Train that dog

Tough Assignment

Here's the 6 November, 2007 issue of the Dog Training Blueprint newsletter.

In today's issue....
'Tough Assignment'
by Andrew Chastney www.dogtrainingblueprint.com

Since the last issue I've had a brief exchange with a subscriber whose circumstances are very different from most. Here's part of her initial email to me -

“I have a 4-year-old black labrador retriever, and he is an Assistance Dog. I have Cerebral Palsy and he does things for me that I can't do. The main thing is that, if I fall, he can get the cordless phone for me or pull the emergency cord in the bathroom, which is connected with a security service. I use a wheelchair when I go out, and I have a special leash with a ring in the middle of the leash that allows me to hang it on a hook on my chair so I can have my hands free to do other things. As long as I've got that ring on the hook, he walks quietly beside me.

But the more leash I allow, the more he wants to sniff and somethimes eat what he finds along the way. I give him the "leave it" command, but if he really wants it, he tries to go after it anyway. Then it's a tug-of-war, and sometimes he gets what he's going after despite my best efforts.

Gilmore seems to behave better when I use my cane or my walker, even off-leash. I walk slowly, so I have to remind him to heel and walk slowly. He will walk beside me and come when I call him as long as no one else is around, but when he sees another person, especially if they show an interest in him, he wants to play. As a service dog, he is supposed to be able to go anywhere I go, but taking him to church with me has become too difficult. I give him the down/stay command and 2 minutes later he's up wanting to leave or wanting a treat. These are my two main problems. How do I get him to ignore other people and how do I get him to remain quietly in a down/stay until I give him another command or say “free” without feeding him a treat evey 2 minutes?”

Over the years I've advised hundreds of different people on training their dogs, but this is the first time I've ever had to give advice about an Assistance Dog. To be honest I wasn't sure if I was qualified to and I felt a huge sense of responsibility to make sure any advice I gave was good. There was a lot more at stake than with your average pet dog.

Here's my reply -

“I've thought long and hard about this because without knowing how physically able you are it's difficult for me to be able to offer advice that I know you'll be able to follow. I'll certainly give you some pointers but my gut feeling is that you should go back to whoever it was that trained him for you in the first place and ask their advice (I'm making the assumption that he came to you through an organisation that trains Assistance Dogs).

Getting a dog to ignore people is incredibly hard if - as you say - they pay him attention. You have my complete sympathy on this as my young dog, Zorro, loves attention from other people and if they fuss over him he doesn't want to leave them alone. I ask people to ignore him but still they fuss over him. It makes me so cross!

I suggest you get some sort of lightweight waterproof sign made up that can be attached to your wheelchair in such a way that people you meet while you're outside will instantly and easily be able to read it. Have it say something like "Please completely ignore my dog - even if he comes to you wanting to play or be fussed. He is my Assistance Dog and I need him to concentrate 100% on my needs. Thank you." I'm sure that anybody you meet who reads that will completely understand. Then you will have accomplished the first half of this particular problem. The second half involves him thinking it's more pleasurable to be with you than be going up to boring old strangers who completely ignore him.

So you need to keep him focussed on you by the use of treats when you meet other people. When you see someone approaching just before you get to the point you think he's about to go over to them you need to start giving him treats. See “Different Handling Gives A Different Result” where I talk about the same dog that lunges at me and my dogs when walked by a lady but was distracted by the use of treats when walked by her partner.

So it's a 2 pronged attack - the use of the sign should ensure everyone ignores him, and your use of treats should make him realise it's much better to stick with you than go up to boring people that don't react to him.

As to your second problem of how to keep him in a down position that's pretty straightforward BUT you have to realise it takes time and you won't achieve it overnight. Read “Puppy Basics; Teaching The Sit” for an overview of how I began with Zorro. That's just to give you a few ideas of what might work for you. But the important bit is to take it one small step at a time. If he can happily last 2 minutes the next stage is 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Once he's happy with that extend it by another 10 seconds or so. Then another 15, then another 20 and so on. Gradually over the course of days, weeks and months you can extend that for any length of time that you choose. But you have to do it at a gradual pace he's comfortable with. And you also have to start doing it somewhere there are no distractions.

