A younger Brogan with former packmates toy poodle Tavish and pittie Mama Jodhi
(on a ceramic plate by yours truly).
This week's training assignment from Top Dog Service Dog Advanced Class: 'back up', 'under' and 'paws'. 'Paws' (learning to put both front feet on a counter or in a lap) is off limits because of Brogan's still-healing knee, but we're going full steam ahead with the other two commands.
Kind of.
Brogan has issues. Who knew? Poor guy backs up like he's been bellying up to the doggie shots bar. The butt goes right, goes left, does a little wiggle... does everything except go straight back.
The idea in teaching 'back' is the dog can eventually back under tables or between seats. I also want to teach 'back' while Brogan is next to me, so that he can better maneuver tight areas like commuter trains. We've done back before, mainly in our 'doggie dancing' (that's 'canine freestyle' for the sticklers) days and also as a convenient way to play fetch with a big dog in a small house. In both of those situations, Brogan does NOT 'back' like a drunken sailor. Why now?
My solution was to make a 'chute' out of a couple chairs and the couch. I load him into the chute and click/treat him for any step backwards. He caught on immediately and does a perfect straight 'back'. Take him out of the chute and it's Margaritaville all over again. Sigh.
On the bright side, 'under' is going much better than I'd hoped. I have him 'target' my hand and then have him touch the target further and further under the table until his whole body is under. He can be a bit of a 'fraidy cat about certain items of furniture in the house, and the dining room table (according to Brogan) is haunted, so I thought he's put up a fuss. But nope, three targets and then a down... right under the table and three days in a row. Good boy, now we just have to put a name to the command and practice until he doesn't even think about it. Hopefully the haunted table will cooperate by not choosing to levitate during a crucial moment!
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