Morey is pretty amazing and incredibly well-trained dog but sometimes I underestimate my role in keeping him so well-behaved. He's an easy dog to work with so I don't really have to do much training to keep him in tip-top shape. But the other day I had a chance to see what Morey might be like if I didn't enforce the rules and hold him up to a high standard. I have seen more than one service dog become unruly and turn into a "pet" because the handler didn't require the dog to behave in the way it was trained. To me that was one of the most frustrating parts of working with service dog teams because I knew how much effort had gone into training the dog and to see all that being allowed to be undone was really hard.
At the Agility Trial it was really hard for me to get around because of the surface. Because there were so many dogs they tried to keep things moving quickly and I found myself unable to "walk" the course beforehand and then get back to the crate area to fetch Morey and get us both back to the start line before our turn. This was only a problem on Friday night because the order was "Tall to Small" meaning that tall dogs ran first. Morey happened to be the tallest dog there so he was the very first one to go and it just wasn't possible for me to get everything done in the time I had.
Luckily, my friend Laurie who runs her Airedale, William, was there and offered to run and get Morey and bring him to me after I walked the course. I was very grateful for her assistance because of my time limitations. Morey is a pretty chill dog and he knows Laurie so I knew he wouldn't have a problem going with her.
Imagine my surprise (and horror!) when I saw Morey approaching dragging Laurie behind him. He was pulling on his leash so hard he was gasping and he looked like the most uncivilized and unruly dog you ever met. Morey, the loose leash walking master, pulling on the leash! Not only was I shocked I was also embarrassed because Morey is a really strong dog and I felt bad that he was dragging Laurie so hard. I know he was probably eager to get to me but that is no excuse. I don't blame Laurie at all because I wouldn't expect her to correct Morey by stopping and making him get back in position before moving forward. But it did make me realize that without enforcing the rules, Morey could turn into an uncivilized maniac fairly quickly!
I've had small tastes of this before but it really hit home this time. For example, for a while I stopped giving Morey permission to come in and out the door and just let him run in/out whenever I opened the door. One day he bolted out the door when I had only opened it an inch and I realized he was getting too pushy and that I had totally let it happen. Now Morey waits while I open the door until I tell him "release" and only then can he come in or out. It's not hard and it's not mean but it does hold him to a high standard of behavior and makes him look to me before rushing out on his own.
Seeing Morey pull on the leash made me realize that although he is a great dog and had some wonderful training it could all be undone very quickly. I'm going to start giving myself more credit as to Morey's polished skills and civilized manner! :)
Morey
Morey, My 2nd Service Dog
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Morey the Champion
Morey and I didn't really have any performance expectations at the agility trial other than to have fun and improve our performance from last year. I never would have imagined how the weekend would have ended up!First, I'll give a little agility background although be warned I am still figuring out a lot of it myself!
Each "run" has a set course and the dog has to complete all the obstacles in a certain order and within a set amount of time. If the dog accomplishes this the dog earns a "Q" (qualifying) and Qs add up to a title. If the dog misses an obstacle or makes a mistake they get a "fault" but they can still earn a place finish based on their time.
Morey got his first Q in the Intro Jumpers course. Normally he charges over the jumps and I can't keep up with him but that run was perfect! He responded to my cues and took each jump in order without wasting time doing laps around the course. Our teacher was watching and she yelled so loudly for us when we finished that I thought it was a whole crowd of people!We had lots of people come up to us with compliments on our run. I think it was partly because a lot of people had seen his crazy runs from the night before so they were probably even more amazed when he pulled himself together and ran a clean course!
We almost got our second Q on the Regular 1 course but Morey flew off the dog walk and missed the contact. I should have told him to slow down but I was so focused on getting myself to the next obstacle that for a moment I forgot about what Morey was doing. Oops, lesson learned!
Our next Q was on Regular 2 (which was the Regular 1 course backward). He got a little mixed up on one jump but we managed to get back on track. Morey is so fast that we have enough time built in a for a few minor errors.
We got a third Q on the Weavers which made me very proud because Morey is still mastering the weave poles. We took it slow and steady and he made it through all 6 without any mistakes! Yay Morey!
Our last run of the day (almost 11 hours after we arrived in the morning) was Tunnelers. This is probably Morey's favorite run because he loves tunnels. He was pretty tired by that time so I wasn't sure how he was going to do. As I found out, it's easier to run him when he is tired because our speeds are more closely matched! We managed to pull out 1 more Q for a total of 4. He got 1st place based on speed in 7 of his 8 events. Not bad at all!
Video of his runs can be found on Morey's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6rHjKOJttf1RzWWRmEIOmg . The videos were too large to upload here even though they are only a minute or so long.
I was pretty proud of our performance! It is so fun to have this new challenge to work on with Morey. We both enjoy taking on new training goals and seeing the progress we are making!
