This is the first video in a series of videos of training service dogs for public access. This video is for service dog teams working on teaching their dog to be calm, confident, reliable and safe in public spaces where dogs are allowed as well as where only service dogs are allowed. However, these tutorials and tips are great for everyone who wants a confident, well-behaved dog to bring places that pet dogs are allowed to go in public. In no way does this video condone training a fake service dog to bring places pet dogs are not allowed. Instead, if you have a pet dog, the goal of this training is to be able to go places like parks, boardwalks, city streets, outdoor dog friendly cafes and restaurants and stores that do not sell food and have a policy where pet dogs are allowed to enter. Yes, Halo is my service dog, replacing Splash my 13 year old. I don’t usually like to talk about it publicly as it is a sensitive issue for me, however at this point in my life, I believe I can help so many people who rely on their service dogs as well as help service dogs feel more comfortable and confident in their everyday lives that I figured showing my personal training with Halo my new service dog was important.
The topics covered in this episode are: Teaching your dog a calm greeting behavior, teaching your dog to be confident with unexpected and unwanted attention from humans, teaching your dog to wait patiently to get out of the vehicle and into the vehicle, as well as to teach your dog to wait calmly with you before you move away from your vehicle. This video also briefly shows how you can use teaching a dog to stop on a default next to you when you stop to teach a dog to go up and down stairs without rushing ahead of you.
****If you have a dog who can become fearful, shy, reactive or aggressive, you must seek help from a professional trainer who uses Positive Reinforcement to help you with these exercises as you might not be able to read your dog or know how or when to increase or decrease criteria and the training could go backward instead of progress.****
Here are the times that the different tips and tutorials appear in this video:
00:00 Introduction and explanation of the training of teaching a calm greeting as a behavior and preparing to teach your dog about surprise encounters with humans
15:18 Video footage of training the exercise of a calm greeting on cue 19:50 Explanation of training for surprise encounters with humans when in public 22:53 Video footage of working on the exercise of surprise encounters with people who try to interact or touch your dog without asking 25:26 Explanation of training your dog to wait until cued, when exiting and entering a vehicle as well as waiting on a loose leash with you after exiting the vehicle. 26:20 Video example of waiting for a verbal cue to get out of a vehicle 27:00 Video example of waiting for a verbal cue to get into the vehicle 27:17 Explanation of teaching your dog to wait with you on a loose leash after exiting a vehicle 29:11 Video examples of training your dog to wait with you on a loose leash after exiting the car 30:46 Video footage example of how the default stop when you stop exercise can help with teaching your dog to stay with you instead of rush ahead when going up or down stairs
