A Story about Butter's the Trainee Assistance Dog

Identifying training objectives and modifying handling based on your dog's feedback.

Training your own assistance dog is challenging, and everyone hopes for a swift and hassle-free process. However, the truth is, life doesn't work that way. Since we are working with a living creature, we must consider their needs just as much as our own.

This story is about Butters, a wonderful trainee assistance dog with a few training problems when we first met.

The trainee assistance dog Butters was 10 months old when I first met her, she was energetic, eager, and responsive. However, she also showed some unusual avoidance behaviours in certain environmental situations.

Butters practicing her down stays.

1. Entering a building - as the doors opened, her pace slightly faltered. Few would recognise this as avoidance behaviour (recall, I noted her willingness), making this hesitation conflicting for her. She felt uncertain about going in but was too polite to decline.

2. Changes in floor tiles - she felt uneasy walking across changes in the floor tiles. When the tiles' colour shifted from light to dark, it seemed as though she lacked depth perception. She hesitated, moving side to side before stepping on them as if testing the water.

3. Lifts—She refused to enter a lift, which was problematic since her future career depended on it. However, upon further investigation, she feared not the lift itself but the anticipation of the motion when the lift started.

4. The car - She was reluctant to get in and out of vehicles, making it easier for her owner/handler to lift her. This posed several issues:

   1. She was heavy,

   2. Only her handler could lift her,

   3. She avoided it for a reason, and we needed to understand why,

   4. It was essential for her to be comfortable with entering and exiting vehicles.

5. Stairs - These were challenging for Butters. She would pause comfortably on the first step, which I always train as a slight pause, but then she would rush through them without coordination or regard for her handler. This is unacceptable for an assistance dog, yet she was very afraid of them. She was better at going down the stairs but still hurried.

6. Sits - I also observed that Butters didn't sit correctly. She consistently sat to one side on her pelvis whenever asked to sit. This is common in puppies and can persist into adulthood if not corrected. However, at this stage, I wasn't sure if it was because she couldn't sit straight, had a hip issue, or was simply lazy. What I did know was that I needed to have her hips and other aspects checked.

Suitability for training the trainee assistance dog

Does this imply that Butters wouldn't qualify as an Assistance Dog?

No, not at all.

By recognising her needs and using the right handling, it's very possible to help her overcome these challenges.

First things first!

I sent Butters to her vet to ensure her hips were fine. With Assistance Dog Training, there's a lot of sitting involved, and I didn't want to cause her any discomfort if there was a more serious issue.

Everything came back fine.

Additionally, I referred her to the Veterinary Behaviourist, Dr. Kate Lindsay. Some of Butters' behaviour was due to fear of environmental elements, but she was also overly excited at times at home and lacked self-control.

This was a smart decision as Butters was put on a pain management trial and given some medication to ease her anxiety.

Then the real hard work started. I had to assist Butters in developing training skills and coping strategies to address her training and behavioural issues.

---

The Training itself

1. We introduced management strategies for Butter's owners to use at home. This approach was effective because it initially helps prevent a dog from engaging in undesirable behaviors while we train new ones.

2. I continued to enhance her confidence in real-world environments, such as shop floors, elevators, and stairs.

3. I needed to conduct intensive training to teach her how to use a ramp for getting in and out of the car.

   1. Below is a video showcasing some of that training.

Butters is making daily progress, and I'm happy to report that she consistently enters and exits vehicles, has no trouble walking over floor tiles, gets in and out of the lift without hesitation, and is also at ease with the lift's movement.

We are continuing to work on her ability to navigate steps without hurrying, and she has shown improvement.

Butters will soon be prepared to take her BOA and will subsequently work towards her PAT.