Public Access Training (PAT)

Service Dog Training Classes in Northampton

April 27, 2017 by sharon Leave a Comment

Mastiff puppy curled on floor on a woman's feet under a table, wearing a red and black service dog vest. — *Photo courtesy of Tamar Paltin*

This summer, we’re offering group classes in two locations — service dog classes in Northampton and pet manners and obedience in Orange.

We’ll be offering three service dog classes in the Pioneer Valley:

Service Dog Foundations — intermediate/advanced manners and obedience focusing on the most important skills SDiT teams need for public access, starts on June 1
Assistance Tasks — an advanced class, training several assistance tasks for mobility, psychiatric, or medical alert service dogs, starts on June 15
Public Access training — intermediate/advanced class training in a variety of public spaces in the Valley (Hadley, Northampton, Holyoke, etc.), starts this fall

Looking for pet dog classes in the North Quabbin? We are still offering these year-round! Learn about Family Dog Manners & Obedience group classes.

Which is right for you and your dog? Learn more…

Service Dog Foundations

Service Dog Foundations is an intermediate/advanced manners and obedience class specific to the skills most important to SDiT teams, including “working dog walk,” handler focus, leave it, and settle. In every class, we also train how dog and handler work with with human interactions in public accommodations, including how to head off access challenges. The class also is a way for teams to work in a group with other SDiT teams that are sharing similar goals and challenges.

SDF Details

Classes are one hour, meeting weekly for six weeks. Dogs attend all classes. Class size is limited to 6 dogs. Enroll today to reserve your dog’s place in class.

Date: Starts Thursday, June 1 (runs through July 6)
Time: 1:30 PM
Location: Animal Alliances, 137 Damon Rd., Northampton, MA 01060
Fee: $160
Registration required: Yes, register your dog
Prerequisites: This is an intermediate level class…

Dog/handler team must be able to work well around other dogs and people
The team must have completed at least one (and preferably two) group classes in manners/obedience with At Your Service or Animal Alliances, or equivalent (classes with trainers with compatible methods may be acceptable — please get in touch to discuss this)
Teams that are new to At Your Service will be asked to complete a history on their dog
For more information visit Group Classes or register now
Have questions? Email or call us. We are happy to help.

Finn takes out the trash. *Photo courtesy of Barbara Handelman*

Assistance Tasks class

Assistance Tasks is an advanced class training common assistance skills often used by service dog teams, particularly for psychiatric or mobility-related disabilities. If your dog already has an excellent foundation in obedience and manners and is ready to move on to task-training, this is the class for you.

Assistance tasks are fun to train and are the “brass ring” that SDiT teams are reaching for! They are also complex, must be built slowly, and are usually extremely important to the handler, so they must be done right. Because tasks are unique to each team, they usually also necessitate private training. This class aims to reduce owner-trainer costs and errors by providing instruction in basics of common tasks in a group setting.

The class will start your dog on these skills:

Shaped retrieve (foundation for any task your dog does with their mouth, including retrieving dropped or named items, opening doors, covering with a blanket, dressing/undressing, etc.)
Guiding (take the handler to an exit, their car, an available seat, a specific person)
Alerting (alert to specific sounds, sights, situations, handler’s behavior, etc.)
Chin rest (foundation for deep pressure therapy and shaped retrieve)
One public access skill — “make yourself small” — training to fit in small spaces.

AT Details

Classes are one hour, meeting weekly for six weeks (but skipping one week in the middle — so the class will take 7 weeks). Dogs attend all classes. Class size is limited to 6 dogs. Enroll today to reserve your dog’s place in class.

Date: Starts Thursday, June 15 (runs through July 20)
Time: 12 PM
Location: Animal Alliances, 137 Damon Rd., Northampton, MA 01060
Fee: $160
Registration required: Yes, register your dog
Prerequisites: This is an advanced class…

Dog/handler team must be able to work well around other dogs and people
The team must have completed at least one (and preferably two) group classes in manners/obedience with At Your Service or Animal Alliances, or equivalent (classes with trainers with compatible methods may be acceptable — please get in touch to discuss this)
Skills will primarily be shaped. Both dog and handler must have relatively fluent marker/reward (clicker training) skills.
Dog must be reliable in two cued behaviors in a group class setting: 1. nose target (when cued, dog touches nose to handler’s hand or any other object) and 2. a down-on-target (usually referred to as a go-to-mat or go-to-place behavior)
Teams that have not worked with Sharon before will be asked to complete a service dog questionnaire before enrolling and may also need to attend a lesson/assessment, prior to enrolling
For more information visit Group Classes or register now
Have questions? Email or call us. We are happy to help.