NADAC Trial
Our Agility Club, the Austin K9 Xpress, hosts a North American Dog Agility Council (NADAC) trial every February and this was our second year to compete. Morey and I entered the Intro class which has fewer obstacles and less
complicated courses. He is still working on sequencing obstacles so this seemed like it would be a good fit for us. We entered 8 events, which was ambitious but I figured we might as well practice and improve with each one.
Our first runs on Friday night were what I considered to be our "warm up". Morey loves agility and his enthusiasm sometimes takes over and makes it hard for him to focus on what he is supposed to be doing. After our first run (Hoopers), a woman came up and told me that she was going to vote for Morey as the "most joyful" dog. He might not be the most accurate dog but he does have a lot of fun!
The trial venue is really a horse barn with hard packed dirt. It is not the easiest for me to get around and I think I might have worked as hard as the dogs! Luckily I had my FreeWheel to help me navigate the divets and soft areas.
Below is a video of our Intro Weavers course.
Our first runs on Friday night were what I considered to be our "warm up". Morey loves agility and his enthusiasm sometimes takes over and makes it hard for him to focus on what he is supposed to be doing. After our first run (Hoopers), a woman came up and told me that she was going to vote for Morey as the "most joyful" dog. He might not be the most accurate dog but he does have a lot of fun!
The trial venue is really a horse barn with hard packed dirt. It is not the easiest for me to get around and I think I might have worked as hard as the dogs! Luckily I had my FreeWheel to help me navigate the divets and soft areas.
Below is a video of our Intro Weavers course.
We have been working really hard on mastering the weave poles and I was so proud when Morey did them correctly! Our other
runs can be seen on Morey's brand new Youtube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6rHjKOJttf1RzWWRmEIOmg) because they were too large to post here.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Transportation and Travels
I wish I had started keeping track of all of Morey's travel experiences when we first started working together. Most of them are documented in this blog but it would be fun to have a list of all the places he has gone. He would have probably earned a few free flights if he got to collect frequent flyer miles! He's also a frequent rider of shuttles, taxis, trams and trains/light rails. I'm not sure he has ever been on a boat so that might be on his list for 2016!I don't often know what the circumstances are going to be on certain methods of transportation ahead of time and in many cases there isn't another option. That means Morey sometimes ends up in tight or uncomfortable spaces for the duration of the ride. He always tolerates it like a champ, often earning praise and compliments from other passengers, riders, etc.
As an example, here are all the methods of transportation Morey and I used on our 3 day trip to Phoenix:
- Car ride from my house to airport parking lot
- Shuttle ride (included riding on lift) to airport terminal
- Plane ride
- Taxi from airport to hotel
- Car ride with a friend to dinner
- Shuttle ride back to airport
- Plane ride
- Shuttle with ramp from airport to parking lot
- Car ride back home
Conference Insights
You know you are attending a Disability Services Conference when...
1) You check in to the conference and they point out where the bowl of water for dogs is located
2) You go to a session about Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals and the presenter references Morey by name because she met him earlier in the day
Three days of learning about Disability Law was an intense but great experience. One of the presenters worked for the Office of Civil Rights on the federal level before there were any laws to protect the rights of people with disabilities and ensure equal access. He worked at the office that was occupied by people with disabilities for 27 days (the longest occupation of a federal building in the U.S.) in 1977 to protest the delays in issuing regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the first law ever to recognize that people with disabilities had rights to participate in society. (You can find more about this little known historical event here: http://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/ )
As a person with a disability I realize how recent many of these laws and changes really are but I also realize on a daily basis how much farther we have to go. I am thankful that I get to work in an environment where I get to protect and advance the rights of students with disabilities on a daily basis.
1) You check in to the conference and they point out where the bowl of water for dogs is located
2) You go to a session about Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals and the presenter references Morey by name because she met him earlier in the day
Three days of learning about Disability Law was an intense but great experience. One of the presenters worked for the Office of Civil Rights on the federal level before there were any laws to protect the rights of people with disabilities and ensure equal access. He worked at the office that was occupied by people with disabilities for 27 days (the longest occupation of a federal building in the U.S.) in 1977 to protest the delays in issuing regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the first law ever to recognize that people with disabilities had rights to participate in society. (You can find more about this little known historical event here: http://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/ )
As a person with a disability I realize how recent many of these laws and changes really are but I also realize on a daily basis how much farther we have to go. I am thankful that I get to work in an environment where I get to protect and advance the rights of students with disabilities on a daily basis.
Entourage
When you travel with a service dog and a wheelchair you pretty much make up your own entourage (or as my sister likes to say, a dog and pony show). It's nearly impossible to be unnoticed and in fact you are usually guaranteed to be on the receiving end of multiple comments and questions about either your dog, your disability or both. After 10 years using a wheelchair and working with a service dog I am used to these realities and barely even realize how much more attention I attract than the average person.
