#owner training problems

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Mandana Training & Health Update

TLDR: We’re getting a certified vet behavioralist (ACVB) involved.

A while back we tried to work on some new found resource guarding around dogs because we wanted Mandana to be comfortable when the new puppy arrives in December. We tried classes and private sessions at two separate training centers. The last one referred me to a canine behavior consultant. As of today, that consultant is passing me on to another Fear-Free vet at our clinic who is more knowledgeable about behavior than our current FF vet and she will be working with an additional certified vet behaviorist on our case. (There’s only about 80 in the US so they are very hard to come by and expensive but our insurance should cover it)

Mandana is kind of a conundrum. She is so happy, optimistic and eager to please and has an amazing foundation but she’s not responding to science based training in a way trainers expect. As of now, she’s not a danger. She isn’t growling or biting dogs or making any type of aggression towards people. All the trainers who’ve worked with her think she’s a great service dog candidate (I pulled her from PA a while back) who could go back to working once we smooth over a few minor issues, but she’s not responding to science based training in a predictable way so her case continues to get escalated to the next expert.

Mandana is still a pleasure to live with and a wonderful training partner. She continues to do all of her tasks even though I’ve shifted away from service work and public access. I am focusing on helping her live comfortably in her body. It will take time but the prospect puppy will hopefully take some of the pressure off her in regards to service work and maybe if we figure out these issues Mandana can go back to working part time but if not that’s ok too ❤️

[taravali-the-service-pup]

Comments on raising an owner-trained service dog as a disabled person.

If you are disabled and have raised/trained your own service dog (with or without outside help) please contribute your wisdom along with the age & breed or type of dog. You don’t have to reveal if your dog has washed but please keep that in mind when adding your comments and how your advice might affect future handlers.

[fjordfolk]

also first hike of the year where we've met strangers, and both girls did very well with their trail manners. i always ask them to sit on the side - uphill or on a rock, ideally, because it gives them a bit more mental barrier - while i stand between so people won't have to pass them directly.

sparty has always been good with this because she values food rewards over socializing with people. troj is different and while she won't approach people unless spoken to, if people look at her and talk at the same time, she sees it as an invitation. i haven't been hard on it because she's very calm and the people we've met have seen it as a friendly gesture (which it is) but its happened a few times now and its definitely one of those Things That Make Sense To Troj.

anyway an old man with trekking poles commented on our "good cooperation" which was nice

[cozylittleartblog]

∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ya boi made washi tapes, please consider Purchasing them. at cozylittleartshoppe on etsy. good print, good sticc, i am obsessed

[darkwood-sleddog]

Can the balanced dog trainers please stop fucking talking about positive reinforcement as if those dogs are not “obedience trained”? A majority of competition obedience dogs I know were trained with R+. Letting your dog wander on the end of a line because you want to do so does not = untrained. It is simply…a choice.

[ignisgayentia]

An update on new yard for miss jellybean.... SHE LOVES IT 😭 she gets to sniff, run, and play in her private space without having to worry about mean reactive dogs from our old apartment 🥺 It's sooo nice to just sit outside while vibing and playing with her 😭

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

The moment she sees me holding my phone, she sits back down. Rude.

When I'm on my PC, a desktop. She gets on her hind legs, drapes her arms over the arm of my chair, and grabs at me. Cacoa is front declawed, so it's more like a smack-grab. She will do this while yelling and will progress to damn near screaming.

It's irritating.

[ot3]

Have my windows open because it's too hot in the house to close them but there's a fucking dog barking nonstop somewhere in the neighborhood

[parkwatcher]

"there are no bad dogs, just bad owners uwu" so youre just admitting youre a bad owner then...........

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Mandana Update

TRAINING // My goal this year was to improve Mandana’s ability to work around dogs. I knew this was going to be an issue bc we had very limited resources for training with dogs for the first few years of her life. I didn’t have regular access to a car so we walked the city to do our training and that led to us being charged by nearly 20 different dogs over a couple years. This year our resources improved a lot so we started going to a training center frequently and practicing outside dog parks more.

During our training we uncovered that a big part of Mandana’s dog reactivity is related to resource guarding and her feelings of codependency. Her training masked a lot of it because she feels very supported by being with me and following my cues so she often didn’t appear reactive and was very reliable when on leash but when she is off leash on her own with dogs she panics in a very loud and forward way.

