A Dog Called Fish

11/10/2021

The foundation pieces of my medication reminder task are coming along nicely. I posted the beginning of retrieving my medication bag awhile back. Now here's Fish with his duration paw target to my leg. It's fine for my purposes if he throws in a chin rest so I don't fuss with him over it. Also it's just kinda cute. I'll let my retired service dog, Phoenix show you why you want duration on the paw target this week. Learned that lesson the hard way.

10/10/2021

Been wondering about Fish? Here's your update.

I know, I know, for a blog named, “A Dog Called Fish” there haven’t been many posts about him. So let’s change that! Fisher Plays in the Yard. Fisher is now a little over 2 …

14/08/2021

Fish is loving his new pool.

14/08/2021

Things have been quiet due to my health and getting my business Wise Mind Canine up and running. If you're following the page for more general dog training information you'll find more of that on my business page.

I'm debating moving his blog permanently to a sub area on my business website to spare you all the ads and hope to be updating more soon.

Here's a sleepy, happy, Fish after a day of fun filled training sessions for tax. Whether we achieve our goals and become a full service dog team or simply do tasks at home, this boy will always be very loved.

26/06/2021

Fish is working on his settle outdoors. A critical skill for any service dog.

04/05/2021

Just for fun, here's Fish working on his retrieve this evening. We will work on this behavior chain and all of the separate pieces of my medication reminder task to fluency before backchaining EVERYTHING into one long behavior chain.

30/04/2021

Fisher is well on his way to being a quiet dog while training and working. I'd say his vocalizations are down 95% with a few weeks of work. Shout out to Leslie McDevitt's training techniques. Today I got to teach a new behavior with confidence that noise wouldn't be built into the process. Fish is currently learning a retrieve which is a core component of his future medication reminder task.

We're also learning canicross with Pawsitive Futures for a fun bonding activity. I can definitely see some applications in service work for the dog powered sports training skills. It's always nice when the sport skills we learn for fun can help in our journey to becoming a successful service dog team. Plus he looks spiffy in yellow. :)

09/04/2021

Things have been quiet here as we rode out these trying times. Fish is now very successful at his Deep Pressure Task. He's also learning to lean into my legs on cue.

Currently I am working on a behavior of his that would make PA difficult and I might document some of that for you all. He has a lot to say about life, and he's learning to breathe instead. It's not barking typically but rather general shepherd conversational talking. Noise is a common reason for a dog to be washed out as a service dog so we will see how this work turns out.

If all goes well we will get to pick up where we left off over a year ago and resume working toward public access training. If not I might continue to wait for more maturity or decide that he is meant perform tasks at home only. Either way, we will enjoy each other.

08/10/2020

Fish had a great practice outing at Cabela's today.

08/09/2020

Resting up after a trip to the forest preserve. Lots of distractions for this teenager. He saw his first deer and learned how about walking near bikes and runners. His favorite thing to watch was an area with a bunch of chipmunks running through the leaves.

04/09/2020

Fish got to work on his loose leash walking with a shopping cart. Starting outdoors, without a vest, makes errors no big deal. He was awesome, no concern about the cart whatsoever.

16/07/2020

Fisher and I did some work outdoors today. COVID-19 has altered our training plans to a slower timeline so there hasn't been much to post. Public access work takes a great deal of well, being in public, which will be a bit difficult for the foreseeable future.

09/06/2020

Sorry for our long absence! Status Migraines aren't for the faint of heart. Fisher handled it like a champ though.

Well I had a really good run! Fisher didn’t have to cope with one of my excessively lengthy migraines until he was 11 months old. Thank goodness for that. That maturity really helped make thi…

14/05/2020

Fisher got to get up close and personal with some heavy machinery on our walk today.

14/05/2020

Check out this awesome blog from my friend Nina NonStop Dog Canine Training + Behavior.

Training to Stay in the Black and Avoid Behavioral Bankruptcy Part I: Spontaneous rewards for trained behaviors Two of the most common misconceptions about training with rewards or positive reinforcement are the sentiment that a cookie can’t compete with a squirrel and that your dog will only list...

