Dog Training - Update!

Cash finished his first obedience class last Thursday with flying colors! He still has a lot of work to do, but we are making progress nicely. I was going to get his Canine Good Citizenship when they offered the test next, but that is June 8th. I finally found an organization that has strict guidelines for certification of Service Dogs, and I would be able to get Cash certified when he completes training! They are the Foundation for Service Dog Support (http://servicedogsupport.org/certification/#Teams_Seeking_Certification). However, some of their strict qualifications to apply for the test include having the Canine Good Citizenship test taken and passed AFTER the dog's 1st birthday. If he passes beforehand he'd have to retake the test anyway, so I decided not to waste the money. His birthday is on 28 August, so that gives me a while to make sure he is PERFECT and will pass the test with flying colors when the time comes.

He's starting to learn the "Alert" game. This is a game where he's engaged to touch my leg with his paw when I say "Alert," and jump up to paw me with both if he needs to be very insistent. He gets lots of happy praise and hotdog rewards for this. Once he becomes confident with this game and can do it randomly throughout the day from different distances and positions, I'm supposed to stop playing the game for 2 weeks. After that time period, I can only play this game that he loves when I start to feel my anxiety building or a panic attack coming on. I am supposed to play with him until the symptoms are gone. This way he begins to learn and get excited when he senses the chemical change or the change in mental state, because it means a fun game . . . This Service dog task can take several months to perfect, but it is going to be the main task he performs for me, so I'm taking it very seriously - while still making sure he has fun doing his job!