a fascinating subject! Includes Hearing Dog Basics, Behind the Hearing Dog Temperament, Testing Potential Hearing Dogs, and Training Basics. More about Martha Hoffman the author.

When puppies have other plans - Spot Magazine

Sometimes despite the best breeding, all the testing it the world, all the resources, and a loving dedicate raiser some puppies just aren't cut out to be service dogs. Spot Magazine featured the story of Lowell, a Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy who didn't make the cut in "When Puppies Have other Plans"

Whole Dog Jounal- Dog Care When You're Down

The latest article from  the Whole Dog Journal, Dog Care When You're Down, gives its readers a glimpse into living with dogs when a person is sick, injure or recovering from some sort of medical procedure. As the population ages and people must figure out how to care for their furry companions with less physical capacity I am sure we will see more of these articles. Don't miss my article,

Dealing with Low Energy,Illness, or High Pain Days, which deals with setting up supports and plans for those of us living with chronic issues to ensure our dogs are well cared for.

New Mobility: Travel Matters: Traveling with a Service Dog to Hawaii

New Mobility Travel Matters: Traveling with a Service Dog to Hawaii 
I’m a wheelchair user and have a service dog. I’m planning a two-week vacation in Hawaii. I understand Hawaii has mandatory quarantine period for dogs and cats flying in from the mainland. I’ve heard that this is waived for service dogs, but they must enter through Honolulu. I have a direct flight to Kona. Do I need to re-book my flight through Honolulu? And what kind of paperwork do I need to bring? Read Response

New Mobility Magazine:Service Dogs: Making the Grade

Making the Grade
Many people don’t realize that not all dogs have the calm attentive temperament it takes to become a service dog. “If the dog doesn’t have the basic personality and hardwiring, it just won’t work,” says Jeanine Konopelski, director of marketing for Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, Calif.  “To increase our success rate here at CCI we have our own breeding program of golden and Labrador retrievers.”

Even with CCI’s selective breeding and training, only about 35 to 40 percent of their dogs graduate to become full-fledged service dogs. Dogs “wash out” for a variety of reasons, including “typical dog behavior” — like being distracted by cats or birds, or whining or barking in public. “I have a dog that was released from the program even though his obedience is perfect,” Konopelski says. “He picks stuff up for me, he grabs the paper for me, but he barks out in public and that is unacceptable.”  Read More

New Service Dog Partnership Memoir: A Dog Named Slugger

I ran across a press release for this book today. I can wait to read it and add it to my dogbrary (otherwise know as my dog book library)!

Excerpt

I followed Vicki, mine and Slugger’s teacher, into the building’s cool basement. Several dozen folks awaited us there. A woman in a plaid skirt and crisp white blouse ushered us warmly to the front of the room.
She addressed her colleagues, “Okay, everyone, we’d like to get started. We’re honored to have with us Vickie Polk and Leigh Brill from Caring Canine Companions of Virginia. They’re going to be telling us a little bit about their lovely dogs.” She turned and smiled at the Labradors who were now lying quietly in heel position. “How beautiful! And so calm, too!”
Sensing appreciation in the woman’s tone, Slugger flicked his tail twice. “Well you’re welcome, gorgeous!” His admirer cooed. Laughter rippled through the audience as she settled into to an empty folding chair.
Now Vickie stood. “Thank you all for inviting us. I’m a trainer with Caring Canine Companions. This is Zack, my newest student.”
She gestured to the black Lab. Then she pointed toward me. “That’s Leigh and her new service dog, Slugger. They’ve joined us today, so Leigh can see what it’s like to be on this side of a presentation. The two of them have been working really hard finishing up their team training, and I’m happy to say they’re turning into an impressive pair. Slugger does a great job helping Leigh deal with the challenges of her cerebral palsy.”
Vickie paused and beamed at me, but I was suddenly besieged by a wave of panic. Oh God, the voice in my head shrieked, I can’t believe she just told a room full of strangers I have CP! Now I was afraid to look at the audience, afraid I’d find their faces pinched by morbid curiosity. I’d encountered such expressions all my life.
Buy A Dog Named Slugger (Note:I get no support from the sale of this book, but service dog programs do!)

Book Review: Modern Dog Magazine-Food Allergies 101

Modern Dog Magazine has a great article this month of food allergies in dogs... what causes allergies, preventing allergies, spotting them, and what to do when your dogs is miserable with allergies. My first service dog Bastien was allergic to wheat, something I discovered through trial and error when he was young. Poor thing was itchy, developed hot spots with anything more than just small dog size treat with wheat in it. Read  Food Allergies 101

Book Review: MAKING THE MOVE TO MANAGING YOUR OWN PERSONAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth With Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood

MAKING THE MOVE TO MANAGING YOUR OWN PERSONAL ASSISTANCE SERVICES (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth With Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood
This in-depth 69 page guide covers this ins and outs of personal assistants for youth with disabilities utilizing the stories of youth with disabilities to illustrate topics related to utilizing, hiring, and selecting personal assistants. Pages 10-12 talk about Service Dogs and an option for meeting personal care and assistant needs. The section is clear, honest and bringsup many good points people who are new to dogs often don't realize.

