Gear
however, it does help
identify your SD as a working dog. If you are going to use gear as a working
trigger do not allow your SD or SDIT (service dog in training) to interact with
other people or dogs while wearing his gear. Sometimes this is difficult when
in public because everyone wants to pet a pretty dog but it is your choice.
While Bello is training I do not allow people to pet him. If you're going
to let your SD greet someone, such as when he is a puppy and doing some
socialization, then remove any working gear first. When Bello is socializing or
playing with other dogs on our outings I remove his vest. The goal is that
later in life, wearing his gear will become a cue to Bello that he is working.
However, not everyone can afford gear and there is no law stating a SD must
wear gear.
Behaviors
That Are Never Acceptable
There
are several bad habits that I have a zero tolerance policy for and also are not
allowed by SD. I means I have to watch Bello closely and prevent Bello from
doing or thinking about doing them before he actually does do them. This means
I have to learn Bello's behaviors a body language read him, and keeping a close
watch on him. These bad habits include: toileting indoors, jumping up on
people, letting his mouth touch human skin, barking/whining or other
vocalizations while working, sniffing people or merchandise, stealing
merchandise, chewing non-chew toys, and eating food from the floor. I am glad
to report that at this point in his SD training he has not exhibited any of the
above mentioned behaviors while working.
Task
Training
Task
training is the part of SD training that defines what a service dog is. Without
training to do something that mitigate my need for a SD Bello would not be a
SD. A task is an individual behavior that the handler can cue with a command
(verbal or hand signal). AA signal is a trained behavior or skill that is cued
by some event (such as the phone ringing or a smoke alarm going off) or by some
unconscious behavior of the handler (such as skin picking or the very early
stages of a panic attack).
"Work
is more difficult to define clearly. It is a class of related behaviors. The
classic example is guiding. Guiding is not a task because it is not one
behavior. The dog is trained to do a group of related behaviors and the dog
must execute those behaviors on an "as needed" bases rather than
under direct supervision. For example, a guide dog is responsible for
identifying obstacles, but on the ground and elevated, for being aware of the
width of the team as opposed to his own width, for finding things (curbs,
seats, restrooms, exits, doors, elevators), for choosing a path around an
obstacle and for yielding the right-of-way to a person with a long cane. With
the exception of finding things, all the rest comes from a single command to
proceed forward." Paws4people.org
Be
careful not to task shop, this happens often when people look at a list of
possible tasks and pick and chooses the ones they think would be useful. By
doing this you run the risk of choosing tasks that don't actually mitigate your
need. These tasks would be considered bonus tasks such as a person with a
psychological disorder teaching their SD to turn off light switches. While this
tasks does nothing to mitigate their needs it is a nice thing to be able to ask
their SD to turn the lights off.
According
to the ADA (Americans Disability Act) a task is:
1.
An intentionally trained behavior, not a natural behavior of dogs in general. Choosing a dog that is not naturally
affectionate so that you can train it to act affectionate is a very obvious
ploy to try to get around real task training and does not qualify a dog as a
service dog.
2. Something that the
handler cannot do for themselves because of their disability and that mitigates
their disability. For example, if you are able to pick up items off the floor
yourself, then retrieving dropped objects is not a legal task for you because your
disability doesn't prevent you from doing it for yourself. However, if you’re
SD is trained to pick up things for you when you are having a panic attack and
bring them to you to help prevent or stop a panic attack then this would be a
trained skill/behavior that qualifies for your SD to mitigate your disability. As you can see in the
pictures Bello is learning to pick up and retrieve things on command and place
them in particular locations. Bello
is also learning to turn the lights off. This skill is a bonus skill for us,
which Bello will have many services skills as well as bonus skills just because
he likes to learn and I enjoy the teaching, bonding and interaction involved
with him learning as many skills/behaviors as possible!
Choose
appropriate tasks for your specific needs by starting with a list of all of the
things you cannot do because of your disability. An agoraphobic or person with
an anxiety disorder may need their SD just to help them go into public and not
have panic attacks, a blind person may need their assistance to maneuver in
public, a diabetic may need their SD to alert when body chemistry changes, etc.
etc. There are many reasons why people have SD and many disabilities are not
visible. The public should remember this.
By prioritizing the list of tasks that
Bello needs to learn to help me we will be able to organize and accomplish his
training. Working out how to teach Bello to do those helpful behaviors is
a unique process because what works for him may not work for others. Right now
teaching Bello to alert to sugar drop or panic attacks is to give treats as the incident begins, so the dog will
gradually learn to come for treats when he senses an incident beginning. The
theory is that Bello will learn to be more attuned to any departure from my
normal and will eventually react before I realize it beginning myself. For
example if want Bello to react to increase in my breathing rate can mimic the
symptoms well enough to train Bello using symptoms, then once the skill has
been learned, I use treats to encourage Bello to react the same way to the real
thing. 2006-2014 Service Dog Central
So
the training continues.....
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