Leaving It

A while back, Isaac slurped up some shredded cheese on the floor at Chipotle, which earned him a remedial course in Leave It. Since then he's done just fine with leaving things, but today was like the ultimate test. We were at Chipotle and someone had dropped their burrito bowl on the floor and no one had cleaned it up. We had to walk right by the pile of rice, cheese and meat. It was in the aisle between tables and walking right by it meant almost stepping over it, there was so little space. Isaac barely even glanced at it. I feel like he nailed the final exam in the Leave It class.

That's a Well-Trained Dog!

I had to go to the ER today for a cut that I thought needed stitches (ended up with just steri-strips instead). Isaac was lying on the floor beside the gurney when the doctor came in.

The ER doctor said hello to Isaac and held out his hand for Isaac to sniff him. Isaac just looked at him.

The doctor said "Are you shy?" and of course Isaac did not respond.

So then the doctor said to me "Is he a little leery of strangers?"

I said "No, he's just not supposed to say hi unless I tell him he can." And then I told Isaac "You can say hi" and Isaac jumped up, tail wagging, and sniffed the doctor good.

The doctor was like "Oh, that's a well-trained dog!"

I'm like, well, yeah, he's a service dog. It always makes me wonder what kind of service dogs they are used to seeing.

Someone Will Be Getting Some Remedial Training on "Drop It"

Isaac was a real butt at the dog park today. He embarrassed me. There were a couple other dogs, including his friend Josie, playing fetch at the lake. They were nice enough to share their balls with Isaac. Only Isaac would fetch the ball and then refuse to give it to a person to throw it again. He wanted to play tug with the ball, which does not work very well. He knows the commands "give" and "drop it" and simply refused. Usually if I refuse to play tug when he does this, he quickly loses interest or his attention is caught by something else and he drops the toy. But not today. He kept bumping the ball against my legs and hips, trying to get my attention.

As if that was not bad enough, one of the dogs had this fabric toy that floats that you can fetch and Isaac talked his friend Quinn into playing tug with that. Well, you can guess what happened. It started to rip. Quinn's dad told him to drop it and he did. But not my dog. Instead, he kept shaking it in Quinn's face, trying to get him to tug some more. And then he put the toy on the ground, stood on it, and pulled on one end with his teeth, ripping it good.

I apologized and asked the owner of the toy if I could replace it for him. He said that was OK but I don't feel OK about it. I came home and found it on Amazon and ordered one, along with some balls to take to the lake with us. The toy Isaac ripped belongs to a black lab named Iris and we see her at the dog park almost every morning, so we will give her the toy when we see her again.

Things like this are why I do not tell most people at the dog park that my dog is a service dog.

Heavy Metal

On our recent camping trip, while touring several caves, Isaac and I encountered something I never expected - metal grates.

Remember several months ago, when Isaac and I were hiking on a bike trail and came to a bridge over a creek that was a metal grate? Isaac refused to walk over it. Refused. We had to turn back.

Now, I figured how often in life to you have to walk over metal grates? But I decided to work on it with him anyway. I mostly just wanted him to be able to walk on any surface.  I wanted him to learn that there are many different surfaces on which to walk and different is not scary or dangerous.

I had to find another metal grate closer to home, and found a small bridge that was similar, and we practiced walking over it with lots of pepperoni as an incentive/reward. Then we walked on every metal surface I could find, with lots of high value rewards.

Fast forward to the first cave. We were maybe 15 minutes into the hour-long tour and we came to some steps. They were made from metal grates!

Now, Isaac and I had practiced walking on metal grates, but we'd never done any steps made of metal grates. Isaac hesitated, and I was afraid I was going to have to tell the tour guide I could not continue because my dog refused to go down those steps. I hadn't even thought to bring any treats with me.

Isaac hesitated, looked uncertain, then went down the steps with me.

Man oh man was I happy I'd spent so much time walking on metal with him!

And in the next cave? There was a bridge that was a metal grate that was much longer than the one we'd practiced on, that stretched over some sort of almost-bottomless pit. And Isaac walked across that like it was nothing. No hesitation. Didn't even have to think about it.