Luca at the grocery checkout. Photo courtesy of Barbara Handelman

Coming in the fall: Public Access Training class

This intermediate/advanced class will focus on manners, obedience, and for dogs that are ready, tasks, in public settings. The class will be held in the Valley (Hadley, Northampton, Holyoke, etc.) and will meet in a variety of different settings — stores (home goods, grocery, pharmacy), restaurants (fast food or sit down), medical, possibly one rural location, etc. The class will end with an optional public access assessment for each team. Because of the complexity of finding the venues, etc., details of this class (including the cost, dates, etc) are still being determined. If you’re interested in this class, get in touch now to reserve your dog’s place.

Not sure which class would be right for you and your dog? Get in touch. I am happy to guide you.

Dog Training DISTRACTION! How to Respond to the Unexpected

October 11, 2016 by sharon 4 Comments

Training a dog to work well around distractions is often the greatest challenge. For service dogs, working well around distractions is critical for public access training, but all dogs are susceptible to distraction. Distractions may include people, squirrels, other dogs, bicycles or cars, jackhammers, or any unexpected sound, sight, or smell. What is distracting to one dog may not be to another.

Dog’s responses may vary from barking and lunging, to freezing and staring, to jumping with joy. We may not even realize our dog is distracted until they seem to ignore us when we tell them to do something they know how to do, perhaps sniffing the ground and ignoring their favorite treat.

Good training requires “proofing” a dog’s skills by practicing them around distractions until the behavior is reliable no matter what else is happening. However, sometimes a distraction occurs unexpectedly — on a walk, during a training session, or just in the course of everyday life. Our dog’s behavior may seem to fall apart. This is normal. The key to turning an unpleasant surprise into a valuable training opportunity is to adapt your response to your dog’s reaction to the distraction…. Text description for this graphic at end of post at http://atyourservicedogtraining.com/2016/10/09/distraction-flowchart/

Follow-up notes:

It’s best to end your training session while your dog is doing great! It’s human to want to keep going when the dog is doing well. But this inevitably results in pushing the dog to failure. Keep it short and sweet. You win five gold stars if you quit while your dog is doing well (BEFORE your dog fails)!
I give permission to anyone to share this post either by linking to this post (here is the link: http://atyourservicedogtraining.com/2016/10/09/distraction-flowchart/) ‎or by sharing the entire flowchart graphic, including my copyright information. Thank you!

Text description of the flowchart graphic:

Text headline: Responding to Distractions: What should you do? It depends on what your dog does.”

Purple pentagon “Distraction!” Arrow leads to black box with large print, “Is my dog acting like a creature who can THINK?” Three arrows lead from this box: Yes (on left), Somewhat (in the middle), and No (on the right).

“Yes” leads to three green boxes with a blue cloud above them. The cloud says, “UNDER threshold! You’re on Cloud 9! Train for best results.” The three green “yes” boxes are 1. Makes eye contact? Relaxed body? Happy to take treats? Responds to cues? 2. Cue reliable behavior (e.g., “touch”) and reinforce heavily for each correct response. 3. Slowly move toward the distraction, reinforcing heavily for focus. End quickly while successful!

“No” leads to three three boxes with a red “stop sign” shape above them. The red sign says, “Stop! Dog is over threshold! Give dog SPACE to think.” The three “No” boxes are a rose-colored box, “Staring? Barking? Lunging? Pulling? Growling?” This points to a pink box, “TAKE COVER. Move AWAY, use barriers, or give dog easy alternate focus.” This points to a yellow box, “Use ‘Look at That’ game with high rate of reinforcement to change your dog’s emotional response to distraction until…” An arrow from this box leads to the green “Makes eye contact?” box.

The “Somewhat” arrow in the middle leads to a yellow box, “Gulps, snatches at or ignores treats. Responds to cues slowly or only when repeated. Trouble making eye contact.” This leads to another yellow arrow-shaped box (pointing right) that says, “Caution: Dog is right at threshold of ability to think.” This box has an arrow that goes to the pink “TAKE COVER” box.

At the bottom of the graphic is “Copyright Sharon Wachsler 2016 ~ At Your Service Dog Training ~ atyourservicedogtraining.com.”

Access for Service Dogs in Training

August 23, 2016 by sharon Leave a Comment

Sadie down-stay under Pizza Hut table potato chips 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 the doctor? What about to restaurants? This post provides some answers and resources.

Rights for Trained Service Animal Teams

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), disabled people accompanied by a trained service animal have equal access rights to all public accommodations, including transportation, restaurants, lodgings, stores, medical and healthcare settings, etc.

