Service Dog Training: BASIC COMMANDS // Re-Training Service Dog after COVID

My hair is frizzy because it is air drying from the shower. Hello guys, this is Jen. Welcome to Momming with Migraine. Last week I shared some of my 2022 goals for YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, and other stuff. And one of the biggest goals that I shared with you for this year is that I want to retrain my service dog, Buddy. Here's a card. In that video I talked about what some of the biggest issues were that I wanted to address with him. But in this video I'm gonna tell you what phase one is going to be for our new training protocol. I'm not actually doing phases. I don't actually have this big protocol in my head. But I have definitely decided what our starting point is going to be. That is lowering the camera. In this video I'm going to go over a list of over 30 commands that are great puppy raising goals if you're planning on making your puppy into a service dog. These are skills that most service dogs will need to learn. This list goes beyond your basic sit, stay, and come and into more service dog specific obedience skills like heel, under, and moving closer to the handler. But this list doesn't quite go into public access things yet like cars, doors, ignoring things, strangers, which makes it perfect for postpartum at home training. And it's also not yet task training. Task training is the things that a service dog does to mitigate the handler's disability. And it is what legally makes a service dog. I feel like I can maybe hear what you're thinking. Hey Jen, isn't this list way too easy for a service dog? Isn't this way too easy for a fully trained, task trained service dog? Yeah, it is. Yeah, this should be super easy for Buddy. But I have a daughter who just turned one a couple of weeks ago and I am due to deliver baby number two any minute. Woo, sexy chair. So I'm starting with training that's light, that's fun, and that will have a really high success rate for my service dog. While we get used to working together again and while he gets used to being obedient for longer and longer durations of time again. Remember, sometimes training isn't just about training. In this case, it's also about his mental stimulation, about building our bond again, the handler service dog team bond that's so important. And it's about establishing a routine for him again too. A routine with me, not just the routine he has with my husband. Service dog retraining after COVID is much more common than you might think. And it's not just because I've had two babies during COVID. Almost had two babies, I think this counts. Why is it that so many service dogs are rusty after COVID? Well, for one, service dogs require constant training and constant exposure to stimuli. Without it, they can regress. Two, this is especially true for a dog that is used to the kind of lifestyle where they are constantly out and about with their handler. These dogs are used to being out, getting stimulated for like many hours a day. You can't go from that to a quarantine and then just hop back into that and expect that the dog will be able to handle that for hours and hours on your outings. It's not realistic. Three, service dogs have disabled handlers who struggle to keep up with training on their own. Not a blanket rule that it's hard to keep up with training, but probably pretty freaking close to a blanket rule. When you're disabled enough to have a service dog, it's because you're disabled enough to have a service dog. Four, other circumstances also can come up. It's not just COVID. In my case, making two babies during COVID. But it could also be that your disability has a flare up for a few months, you end up sitting at home for a couple of months, and then your service dog needs to be retrained again or brushed up because they're a little bit rusty. Let's quickly talk about my starting point with Buddy just so that we are abundantly clear. Buddy is legally a fully trained, task trained service dog and he and I have public access rights. He and I still do work together in public. He's shown no concerning behaviors. He's not in danger of being washed. He's not on some kind of sabbatical. The limitations that have kept him from being out and about with me are strictly physical or weather related because we have to choose cars based on the weather and our car seats and which car can take Buddy at the same time as car seats. In addition to what I said in that video last week, most of what I wanna cover with Buddy is just making sure that he is rock solid on ignoring distractions when we're out in public the way that he used to be because he's just not as autopilot as he was. And now that I have two babies, I'm even more distracted than before when we're in the store. So Buddy needs to be even more focused than before when we're in the store. Otherwise, it's gonna be really difficult for me to feel like I can make the transition from me and Buddy being a team, me, Buddy, and one baby being a team, me, Buddy, and two babies. It starts to kind of push it if Buddy is having any issues with distractions or if I need to be paying any attention to him. Since I've worked with him a lot before as my service dog, I know that he has the potential in him to do a really great job and to ignore everything that there is at the store. He was a really great, happy-to-work service dog before all of this happened. And he still loves working and he still does a good job. But I need autopilot. I already said it in the beginning