Tasks

The Service and Therapy Dog forum is for all service and therapy dogs regardless of whether or not their status is legally defined by federal or state law, how they are trained, or whether or not they are "certified." Posts questioning or disputing a person's need for a service or therapy dog, the validity of a person's service or therapy dog, or the dog's ability to do the work of a service or therapy dog are not permitted in this forum. Please keep discussions fun, friendly, and helpful at all times.

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Mateo

Super Service- Schnoodle

Barked: Sat Dec 15, '12 7:17pm PST


	If you're in a place with not a lot of people shouldn't there be a far higher likelihood of them giving you space than in a crowded place? Besides, having trained with a 6 lb SDIT, people do not give you space, if anything they just come closer. Your dog's lack of interest in your episodes could mean one of two things. Either she is simply uninterested and may or may not be able to be taught to recognize them, and if she can, may or may not be able to alert, or notices and is stressed out by you attempting to make her "ground" you. Grounding is something YOU do. What many newbie SD handlers don't realize is that the dog aides you with tools to recognize your own imbalances. You yourself have to have the tools to take over and calm yourself. Bella is a furry comfort. You need to use that comfort to calm yourself. She can't and shouldn't be expected to do it all for you.

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Chief- Majestix the- Impeccable

1243866

moderator

Barked: Sat Dec 15, '12 10:56pm PST


	I taught Chief to interrupt my face picking and cuticle biting/picking. The way he learned it: I took my fingers to my face and pretended to pick. He thinks it's fun and stands up my arm. I click and praise and treat him for it. Therefor I reinforce this behavior. As soon as he got the idea about the face and fingers, we practiced standing up, sitting on a sofa, in the car.. whenever I have my fingers in my face and mouth or I pick them, he stands up my leg or arm or is in my face or whatever he comes up with. It's not an alert, it's his strategy to interrupt a compulsive behavior. The way he does it is up to him. He filtered two behaviors, which he chose for this purpose. I like that and it helps me big time.. Haven't bitten my cuticles in a while now. Have fun practicing.

Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 7:08am PST


	Mateo- Attempting to be a little nicer wouldn't hurt. I don't try and make her "ground" me. In fact when I'm having panic attacks all I do is sit and pet her, I've never tried to make her ground me. She does sorta "Notice and react to" panic attacks though has never alerted to them. All I'm looking for is to teach her to scratch or paw at my leg/arm on cue, I'm not looking for comfort so much as just something to snap me out of the chain of thoughts that lead to panic attacks by having me focus on her instead. I don't know how you expect me to ground myself? I also don't understand what you mean by "She can't and shouldn't be expected to do it all for you" She doesn't even have any tasks so far, I'm only making up ideas of some that could help me and trying to find out how to train them. It's not as if I'm asking her to do 110 things. The task I'm talking about teaching at the moment (Grounding) would just simply be whenever I get trapped in a train of thought that's leading bad ways, I can signal to her to paw at me so that I have something to focus on other than my thoughts which snaps me out of it.

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 7:11am PST


	Cheif- Thanks, that really helps!

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Happy

The Boy Wonder

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 9:02am PST


	Bellatrix, grounding is a technique taught in concert with a psychiatrist. You are taught to ground yourself, the dog actually can't do it for you, they can initiate or alert to your need, and can be used during the process but can't actually ground you. It's a much misunderstood term, and many handlers use it without understanding what it is or why it's a task. You can use deep pressure therapy to help calm yourself. I highly recommend you get into some sort of treatment program as it sound like you could really use a course on anxiety. A service dog is a great tool but they need to be used in conjunction with actual medical treatment for your conditions. As for alerting to panic attacks I would see if you could have someone film you in a few stores and restaurants and see if there are come common behaviors leading up to your attacks. There generally are small subtle cues that a dog could then be trained to respond to, catching it before it escalates. When you get a trainer they might can do this with you as part of her public access training. Leading you out of a building is a great task depending on your level of awareness... leading you completely unaware is not feasible and could get both of you hurt. Guiding requires at least some awareness of the handler and I'll likely catch it for this one but Bella is really too small for safe and comfortable guiding between the two of you. Yes she can be trained to respond to obsessive behaviors (which are often prequels to panic attacks) and this is a good task to start with if you know you're doing it. If you'd like to message me I could see if I could go through more and make your list more solid.