The final cave was the Lost River Cave, with the boat.  The boat dock was a metal grate.  Isaac walked across it and got into a boat, the first time he'd ever been in a boat, with no problem.

He's Not Allowed to Sniff?

Several weeks ago, I took a friend to this church-run thrift shop to get some things for her son.  The shop was small, crowded, and slightly musty-smelling.  Isaac loved it.  He found it full of enticing aromas and was unable to resist sniffing a bit.

This was after I lost his prong collar and before I replaced it, so I was having some trouble correcting him and preventing the sniffing.

Oh, and they had a cat.  A fat tabby cat, in the store.  Isaac was very excited to see that.  The cat, less so.

Anyway, at one point I said something to Isaac about knocking off the sniffing because he knows better and the church lady running the shop looked surprised and said, "He's not allowed to sniff?"

I told her that he is allowed to sniff when he's not working, and that he gets plenty of off duty sniffing time, but that he's not supposed to be sniffing things in a store.

She seemed really surprised and maybe slightly disapproving.  I don't know if she thought it was unreasonable to expect a dog not to sniff or didn't know it was possible to train a dog not to sniff or just didn't understand why he shouldn't sniff in a store and had seen other dogs labeled service dogs that sniffed or what.

More Metal

Today Isaac and I were walking around a small town near where we live and there were some trees on the sidewalk with metal grates around them. Sort of like the bridge he was scared to cross before. Remember?

He was happy to walk on this metal grate, though, to sniff the tree. He was less happy when I asked him to sit on it while I took a picture, because he wanted to go sniff other things. But he wasn't scared of it.

Apparently the scary thing about the bridge was seeing the open space under it. I was glad to have a small training opportunity, though. I try to take those opportunities whenever I can.

Leaving It

A few months ago, Isaac and I did a lot of work on his leave it because two times he's tried to eat food on the floor in a restaurant. Since then we've seen food on the floor in a restaurant and he ignored it nicely.

Well, today I dropped a bottle of medication on the floor and asked Isaac to pick it up for me. When he started to pick it up, the top popped off (I have to get the non-childproof tops because with my arthritis, I can't open the safety caps). About a million pills spilled out all over the floor and I instantly said "Leave it! Leave it!" and Isaac instantly dropped the bottle and sat down and looked at me to see what I wanted him to do.

I will add that I only ask Isaac to pick up medication bottles if I am sitting right there. When he brings me meds, those are in their bottles inside another contain, a bag that he cannot open, so there is no risk of him getting the pills. But he will pick up pill bottles if I drop them and ask him to.

Just another example of why a SD needs a really good leave it. Isaac got a nice treat and an ear rub and I picked up the pills.

He'll Cross That Bridge When He comes to It

A while back, probably a couple months ago, Isaac and I were walking on this bike path and came to a bridge. It wasn't a real long bridge, but it was metal and kind of like a grate. There were small holes in the metal and you could see the creek below. Isaac has walked on metal surfaces before but for some reason, he balked at this bridge. Refused to cross it. I had treats in my pocket but nothing high value and he did not want them badly enough to put one foot on the bridge. We ended up turning around and walking the other way.

This bike path is not close to my home. We were just there because I had an appointment in the area and had a little extra time. But I decided I wanted to try to find a similar surface to work with him on. We do not need to cross metal grate bridges often (or ever) but I want Isaac to be able to walk on all sorts of surfaces and to trust me if I tell him a surface is Ok even if it's one he's never ever seen before.

I found a place near our home with a similar bridge, though it's just a bit shorter.

So I took a handful of pepperoni and we set out to conquer the scary bridge. My plan for the first training session at the bridge was to give him a slice of pepperoni near the bridge, then put a slice on the bridge but close to the end so he could reach it without putting a foot on the bridge, then to attempt to coax him to put one or both front feet on the bridge in order to reach more pepperoni. I was prepared to make multiple trips to the bridge and intended to gradually over time require him to move further onto the bridge in order to get a high value treat.