Here is some additional information that may be helpful about the legal rights of business and service dog teams. Under the ADA, a trained service animal is a

Dog
Trained to perform tasks or do work related to the handler’s disability
Under handler control at all times, which is defined as leashed, tethered, harnessed, unless that would interfere with the dog’s work, in which case the dog must be under the handler’s control via voice, hand signals, or other cues)
House trained
Is not behaving in a way that fundamentally alters the nature of the service or poses a direct threat to others’ health and safety. Examples: a dog barks repeatedly during a movie, a dog growls and lunges at customers in a store, a dog covered in fleas in a doctor’s office. These dogs, or dogs with a history of such behavior, may be excluded.

Important notes:

Medical and food service establishments may NOT restrict access to a service dog team even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises.

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Rights for Service Dog in Training (SDiT) Teams

The ADA does NOT grant access rights to people training a service dog. However, in many US states, people who are training a service dog have the same rights of access as disabled people accompanied by trained service animals. This varies from state-to-state.

Here in Massachusetts, under Massachusetts General Laws Ch129, S39F:

Section 39F. A person accompanied by and engaged in the raising or training of a service dog, including a hearing, guide or assistance dog, shall have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as those afforded to an individual with a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. sections 12101 et seq.

To find out what the laws are in other states, look for your state in this Guide to Assistance Dog Laws (PDF) by Assistance Dogs International.

What About if People Don’t Know the Law?

While you may know your rights and responsibilities as a service dog handler or SDiT team, not everyone you come across will. And let’s be honest, the laws change often and are frequently confusing! It’s reasonable to expect that not everyone knows all the laws.

While SDiT or SD teams are under no legal obligation to provide places of accommodation with legal information, it often makes life easier for you to have something short and easy-to-read to offer people in stores, restaurants, doctor’s offices, etc. I offer my SDiT clients a card they can hand out that has some basic information on state and federal laws so they can respond to questions from strangers. I also write letters for clients who run into issues with doctors or other places they frequent. If you are working with another trainer, ask them to do something similar.

More Information and Resources

Our blog post on Frequently Asked Questions about Service Dogs
Unites States Department of Justice (DOJ) Service Animals handout — a one-page handout covering basic SD access issues that you may find worth printing and keeping with you
DOJ’s longer Q&A document — Frequently Asked Questions about Service Animals and the ADA
The DOJ also provides an ADA Info Line — Voice: 800-514-0301 or TTY: 800-514-0301-0383

Have you found another great legal resource for people training service dogs? Have a question about service dog training? Let us know in the comments.

Training Your Own Service Dog – Workshop June 18

May 31, 2016 by sharon Leave a Comment

Are you thinking about training a service dog for yourself or a family member?
Do you have a dog that you’re already training to be a future service dog but you’re not sure whether you’re going about it the best way?
Are you wondering what are the differences between a service dog and an emotional support animal?
Would you like more information about how to find the right dog to train?
Are you wondering what’s involved with training your own service dog?

For the answers to these and many more questions, come to Dakin Humane Society in Springfield, MA, on Saturday, June 18. This low-cost, two-hour workshop, Service-Dog Training: What You Need to Know, starts at 1 PM. Register now.

This informative presentation by professional service dog trainer Sharon Wachsler will tell you what you need to succeed with service dogs for diverse types of disabilities. Topics include …

Access rights and laws for dogs in-training and working dogs
Programs versus owner-training – which is right for you?
How to find the right candidate dog
The Service Dog Training Pyramid – the steps in training
When to consult with a trainer
Demonstrations of service dog tasks
Answers to your questions

Registration is $25 and covers two people. Dakin is wheelchair accessible.

If you have other access needs, please contact us in advance so that we can provide appropriate accommodations.

Note: THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR PEOPLE. Please leave your pet dog at home. Thank you!

About the Presenter

Sharon squatting on a suburban lawn, with Barnum, a black Bouvier. He has his mouth open and is turning to look at Sharon, who is turned to look at him. — Sharon and Barnum (former service dog)

Sharon Wachsler is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) who specializes in using positive methods to help people train their own service dogs. Sharon owns the dog training business, At Your Service Dog Training, LLC, in Wendell, MA. At Your Service helps people to train their dogs as canine assistants, including offering temperament tests and behavior assessments for candidate dogs, training for current pets, behavior modification and training when issues arise in working service dogs, and adaptive training techniques and gear for disabled handlers. At Your Service also offers puppy and pet dog training in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.

Sharon has over 18 years of experience in the service dog community and over 25 years of experience in the disability community, and continues to expand her expertise by attending dog behavior and training seminars, workshops, and conferences throughout the US. She is a graduate with distinction from the Dog Trainer Professional course of the prestigious Karen Pryor Academy of Animal Behavior & Training and received a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She is a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), a long-time member of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP), and a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP).

Sharon has written extensively on service dog issues. As founder of the Assistance Dog Blog Carnival, an award-winning writer for the IAADP newsletter Partners Forum, and owner of the popular service dog blog, After Gadget, Sharon has been a respected voice in the service dog community for over a decade. Contact Sharon to discuss how At Your Service Dog Training can help you take the next steps on your service dog journey.

