Hello Tyler, I would start by rewarding pup for touching you somewhere like your leg. Often putting a little dab of something tasty and sticky like soft cheese, peanut butter, or liver paste in that spot can get pup to start the touch. Tell pup the cue you want to teach, like nudge or touch, and point to the area where the treat is on you. When pup touches it to eat, praise then offer an additional lick of treat off something like a spoon. Practice until pup is anticipating a treat there, then remove the treat there, but still point, and when pup touches that area expecting a dab of treat, praise and quickly give the spoon lick still. Once pup is good at doing this without the dab on you with practice, then you can use any treat as a reward not just the sticky treat. At this point, start rewarding only for more pressure, so pup barely touches you- give a small treat. Pup pushes harder when they nudge, three treats and enthusiastic praise! Once pup can consistently do the harder nudges, don't reward the ones you can't feel at all, and make the pressured ones receive one treat, and even harder, more persistent nudges three treats - moving toward nudges that are very noticeable as the normal. Once pup is at this point, then you can use the nudge command to start the alert training. If you look up videos on teaching touch, the nudge training is a similar process, with the exception that you want to start rewarding the harder touches, so they are felt nudges. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Jan. 24, 2022

Hello Haileyjo, Some dogs are able to detect anxiety based on scent. This is done using saliva samples taken during times of high anxiety. The dog is taught an alert, such as Sit, paw, bark, or nose - like pup is already doing. You then practice having the dog sniff the sample, give their alert, and you reward with a treat. Practice this until you don't have to tell the dog to alert but they will simply alert when they smell the sample, then you reward. Once pup can alert really well on the sample, then Saliva samples taken during anxious times and saliva samples taken during normal times are practiced together - with the dog only being praised and rewarded for alerting to the anxious sample, and not the normal sample. Ignore incorrect alerts and don't reward them. Practice this until pup can reliably alert to the correct sample only. Once pup alerts consistently, you plant the sample on yourself and practice with the scent somewhere like your pocket - rewarding alerts. You then plant the scent on yourself at random times during your day and in different environments to help pup do the alert when they aren't in "training mode" to teach them to pay attention to you in various environments and be ready to alert at all times. You can also teach pup to alert to your anxious "cues", finding things you tend to do while anxious, like bite nails, rub arms, wiggle a leg, ect...Those cues will be unique to you and probably subtle. Pay attention to what yours are. Once you know them, teach pup to alert you whenever you do those things so that pup will also alert when you do them subconsciously while anxious. Typically that's the initial anxiety alert task trained to qualify pup. You can also teach additional things that benefit you, such as pup doing pressure therapy - like pup laying on you now. Leading to exits during times of high anxiety. Helping initiate social interactions for those with social anxiety. Laying under your legs and chair to provide a comforting presence and stay out of the way in public places, as a few examples. Social media, such as instagram and facebook is actually a good resource to connect and follow other owner-trainers who are teaching their own pups tasks too. It can be a good place to meet others in your city doing the same thing to connect for practicing things with people doing similar training with their dogs. There are trainers who offer remote and in person service dog training assistance - whose role is not to take the dog and train it entirely themselves (which is great but much pricier), but who can guide you in training your own dog as needed for a lower price. Youtube is also a resource to find service dog trainers who share some how to videos on teaching specific tasks to help you trouble shoot as you go. The part of training that actually tends to take the longest for a service dog is the public access portion though. For now, I suggest starting with pup's public access - with socialization, manners, and obedience. You can work on task training at the same time if you have time, but obedience and socialization is often more time sensitive. While doing that, you can certainly reward pup's natural alerts right now to further encourage them. To qualify as a Service Dog a dog needs to be well mannered in public, and be able to perform at least one specialized task that directly assists with the medical or psychological condition they are trained to help with. The person also has to have a doctor approved medical or psychological condition that qualifies - anxiety attacks, depression, PTSD, ect.. should qualify. Pup needing public access means working on pups general obedience, socialization, and manners, so that pup can go places, get along well with everyone, and be well mannered enough not to disturb others. Joining a Canine Good Citizen or Intermediate obedience class is a good way to work on those things. How is pup around kids, various ages, races, and personalities of people, new objects, noises, other animals? Pup needs to be able to be calm and not distracted by those things. Pup should be able to handle a child or adult suddenly running up and hugging or petting them (although someone should never do that to a service dog - it probably will happen at some point when in public with pup so often). In the United States there is no official certification required for a dog to pass as a Service Dog. A qualifying medical or psychological condition, great behavior while in public, and at least one task that directly helps with your condition is all that is required. Carrying a copy of ADA law regarding service dogs, pup's vet papers, a note from your doctor simply stating your need for a service dog (you don't have to disclose what condition you need help with to anyone), and a vest for pup letting people know pup is a working service dog can help people allow pup into places more easily though. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Dec. 31, 2021

Hello Delilah, I would back track on your training teach things in baby steps. For example, first teach your alert, like speak how you would any dog, and practice until pup can do it when you say the command "Speak". Once pup can do it on cue, you start acting out the anxious tendency while also telling pup "Speak". Practice this until pup knows to expect both and is barking sometimes on her own, guessing what you are about to do, to get the treat. At that point, act out the anxious tendency, but wait seven seconds before saying speak, to give pup the opportunity to bark in response to the anxiety cue instead of just the word. If pup doesn't bark, then after seven seconds tell pup "Speak". Practice this until pup will bark before you give the command every time, just in response to your anxious cue. The specifics of how you do that will depend on what you are teaching pup to respond to and what your dog's cue will be. Often watching others online teach what you are trying to teach can help show the steps. Youtube can sometimes be a good resource for being able to visualizing it. Connecting with other owner trainers on social media can also be a good platform to trouble shoot things, on a platform where you can explain your process and goals and have a back and forth conversation. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Dec. 10, 2021