Isaac is incredibly food motivated. He was hesitant to put his front feet on the bridge but willing to do it. In fact, he was willing to slowly follow me all the way across the bridge, eating pepperoni out of my hand the entire way!

Once we crossed the bridge, he got to run around and take a swim in a pond before we crossed the bridge again to get back to our car. He was less hesitant that time, although still a bit concerned. I was out of pepperoni (we could have gone around a long way if he'd refused to cross the bridge without the pepperoni) but he was willing to do it for some lower value treats.

Alert vs. Signal vs. Response

I wanted to explain a few commonly-used terms related to service dogs and some of the tasks they might do

Alert - An alert is when a service dog warns you in advance that something is going to happen. The thing hasn't happened yet. For instance, a seizure alert dog might nudge a handler 20 minutes BEFORE a seizure starts. The dog is saying, "Hey, you're gonna have a seizure soon."

People often say their dog alerts to anxiety, but dogs can't really tell you in advance when you are going to get anxious. I get anxious if the power goes out but my dog cannot predict when the power will go out before it happens. What people usually mean when they say their dog alerts to anxiety is that their dog signals them when they are getting anxious or that their dog responds to their anxiety.

Signal - This is when the dog tells you something is already happening. In the even that the power goes out and I begin to get anxious, my dog sees that I AM anxious. If he was trained to nudge me, he would be saying, "Hey, you're anxious now!"

Response - This is when the dog is trained to do something in response to your anxiety (or seizures or whatever). He is actually doing something about it, not just telling you that you're anxious. My dog is trained to bring my medication when he sees that I am anxious. In my case, it wouldn't be helpful for me if he just said, "Hey, you're anxious!" (That might be helpful for someone else, though). What I need him to say is "Hey, you're anxious so take your meds!" And he says that by dropping the meds in my lap.

In short:

Alert - tells you something is going to happen

Signal - tells you something is happening now

Response - does something about whatever is happening

Isaac Meets the Easter Bunny

Last weekend we were at Walmart.  They had someone dressed in an Easter bunny costume and kids could have their pictures taken with the bunny.  Parents just took the pictures with their camera phones.

The bunny was standing at the front of the store, near the registers.  I was in a short but very slow line.  A customer was trying to pay by check and the sales associate was having trouble scanning it in or something.

At one point, there were no kids around the Easter bunny.  So I left my cart in line and walked over (it was maybe 10 feet away) and asked if I could take a picture of my service dog with the Easter bunny.  The Walmart employee (the one in normal clothes) that was assisting the bunny said yes, so I did.

Isaac didn't seem particularly interested in the Easter bunny until we got very close and he realized I wanted him to sit by the bunny.  He was interested in sniffing the bunny's hand but he was a bit uncertain about what that strange-looking creature was.  He did not want to cuddle or kiss the Easter bunny.  He did, however, offer to cuddle and kiss the employee in normal clothing.

I think this was the first time Isaac was around someone in this sort of costume.  He did see people wearing masks and all sorts of really strange displays at the Halloween store.  None of that concerned him at all.  But he wasn't sure what to think of the Easter bunny.

Don't Eat the Steak

A couple months ago, Isaac and I went to Chipotle and Isaac kept trying to eat shredded cheese off the floor. I can't remember if I wrote about that or not.

He and I did a LOT of practice on Leave It after that and we've been back to Chipotle and to other restaurants since then without a problem. Well, tonight we went to Chipotle and there was a bite of steak on the floor near our table. I saw it and I saw Isaac see it. He could not reach it from under the table and he stayed under nicely until near the end of the meal, when he tried to slither a bit closer to the steak on his belly, as if hoping I wouldn't notice. I did notice, though, and reminded him to leave it. 

As we were leaving the restaurant, another customer commented that she was impressed that Isaac hadn't tried to eat that steak on the floor. She said he was so good. I told her he had been eyeing that steak, but he knows he's not supposed to eat food on the floor. I was really happy with how well he did.

