Training Videos
We had a training session with a couple of our volunteers. Kim worked with Vaughn, Melanie worked with Artie, Carolee worked with Woody and Lucy (not on video). Some of the things we practiced included: let's go (heel), pacing (walking next to the handler), leave it (pay no attention to the hot dog thrown on the ground), and down.
Woody - Intro
We got Woody from the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast. He had been there a year due to high energy and mouthiness. We gave him a week to integrate into our pack of dogs and learn our rules and expectations. Before we started his training evaluation, we allowed Woody some time to run around the yard with the other dogs to burn off his excess energy.
Woody - 1 Walking on Leash
Woody does a good job paying attention to Andrew in the beginning, but begins to get distracted and starts to pull. Andrew stops him (“hold” is Andrew’s command for stop/stay/wait), and praises him.
Woody - 2 Walking Sit Stay Here
Woody is a bit more hesitant while walking, but Andrew encourages him with his voice and the treats. He uses “hold” again to signal stopping and when he drops the treat in the grass he tells Woody to “get it”. This is a service dog command that will be expanded upon later in his training. The volunteers at the shelter taught him “sit”, so he did that well. Since this is an evaluation, Andrew is trying many commands - during a training session, we would only focus on one or two. Woody does very well on his first “stay” command; he anticipates the treats on the second, so Andrew makes it a “here” (come) command; on the third try, Woody doesn’t understand the “here” command, so Andrew again encourages him.
Woody - 3 Mouthing
Since we know that mouthing was an issue with him in the shelter, and we had been working on that all week, Andrew tests him with some turkey hotdog rubbed on his arm. Woody does great! We are very excited about Woody’s future as a service dog.
Nazz - 1 Leash Work
Andrew and Nazz have been a team for a couple of years. You can see how attentive Nazz is towards Andrew. A dog’s name is a command that means give me your attention - you can see that Nazz snaps his head Andrew’s way as soon as he says the name. “Let’s go” is our command for heel. Nazz keeps pace with Andrew very well. Normally, Nazz walks on Andrew’s left side, but Andrew had treats in his right pocket - that is why Nazz changes sides when “off leash”. “Hold” is Andrew’s word for stop/wait/stay.
Nazz - 2 Focus Hold Here
“Focus” means look into my eyes. It allows the handler to recenter the dog. Nazz does not do very well with his “hold” command. We filmed an explanation about that - see Nazz - 4 Intelligent Disobedience.
Nazz - 3 Brace Get My Six
During the “brace” command, the dog locks their joints and presses into the pressure applied to them. Andrew is 280 pounds, yet Nazz is able to help him get up off of the ground. “Get My Six” creates a block between the handler and a source of stress. This is used in check-out lines when people are crowding from behind. Nazz usually does this intuitively, without the command. Technically, the source of stress was coming from in front of Andrew (the camera), hence Nazz is resistant to block from behind. (See Nazz - 4 Intelligent Disobedience)
Nazz - 4 Intelligent Disobedience
We thought it was important to explain why Nazz was not “perfect” for several commands. Nazz was doing “intelligent disobedience”. In general, dogs want humans to be balanced (relaxed, happy, healthy). When the human has high levels of anxiety, anger, etc, a service dog will address that before completing an individual command. Nazz recognized that Andrew was extremely uncomfortable and decided to do his PTSD tasking (touch, sharing calm energy, distraction) instead of the hold/stay command. This shows the trust and the depth of the bond between handler and service dog.