Service Dog Training Lecture Series –

Self-Control Exercises for Service Dog Candidates

Speakers: Dee Ganley, and Barbara Handelman

Description: Self-control for service dogs goes above and beyond that which is required of a well-trained unobtrusive pet dog.  Service dogs doing public access work require self-control that exceeds the imagination of most pet dog people, and beyond the natural capacity of the average pet dog.  In his day to day life, a service dog must rest quietly and out of the way in restaurants where food and food smells surround them.  They must remain calm in a wide range of circumstances including rowdy crowds; encounters with small, impulsive children; tolerate petting by adult strangers and hugs from unsupervised toddlers; be searched by security personnel; wait for long periods while their handler receives medical attention; remain non-reactive to pet dogs barking, growling and lunging nearby; be unperplexed by loud sounds, such as sirens, arriving subway trains, balloons popping, planes taking off, MRI machines, etc.; tolerate feet in close proximity to their bodies while riding crowded public transportation; and remain calm at rallies, concerts, movies, and sports events.  People rarely think how the average dog would react to such situations.  Fewer still imagine the amount of specialized training required before we can rest assured that our service dogs are “bomb proof” in each and all of such situations.

Recommended Text: Changing People, Changing Dogs: Positive solutions for difficult dogs: Click here for a hardcopy and for the ebook – Click here

Learning Objectives:  This lecture will introduce you to just some of the self-control behaviors that are taught to service dog candidates. All the skills we illustrate were taught in a step-by-step sequence. Using Duration, Distance, Distraction, and adding all together for the Difficulty of the self control behaviors.  We will remind you how desensitization and skill practice is required in high stimulus situations, and introduce you to some of the specific self-control skills that must be taught during the preparation of a dog for public access service work.

• All the skills to be illustrated in this webinar are taught in a step-by-step sequence.
  • Using Duration, Distance, Distraction, and adding all together for the Difficulty of the self control behaviors, using the principles of operant conditioning.
• How desensitization and skill practice is utilized in high stimulus environments
• Specific self-control skills that are essential for service dogs including:
  • Focus Exercises Involving Food and Eye Contact
  • Loose Lead Walking In High Stimulus Environments
  • Permission Games For Honing “Leave It” And Waiting To Receive Treats Or Meals
  • Leslie McDevitt’s 1, 2, 3 Treat Game for focused work on lead
  • Go to a Mat
  • Exercises in Preparation for Long Down Stays
  • Long Down Stays with Distractions
  • Wait For Permission to Exit Buildings and Vehicles
  • Working with a Longe/Lunge Whip for High Drive Activity and Self Control
  • Polite Greetings
  • Self Control at the Vet’s Office
  • Self Control Around Other Animals and Novel Stimuli
  • Positions and Obstacles
  • On, Under, Around, Down on the Move

Cost: $25.00 USD   

Click on the ADD TO CART to register.

Speaker: Dee Ganley, CPDT-KSA, CBCC-KA, CABC, CAP2, Master WAG IT instructor, Dognition Evaluator, CGC Evaluator Dee is one of those people who find joy and solace being with dogs. She is happiest in their company and proud to have earned their trust. She has experienced the deeply civilized “conversations” that happen between well trained dogs and their handlers. She knows that she is a better person – more just, more open-minded, much kinder and certainly happier – because of the friendship of her four-footed friends.
The training and behavioral work Dee does with the public and shelter community is about how to achieve two goals:  getting behavior we want and getting rid of behavior we don’t want, humanely and while having fun! Dee teaches positive reinforcement, and she places a very strong emphasis on managing a dog’s environment for safety.
Over the years, the dogs and people Dee has helped have returned the favor 100 fold.  They have taught her that learning and teaching is about “calm attentiveness.” Fixing problems starts with paying attention – quietly, openly and always positively.  Learning this, Dee has become much more relaxed, calm and decisive in my interactions with dogs. You get attention when you give attention. Working effectively with dogs means communication starts with the calm, attentive watcher.  Wonderfully, this way of listening with your eyes as well as your ears, becomes a way of life and spills over into everything.
Teaching agility for fun and using games to keep classes light and fun for all is what Dee is best known for. Come join in one of Dee’s classes! She has helped numerous service dog teams train and achieve their public access privileges through the years.
Dee has titled many dogs in many different venues and today still competes with her current dogs in NOSE WORK, and WAG IT GAMES when she has the time.
Check out Dee’s book, Changing People, Changing Dogs: Positive Solutions for Difficult Dogs, where she is described as a “skilled dog trainer, handler, behaviorist and author, [who] shares her 35+ years’ experience working with service dog prospects and their people and modifying aggressive dog behavior.”
For more info on Dee, please go to her web site at: www.deesdogs.com

****Due to the nature of these webinars being recorded live – at the speakers home or office – there will/may be some technical issues that can not be helped or edited without losing important portions of the lecture.

CEU’s Available:
2 IAABC CEU’s
2 CCPDT CEU’s
2 ABCDT-L2 CEU’s
2 NADOI CEU’s
2 PPAB/PPG

***Note on CEUs-All participants of the Live webinar will receive CEUs on request. Those who view the recorded version only, will need to take and pass a 5 question quiz after viewing the recording.