Dog on a Log

It might be kind of hard to tell from the picture, but he has all four feet on the log.  He's looking at the lake, which he would like to get in, instead of at me.

There's a reason for having my dog get on a log.  It's a training exercise.  It helps him learn body awareness, including back end awareness.  A friend of mine likes to say that dogs tend to be "front wheel drive."  They need to know where their behind is.  It also helps with balance and core strengthening.

Isaac hops up on lots of logs and tree stumps and rocks, at my direction.  We are working on smaller surface areas, and uneven surface areas, and higher objects, gradually making it more challenging.  Isaac is OK with it because he gets treats for it, although sometimes he'd really rather be sniffing something or playing in a lake.

Here he is on a rock, a while back.  The rock was kind of high and the surface was tilted a bit, so it was a challenge for him.

Recall with a Whistle

I've been wanting to get a video of Isaac coming when I blow the whistle.  Sometimes it is ridiculously hard to get things on video.  Seems like he never does it then way I want him to when I have the camera available. 

Usually he comes running at full tilt.  This time, he came right away but not running.  Of course, when I didn't have the camera ready, then he ran so fast he practically skidded past me.

Still, we worked hard on his recall with the whistle.  So here it is.

I Wish My Dog Would Listen Like That

Yesterday I had to go to my local hospital to get labs drawn.  The way it works there is that you go in the emergency room entrance, register at the same place you'd register to be seen in the ER, then go down the hall to the lab. 

I think the reason you register in the same place you'd register to be seen in the ER is just because it's a really small hospital.  It doesn't make sense for them to have separate registrars in different areas.  I mean, it's a really small hospital.  My high school was bigger than this hospital (and I did not go to a huge high school).

Anyway.  I sat down to register and Isaac was sniffing the chair next to mine with great interest.  So I said, "Isaac.  Quit sniffing that chair and lie down."  And he did.

And the registrar said to me, "I wish my dog would listen like that."

People say that sort of thing to me all the time.  And you know, I am very glad my dog does listen like that.  And I know not all dogs are cut out to be service dogs, many dogs would have a very hard time behaving well and staying calm and following directions in a busy public place.

But all dogs can learn to listen and lie down when you tell them to.  Most people just don't bother to train their dogs very much or very well.

So I said, "Well, it takes training." 

The registrar sighed and said, "I know."

I mean, Isaac wasn't just born listening.  It takes training.  A lot of training, sometimes. 

Recal Level: Master and Recall Level: Fail

A few days ago, Isaac and I were hiking in a local park with a friend.  Isaac was off leash and he really needed to run.  We'd gone on walks the previous two days, but not anywhere he could run off leash.  He was racing around super fast.  You could just see he really, really needed to run.

Then, off in the distance, we saw a couple other hikers, with a dog.  Isaac saw them and started off in their direction.  I got out my whistle, which is what I use to recall him, and blew.  I wasn't very confident he was going to come.  Another dog is about the greatest distraction ever, except maybe food.  Or deer poop to roll in.  Anyway, I thought there was a good chance it was going to take some doing to get him to come back to me, or else maybe I'd have to go get him.

And then Isaac stopped.  He stood still for a second.  And then he turned around and raced back to me at top speed.

Isaac got a whole handful of treats for that.

Recall Level: Master

But then there was today.

It rained all day yesterday.  It was raining this morning, too, but by afternoon, the sun was out.  I knew it would be all muddy but I also knew Isaac really wanted a walk.  I decided to go to a small park with a lake where he could swim, because it is so warm.  60 degrees here, three days before Christmas.

So I let him off the leash.  He ran around, sniffed things, peed on things.  He started getting farther away from me than I liked, as well as closer to the road than I liked.  So I blew the whistle to recall him.

He ignored me.  Kept running.  Got father away.

I blew the whistle again.  He stopped running, sniffed and peed on some stuff, but didn't come to me.

I got close to him.  Pulled the leash out of my pocket.

He looked at me and then loped off in the direction from which I'd come.  At least he was no longer heading toward the road, but still.

I was pissed.

He didn't go too far and then he stopped to sniff and pee some more and then I caught up to him and snapped his leash back on.