I suggest you start around the home. Once he'll happily stay for about 10 minutes I would then start getting him to do it in an environment where there might be occasional distractions in the distance. Without knowing where you live it's impossible for me to make suggestions but possibly somewhere like the local park at a time of day when not many people are about? But when you're outside don't expect him to do it for 10 minutes at this stage - just aim for about 2. Now build up both simultaneously. So over the course of the following couple of weeks build up to doing say 20 minutes at home without distractions and maybe 7 or 8 minutes in the 'occasional distant distraction' environment.

Now if you think he's ready for it also try doing it somewhere you'll have more distractions but only expect him to do it a very short while here - 2 minutes or so. And over the following few weeks build up to around 30 - 40 minutes at home without distractions, maybe 15 - 20 minutes in the 'occasional distant distraction' environment and perhaps 5 - 10 minutes in the more distracting environment.

All these figures and timescales are just examples - they're not set in stone. You have to proceed at the right pace for Gilmore which might be faster or it might be slower. You mustn't try and complete any stage until the preceeding stage has been mastered but by the same token don't dwell on any one stage once he's grasped it or you'll just make him bored. You should aim to keep gradually stretching him further and further in a nice steady progression.

You'll obviously realise this means that until he's fully trained and able to do it you can't expect to be able to take him to church. Either you'll have to find an alternative way of attending church or you won't be able to go until he's ready. And when you do get to the point that you think he's ready to hold the down for 30 minutes (or however long it needs to be when you attend church) I strongly recommend you don't actually expect him to do it for the full service. Explain to the minister in advance that he's still in training and you want to get it right. Sit at the back and leave quietly after about 10 minutes. Next time stay a bit longer. And so on and so on until eventually you can stay for the full duration.

All this training might take you 6 months or maybe longer. But unfortunately there's no easy shortcut if you're going to do the job properly. But if you have a good relationship with him and can motivate him to work for you he might sail through all of this a lot quicker. Always always make a big fuss of him when he gets something right - praise every single time he does what you ask him to.

I'll make no bones about it. You have a tough task ahead of you. But it *is* achievable if you'll just break it down into bite sized pieces. Good luck and let me know how you get on....”

She then wrote back saying -

“Hi Andrew,

Thanks for replying. I'm "in between" trainers now. The lady who trained me quit and the new trainer just got married and is moving into the area. It will be the first of the year before she comes, so I'm on my own until then. I think I'm making some progress with Gilmore. We've had a drought all summer, so whenever he had to relieve himself I took him to his assigned area. But now the drought seems to be over. We've had several days of rain and I decided I didn't want to go through the hassle of getting ready to go out, which includes wrestling with a canopy for my wheelchair, and putting on a coat, hat and gloves, and sometimes, a blanket. So the first good rain we had, I took him to the back door of my apartment building's Community Room and turned him out to go in his assigned area. He performed beautifully. He did his business and came running back to me when I called him in. Of course it was 5:30 a.m. and no one was up yet. :)

I put his leash on him during the day when neighbors are around, but early in the morning and late at night I use my walker and practice the off leash training. When I use my walker, I hang the leash loosely over it and keep talking to him to remind him to walk slowly beside me. I'm afraid if I hang onto it and he wants to run, he'll pull me down. Sometimes he must go ahead of me or follow behind me to get through a door and the leash falls to the floor, but when I get through the door I give him the leash command, and he picks it up and gives it to me. Then I tell him to heel and he does. I use a lot of treats during those times. When I go out with him to his area, I take his leash off and allow him to roam within the confines of that area, and he's doing better about ignoring people and even small animals. One morning a cat or squirrel (I couldn't see what it was) passed on the hillside below his area. He stopped and looked, but I gave him the "leave it" command and then told him to come. I had to say "Come" a couple of times, but he finally came in to me. It's almost as if he recognizes and respects the trust I am placing in him by taking his leash off. The last two or three times people have walked past us while he is looking for "the right place" to go, he has totally ignored them. Of course they ignored him, too.

