Bending the Rules

Morey and I have been together for almost 3 years now and we have pretty much figured each other out. We've established habits and routines and sometimes things are so automatic that I barely need to give a cue before Morey knows what I want him to do. This level of teamwork and comfort is convenient, but it can also present some training and safety challenges.

When things become too routine, it can be easy for a dog to stop listening for the cue and just anticipate and act on what comes next. This is often the case for things like jumping in and out of the car; I open the door and Morey knows I am going to say "jump" to get either in/out. Before I know it, I open the door and he jumps in/out before I even say it. While this might seem not seem like a problem, there are situations where this could be a safety issue. It also erodes the working relationship because instead of looking to me for direction, Morey starts acting on his own. At a time when service dog partners seem to have it all figured out, I have seen many start to struggle for these very reasons.

It's not always easy to recognize the start of this slippery slope. In fact, it's often when things have completely fallen apart that you look back and find how it all began and then have to work to put it back together. This fall, I began to notice some signs that Morey and I were heading in this direction and I quickly put steps in place to get us back on track.

One of the classic areas to start having problems is going in/out of doors and this was the case for us. Now that I live in a house with a fenced in backyard it is easy for me to open the door and let Morey run out to "hurry". Once he takes care of business he comes back to the door and I open it to let him run in. One day I opened the door just a crack and Morey tried to barge his way in. Surprised, I reacted by closing the door in his face. He looked up at me in surprise and then sat down, reverting to his days in ICAN when pups are asked to sit before going through any doorway. It wasn't that Morey had forgotten his training- it was that I wasn't holding him to that standard and if I didn't expect it, he wasn't going to do it. I slowly opened the door again and instead of running through it, he looked at me expectantly, waiting for permission to come through. I made him wait a few seconds and then released him. Because I recognized the problematic routine I had established and knew how to respond, Morey has quickly caught on and no longer tries to barge through the door.

Another problem with long time service dog partners happens when the person lowers the cue standards. Accepting a dog laying halfway on their bed instead of all the way might not seem like a big deal but it can lead to a "creep" of cues until they are no longer useful or until the person is doing more work than the dog. Knowing this problem doesn't always keep you from falling into it yourself and recently I found myself in this situation with Morey.

When we were playing ball he would spit the ball out in my general direction instead of delivering to my hand or lap. Alternatively, he would stand next to me with the ball but when I took hold of it he wouldn't let go. When I realized I was playing tug of war with his ball so I could throw it for him, I realized how ridiculous I was being. He was the one who wanted to play ball and yet I was doing more work than he was! Immediately I let go of his ball and decided that if he wanted to continue playing, he would have to deliver the ball directly into my hand. Again, this was something he was familiar with and knew how to do, I had just let him get away with something different. It didn't take long for him to figure out the new rules to our game and he was soon dropping the ball directly into my hand. I still have to remind myself that if he drops it at my feet it is his responsibility to pick it up, not mine.

 I don't know why service dog partners want to do the work for our dogs, but I have seen it happen quite often, especially with retrieving. Rather than have the dog bring an object directly to a person's hand, people will try to lean out and grab it. ICAN dogs are trained to seek out a person's hand for delivery of an object but if you always reach out and find them there won't be a need for them to bring it to you. They are also trained to hold onto an object until given the cue "give" but sometime people don't hold their dog to this standard either. When that happens, the dog will bring you the object but will probably drop it within a few seconds if you don't reach out and grab it quickly (something not all people with disabilities can do). I've tried to be strict about both of these standards with Morey, but when I'm not I know who to blame.

Even though I use most of Morey's commands on a regular basis, there is still value in doing training sessions. This is not only valuable for Morey to stay sharp on his cues and tasks, it is also an opportunity for me to devote to ensuring that I am setting high standards and expectations so Morey and I can continue to work safely and effectively together for many more years to come.