of the video, but I'm gonna say it again now because I know you YouTube people, you skip around a lot. This is important. Training should be fun for you and for the puppy. You want success and fun. I picked this list from humananimalbond.org. It's humanimal, humanimalbond.org because it's long, pretty inclusive, and I liked it. But I also chose it because Buddy is fluent in almost all of these commands. He's certainly fluent in the ones that we use while we're out. That means that when we do training using this list, to Buddy, it'll almost be more of a game than training. But it'll be a game in obedience, in taking commands from me over and over. And just because I know how much Buddy is eager to please and how much he loves to work, I know he's gonna be like, oh, I love this game. I can win this game. I can play this game exactly the way Jem wants. I did say he would love this game. Ooh, you excited? So we'll get into this routine. He'll be able to do all of these behaviors that he mostly already knows, and he will have no idea that he's actually just taking obedience commands from me over and over and over. And that will make it so that he builds up that habit for when we do go out into public access again, whenever that is. It's perfect for postpartum, perfect for at home, and we'll be adding the three Ds of dog training. Distance, duration, and distraction during my postpartum healing. So maybe right now he can do the list no problem while I'm pregnant. But what about while I'm nursing? Can I tell him from across the room that I want him to do a particular behavior? Can I have him sit and do a down stay way over there for like half an hour while I'm getting up and doing things with this newborn? Who knows? We'll find out. But it's a great time to do this particular list because Buddy will excel at it. Later on, we'll get into the public access specific stuff. We will brush up on car manners. We will brush up on door manners like at the mall. We will make sure that he's doing well with leaving food out in public, not just here and not just outside in our neighborhood. When the weather's nicer, we'll be able to go to parks, do more dog exposure training, make sure we're brushed up on that. That'll all be when I'm healed. That'll all be in the spring when the weather is a lot nicer. But for now, I'm happy to have this organization and structure in mind for the next few months. Are you ready for the list? Not every service dog needs to know every single one of these commands. And since Buddy and I have already worked together a lot, I know which ones we use. And I know that some of them, we even use different words. So I'll share those little details, but for the most part, I'm just gonna go ahead and read you this list. One is watch to get the dog's attention. Two is watch me to get eye contact. For Buddy, we say, Buddy, he looks. We use the word look to get eye contact. Buddy, look. Good look. Good boy. Three, sit on the butt. Sit. Four, down onto the elbows. Later on the list, number 19 is settle to calm down. I think they might be referring to the off switch. I'm not sure, but we use settle after down if we want Buddy to go from elbows to butt down to the side. Does that make sense? I might've talked about this in the video with Buddy's tricks, but we use down for just elbows, just down like Sphinx. And then settle means get on your side. Down. Good. Settle. Good Buddy. Back up to where we were on the list. Stand. To stand on all four legs. This is great after he does deep pressure therapy. I tell him stand, he'll get up. Come. This is full come to where you can actually touch the dog or come to a sit is what some people do where the sit should be automatic for your service dog. Up to the handler, up to the trainer. Come. Good. Here is to advance to you in no specific position. We sort of do that. There are a lot of commands for Buddy where I'm like, come on, bud. It's not formal, but he gets what I mean. So that's kind of what we use for here. Buddy, let's go. Come on. Good boy. Buddy, come on. Come on. Good boy. Number eight, stay, which is freeze wherever you are. Stay. And number nine, wait, stop moving forward. So for Buddy, we use wait mostly like at the front door. Wait means don't go past front door, but he can move behind it, behind the, what's that called, the doorframe? He can move behind the doorframe, but he just can't keep going. Or if we want him to stay on the porch, we'll tell him wait and we show him where to wait. 10, release, to be done with work. We use the word okay. Some people say free. Some people say yes. Release is an important command. 11 is no. We all know no. Slightly different from 12, which is don't. I use uh-uh. It means the puppy is about to do something that you don't want it to do, and you are trying to get them to not do the behavior. Some people use don't. On this list, they differentiate that no is to get the puppy's attention and tell them they're not doing the correct thing versus don't is refrain from commencing with a bad behavior that's not wanted. Off means all feet on the floor. Meerkat, off, good boy. Let's go means start to move. Once again, I just say come on, buddy, or I'll say this way. I guess sometimes I'll say let's go. Again, not a formal command for us. 15 is heel, which is to walk with the handler on the left side. Good boy. 16 is side, which is to heel on the right side. We don't use a command for a right side heel. I tell Buddy heel and I tap on my left side when I want him to heel. If I do want him to heel on my right side, I just tap on my right side and kind of point, and he understands what I mean, but I don't use a command word for the right side because I don't often use the right side. Number 17 is leave it. Don't touch it, don't anything. Buddy did the leave it challenge. He has a very strong leave it. Jump, good, leave it. Good boy. Okay. Number 18, get busy to go to the bathroom. We use hurry up. Some people use potty. 