The problem with training him at home for down/stays is that, while I'm busy doing something else to pass the time while I wait for the time to give him the "free" command, he goes to sleep and forgets the commands I gave him. He sleeps a lot when I'm busy on the computer or doing dishes or cooking. Then he thinks I should give him a treat when he wakes up!”

That didn't necessarily seem a bad thing to me so I said -

“I don't think I'd worry about him going to sleep. If you expect him to lie in one spot for 30 minutes or maybe an hour while you're at church I expect it must be pretty boring for him. If he's asleep you know there's no chance of him being distracted and constantly trying to jump up or wander off. It may well be he learns being put in the down position means there's nothing worth staying awake for so in his mind the best way to pass the time is just to curl straight up and get some sleep. I think that might end up being the perfect solution for both of you.”

To which came this reply -

“I wish!!! If he would go to sleep in church, that would be great (except when he snores or barks or growls in his sleep). :) But he won't stay still long enough to go to sleep. Although our church is small (30-40 people) many of them are childen, and Gilly is as irresistible to them as they are to Gilly. It is tough telling a small child they can't pet the doggie because he's working. They don't understand, especially if he's not actively doing something. And besides that a requirement of members of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners is that the dog must remain calm and not respond when other people pet him. I'm working on that and he is improving as long as he gets a treat.

Which brings up another problem. My trainer said I should ween him off the treats. But that just won't work with Gilly. He is very treat motivated. Until I found the HealthyPetNet.com web site, I had a terrible time with his weight. Now I feed him Tasty Rewards and one or two Wholesome Hearts each day for special acts of obedience, and cut his food back by 1/2 cup/day and he is losing the excess weight. His skin allergy has also cleared up. But to expect him to work without treats... it just will not happen. I can put off treats until the end of a *series* of two or three, maybe even four or five commands, but no more.”

This was my suggestion -

“I appreciate how hard it is to expect children to leave Gilmore alone. And obviously little ones wouldn't be able to read your sign if you had one made up. If your church is small I'm guessing you probably know most of the congregation. Is there any way you could speak to the parents of the youngsters in question and explain to them the problems it creates for you if people fuss over Gilmore - even when he's quietly by your side apparently, to them, 'doing nothing'? If you could make the parents understand then hopefully they would keep their children in check. Perhaps a compromise could be reached in that you could make a 'play time' for after church for both the kids and Gilmore.

Is there an open space nearby where they could all play safely? If so you could tell the parents that as a reward for the kids for ignoring Gilmore during church - and as a reward for Gilmore for doing his job during church - you can go somewhere afterwards where they can all play together for a while with Gilmore off leash having some free time.

Without knowing anything about Assistance Dogs I can't really say this with any degree of authority but I have to say it seems extremely unfair to me that you were given a dog that won't ignore people even though it's a requirement of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners that they do. You seem to have been given a part trained dog. It's a bit like giving a blind person a guide dog that hasn't yet learned not to walk across the road in front of traffic. I find it staggering that you have to be the one to address this aspect of his training.

I would take the bit about weaning him off the treats with a pinch of salt. I agree that it's undesirable to be giving him treats left right and centre but by the same token if you have a dog that will only work if he knows he's going to get a treat every so often then keep giving the treats. No point cutting off your nose to spite your face! It sounds to me like you're going about it the right way by cutting back on his food to compensate and keeping the use of healthy treats down to a sensible level.”

Obviously the specifics of this case won't be applicable to most people reading this. But I wanted to include the details in this issue so that it will hopefully make you think. Having to sit down and really think this problem through from the perspective of a wheelchair user made me realise there are lots of things I would normally do to solve these problems that would not work in this instance. So you have to come at it from a different angle.

I don't know if my advice will be of any practical use, though obviously I hope it will. But hopefully by writing about it here you might find that something I've said will spark off an idea in your mind that you can adapt and use for your own particular circumstances. That's always my main objective when I write these newsletters - not necessarily to explain a specific technique, but more to see if I can get you thinking up ideas of your own that will adapt to your unique needs.

Regards,
Andrew

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