Today was a day of bonding and learning more commands. Bonding is a process which begins during the placement training process and continues throughout your service dogs life. It is very important that Joe and May's interactions be positive with benefits for each, they should enjoy spending time together. It only being day 2 this is evident already, May sees Joe and gets excited, they are drawn to each other and May even puts up with Joe teasing her, but they love to play together, especially ball.
We also learned today the steps to "Mark" Joe's behaviors, so that May will start to identify them. She has been trained to disrupt behaviors as much as we described and were in the videos we sent, but know she needs to learn them with Joe. So as soon as Joe starts a behavior we go to him and at the same time give May a treat, so that she starts to recognize the behavior that she will be rewarded for.
We worked on reinforcing Sit and Down commands this time by walking in circles around them while they remain in the commanded position. When giving May a correction we just give her led a quick snap and say "No" and repeat the desired command, no treat is given. Treats are reserved for when May listens correctly the first time.
We learned Heel today, when prompted May is trained to Heel on your left side. Heel is a position to be in: the area between the collar and ears in line with your leg with 18" between you and May. When moving May will change her pace to coincide with yours, when you stop May is trained to automatically go to a sit position. NO means that whatever you dog is doing at that time is unacceptable. For example, if May jumped on a person while greeting them: use the command NO, because jumping on a person is never acceptable.
May puts up with Joe teasing her with a treat, what great bonding they are creating.
Below, May seems to be saying he gave me the treat!
We also learned 3 tricks that May can do today. Here Joe is practicing High Five, May also knows how to shake and Give Five...she is so smart and accepts the command from all of us!
We also brought back a kennel and food and bowls to our room tonight...tomorrow May comes with us, it will be another very exciting day.
Sandy, we're incredibly happy to hear that May found a good home! We fell in love with her immediately over the summer. Please let me know if you'd like to see pictures of our time with her during training. - Amber Smith
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