Paws to Freedom News!

Articles March 2007

TAGteach is a revolutionary science-based technology that enables educators and coaches to teach efficiently and helps students learn effectively.”

Through the TAGteach method of teaching the handler of an assistance dog team, the steps that each handler learns for training their dog will become a part of their every move. Positive teaching to enhance the learning experience for each handler will provide an even greater success and enjoyment for both team members.

INTERVIEW WITH A TEAM IN TRAINING PSYCHIATRIC ASSISTANCE:

1. When you started training with Paws to freedom, what were your goals for you and your dog as a team?
   
   I started training Jake in puppy kindergartens (2 at the same time) to teach and learn basics as well as to develop a foundation of positive training. When he was 5 1/2 months old, I started with Paws to Freedom, and began to work on taking him more places. My hope and goal was to be able to take him with me to work and on my routine outings to stores, restaurants, meetings, etc. Basically, if we were together, he would go anywhere I needed to go. My goal was to work toward his stability in many settings and for me to be less anxious in going shopping or other places alone.
   

    

2. What were the first things you learned that were the most helpful?
   
   For me, the concept of clicker training and advancing the steps as he got the first steps of a sequence is and was the most helpful. The philosophy of rewarding what I wanted Jake to do and ignoring other behaviors continues to be a focus that I greatly appreciate. It is good to know that Jake wants to be with me and that he chooses with his behaviors to participate in activities and training exercises makes his progress enjoyable.

    

3. What have you learned about Jake in the training process?
   
   My biggest lesson is that when I move too fast in the shaping sequences that he gets frustrated and tells me by either trying to quit and walk away or by verbalizing. It is hard for me to not use words to tell him what I want at times, and I think he is looking for direction in new tasks rather than trying to figure it out for himself. The shaping exercises with Jake Must be short and positive; I often have to go back a step to end on success; however, in the next session he generally has made progress and is able to move forward. It really helps to work with Mara to break down the steps into more building blocks vs. going too far too fast and frustrating my dog.

    

4. What have you learned about yourself in the training process?
   
   It is sometimes uncomfortable to talk to people about why I have Jake. Since he is “in training” and my disability is invisible, most people assume that I am training him as a Seeing Eye dog or for someone else. Working with Jake and having him with me most of the time has made me more attuned to his needs, and less focused on my own anxiety. Sometimes I worry about how he will do in situations, and my focus is on making sure he has a positive training experience and less on my own anxiety about the situation.

    

5. Have you taken your dog with you every place you went since you started training?
   
   No. Jake often has very long days with me being good at work, at meetings, and often once we get home, I will leave him home if I have to run out to the store for a quick trip. At times when I am rushed or don’t feel I have the energy to focus on training, I may leave him home. As a poodle, he needs regular grooming, so I leave him with his groomer those days. We also have traveled to Hawaii for vacations, and I haven’t taken him there yet. I don’t fly often, and want to take him on a plane for a short trip before he has to be in flight 5 hours. There are also places I haven’t taken him, sometimes based on who I am with for the event. He has 2 dogs and 3 cats at home to keep him company and I think the stress of working all the time wouldn’t be good for him. As he is improving in many situations, I am taking him more and more places in a variety of settings.

    

6. What kind of places or situations did you decide not to bring Jake and how did you make that decision?
   
   Places where I know many people are not comfortable with dogs, times when I think he is tired from the day; times when I have little or no energy to train, times when I have complicated medical tests or exams that I think he will not be comfortable observing… these are the kinds of places I avoid. Places I have yet to take him? To the movies, to a play at our local theater, to the swimming pool at our gym, to church services, on a train or plane. Some of these I am gearing up to do, and know I need some advice on how to train for these situations. There are some places that are almost “over the top” for me; I probably wouldn’t take him to these kinds of events (i.e. baseball games, concerts, something loud or too stimulating)

    

7. What kind of questions have you been asked when out in public?
   
   All kinds of questions. The “in training” patch gets a lot of questions; then also, How old is he; how long does it take; lots of questions about poodles and “doodles of various kinds (one person at the dog park wanted to know if I would breed my male poodle to her labra-doodle!!!!) A lot of people are a bit intrusive about why I have a service dog since I’m not blind or in a wheelchair, and a lot of people have no idea that invisible disabilities can be assisted by a service dog or that its legal to have a service dog… One restaurant owner talked tome about Jake and about a person who brought their dog in the restaurant with no vest on, said her dog was a service dog and the dog proceeded to snap and snarl at people in the restaurant. So I get a lot of questions. Bus drivers have asked if he is a service dog (even with his vest on). A lot of people ask about Paws to Freedom and how they could get their dog trained.

    

8. Have you shared with other people the type of assistance that Jake provides for you?
   
   My growth in having Jake beside me is that before I had him, I basically shared with very few people anything about my disability or diagnosis. Jake has helped me to open up to a lot of people, including my colleagues (fellow psychiatrists) about the fact that I suffer from an illness that we treat. Before, I kept all this to myself. It has been empowering to me to share, though at times I will tell people that Jake ‘helps me with medical problems that I have”. It depends on the situation and how much time I have to educate people. It is also very empowering to choose whom to share with and how much to share. I hope that my life with Jake will help my colleagues to consider prescribing service dogs to their clients when it could be appropriate. Jake has helped me in so many ways, with his presence, his stability and with the tasks and the issues that we are growing through together.

