Can I Switch Her To "Service Dog In Training?"

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Mateo

Super Service- Schnoodle

Barked: Sun Dec 2, '12 2:07am PST


	Can I get a response to this, because I feel as if you are completely glossing over the fact that you washed her out due to dog reactivity just two months ago. I don't think she is ready to go ANYWHERE in a vest, particularly when she could attack another dog. I can only stress but so much that you get Bella temp tested by a professional trainer prior to putting her in vest. It does you both a great disservice otherwise. How? Because if she is unable/unwilling to work and the trainer picks up on that, they can save you both a whole bunch of heartache down the line.

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 2, '12 3:00pm PST


	Mateo- I totally understand what you're saying, and that is great advise! I will not be putting her in any vest that has anything saying "Service dog in training" Or "Service Dog" any time soon, I don't plan on it until I A. Get her CGC which we're signing up for classes right now and B. Have done a lot of training in the pet stores so I know she is behaving well. I will only put her in a vest that says she is training, and not to pet her, but I will mention nothing of it being service dog training. If someone asks, I'll just say I'm working on her distraction training or something along those lines. I know I did say she was reactive, though again I'm still not exactly sure what a reactive dog really is. When I saw the dogs in the pet store a few days ago, they all acted like how she used to or worse. So if she was reactive, all those dogs were also. (If you get what I mean?) So I'm not thinking that she was really reactive, just overly hyper and not yet trained well enough because she has none of the issues she used to. And I know it's not that easy to train a reactive dog to not be reactive, so again, I'm not thinking that she really was reactive just not well enough trained yet and such. (I'm trying to explain this but it's not working out right, I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at) The only public places I am really taking her to train right now are to petstores, and soon to her training classes. Other than that she only goes with me to a few places that I have to go (Such as therapy) Where I made sure to call ahead of time and stress that she is not a service dog, is not trained, but she is my ESA. She never goes in any kind of vest, and I never claim that she is either a service dog or a service dog in training (Not that anyone ever asks) And she has never misbehaved in any of those places. (She goes just about every week, and will be going twice a week soon) If I feel she is having a bad day, or something along those lines, and I feel she might not do as well as normal, I either take my cat or guinea pig. (Which I also got approved) or I just don't go. I would love to work with a trainer, and if there was one around me, I would jump at the chance, however there are not many trainers around me at all. Let alone good trainers that would work to help me. Honestly the best trainers around here are at pet smart, which is why I talked to one of the trainers there and I'm going to be taking the Inter. class there to see if Bella knows all that stuff (It's free so why not) and if she does, the trainer will take her out of that class an move her to Advanced. If she finishes that, she says she'd be more than willing to let me take the CGC test.

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Member Since
02/06/2013

Barked: Wed Feb 6, '13 4:35am PST


	Hi there, I applaud your effort to err on the side of caution, but it doesn't sound like your dog is reactive at all. I work with reactive dogs and the term "reactive" is not clearly defined. -One expert, Karen Overall, describes "reactivity" as a response to normal stimuli with an abnormal (higher-then-normal) level of intensity. -More generally, it's used to describe dogs who exhibit serious fear behaviors (like barking, lunging, etc.) to stimuli. -It can also be a kind of euphemism for aggression, basically an alternate term that shows awareness that the dog is usually fearful, not "mean" or just "bad". (For example, a response to one of your earlier posts mentioned the possibility that your dog would attack another dog. A dog that attacks another dog (unprovoked, anyway) is a reactive dog. -Even more specifically, it is often used to describe leash-aggression, when dogs who are otherwise fine (usually with other dogs) act reactive only when they are on-leash. Most of the time, if trainers / dog training programs offer "reactive dog" classes, they are specifically for dogs with leash aggression. If it is a "reactive dog" camp, on the other hand, it's usually offered to more severely reactive dogs. There are several types of reactivity: dog-dog reactivity, dog-human reactivity, reactivity to inanimate stimuli. Sometimes, dogs with just general anxiety are labeled "reactive". With respect to your case, I doubt your dog would be disqualified from service-dog training due to reactivity. As others have mentioned, you should have a professional evaluate her. A response like getting over-excited at seeing other dogs with no history of any "aggressive" response sounds more like a behavior either that can be trained out of her with pretty simple behavior modification or that your dog will grow out of on her own (likely with age or increased interaction with other dogs - if she sees, interacts with, and plays with other dogs all the time, those experiences will become routine and thus much less apt to overstimulate her). In summary, a reaction of any type to other dogs does not make her "reactive". Reactivity almost always refers to specific reactions, usually "aggression" or other fear behaviors. Hope this helps.

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Crazy Sadie- Lady

Im a SD and- proud of it so- there!!!!

Barked: Mon Feb 11, '13 2:03pm PST


	I am slowly working sadie back in to duty since we have been out of working order for some time now. I have just maintaining her basic training. It has been mainly cause I have been dealing with my disociation disorder for some time, well as a worker I work with that does not allow me to bring her in the car wile we are working. I have PAs now that do not mind if I bring her but thier vehic. is not a very good one that I would bring sadie in to. It is also snowing now a lot the last few day and I bearly go out myself. I guess we all have these days and so I just go with the flow of things and try to main tayn what I can. So I can relate to you for changing the status of your dog.

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Leah

1284825

Barked: Thu Feb 28, '13 10:42am PST


	Where do you live? If you are anywhere near DC, I would be happy to help you with the training - I'll even take her in the snow! p.s. I'm the one who wrote the post above about defining reactivity, but now I have added my dog's name and picture. Edited by author Thu Feb 28, '13 10:44am PST

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Crazy Sadie- Lady

Im a SD and- proud of it so- there!!!!

Barked: Thu Feb 28, '13 1:03pm PST


	Bella I wish you were up here, in Maine. I don't mean to sound despret. I just don't have anyone to do training with and it's a really good thing to train with other dogs sometimes. Sadie likes little dogs Big dogs make her think she can play rough sometimes. She has a tendency to try to dominate when she plays but only with dogs her size or bigger. Little dogs she lets them dominate her ' lol;' I know it sound weird but its true. I think it is cause she was raised with a lil dog who was older. Maybe Bella would like that and being with other dogs wile she trains would help her with a social thing so when she is ready to be out in stores she won't react. That is what I would suggest.

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Levi

PSDiT

Barked: Sat Mar 2, '13 10:13am PST


	I can't say as to if she's ready to be a SDiT or not but if you think having a vest like that on her will keep people from petting her, you're sadly mistaken. Unfortunately, even having a bright red vest on my dog often doesn't keep people from petting or distracting him while he's working. Telling people to stop petting is just going to be something you're going to have to get used to either way and is something I'm definitely still working on.

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sat Mar 2, '13 10:33am PST


	Leah- I'm about two hours or so from DC. Sadie- Sadly I'm about nine hours from Maine though I think that would benefit Bella a lot.

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Crazy Sadie- Lady

Im a SD and- proud of it so- there!!!!

Barked: Sat Mar 2, '13 5:39pm PST


	Yes if you could find even play groups for dogs and etc. it would be good socializing is a must do I think. That is the most important thing for a SD. I hope you well and good luck.