15/04/2020

Whether you're socializing a puppy as a pet or with a bigger future in mind, it's important to consider the quality of those experiences. This is some of the framework I used when socializing Fisher for a future in service work.

Have you ever seen Aladdin? Where Jasmine is being drowned in sand as it flows down the hourglass? Socialization can feel a lot like that. If you haven’t, here it is! Time is slipping through…

13/04/2020

If you find yourself wanting to stop your dog or puppy's behavior whether that be barking, chewing, staring, jumping and more, you can use a positive interrupter. Any moment you have the very human notion to use, "No!" can be replaced with something more effective that your dog understands. Bonus, if your dog is truly concerned about something, you won't be making your job harder by yelling and creating a negative experience. No more yelling, happy people, happy dogs. Check it out.

Say goodbye to yelling at your dog. It’s time to interrupt barking (and more), all with a special sound. With so many of us spending more time, in enclosed spaces with our dogs, than ever bef…

09/04/2020

Service dogs need to be unobtrusive and out of the way in public so Fish is practicing lying behind my legs while I sit in a chair.

I use this as a grounding task for my PTSD as well, to help me not dissociate in places like restaurants, movie theaters, therapy, sitting at the park, etc.

07/04/2020

This one was fun to brainstorm. Really looking forward to putting some of these simulated real life scenarios to the test with Fisher.

Service Dog in Training, nowhere to go? What’s an owner trainer to do? I’ve got some ideas! As is the case with many aspects of life in this strange scenario we are living through, my p…

04/04/2020

Parking lot observation with nearly 10 month old Fisher. He may not be in the socialization period anymore but it is important to maintain exposures to novel people. When a pandemic hits you have to get creative.

I parked next to the cart corral so he experiences people right next to the car. Plus employees collecting all the carts.

He's people watching and I'm listening to a podcast. Mask on to get him used to the new look people have in public, on a familiar face. Also just in case he needs a bathroom break.

I have food in case he decides something is worrisome and has a reaction. Otherwise I'm letting him do his thing.

This is also a great way to get your dog used to the idea of hanging out in the car in a relaxed manner. A lot of dogs find the car to be very exciting and may pace or vocalize. Outings to nowhere, help our dogs learn that cars can be boring and not something to get worked up over.

04/04/2020

You've all been doing a lot of reading. Here's my puppy tax in thanks. Fisher is a cuddly fellow.

04/04/2020

Considering a service dog for yourself or a family member? Something to think about.

The question of who is in your village is an important one to ask when considering a service dog of any kind, especially an owner trained service dog. Owner Training a service dog can be a long and…

03/04/2020

Need something to do during the pandemic? Here's your first challenge for the human half of the team. You're going to develop a training language and learn it well before teaching it to your dog.

Before we can get into teaching your dog a behavior we need to give you both a common training language. In part 1A you will learn how to speak it. Ready? Our dogs don’t come to us programmed…

01/04/2020

When raising a puppy for service work you use every opportunity you have for socialization. Here I show you how to turn your exercise pen into a learning experience for your puppy, service dog candidate or pet. A Video of 10 week old Fisher getting a self led experience in new textures, movement, and sound is included. Remember to supervise your puppy with these exercise pen additions! Tips for easy exercise pen conversion from supervised to unsupervised included.

Exercise pens are a great option for new puppies. A lot of us already use them as a safe space for the puppy to hang out unsupervised. Now, what if I told you that same space could be a socializati…

27/03/2020

Free resources for raising and living with dogs in this global pandemic and a little about Fisher.

I'm currently working on some step by step training tutorials and enrichment activities to keep you all busy. Look for those soon.

Life has gotten a bit complicated lately hasn’t it? I won’t dive into the news, we’re all getting plenty of that right now. What I do want to talk about are 3 free resources for t…

27/03/2020

First blog post is up, come learn what this is all about.

Raising an Owner Trained Service Dog