    

9. How have you decided whom to share with? 
   
   As I said, it varies. Sometimes I am direct and sometimes I am more vague. My time, my energy and my gut feeling about the person I am talking with has a lot to do with it.

    

10. Has having your dog with you allowed you to become more comfortable sharing some of you challenges with others?
    
    This has been the biggest blessing that has come from having Jake—acknowledging to myself and others that I have challenges and that this dog and this training program has helped me to be more stable and more connected with my illness, my strengths, and that I am less fearful to admit it. I hope that I can somehow help others to be less intimidated by the stigma around mental illness, and that people with illnesses can get the help and supports they need. Jake has opened doors and hearts to people I otherwise would have never spoken to. It still feels risky at times, like my colleagues look down on me some for admitting my vulnerability, but with Jake beside me, I don’t really care and feel like the trade-off is worth it. I do feel like I have to be better than others at work because I have Jake with me, and that others may judge me harshly if I’m not ‘strong’, but I do my best and am grateful that I have such a beautiful and intelligent companion with me. The journey, never easy, is more palatable and a lot more fun with my dog beside me!

     

11. Have you had support from friends and family?
    
    My greatest support is my partner, Chris, who has been tolerant of Jake’s presence on many shopping trips, other trips and who has encouraged me to continue to talk about my illness and my dog to educate people around me.  My friends are supportive as well, and I think that some of my other relatives are less understanding but don’t speak to my   face about it.  I’m sure that some of my friends think I’ve finally got a way to have my dog with me all the time; they are not aware of the commitment and the journey of training a dog like Jake to be in these situations and to be able to be comfortable in the settings that Jake is daily exposed to.  Most of the people I know have no clue of the reality of my job situation, and the ones that do have a clue choose not to work in such a setting.  Jake’s steady presence on a daily basis with me and in the lives of the patients that I work with is an incredible gift, and he helps me to continue, day after day, in this setting.

     

12. Now that you are near graduating as a team, can you summarize the training experience and how you will continue to learn and grow as a team?
    
    I look at this as kind of life-long learning. In some ways it will be nice to take the In-training patch off; in others it may be harder for people to accept that I need a service dog because they can’t immediately see why he is there. I hope to maintain contact with Mara and Paws to Freedom, with “maintenance sessions” so I can work on more tasks and problem solve issues that come up. I don’t think that this kind of training process can really end, though there are other things that I may do when I don’t have so many training commitments. Jake will still need to be exposed to various settings, and there will always be squirrels! My hope is to continue for a while at least with a private training and with at least one group training per month to keep working around the other dogs and teams.

     

13. Do you feel you team goals are close to being met? 
    
    My goals with Jake are that we continue to live together and that he can be with me in more and more settings. Every time I am out with him it is a learning experience, and I feel like he and I have some good foundational skills to continue to build on. It amazes me to see how he is in different settings; how less reactive he is around little children; how he can sit with me through 8 hours of meetings with little breaks and still be very good. I have yet to take him to the fish bait aisle in GI Joes, and there are a lot of things that I still have to screw up my courage to take him with me. But more and more he is settling into the rhythm of my life and there are times when I forget that he is with me because I am engrossed in the things that I am doing. My goal is to continue my life with my service dog and make sure that both he and I are safe in the places that we go together. I have never had a dog that could read me as well as Jake does, and I hope to continue for a long time working and growing with this dog. I want to make sure that he has fun and rest and time to be a dog, and the walks and the time at the dog park are as good for me as they are for him. I am proud of his progress and in awe at his ability to put up with all the situations I continue to throw at him. I am grateful for the program that Paws to Freedom has been and is, and think that staying connected in on-going training is going to help me continue to learn and live successfully with this special dog, my Jacob’s Angel.
    

     


by Lori Skach, M.D. and Jake

Long Gone Treat and Train Comes to Paws to Freedom

You probably remember the Treat and Train machines that Sharper Image sold several years ago. One of our teams has had one for some time. Their recent move found them with one machine minus the adaptor and minus the remote control.

Treat dispensing for many is an ongoing challenge when fine motor skills are compromised. Well, the team’s mom visited the Treat and Train List and not only was the team gifted with a complete system, she was able to obtain several more used machines for use by teams in the program.

We especially want to extend gratitude for the Treat and Train List members who have made it possible for our teams to benefit from this! Everyone in the program loves these. So we are delighted to find that Premier Pets will be offering these in the fall. Ramona and Pearl are one of the teams currently using the Treat and Train. Ramona has had a severe shoulder injury and treat delivery has been very painful, yet she continues to find creative ways to reinforce Pearl’s exceptional behaviors. Here is what she has to share about the tool in their training right now:

“The TNT is a wonderful tool for those with a physical disability that makes treat delivery difficult but even more, its a great way to enhance your training experience for you and your dog regardless of your physical ability. Just like with standard click and treat techniques, you actually can see your dog 'thinking' of what to do to get that little machine to kick out another treat. Also, because I'm not trying to juggle a treat and a clicker, I've found that my 'clicker' timing improved as well. Pearl loves it! As a team, having these kind of innovative tools make training much more enjoyable since my focus is no longer on how to get around my disability to deliver the treat. Our upcoming training plan with the TNT...working on our extended 'down stays'. The TNT has a timer that is an excellent feature to teach a down stay.

Treat dispensing for many is an ongoing challenge when fine motor skills are compromised. Well, the team’s mom visited the Treat and Train List and not only was the team gifted with a complete system, she was able to obtain several more used machines for use by teams in the program. back to top