Last week my boss and I went to Phoenix for a conference. Once we got settled on the plane my boss said "Is it always like this for you? You'd think none of these people had ever seen a dog before!" I laughed as I then started noticing how many times people made a comment to me about Morey. The comments are usually the same and I have developed my standard answers (see below) so I don't even have to think about my responses.
Top 5 Questions/Comments about Morey
1) What's his name?
2) Is it a boy or a girl?
3) That's a good looking dog
4) Can I pet him?
5) I wish my dog were that well-behaved
My Top 5 Responses
Q. What's his name?
A. Usually this answer is pretty straightforward: Morey. However, when you tell people your dog's name they then say it which in itself can be a distraction. So sometimes I give a code name and they never know the difference :)
Q. Is it a boy or a girl?
A. Obviously my answer to this will be "boy". Two notes about this question- I don't like Morey being referred to as an "it" and second, you'd be surprised at how many people will lean over to peer at his privates to try to answer this question themselves. Rude!
Q. That's a good looking dog
A. This comment doesn't always require a response, especially if it is made as we are passing by. My most common responses are "thank you", "he sure is" or simply a smile of acknowledgement.
Q. Can I pet him?
A. My response to this will vary quite a bit depending on where I am and what I am doing. If we're just waiting in line somewhere sometimes I will let them pet Morey. If we are on the move I am not going to stop just so you can pet him. If we are in a crowded place I usually say "no" because if I let one person pet him we'll soon be swarmed by people wanting their turn (and yes, I am speaking from experience!).
Q. I wish my dog was that well-behaved
A. This might be one of the most irritating comment to me. My response is usually something like "Well, Morey has spent hundreds of hours being trained to act like this." I want people to realize that service dogs aren't just born perfectly trained- it takes a lot of time and effort. While not every dog is cut out to be a service dog, most badly behaved dogs would be a lot better behaved if their humans would invest time and effort into training them. The dog trainer is me wants people to realize that they don't just have to throw up their hands and accept a wild ruffian of a dog- they could do something about it. Unfortunately, I doubt my two minute lecture makes a difference to them. Sigh.
I guess the moral of this blog post is that if you add a service dog to your life you better be prepared to attract a crowd of paparrazi wherever you go. I normally don't mind but there are definitely times when I leave Morey at home because I want a break from dealing with all the comments, stares and questions. I wonder if we will ever get to the point where seeing a handsome, well-trained working dog won't be such a cause for attention?
Last week my boss and I went to Phoenix for a conference. Once we got settled on the plane my boss said "Is it always like this for you? You'd think none of these people had ever seen a dog before!" I laughed as I then started noticing how many times people made a comment to me about Morey. The comments are usually the same and I have developed my standard answers (see below) so I don't even have to think about my responses.
Top 5 Questions/Comments about Morey
1) What's his name?
2) Is it a boy or a girl?
3) That's a good looking dog
4) Can I pet him?
5) I wish my dog were that well-behaved
My Top 5 Responses
Q. What's his name?
A. Usually this answer is pretty straightforward: Morey. However, when you tell people your dog's name they then say it which in itself can be a distraction. So sometimes I give a code name and they never know the difference :)
Q. Is it a boy or a girl?
A. Obviously my answer to this will be "boy". Two notes about this question- I don't like Morey being referred to as an "it" and second, you'd be surprised at how many people will lean over to peer at his privates to try to answer this question themselves. Rude!
Q. That's a good looking dog
A. This comment doesn't always require a response, especially if it is made as we are passing by. My most common responses are "thank you", "he sure is" or simply a smile of acknowledgement.
Q. Can I pet him?
A. My response to this will vary quite a bit depending on where I am and what I am doing. If we're just waiting in line somewhere sometimes I will let them pet Morey. If we are on the move I am not going to stop just so you can pet him. If we are in a crowded place I usually say "no" because if I let one person pet him we'll soon be swarmed by people wanting their turn (and yes, I am speaking from experience!).
Q. I wish my dog was that well-behaved
A. This might be one of the most irritating comment to me. My response is usually something like "Well, Morey has spent hundreds of hours being trained to act like this." I want people to realize that service dogs aren't just born perfectly trained- it takes a lot of time and effort. While not every dog is cut out to be a service dog, most badly behaved dogs would be a lot better behaved if their humans would invest time and effort into training them. The dog trainer is me wants people to realize that they don't just have to throw up their hands and accept a wild ruffian of a dog- they could do something about it. Unfortunately, I doubt my two minute lecture makes a difference to them. Sigh.
I guess the moral of this blog post is that if you add a service dog to your life you better be prepared to attract a crowd of paparrazi wherever you go. I normally don't mind but there are definitely times when I leave Morey at home because I want a break from dealing with all the comments, stares and questions. I wonder if we will ever get to the point where seeing a handsome, well-trained working dog won't be such a cause for attention?
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