Keeping Dogs Safe Series

This program uses your dog's intelligence, his fantastic nose, and his ability to navigate the environment via that nose. Your dog will learn self-control when investigating new or interesting things, impulse control when movement catches his attention and kicks in the need to chase, the understanding of what to do when encountering a specific scent, sight, and/or sound, and how to alert any humans to the presence of a dangerous animal.   Snake avoidance is purely about teaching a dog that the sight, smell or sound of a rattlesnake is to be avoided. This is no different than teaching a dog not to cross the street without our approval, rush the open front door, beg at the table or poop in the house. It's also a lot easier then teaching a dog to alert someone to an impending seizure or a dangerous drop in blood sugar levels.   Does it work? Yes. Just two days ago, as I write this, we encountered our first rattlesnake since moving to our current property. I had not yet finished the avoidance training with my own dogs. What they did as soon as the rattle started was: Brynda and Asher ran away and as soon as I opened the back door ran into the house. Micah was barking up a storm at this creature from about five feet away. This is Micah's normal response to just about anything new or that he feels doesn't belong in his space. Temperance was trying to herd it in high heeler fashion, but still staying about five feet away and mostly behind Micah.

For the last 15 years, I've been mostly training Service Dogs.  I started training Service Dogs because I was getting a lot of clients with Service Dogs who were reactive, fearful, and even aggressive.  This was mostly before the Medical Alert and Psychiatric Service Dogs were being trained.   So most of the dogs I was helping to empower were Guide Dogs, Hearing Dogs and basic Assistance and Mobility Dogs.  There were a few trainers like me that started training service dogs at about the same time.  But mostly, Service Dogs came from large programs that survived on donations and bred their own dogs. When one of their dogs developed behavior issues for whatever reason, the programs offered to replace the dog.  They had either no interest in rehabilitating the dog or possibly didn't know how.  Whatever the reason, their clients didn't want to surrender their Service Dog, they just wanted it fixed.  Hence the number of people who started coming to me.  At that time, I did mostly behavior training and empowerment training.   So, I started training service dogs knowing I could do it in such a way that it would be unlikely for each dog to develop behavior issues.  What I didn't count on was the "fakes" that started showing up a few years later.  Those dogs who are untrained, most likely excited, frustrated or reactive, that people who feel entitled are treating as though they were highly trained Service Dogs and taking them into public spaces.   This means that legitimate teams are having to deal with being charged at, lunged at, barked at, snapped at, and even attacked by these untrained dogs.  Both the Service Dog and the handler are affected. It can even cause PTSD in one or both when entering public places.   In a dog, PTSD often exhibits as reactivity and aggression.  This is mostly a means to either scare other dogs away or make them go away.   So here in this book is how I rehab a dog who has had a traumatic experience and is now reacting adversely to the triggers that predict that experience occurring again.  It doesn't matter whether that dog is a Service Dog, a Therapy Dog, or a Pet Dog, this program works and has been in use by me and my clients for 20 years.