Should you only use positive reinforcement to train your service dog? Or will combining rewards and corrections provide greater reliability? By Sharon Wachsler CPDT-KA KPA-CTP If you are training your own service dog, or thinking of taking this journey, you should know how using exclusively positive reinforcement training can affect you and your dog. As … 3 Surprising Results of Positive Reinforcement Training For Service Dogs. Read More ..read more

If you are training a service dog for yourself, you may be wondering what your rights and responsibilities are. Do you need to carry documentation? Can you bring your dog with you to medical appointments? What about to restaurants? This post provides some answers and resources on the rights of your service dog in training. Rights for Trained Service Dog Teams Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disabled people accompanied by a trained service animal typically have equal access rights to all public accommodations, including transportation, restaurants, lodgings, stores, medical and ..read more

Training a psychiatric service dog can be a deeply rewarding and life-changing experience. Owner-training a service dog for anxiety or depression can lead to greater independence, functioning, and safety, and an overall improvement in quality of life. However, a PTSD service dog or autism service dog is not the right solution for everyone with those conditions — or any other psychiatric disability. In some cases, the attempt to owner-train a service dog can actually lead to worsened mental health, including increased anxiety, exhaustion, or feelings of failure. If you’re thinking about startin ..read more

“Enrichment” means making something more meaningful, substantial, or rewarding. When dog trainers refer to adding enrichment to your dogs’ life, we usually mean optimizing their mental or physical exercise. Giving your dog more challenges they can succeed at every day makes them happier and more fulfilled, leaving them smarter, calmer, more content, and less destructive.  For a dog in training as a service animal, enrichment is an especially important component of maximizing their training and working potential, while also helping them to lead long, happy, healthy lives. There are many ty ..read more

Did you know that the costs associated with a service animal are tax-deductible if you are itemizing your medical expenses? And that service animal expenses may also be counted when getting public benefits such as food stamps (SNAP), Section 8, or other low-income programs?  It’s tax season again. Because we help disabled people to train their own service dogs, we want to make sure the process of raising, training, and partnering with a service dog is as affordable as possible. This post has some tips that you can check with your certified public accountant (CPA) or benefits counselor. 14 ..read more

Does your service dog lose all focus around other dogs, friendly strangers, moving things, new environments, or interesting smells? Does she suddenly act like she doesn’t know what “sit” means — even though she does it perfectly at home? Does he stop paying attention to you at all, even though he knows you have lots of great treats? Never fear! There’s nothing wrong with your dog. Training your service-dog-in-training (SDiT) to focus around distraction is the hardest part of public access service dog training. But it CAN be done! Here are five quick tips to help you defeat distractions with yo ..read more

If you find your service-dog-in-training (SDiT) doesn’t listen to you in public, on walks, or around strangers or other dogs, you are not alone! Fortunately, help is here. Our upcoming workshop will help you and your dog succeed. (Not able to make it to this one? Check with us about future service dog training classes near you.) Little dogs can have big focus! Engagement and focus around distraction is key to success with public access training. Training a service dog to focus around distractions is often the hardest part in the training process. But it is not out-of-reach. When your dog is en ..read more

Are you training your own mobility service dog and wondering how to train a dog from a wheelchair or with an unsteady gait? Or are you a professional trainer working with a client who uses a cane, crutches, or mobility scooter? In its essence, dog training always involves setting up the dog for success with easy first steps, rewarding the dog when it does the right thing, and then slowly increasing the challenge level. However, for trainers with mobility impairments, sometimes the methods for how to do this look a little different than for someone with full or easy ambulation. This is a huge t ..read more

How to Train Service Dog Leash Manners (and are there differences from training loose leash walking with a pet dog?) Are you training a service dog – as an owner-trainer or as a professional dog trainer working with a service dog client? If so, loose leash walking is probably a top priority. Training a puppy or service-dog-in-training (SDiT) to walk nicely by the handler’s side is a critical skill for public access.  Many service dog owner-trainers take their puppies to an obedience class, thinking that leash manners can be trained in any manners class. To some extent, this is true. Good ..read more

Are you a pet dog trainer who sometimes has service-dogs-in-training (SDiTs) in your classes? Or are you owner-training your own service dog? This post is for you! It is about one simple change to make in basic manners training for SDiT teams. Differences between Pet and Service Dog Manners Training Many people believe that manners training and obedience classes can be the same for service dogs and pet dogs. But is this always true? To a certain extent, yes, all SDiTs need to know basics like sit, down, come, walk on a loose leash, leave it, eye contact, hand targeting (“touch”), etc. These ca ..read more