"While it is perfectly okay to have assistance in caring for a service dog, the human partner should take an active and primary role in making sure the dog’s needs are met. For the bonding of a team to take place, the human partner needs to be the most important person in the dog’s life. This means making time to exercise, groom, and even play with the dog. "

"Given the dog’s responsibilities, this means the dog will likely sleep next to you, pick up things with its mouth, and need to be walked regularly. It also means that your clothes and your living space will regularly be covered in dog hair. So, if dog slobber and animal fur are anywhere on your list of pet peeves, you may want to rethink the idea of getting a service dog. "

Source:The National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth, HeiTech Services, Inc., Concepts, Inc., 2010, Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Service (PAS): A Toolkit for Youth With Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood, Washington DC

Book Review:Ability Magazine- Barking Up the Right Tree

This is an beautifully written from the inside of a service dog partnership out. Barking Up the Right Tree discusses many key topics to anyone considering partnering with a service dog including:
1. Am I disabled enough for a service dog?
2. Examples of tasks dogs do and how those tasks mitigate their handler's disability
3. The legal definition of what makes a service dog a (note this will change in 2011, see

News:Changes in the Definition of Service Animal under the ADA)

Book Review: Bridging Differences within the Disability Community: The Assistance Dog Movement

Ed Eames, Co-Founder of the International Association  Assistance Dog Partners wrote Bridging Differences within the Disability Community: The Assistance Dog Movement in 2001. This succinct article provides a history of the service dog movement,culture, and community in the USA. Ever wonder when guide dogs became a reality in the US, How IAADP came to be, or what the estimated number of service dog partners are in the US? This article will answer these questions and more. As the Disability Community celebrates the 20th anniversary of the ADA , it is important to the ADA defined the term service animal on a federal level.

Book Review: Blog Roll Updates

I know Blogs are not books, but I figure those of you interested in the Book  Review tag are looking for things to read and it keeps the tag list for being so huge as to be no longer useful.

Please Welcome to the Blog Roll:
After Gadget- Blog by an owner trainer working to raise Gadget's Successor.I,for one, wish her only good  luck.
Alfie's World- Alfie is a hopeful candidate for Guide Dogs of Texas and a Labradoodle (soooo cute!).Enjoy following his adventures with the family working to raise him in the hope he will someday be a dog guide!
Exceptional Dogs..for Exceptional People- Follow the adventures of Konrad a now six month old Canine Companions for Independence puppy.

The following blogs have been eliminate from the roll for lack of activity to make room for more active blogs that will be of interest and use to you my readers:

• Charlie the North Star Dog Blog- inactive for 8 months
• Dogs with Wings-inactive for 2 months
• Memoirs of a Puppy Raiser-inactive for 6 months
• Tales of a Puppy In Training- inactive for 8 months
• The Canine Behavior Blog- inactive for 5 months

If you are reading own any of these blogs and start blogging again let me know, I would be happy to put you back on the roll.

Autism Awareness Month: Featured Links

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  What Every Caregiver Needs To Know About Service Dogs by Joan Froling

  IAADP has been frequently contacted over the years by parents and spouses seeking a service dog to assist them in watching over a disabled loved one with Alzheimer Disease, Downs Syndrome, Autism, TBI (traumatic brain injury), or some other serious cognitive impairment. They fear for the safety of the mentally disabled person. They want a dog trained to alert them if the cognitively impaired family member attempts to leave the house or the yard.
  I view such requests with sympathy. It is exhausting to be constantly vigilant. I commend the person for leaving no stone unturned in the effort to keep a loved one safe. Then I level with them. As wonderful as service dogs can be, they are not the right kind of assistive technology for every disability and every situation.
  While in theory it is possible to teach a service dog to perform a hearing dog type alert, responding to a bell jingling on a door or back yard gate when it is opened, it is wrong to put a dog in charge of a disabled person's safety. Read More

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  Autism Service Dogs by Service Central.org

Other sensory processing disorders include blindness (vision processing) and deafness (auditory processing). Service dogs can be trained for some people with Autism to help them gain independence, confidence, and the ability to perform activities of daily living that they could not otherwise perform. For the most part these dogs are trained to perform tasks similar to those of service dogs for other sensory processing disabilities. A guide dog for a person who is blind signals the handler when the team approaches an intersection so that the handler knows to stop and check for traffic. An Autism dog might be trained to do the exact same task, except that instead of giving visual information ("I see an intersection"), the dog gives prioritizing information ("I recognize a situation that requires focused processing").Read More from Autism Service Dogs from Service Dog Central

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  Service Dogs for Children with Disabilities. Originally published in Alert, National Service Dog Center® Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 3 1995. Edited for the web and updates. 

