Raising and training an elite Service Dog takes a lot of time and energy. Because it is a long and slow process sometimes we can lose perspective and no longer see the forest for the trees. So it is very important that we have specific breakdowns of their skill sets and where they are in the training process. This means we can see where they are in the grand scheme of things and how they are doing at specific tasks in each of our 3 categories of metrics. That way we can put more effort into weaker areas so they can improve or realize that they are ready to move on to advance training and not waste time continuing training that they no longer require. An assessment of all 3 metrics should be done on a regular basis to improve and monitor training.
1. House training
When people hear house training they immediately think of getting rid of indoor eliminations. While this is definitely part of it house training involves so much more. For us house training is the most important part of what a Service Dog will be. While people get excited about how a dog performs in public and all the amazing things that working dog can do house training has to be the top priority and can be the area that allows a dog to move on to advanced training or be released as not suitable for the job. This is because while helping them in public or picking up lost items is important it is how the dog behaves it the home that is most important to the quality of life for our recipient. They are searching for help because they cannot function on their own. The last thing they need is to worry about their service dog chewing on the couch, barking at everything that walks by the window, or jumping on doors and people. Our job is to make their lives easier not more difficult.
2. Socialization
Next on our list of priorities is how the dog behaves and performs in public. A Service Dog must be unflappable in public; calm, cool, and collected in any and all situation and environments. The dog cannot get too excited by new stimuli, become uncomfortable, and unable to perform its duties. While housetraining is the top priority, socialization is a close second and it is the part of training that takes the most time, patience, and skill by far. There are a wide variety of styles of training to accomplish socialization such as flooding, forcing the dog against its will into different environments or stimuli until they stop reacting with fear or excitement. While this has a long history of use we approach socialization with a different methodology. We use what we call thresholds, the distance from a new environment or stimuli at which the dog is comfortable. So as we approach a grocery store we are intently watching the dog’s body language. If they seem uncomfortable we move away until they are comfortable and then try again. If this does not work we abort for that day and try again some other time. While this may take more time, there will never be any bad associations with any environment so the dog is at the top of their game anywhere and everywhere, ready to help their person. In socialization we grade each dog in the multitude of environments that they may come across such as woods, a variety of stores, schools, restaurants, cities, towns, farms and so much more. Consistently testing them in all of these areas can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses allowing us to customize their training. Because socialization takes the longest time it be easy to miss an issue. So consist assessments can help keep the socialization training on track.
3. Cues
Lastly is the variety of tasks that a Service Dog is capable of performing for their person. This is the area that everyone enjoys because it shows seemingly immediate results and is fun to work on. That being said approaching this training with too much excitement and a lack of patience and self-restraint can lead to long lasting issues that can hold a dog back from advanced training for months. If a trainer of foster jumps ahead of the carefully planned training schedule the dogs abilities can be compromised forcing the dog to “go back to kindergarten”. Each task is trained as a building block for other more complex tasks. Keeping track of each dog’s abilities on each task allows us to know when the dog is ready to move on to a new task or needs remedial work on a task that they are struggling with.
Honesty and transparency are absolutely essential with all 3 metrics. Whether you are a trainer, a foster, or even an administrator, anyone can grow attached and want to show off how well a pup is doing or hide short comings. Everyone needs to put their emotions aside and bring any and all strengths and weaknesses to the Head Trainer immediately so that the training system can be changed to give the dog the best shot at graduating and changing a life. Being able to grade and modify any and all things involved in all 3 metrics allows us to have a consistent understanding of how best to train our dogs and place them with a person in need.