Day Eleven -- Balance

Ubu has a lot of work ahead of him. Service work can be very challenging for a dog. They need to learn to inhibit very normal dog behaviors (sniffing, scratching, barking, etc.) while they are in public places. This can be pretty demanding on a dog. Not to mention all of the things that they need to take with a grain of salt when they are out in public. Dogs are not usually naturally comfortable in all environments which is why we spend so much time socializing puppies. But all of this can be a bit stressful for a dog so it's really important to find balance in his life.

Balance means time to just be a dog.

Balance means play...with dogs too but most with people.

It's about making training fun, smiling at your dog, and giving him a lot of positive feedback.

A huge part of the training is teaching a dog to love their work. You still need to be firm and set boundaries with a dog, but fostering a relationship built on cooperation rather than force is going to take you much further.

So he needs to study hard. Our first set of goals has to do with the Canine Good Citizen test (http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm). These are very basic skills which will be a foundation for a lot of his other skills he will learn later on. Eventually he will need to pass the Public Access Test (http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/standards/public-access-test/) and then, of course, any additonal skills he may need to learn to do his job. Hard work!

So make sure he has opportunities to work hard and play hard.

You'll find that a happy dog who loves his work will work so much better than a dog who is doing it simply because that was what he was taught and told to do.

Not to mention that it's a lot more fun for everyone involved.