Barbara Handelman Service Dog Training Course

13/04/2022

04/10/2021

21/09/2021

From Martha Hoffman:

Love is love. Humans cannot help it. And that's why I recommend people hire a trainer to help them select a Service Dog...hopefully we can avoid some heartbreak from falling in love with the wrong dog.

When people mention fear periods, I often ask, "When was the pup's Confidence Period?" Often the answer is, "Well, he never did seem very confident."

I recently was upset when at about 4 months old, my new pup suddenly started hysterical alarm barking at kites and any sound out in the street, but after a few weeks it passed like a fast moving storm. I was so relieved when he regained his former boldness.
Many young pups test well in friendliness, but then their genetic tendencies to fear show up after 4 months or so. It's very difficult to evaluate young pups, and so I often give more importance to testing on the parent dogs and their temperament.

If a pup is friendly at 8 weeks, it's a "maybe".
If it is even a tiny bit fearful at 8 weeks, it is a definite "fail". That almost never improves. Fearfulness usually goes one way...worse and worser, with temporary improvements and many setbacks.

You want a pup that has one long "confidence period" with maybe only a week or two of a "fear period". Or no fear period at all. Rescuers with poor ethics or lack of knowledge of dogs, and breeders with "kennel-blindness" often make excuses for fearful pups, but try to avoid heartbreak by selecting a confident puppy.

21/09/2021

From Martha Hoffman:

Once on a field trip with the Hearing Dogs, I was training a big Lab who was so good sitting under the restaurant table. I looked under and he had gotten some spaghetti. But actually it was chewing gum, and he had learned to pick it off from the underside of the table!
It was so funny then, but now I’d be terrified that it was Xylitol gum and xylitol is fatal to dogs. And I just read that products are relabeling xylitol as “Birch Sugar”, so we need to look for that in ingredients such as peanut butter, also. Human food we might feed our dogs.

21/09/2021

From Martha Hoffman:

This might be helpful when discussing feeding with clients:
Sometimes people get upset at the idea of stopping free feeding and regular meals, with most of the food being fed for training, but as long as the dog is getting a full day's food amount each day, it really doesn't matter to the dog how it is given.
And zoos now feel that giving free-fed available food or regular meals is actually detrimental to mental heath of the animals. Using their food finding instincts whether scavenging, digging, or chasing, is essential to their mental and physical well-being and prevents boredom.
Dogs and humans are both hunter-gatherer species (well, I am thinking that "gatherer" is the same as "scavenger), and enjoy both gorging and snacking equally, I feel!
Hmm, I am descended from hunter-scavengers...

21/09/2021

Yes, it's something of a fad, and this is the first article we have seen that looks at all the aspects of this interesting idea!

https://iaabcjournal.org/pushing-all-my-buttons-dogs-using-communication-buttons/?fbclid=IwAR06RZUW-RJTMLwadxA2j_VQWJZ-joAtEvjf1Go_JbvpVHIx1jrPqH4xRMk

An IAABC Foundation Publication

20/09/2021

New regulations coming in California about Emotional Support Dog fraud.

By Kristina Launey Seyfarth Synopsis: California enacts new law, effective January 1, 2022, to crack down on fraudulent emotional support dogs.

21/07/2021

From our instructor Martha Hoffman:

When talking to pet owners who think their fear-barking pup is trying to protect them:

Imagine two people. One is anxious and has a fear of being around strangers, with intense fear that they and family will be attacked, and will lash out verbally and physically at anyone who stares at them. They might carry a firearm with the safety catch off for rapid defense.

The other seems calm and secure, but has high confidence in their ability to defend themselves if anything happens to threaten them or family. This person seems relaxed but has intense inner aggression they can call upon if needed. If they carry a firearm, it is kept safe and secure even though loading it would take extra time.
Which one do you hire as your personal or business security guard?

Also: "Don't let your dog make legal decisions for you until it graduates law school and passes the bar."

21/07/2021

From our instructor Martha Hoffman. This piece is about Hearing Dogs, but applies to the other types of alerting as well.

Training a dog to alert in public places needs a different approach from training at home. The first step is to be able to trigger the dog’s alerting mood in various places, and reward it.

Training formal alerting behaviors in public places can come later. If the dog can access the alerting mood, then all else will fall into place.

There is a lot of sound pollution in many places with lots of small alarm sounds and others, so dogs habituate fast, and if not trained regularly in those places, don’t respond. That makes Soundwork training more difficult in public.

Switching from trained public-access behavior to alerting is not easy for a dog. In that situation, your dog has probably been consistently rewarded for ignoring sounds and situations. The dog needs to learn that it is okay to change moods from following your cues and inhibiting itself, to using its initiative and going into active alerting mode.

Play some easy fun games in public places: find a quiet secluded place, and set the mood by acting happy and relaxed. Make a sound happen. Reward ANY sign of interest, even an ear twitch. Hold a timer or other ringing gadget in your hand and move it around with a treat on it or in that hand. Reward the dog for following the sound and treat for a few inches.
Just capture and reward the activated mood caused by your behavior and the sound. That associates the alerting mood with that environment.

Build a variety of locations where the dogs is happy and confident to notice the sound and get treats simply for an ear twitch or looking at the sound.

Carry a gadget and ring it a few times and treat, while you are out. No need for formal sessions.
Just train the mood switching. Then later in training, the actual alert behaviors the dog does at home will be easy for it to learn to do in a public place.

Any focus toward the sound, or a curious instinctive Orientation Reflex (the cute head tilt dog perform when trying to triangulate the location of a sound) is all you need to see and reward when starting with Soundwork in public. No other behaviors are needed at first. You are simply rewarding the dog for interrupting it’s previous obedience mood and for noticing a sound. And changing moods is not easy for dogs or people, so give meaningful rewards!

Please share. Martha's Soundwork 101 online is hosted at e-trainingfordogs dot com

02/06/2021

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kUNA98Wf3hZScx1SvEewlkHxBf60RRzj/view?usp=sharing