Mike's Doghouse

If all goes well, Mike will grow up to be my Service Dog (SD). I live in a state with a great Service Dog In-Training law which will allow me to take Mike anywhere with me as long as he is fully house trained and obedient. Just like a “real” SD, Mike is not allowed to disrupt. I don’t expect to take Mike out until he is at least 6 mos old.

In the meantime, he and I will do regular dog training. We’ll be starting sometime in January by taking a Puppy Obedience Class with A Good Dog’s Life dog training school. After that, we’ll start the Basic Manners Class. All dogs should have some degree of training. It’s for their own good and safety. The owner learns how to communicate with their dog and the dog learns what his/her boundaries are.

Along the way, Mike will also be learning the basics of some of the future tasks he’ll be doing. Already he is learning “let me have it” (give me whatever it is in your mouth). All our dogs learn this anyway but for Joella and soon Mike, it is also used for when I want them to release the object they’ve just picked up for me.

I am an avid fan of clicker training. To work properly, teaching a task begins with breaking it down into the smallest steps, teaching those steps, then combine them. “Get it”, “bring it here” and “let me have it” will become the retrieve task. Even the step of “get it” could be broken down further by identifying specific objects. “Get my shoes” is Joella’s command for retrieving my shoes from another room. “Get it” is usually used for something the dog already knows I want.

It really is much simpler than it sounds. Stick with me and Mike throughout this process and we’ll learn/relearn it together.