•  By My Side- Blog by an adult with Autism partnered with a service dog
• Assistance Dog for Autism- Blog out of Ireland about a young boy with Autism and his Service Dog

 

Book Review: Bark Magazine What Dogs Know and How They know It

Alexandra Horowitz, The Canine Mindseeker

What do dogs know and how do they know it?

By Claudia Kawczynska

We talk with Alexandra Horowitz, assistant professor of psychology at Barnard College, about her new book, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know. This engrossing work is inspired by Horowitz’s experiences with her dog, Pumpernickel, and draws upon her own and others’ research in the field of canine cognition. This book expands our understanding of the nature of dogs and provides a channel to seeing and “smelling” the world from a dog’s point of view.
Bark: Your fascinating new book, Inside of a Dog, begins with a discussion of canine “umwelt.” Can you tell us more about umwelt and how it might affect our understanding of our dogs?
Read More (I'm still reading myself but I wanted to get it up here for you all)

Book Review: Blog Roll Updates

New to the Blog Roll:

• Dog in the Dorm: Life with Holden- Holden, a Susquehanna Service Dog, and his mom are in college. 
  

Leaving the Blog Roll because they are inactive:

• Breton -inactive. Breton has been career changed.
• Life with a Hearing Dog.
•  Life with a service dog
  
•  The Assistance Dog Blog
• www.TheWillaWoman.com 
  
  
  If you own any of these blogs and start blogging again let me know.
  
  
  
  
   

Books: Free Downloadable Intro to Clicker Training Books

Ms. Shirley Chong began training dogs in 1982 and made the cross to clicker training in 1992. She specializes in analyzing dog behavior as well. She offers two books for free download on her website Just Plain Clicker Sense, an introduction to clicker training and some work on common issues; and the Clicker Cookbook, this book teaches all foundation behaviors and takes you through all the steps. The number of steps may surprise new trainers, but take head because slower really is better (and lumping steps will slow you down in the end!).

Book Review: Blog Roll Updates and Additions

New Blogs worth a following on the blog role:

• Memoirs of a Puppy Raiser- I can't say enough how important puppy raisers are. Having raised and trained my first service dog myself I know it is no Sunday walk in the park. This blog is long running, going on three years and even shares the heart break of having to career change or wash out wonderful dogs because they just can't do it for one reason or another. Making the decision to career change and SDIT due to health, physical, or behavior problems is never easy even on seasoned professionals.
• Ours for a Year - Raising A Guide Dog Puppy- this blog has been running for a eight months and will each day we all have our finger crossed Cabana will make it as a guide dog.
  

The following blogs have been eliminate from the roll for lack of activity to make room for more active blogs that will be of interest and use to you my readers:

• Monthly National Legislation Report- inactive for 11 months
• Service Dogs / Animals- inactive for 7 months
• A "Joy"-In-Training- inactive for a month and seem to have been removed completely.
• A Service Dog's Journey- inactive for five weeks

If you are reading this and are the owner of any of the blogs listed above and were just sick or on vacation and would like to have your blog back on the blog roll just leave a comment at the end of this post.

Book Review: This Month's Bark Features a Marathon Running Guide Dog

The May/June 2009 Issue of Bark Magazine features "Two for the Road—Guide dog helps his partner navigate the course" By Brad Crawford. This article shows what a well-matched team can achieve together. Audi, the yellow lab Guide Dog and his human, Kerry Kuck run marathons together. The article is well-written showing both the pros and cons of Kuck's decision to use his guide dog to run. For those wanting to read the rest of the article, you'll have to buy the issue or find a copy at your public library,sorry.
This month's Bark also features tips on teaching the all important "leave it"(which you'll also have to buy the magazine for however the Bark team offers this video on "leave it") and a discussion on whether gender affects a dog's ability to learn.

Book Review: Dogs are from Neptune by Jean Dobbs

Dogs are from Neptune by Jean Donaldson is what I call an oldie but a goody on my shelf of dog books published in 1998. This book offers answers to common situations around aggression and other common behaviors in dogs as posed to the author in letters from readers. The book splits the letters into six categories: Aggression towards strangers, resource guarding, dog-dog aggression, behavior problems, Obedience problems, and fear & anxiety. Jean answers reader in detail providing additional information about dogs with these problems, posing questions for the reader to consider, and clear step-by-step options to addressing the problem at hand. The reader is can read just the letters and solutions that address their particular problem, a section at a time or the whole book cover to cover and come away with an array of knowledge and useful approaches. She even included a letter from a person partnered with a service dog, whose dog had begun breaking stays while she was presenting. I know many people whose service dog's stays break down when they have their back turned or are out of the room. Jean's advice was positive and addressed the fact that something in the environment was mostly likely working against this handler's work to strengthen he dog's stay providing a high value reward to the dog for breaking its stay.
Other problems the book discusses which are often dealt with by service dog teams and dogs in training include: counter surfing, separation anxiety, off leash control, heeling on the street, and pulling on the leash.
I highly recommend this book for is ease of reading and practical approach to common problems. Happy reading!