Daniel is Amazing!

The time has come for Daniel to move on . Daniel has passed his Public Access Test, and is living permanently with his new owner and partner Elliott. Dan and Elliott have spent the last six weeks learning all about each other and waiting for the day they will graduate as a certified service dog team. That time has come.
Please continue to check this blog for updates on this new team.

Summer Time Fun!

Daniel and American Assistance Dogs were invited to put on a demonstration at our local town festival in June. We did a 15 minute demonstration on what things a service dog could do and the process in which they learned to do these things.

We showed how we initially taught the dog to pick up items such as keys. Keys are an especially hard thing to teach along with silverware and other metal objects because most dogs do not like the taste or feel of metal in there mouths.

We also demonstrated how we start teaching nudge and touch with a touch lamp.

After Daniel was over a year of age we started teaching the command BRACE. This is when the dog at a standing position will lock his front and back legs so a person can use the dog to help him return to a standing position if he has fallen.

North Carolina Here We Come

In June Daniel accompanied a group from my church to North Carolina on a mission trip. Since Dan is a service dog he was able to ride on the plane with us. This was a new experience for Daniel and he did show some signs of stress during the 1st and 2nd take off and landing. He was slightly agitated and panting more than usual. During this time I continued to tell him that it was fine and he was being a good boy. It must have worked because by the time to were on the 3rd, 4th and 5th leg of the trip Daniel did not act any different than if he was loading into a car. Down the ramp he went and curled up at my feet and slept till it was time to get off the plane. During this trip which included around 100 kids in North Carolina Dan went from work site to work site. It was evident that he was always anxious to see what we would be doing next or where the bus would stop. He loved all the people and made many friend young and old by the time we were on our way back to Minnesota.

It's Spring

Since I last wrote Daniel has been a very busy dog. We have continued basic training with Dan on his obedience and also skills. This included working in public places such as malls and physicians offices. When we are in places such as doctor or dentist offices it is important that Dan stay in one place and just wait.

Public places like this are also great places for the service dog to learn about elevators. Daniel is learning the skill of pushing the up or down button in this next picture.

After All I Am A Dog

As the title of this little story says, we must always remember that even though service animals are special in so many ways, they are first and foremost in this case a dog.

Last Saturday was Daniels day to take his Canine Good Citizen test. This test is suppose to be just a series of obedience skills that is important for all dogs to have. The dogs are asked to sit, stay, come, walk in a crowd, not get to agitated when left with a total stranger for 3 minutes, let someone else groom them, walk by another dog without any trouble, and greet another person with a dog without causing any trouble. Oh yeah, one last thing! Heel beside you in an area and do a couple of turns..no big deal right? Daniel had no problem with anything except that is HEEL. I have trained Daniel by myself in many places, schools, church, nursing homes to name a few. Dan heels very well without any problems. Now
we are in a school for dogs, someplace he has never been before. Imagine yourself being in a wonderful resturant with smells that drive your senses crazy and being told hold your breath, don't smell. Well, that is what I had to try to convince Daniel to do. Keep his head up and not smell the wonderful smells on that training mat.

Guess who won. I think Daniel picked his head up about once on the first try at heeling and maybe 3 times the second try. Needless to say we did not get our CGC certificate this time.

I would love Daniel to pass this test and I have confidence that he will at a later date.

Especially now that I have signed him up for an advanced obedience class just so he gets the idea that the great places with all the fun smells sometimes mean he still has to focus on me and not the floor. Oh Yeah, it was also pointed out to me that I also was not very professional in the ring , I get very nervous and don't remember things I am suppose to do, so between the two of us Daniel and I have some learning to do.

After the end of this day Daniel decided to take a nap with his house sister Billy our Jack Russell Terrior. Lets take a hint from these two, after a long day unwind with a good rest in the bay windown.

Till Later

Daniel turns 1 year old

It has been 3 months now since I last wrote. Daniel has grown up in more ways than one.
At the last vet check Dan weighed 60 pounds and was healthy and all was well.
We did go through a slow training stage where he just had no interest in listening to me. At this time I decided it was best to just let Dan be Dan and I stopped all skill training and just concentrated on his behavior in public and of course at home.
After about 8 weeks Dan was ready to learn again. I was surprised how fast he learned.
In a very short time he learned to open and shut drawers and cabinet doors. This was accomplished with ties to the doors and drawers and the instructions to pull or nudge. He loves nudging so much that it is not unusual for him to not allow you to open the door before he has his nose up against and shoving it shut.
Dan and my family have been spending a lot of time at theatrical productions in the last month. We took him to Blue Man Group last week and as I expected neither the noise or commotion gave him any concern.
We also spent time at the state girls basketball tournament. I think Dan liked looking at the jumbo tram. He made the telecast at least twice.
I am starting to work on having Dan really watch what I am doing. At times he really loves the attention that he gets when we are in public. Then there are other times when he only has eyes for me and does not care for the attention. Soon it will be time to politely tell people that Dan is in training and he cannot receive attention from anyone but me at this point. This is not a favorite time in the training for me but it is a necessary part of the training.
Dan has also started having to do skills in public. In the past Dan has basically only been asked to just behave in public but now he has started some skills in public. In the pictures he is handling this very well. This is a slow process and Dan is only asked to do a few things at each outing and if he refuses we go back to retrieving which he will do readily so we end on a good note.
Till next time...Happy Spring from Daniel and Deb

MERRY CHRISTMAS!