Morey's New Job

There are three commands that I use the most when Morey is doing service dog work (not counting “life skills” such as sit, down, etc.) They are “tug”, “get”, and “touch”. I tend to use these commands in the same ways; “get” for retrieving dropped items, “tug” for closing doors, and “touch” for pushing automatic door buttons, but there are many different ways these three commands can be used (tugging off a coat or retrieving a named item). This week I found two new ways for Morey to help me using the “get” and “tug” commands.

My doorway is fairly narrow and it’s hard for me to get myself and my rugby chair through the door. It’s a challenge to block the door open and push myself while also trying to push my rugby chair. The other day as I was heading out, Morey was standing behind my rugby chair, waiting his turn to go through the door. He was watching me as I struggled and all of a sudden I realized that Morey could pull my rugby chair a lot easier than I could. My chair has a stretchy strap on the front that was perfect for him to grab. I got out of the way and positioned him in front of the chair and told him to “tug”. He grabbed on and tugged but when the chair moved toward him he dropped the strap and jumped back in surprise. I encouraged him to try again and this time he knew what to expect so he tugged with just enough momentum to keep the chair from running over him. When we were all through the door, I gave Morey lots of praise. He seems to like figuring out how to work in different ways and he jumped around in excitement in reaction to my praise. Seeing how proud and happy he was, I had him help me pull my rugby chair all the way to my van. Morey has definitely found a new way to help out with rugby!