How to Succeed at Public Access Training with Your Service Dog

April 11, 2016 by sharon 6 Comments

Public Access Training is a Training Field Trip

There is a lot more to public access training (PAT) than bringing your dog with you. We take children on school field trips to places where they can learn something specific. We have chaperones, and we are not trying to get anything else done on a school field trip. If we bring our dogs with us but are not 100 percent focused on training, our dogs may learn things we don’t want them to learn:

“What works at home doesn’t work in public. At home if I sit, I get a treat. Here, if I sit, she doesn’t notice (because she’s talking to her boss). So I won’t sit away from home.”
“Being in public is exciting (or scary)! I’m freaked out, but my person can’t take me home because she’s running errands. I’m learning that I should freak out in public.”
“I get to do what I want! She’s busy taking a test. I’ll just sniff people who walk past.”

What Is the Purpose of a PAT “Field Trip”?

Training the dog to generalize. The dog knows what “sit” means in your home, but does she know what “sit” means in the car, in the parking lot, in the store, at the park?
Build positive associations with strange places so she begins to take them in stride.
Work with distractions. Can she focus on you at the pet store, surrounded by people, dogs, food, and toys? On the sidewalk of a city street with buses going past? In the country at a farm stand, with cows and horses nearby?

How Can You Make Field Trips Successful?

There are several “moving parts” to a successful PAT trip that you’ll need to coordinate:

What Your Dog Knows

Your dog should already know some behaviors very well at home. In public, focus your training on the skills your dog is rock-solid on at home, even if it’s just “sit.”
Your dog feels safe and relaxed enough to think. If he’s scanning the environment for dangers or enticements, he won’t care about the cookie you give him for sitting.
Your dog already has excellent focus (eye contact) with you when asked around lower-level distractions. Once he can focus on you in the yard or on walks, you can try at your workplace, school, or at the grocery store.

What YOU Know

Your training plan. It should include…
- Which specific behaviors you plan to work on: Heel? Eye contact? Sit Leave it?
  Sit-stay near a shopping cart. (*Photo source)
- What emotional associations are forming? If your dog is worried about shopping carts, you might give several pieces of meat after each one goes by. Once she’s happy to see a cart, start training Sit around shopping carts.
- Your criteria: Are you working on speed (a prompt Sit) or on duration (a Sit-Stay) or on distraction (Sit when I ask even when a friendly person walks by)?
Be physically ready. BEFORE you let the dog out of the car, do you have your treats handy? Is your thumb on the clicker? Is the leash comfortable in your hand?
Be mentally ready: focused on your dog. To reinforce the behaviors you want, you need to notice them as they occur. Likewise, to keep your dog from learning things you don’t want her to learn, you’ll need to interrupt or redirect her if she starts trying them out.
Quit while the behavior is good. A successful session ends before the dog’s behavior starts to go downhill. Offer just the amount of challenge he can succeed at, not more.

TIP: It usually takes MANY training field trips before you can “multitask” and combine your life’s activities with your dog’s training.

Best Places for PAT Field Trips

Start with locations that are easier versions of the public situation you’ll want to train in future. Start with locales that are less busy or noisy than usual, and when you have plenty of time:

Your friend’s house – less chaotic than public spaces, but still not your dog’s home
School or work after hours – you can focus on your dog and the space is less distracting
Well-managed group dog classes – your dog can practice focusing on you around other people and dogs, and you don’t have to uphold social niceties because you’re here train
Store back entrances or loading docks – usually less activity than the main entrance
Outdoor spaces during bad weather – fewer people, more space for you and your dog

Double-Tasking: When to bring your dog with you on errands

Large fluffy white dog lying down on a carpeted library floor with hind legs extended in relaxation. — A relaxed down-stay is a critical public access skill. (**Source)

When your dog has shown on several previous training field trips that he can perform the behaviors you want reliably, without undue stress, and with some lasting power, you can start combining “real life” with training. Usually the skills that make this possible are…

A reliable long down-stay or go-to-mat
A reliable/consistent loose-leash walk
Reliable cued AND default eye contact/focus (including around distractions)
Reliable cued AND default “leave it”

Parting Tip: Slow Is Fast

We may try to bring our service-dogs-in-training with us to be efficient – to get two things (life AND dog training) done at the same time. But if our dog is not learning what we want him to learn, we will later have to spend more time retraining that behavior. That is the opposite of efficient! Instead, go slow and build good behaviors slowly over time. In the long run, you will reach your goal of having a well-trained service dog more quickly. Then you will have your dog’s lifetime to go everywhere together with ease!

Photo Credits:

*http://www.pawsitivityservicedogs.com [CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

**https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Zipster969