We hired a canine behavioralist and am making progress. I pulled her from public access but the behavioralist is confident she can easily be an amazing service dog and that these are minor problems that are very fixable. I’m not too worried about her service work right now. I wouldn’t have gotten her to begin with if I had a problem with “washing” a dog from public access. My health has improved so much with my weekly injections that I can get by in public with mobility aids for now. Besides that I want to focus my energy on rehabbing my body and making sure Mandana feels safe & happy in life.

Our training right now is very focused on behavioral modification and we are capitalizing on our good communication and cooperation skills. We’re learning how to use consent to facilitate dog interactions instead of her feeling like she has to control the situation on her own by being pushy. If you’ve made it this far in the post just know that we are on a bit of a time crunch, not to get her back into public access but to ensure we are ready to welcome home our next prospect who should be born in October if we’re lucky ;-)

[makedamnsvre]

these places banning bully breeds of dogs bc theyre sooo scawy when really they should be banning doodles

[witchcraftingboop]

After one employee's role with the company was reallocated to-- he was fired, there was a lot of talk about starting active shooter drills, and while most of the shop floor guys were like yeah no we definitely know who triggered that particular HR move, I was moreso looking at my bosses like "so you knew he was crazy this whole time and still said nothing? ... For six years???" Gaslighting your own employees is a feat in and of itself, but for six years you kept telling every one else that they were crazy for thinking Sir Whacko was crazy?? Six years

[the-polite-lurker]

The same train goes past at the same time every day and you’ve never cared. WHY ARE YOU BARKING AT IT NOW?! WHAT CHANGED?

[azulca]

# cats cats cats

I have been finding that my two kitties will make purposeful messes before I leave to make me stay and clean up.

[trashycosmos]

wondering how much of my personality Nettle's adapted as her own

[foldingfittedsheets]

When deciding who to work for there is a sliding scale of employers that goes from lil mom and pop shops up to corporate monoliths. I have worked at both ends of the spectrum and I can pretty definitively say that tiny businesses are hands down the most insane employers.

The sweet spot is a place that has like 10-20 stores; that’s the best possible work environment. They’ll be polished enough to have protocols that make work structured, but not so bogged down with bureaucracy that nothing can ever get done.

This story is not from that sweet spot. This story is from my time working at Oil and Vinegar. Now, like many little franchise stores, the idea was solid. There was on tap imported olive oil and vinegar and it was really delicious. Top shelf. Unfortunately, each location was like the Wild West because owners varied wildly.

My owner was the human embodiment of Mr. Krabbs. His eyes were just constant dollar signs. Throughout my training he informed me of the price of every single piece of equipment I touched and how much it cost to replace it.

He had cameras set up to watch us, and an app on his phone to access the live feed. He’d call us to ask what we were doing when he’d just checked a camera to make sure we were being honest.

Now, the trouble was he had two locations. His location further south did amazing. It was way more centrally located and got three times the foot traffic. The one I worked in was in the snottiest mall possible in Arizona and consequently the rent was through the roof.

It was not going well for my store. We didn’t get as much traffic, so there was only so much I could do in a day. I could dust, sweep, and wait for customers. I read a lot and was frank when he called to interrogate me. I always asked for additional tasks but he never had any. What could I do to prop up a failing business?

But this man was convinced there was some Secret Reason that the store I was in was doing worse. He crunched numbers, looked at staff, and eventually hit upon the most insane possible solution.

We used too much toilet paper.

We were probably stealing toilet paper! Bleeding him dry one single ply square at a time! How dare we need to use the bathroom?! His south location used half as much toilet paper as we did, we must be thieving little monsters!!!!

Friends. The south location was populated entirely by men. My location had three people on staff who had to sit to pee. It was so blindly transparently the source of the discrepancy but this man was convinced we were making off with toilet paper to bankrupt him.

So he implemented what he believed to be an entirely reasonable response to this base treachery. We were allowed to have one roll of toilet paper. At any given time, one roll was permitted to us. This was so transparently unhinged that we protested but he insisted. If we were low on toilet paper we needed to call him to drop off a roll that he brought from his home. Smiling jovially, he assured us he lived so close by that it would be no problem!

When we needed to call him often for more he started tearing his hair out. What were we using toilet paper for?! Why wasn’t his genius plan to stop our scandalous waste working??!

Finally, the manager, the only man on staff had to pull the owner aside and be like, “Look, man, their bladders are smaller. They need to wipe every time they pee. They need to pee even more on their period. Is this really the hill you want to die on?”

Yes. It was. The manager was fired unrelated reasons and denounced as a traitor. The toilet paper ration lasted until I quit and probably until the store closed six months later.