I informed him that our walk was over.  Don't come when you're called or even worse, run away, and it is time to go home.

Recall Level: Fail

Isaac's Holiday Gift

Here's what Isaac is getting for the holidays.

It's a training kit to teach dogs to hunt for shed antlers.  I dunno if he'll learn to do it or not.  I hope so.  I think it would be fun.  He really likes finding bones when we go hiking.  Why not antlers?

He is not actually a big fan of antlers for chewing.  Apparently he is one of the few dogs in the world that doesn't like to chew on them.  But he could still hunt for them and enjoy finding them.  Then I can give them to friends that have dogs that actually like to chew on them.

Juice? I'll Get You Juice!

Today I was practicing Get the Juice with Isaac, where he gets me a juice box from the fridge. He is now obsessed with getting me juice. Every time I start to tell him to do something, without listening to see what I am actually going to say, he guesses it will be "Get the juice!" and he runs for the fridge. Then he looks confused about why he doesn't get a treat when he delivers my juice (I only treat when he does it on command).

Isaac at the Halloween Store

I just realized I forgot to post about our trip to the Halloween store!

I took Isaac to the Halloween store so he could experience something new and to practice working in a challenging, distracting environment.  Isaac did great!  I expected he would; if I thought he wasn't ready for something like this, we would not have gone.

When we first arrived, we paused right inside the door so Isaac could get used to the lights and sounds.  Then we slowly approached a display of large decorations.  It was set up so that when you stepped on a certain spot, which was clearly marked, a display item would turn on.  The witch would cackle, the eyes of the monster would light up, whatever.  A friend was with me, so I asked him to step on the spot to turn on the decorations while Isaac and I stood back a bit.  That way we could see what was going to happen without being too close.  That way Isaac was less likely to be startled.

I then allowed Isaac to approach the displays, gently encouraging him but not making too big a deal about it, and offering yummy treats.  Isaac did not seem concerned about the decorations or displays.  He was interested in treats, though!  One easy way to see if a dog is getting too stressed is to offer a treat.  A dog that is stressed out will not want to have a treat.

This three-headed dog or wolf or whatever it was had eyes and mouths that lit up and smoke also came out of the mouths.  Isaac wasn't worried about that at all.  He was happy to take a treat that I held right beside its foot.

This witch cackled and talked.  Isaac was happy to take a treat that I held right beside her hand.  He was very happy that I allowed him to sniff her hand.

New Experiences

Isaac had not one but two new experiences today. He's a pretty seasoned service dog now, so he doesn't get new experiences that often. The last new experience was the Halloween store we did a couple weeks ago (I still need to write about that) and I planned that experience on purpose to give him a new experience.  I think the last before that was a spiral staircase.  No, maybe it was seeing farm animals up close when we went to Nebraska - he got to see chickens and horses up close. I think the spiral staircase was before that.

Anyway. He doesn't have new experiences very often these days. Maybe a walk on a new trail, but not something totally different that what he's used to.

The first new experience today was a glass elevator, which I hate, but he just seemed interested, not worried. He kind of stretched his neck out a little, like he does when he wants to get a good look at something, and just watched out the window.

The second new experience was a revolving door, which he did not like too much, and it took us forever to get through it because we had to inch along because he didn't quite get the concept. But he was willing to give it a try.

I think new experiences are good for him because, well, life is full of strange things. When Isaac gets to experience something new, he gets to practice how to handle new and strange things. We might never go through a revolving door again, certainly it's not something I think is important for him to get good at doing, but I am certain we will run into something new and unexpected again, something Isaac hasn't trained for, something surprising or confusing, and it is important that he is good at coping with those things. That's important for any service dog.

Lovely Down Stay at McDonald's

Isaac did a lovely down stay at McDonald's today.  He did about 90 minutes, easily.

There were a bunch of kids running back and forth and they never even noticed there was a dog under the table.

Remember when Isaac had trouble doing a down stay for more than an hour?  Our work on that really paid off.  Ninety  minutes today, easily.