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 1:27pm PST


	Happy- Thanks for the response, all the info was very helpful! Mateo- I'm here to ask questions, not to be talked to rudely, adding "With all due respect" Doesn't make your cruel words any less hurtful or rude. No I don't know everything, again, that's why I'm here to ask questions. Yes I do call ahead, and no they are not mistaken between a SD and an ESA because I explain to them that she is just an ESA NOT a SD and is NOT trained. I do that specifically for that reason, I'm not trying to give SDs a bad name, even though she has never done anything wrong in a real place like the dentist. I honestly see no point in mentioning my age? Being 15 or 50 doesn't change the fact that I was prescribed a service dog and am trying to train my dog the best I possibly can. (Though you did get my age wrong) You can't say that my dog is reactive or aggressive, because you have never met her. I did, in the beginning, think she was reactive because she pulled so much, but I realised it was just that I hadn't trained her enough, after I worked on it for a long time, she has no issues with it now. I can tell you for a fact that she is not dog aggressive, she never has been, even when she was attacked by another dog she did nothing. She has met tons of dogs in her life, all different breeds, colors, sizes, temperaments, ect, and has never shown any sort of negative reaction. She has trachea problems because again, I fully admit I was a bad owner before, I didn't know much about dogs, and therefore I didn't know much about training a dog to heel or loose leash walk, therefore she didn't, she just pulled. I totally admit that it was my fault, though it had nothing to do with how you are saying she's reactive. I would LOVE to get her tested by a trainer. Honestly. If you can find some good trainers in my area I would be more than happy to have her tested. I even emailed Happy who was very helpful in helping me to find some, however none of them were able to help me after I was in contact with them. The only trainer I have been able to take Bella to, says that she is extremely well behaved, and we will be getting her CGC test done with her soon. Again, you are wrong. She was not "having an anxious, tail down day" She had her tail down for a few seconds. When I told her to sit down, she did, when she stood back up, her tail was back to it's normal place so I just watched her carefully. Had she shone any other signs that she was having a bad day, I would have turned right around and gone home. I never claimed that I was going to have petting her as a task, I don't know where you claim I said that. I only wanted her the paw me so that it can help snap me out of the train of bad thoughts as it would help me. I am working with a therapist, psychiatrist, and doctor to help me with my issues on my own, I'm not depending fully on Bella, she is just there to help me even more so.

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 2:00pm PST


	I honestly didn't know that, though I did explain that she was only an ESA and not a SD. You are being quite cruel, first off it the way that you word things, and second off in the fact that most of the things you said were totally untrue and unnecessary. Edited by author Sun Dec 16, '12 2:01pm PST

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Peekaboo

You can't see- me!

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 2:36pm PST


	Bella, I sent you a message. ETA: Whether or not a place can get in trouble for having a non-SD dog on the premises has to do with the health code. This varies by state and to my knowledge, usually only includes places that serve food. I know this is the case for the several states that I have lived in. Mateo, since you're so certain that Bella would get in trouble for bringing her ESA into the dentist's office, among other places, perhaps you could cite your sources so Bella could know the law rather than relying on what someone says? Bella, because you've already demonstrated an ability to known your area laws, I would encourage you to look up your local health code to see what places, if there are any besides food serving establishments, that you should not bring Bella into. Edited by author Sun Dec 16, '12 2:45pm PST

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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur

Barked: Sun Dec 16, '12 3:04pm PST


	Alright, thank you Peekaboo! I do know that the local large grocery store allows SDITs and they actually offered that I should bring Bella in to train knowing she is only a ESA, though I won't be doing that any time soon. I'll get on reading up on all that stuff.