Today service dogs are so popular, and a lot of people that are relatively competent dog trainers think that service dog training is just another venue.
That is so not the case. In service dog training, it is really important that the trainer has some familiarity with disability, and hopefully, the specific disability a person is training the dog for.
In my classes, while training the dog, and tasks and exercises are important, I also teach a lot of different things about how to be with a service dog in public places, such as heading for the back or side of the restaurant, whenever possible, and tucking the dog up against the wall, instead of in the way or where people are walking by.
Ultimately, if you are a really smooth service dog handler/dog team, people barely notice that a dog is even with you. I am always complimented when I am leaving a restaurant, or any public place, and people say "I didn't even realize you had a dog with you."
There are so many "situations" it is necessary to train for, such as your dog understanding that medical professionals may need to mess around with you, and they need to back off at these times, and not try to get in the middle of things.
Like getting on a city bus with a SD, especially if you use a wheelchair. Like how to handle the dog when you go through a buffet line in a restaurant. Like just dealing with people who approach you and ask if they can pet your dog, or don't, and just barge in and put their hands on the dog. Even elevator and escalator behaviors.
It really annoys me when people that are dog trainers tell clients that they will take them on as an experiment or experience to learn about service dog training. Disability is an entirely different world to live in, and without some idea about that world, a person just doesn't have a clue about what traveling through the world from the perspective of disability means.
Am I ranting, I guess so.
When people are self-training service dogs, and some well-meaning dog trainer assures them that they can train a service dog, even though they have no experience, I feel very protective and defensive of our community. I heard recently about a person who is going to classes with her dog that she wants to be a service dog, and the trainer is making fun of her about stuff that are actually symptoms of her disability she can do nothing about.
I really appreciated it when my agility teacher, as I was struggling with front and rear crosses, the footwork, and the body movements, said, Myra, since back surgery, you have a different body, and just because you knew how to do this before, the body that you have now, may not remember. Let's slow down and work out some footwork you can actually do, instead of thinking you have to do it like everybody else does. I had gone to a seminar, and the teacher there looked at me trying to do these moves, and said, Myra, your body doesn't rotate. When people are doing these moves, their shoulders lead, and then their hips follow, you don't turn that way. (Well, my back is fused). I had been so frustrated for weeks trying to do these fancy turns and steps everybody was doing with ease. I felt totally retarded. Well, it turns out the way they were doing it didn't work for me, because my body doesn't do that.
These people have been so patient with me wheeling my wheelchair up to the agility ring, getting up, staggering around, sometimes falling down. Last summer after knee surgery, before I broke my foot, I couldn't really walk, and still, they were totally supportive about me getting out there and figuring out how to be able to get my dog in the right place. They are developing a type of training where I use exaggerated arm movements to signal my dog, where other people are using their bodies. And you know what, now, a year later, I am starting to be much less uncoordinated.
I had looked at agility training as physical therapy. Right after I got my foot out of the cast, after two months, my ankle had forgot how to bend, and was very upset about the idea. I was out there, in agility class, limping slowly around. The teacher said, Myra, that looks so extremely painful. I said, don't watch. It is extremely painful, but I can be having pain sitting around my house doing nothing, or, I can be having pain out here doing agility. And I have the idea that the exercise and movement will help me to recover quicker.
So while a particular trainer may have a lot of experience in one area, and be able to adapt what they are teaching to a person's limitations around their disability, if one is lucky enough to find a patient trainer who will, it doesn't mean that the trainer can spontaneously make the leap to know what it takes to train a service dog. And I feel that trainers who think that they can are doing a major disservice to people who are trying to train a dog to be a service dog.
Just my opinion. I can be wrong, like anybody else. I can get off-course, like anybody else. But I think it is important to be aware of your trainer's background and area of expertise, and not assume that just because they are an experienced and good trainer, that they necessarily can understand the perspective of what it takes to train a service dog.
Topic: Training your own SD (Read 5459 times)