19 is settle to calm down, which I already talked about previously when we were at like number five. Number 20 is go through. I'm gonna read this because I don't know this one. To move ahead of the person, turn around and position herself to be able to back up through a narrow doorway or passage. So I guess that's your dog's in a heel, they move ahead of you, turn around to be able to back up through. Oh, is that so I can back up? Who's backing up? I don't know. But to Buddy, through means through the legs and it's hilarious because he does it to people who aren't expecting it and they're like, why is Buddy bashing his face on my thighs? I'm like, oh, he wants to go through your legs. Hey, Buddy, go. 21 is back to step backwards. This is super important when you're working to be able to walk backwards with your service dog while they're healing. Good boy. We also use this all the time for moving baby gates. If Buddy's in the way, we'll tell him to back up sometimes. 22 is follow. So instead of side by side, the dog drops behind you if you're in a really crowded place. This is not something that we taught Buddy. It sort of just happens naturally. 23 is go around. It's to go around an object. Probably more important for a mobility dog that's more strictly mobility. For Buddy, if I want him to go in a particular place, I just point. 24 is move. It literally just means move anywhere. I need to be where you are, so move. We do use move with Buddy, mostly when he's laying where we need to walk. I think the most common is he's between the coffee table and the couch, and my pregnant butt just can't step over him. 25 is closer. This is also important for service dogs and maneuvering in public. It's to get your service dog to move within inches of you. With Buddy, I use close, and it means contact with my thigh. Stay. Close. Good boy. Guys, very tiny pet peeve with Buddy. When I have a shopping cart, he likes to look around the shopping cart, so he will put his heel out like six inches or a foot from where I want him, and I'm constantly like, Buddy, close. And he'll push back in. So that's 25. 26 is go to another person. In our house, we say, go say hi. We'll either say, go say hi, Mom, go say hi, Dad. Good boy. Hey, Buddy, hi, Mom. Good boy, Buddy. Hi, Dad. Good boy. Buddy, hi, Mom. Good boy. Buddy, hi, Dad. Buddy, through. Good boy. 27, under. This tells your dog to go under the table, under the chair, and to tuck their paws and tail in so that they're out of the way. I don't have a formal command for under. I just point, Buddy goes. 28, that's all, is to stop a behavior. Buddy does this rude thing on his bed sometimes. I don't use, that's all. I use, chill out. Or I will use an alternate command, a thing that he can do instead. Like, I will just ask for him to lay down. So that's all is not one that I use very much. If I do, I say, chill out, or enough. 29 is careful. Careful is used to say, approach that thing carefully. For us, that's be nice, or you can smell. It just means don't get your nose all up in it. Babies, don't get your nose up in the baby. You guys saw me use that command in the video where I said that Buddy and the baby are best friends. It was a quick correction where I said be nice and he stopped licking the baby. We have just a couple more. Number 30 is get a drink for water. We just say water, but I don't think you really need to tell the dog water. They know it's water. And last but not least, 31 is quiet. So stop barking, or howling, or whining, or whatever it is that the dog is doing. This, again, is not something that we have to use with Buddy. Buddy's never really been a howler or a whiner. He'll howl if he's really excited to see someone at the door and he has a toy in his mouth, and he's off duty and we're at home. It's this really cute howl for four seconds. He also only whines if he desperately has to go to the bathroom. If he has the runs, or if he has to throw up, he will whine at the door, and that means, let me out of here. But he's never false alarmed us on that. So there's our list of 31. My battery might die, so I might just randomly cut off this video. But like I said before, we're gonna work on that list, solidify the things that are maybe a little bit rusty, but I think he's still up to date on all of it. Then we work on the three D's of dog training, duration, distance, distraction. And then in the spring, we'll see where we are and we'll reassess, and we'll come up with what phase two is. I hope this is helpful for those of you guys who have service dogs that you are retraining after COVID, or those of you who are raising a puppy to hopefully be a future service dog. This is a really great list of commands that you're probably going to need in order to maneuver around when you're doing your public access stuff. I am running out of breath. Thanks for joining me. I'll see you guys again next time. Comment below and let me know if you think the baby is gonna be born before the next time that I see ya. If this one is born at the same gestational age as baby A, then she'll be born before you see me again. Bye, guys. ♪♪♪