How to Train Your Dog to Become a Service Dog

Hello Auriah, The reactivity to men is my main concern. Often, obedience training can be improved with a lot of work, but the reactivity alone disqualifies public access. Are you just starting out with pup and wondering if they could become a service dog, or have you been working toward this goal with pup for a while? If you are assessing pup, trying to decide whether to begin training pup, I would let pup be a pet and start fresh with a new young dog you can do more early socialization with, mainly because of the reactivity toward men. If you have been working with pup for a while and seeing improvement but are stuck, I would find a training group that has multiple trainers where you can work on counter conditioning around men with the training staff's help. I would either go through a private intermediate obedience course with that same group, or just join an intermediate obedience class (a class will save money over private training, but the reactivity needs to be addressed through private training first). I would also connect with other owner trainers on social media like instagram and facebook to learn from others who are doing what you are doing and have a little bit more of a support group if you plan to train primarily on your own. Sometimes you can even find others in your city who have already do this and regularly practice training things like tasks or public access together. Obviously be careful meeting up with anyone you don't know yet though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Leslie, I would spend a lot of the first year working on pup's general socialization and obedience. When you get to the level you want pup to have in every day life, then when you add in task training and focus work in public working toward the level of service dog attentiveness you want pup to have when with you, I would start having pup wear their vest for every training session and public practice. I would also teach pup a "Free" cue, and tell pup that whenever you take the vest off pup, to signal to pup they are off duty then. Many dogs pick up on the difference overtime, since your interactions with them and body language are often naturally different toward them too when you aren't expecting them to be working. Most people who train very proactively the first year reach the point with their general training, where they are ready to start task training and more advanced obedience, and thus the vest, between 6 and 12 months. Others start it after one year. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Kila, The first year of pup's life I would work on pup gaining fantastic socialization and manners, since pup will need to do wonderfully in public around all types of distractions to qualify. The public access part of training can actually be the hardest part, so start by just raising pup this year to be a fantastic, well socialized, mannerly dog in general. You can either do all the training yourself or utilize some classes and do most of the training yourself, hire a private trainer to guide your own training, or have someone else train in a board and train program. If you have the financial means, I would enroll pup in a quality puppy class before six months of age for the socialization benefit and to start basic obedience. When pup graduates that and is old enough for an intermediate class, I would pursue that or a Canine Good Citizen class, or both. Classes tend to be around $200 each depending on your area. So for six weeks of classes, classes are your most affordable paid option. Once you get into task training, I would find a trainer with service dog training experience to do occasional private training sessions with. Private training is close to $100 per session depending on the trainer and area, but you get to set the pace, what you want taught, ect... So I would save this option for doing the service dog training yourself, but having someone who can give you homework to practice with pup to train yourself, to evaluate how you are doing and offer guidance as you get stuck, and generally be able to consult as needed. If you plan to do the training completely on your own, or even partially on your own, there is a decent community of owner trainers on places like Instagram and facebook. I would connect with other owners who are doing what you want to do to be able to ask questions along the way and get resources from. Some of them may even live in your city to meet up with and practice in person with. Youtube has some channels where you can watch others doing the task training. That can be a good place to learn how to train those things on your own. I find videos are often needed for that type of training, so you can see how its being done when you don't have someone showing you in person. If you live in the USA, there is no official test or certification pup must have to qualify as a service dog, it's based on your medical need, per your doctor's note, pup's behavior being good enough for public access, and pup knowing at least one specialized task that directly helps with your medical need - in your case DPT and many if not all of the tasks you already listed would qualify. I would however have a service dog vest for pup, carry a laminated copy of ADA law concerning service dogs and what's required (and not required), pup's vaccination record, and your doctor's note (mostly for airlines and landlords), just so you are given access more easily to places, or if an issue comes up. Any point six months and beyond I would start the task training, but that training can wait until adulthood without causing issues in most cases. Most service dogs in official programs start that part of the training at one year. The public access and socialization should be your main focus during puppihood since those things are time sensitive, especially socialization. If you have additional time to train, task training can be started earlier. It doesn't have to be though. Check out the free PDF e-book After You Get Your Puppy, that can be downloaded at the link below. Especially the parts on socialization for an adaptable adult dog in the future. www.lifedogtraining.com/freedownloads Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Jill, Check out the Desensitize and Quiet methods from the article I have linked below. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Also, check out this video series on barking for more specific examples of desensitizing dogs to various specific things that they bark at. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA4pob0Wl0W2agO7frSjia1hG85IyA6a Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Thank you for the question. Amora looks super alert and keen to learn - she's a beauty. I am sorry that I cannot help you with the brace and catch commands as I have never trained a service dog. I did find this site though, which is a service dog certifications site and perhaps you can contact them. They should have the information needed to get you on the right track for training and getting Amora her service dog qualifications. https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/ada-service-dog-laws/ The blog has tons of articles and you may find information there, too: https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/blog/ All the best to you and have fun with the training!