Partners and Paws

Behind THE SCENES

Training for Distractions

Our dogs spend around two years mastering all of the skills necessary to help their future partner. One of the biggest challenges for any service dog is dealing with distractions in public. We typically work with a “Leave It” command or a technique of applying gentle pressure on the collar to redirect a dog’s focus. While generally effective, these methods put all of the responsibility on the partner, and for some of our partners, quick verbalization or physical correction can be challenging. A trainer from a guide dog school recently visited our facility for a tour, and she and our Staff Trainer, Debbie were discussing different training techniques. Debbie asked about how their dogs are trained to deal with distractions on their own, as their partners cannot see the

distractions to give the commands themselves. The end result of this discussion has allowed Debbie to incorporate a new training technique that puts the onus of dealing with distractions back on our dogs. This new distraction, but then they must check back in with their partner within three seconds. This is taught through a lot of practice which involves our staff members trying to be as distracting as possible . (8232 Enon is a fun place to work!) The process is repetitive, and the dogs are learning quickly. The end result will give our partners just a few extra moments to keep or regain control in a variety of situations. method allows the dogs to notice and look at the

Fancy learning to check in with her trainer, Debbie

9