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| "Just" a dog |
This morning I couldn’t cool down.
I thought it must be 80 degrees in the house. Much to my surprise, it was only
70. I suppose I had just a little anxiety about the Public Access Test that
Tater and I would be taking in just a couple short hours. My biggest concern
was the part of the test where you have to unload your service dog from the
vehicle while another dog is being walked by, and keep your dog in control.
Tater has only been training for 8 weeks now. And, because of his size, most
people with or without dogs tend to cross to the opposite side of the street
when they see us coming. Very convenient for walking your dog, but not helpful
when trying to get your dog “socialized” with other dogs. Tater loves other
dog, but he would like to sniff them and play with them. Once he meets them, he
is calm every time he sees the dogs that he has already met.
Anyway, on to the test. I cut up a
few hot dogs and put them in the treat bag to use during the test as his
rewards. I really think Tater would learn how to do back flips if he could have
hot dogs as a reward. Tater loves hot dogs. We get to the store that we are
meeting our amazing trainer at to begin our test. She got out her dog to walk
past us as I was getting Tater to go in the store. He wanted to see the dog, he
wanted to smell the dog, he wanted to play with the dog. He was excited.
However, he didn’t bark, growl, or try pulling away from me. He just would not
keep his butt on the ground. After the trainer put her dog away, we proceeded
into the store.
We chatted as Tater walked beside
me where he should be. One of the things we were talking about was something
that she thought I should teach Tater to do now that he is picking up my keys
for me when I drop them. What was the suggested task you may ask? If I drop the
leash while walking, have him pick it up. I agreed that would be a great task.
We walked through the store with Tater doing everything he was asked to do. He
was not afraid of other people or shopping carts going by. He did not try to
run away. He sat, followed the stay command as I walked away from him with his
leash on the ground and didn’t budge until I called him to me. We even did this
with me leaving to another aisle. Hubby tells me Tater was looking under the
shelf and could see my feet so he knew I was there. Smart puppy (he’s a 7 year
old, grey muzzled old man with the heart of a 2 year old puppy).
Tater quickly and enthusiastically
did every task asked of him and soon he had passed the public access test with
flying colors. When the trainer asked if I had anything I wanted to show her, I
said Yes! and dropped my keys. I asked Tater to pick them up and he did. Then I
did it a few more times just to show that he knew what I was saying. I decided
to try the leash idea, and threw the leash down on the ground and asked him to
pick it up. He leaned right over, picked the leash up by the handle, and placed
it in my hand. We did this a couple of times as well. We also tried it with my
hubby’s wallet; he fumbled with it a little and eventually (after 2 tries) got
it in my hand. I have to work on his control with handing me things. He gets
very excited and likes to throw things to my hand.
We were able to get several people
to pet him and I was able to show off his command following ability. Varying:
sit, stand, down, sit, stand etc. He was doing doggy calisthenics in the back
of the store with an audience. When we were almost done, we stopped in the
restaurant located in the front of the store for a little restaurant test.
While sitting at a table, Tater was laying on the floor beside us. I had to
drop some delicious looking black forest ham on the floor by him and tell him
to leave it. He did it of course!
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| Tater grinning for the camera after passing his Public Access Test An official Service dog! |
I now feel confident to take my dog
in public with me. When I am feeling dizzy in a store, he will be there to
catch me. If (or should I say when, because it is inevitable) I drop something,
Tater will be there to pick it up for me no matter what I drop. I now have the
training to keep my dog under control and happily working beside me. The dog
that I wasn’t sure would be around much longer has so much youth and vitality left
in him. He now has a sense of purpose. He adores his job and me. The feeling is
mutual.
