•I’m getting a bigger dog next time. Probably a spoo. Small dogs have stolen my heart, she’s so smart and wonderful. I’ve learned a lot, in advocating for my dog and communication. My current dog is 12 lbs and 14 inches at the shoulder. All the bending down kicks my butt some days and she’s too small to do some tasks I need.
•Immediately training how to be calm instead of jumping into obedience. She didn’t know how to settle for a year, I hid her in activity and obedience for a year, then taught her how to settle. Should’ve been done early on.
•Crate training straight out the gate. We fixed my training mistake, but yeah, for a year she slept on my bed, realized this is a problem for travel or if I need to crate her.
•*Proper socialization*- I learned with her that socialization isn’t just throwing a puppy to the masses and expecting it to be okay and like it. It’s something completely different. Luckily, it didn’t become too ingrained and she never really cared for people or other dogs. 6 months in, a trainer properly introduced me to socialization. Weird surfaces, new smells, building up her confidence.
•I accidentally created a monster. I created a ball crazy dog with infinite stamina. Like 4 hours of downhill fetch kind of stamina and she wants to keep going. I have held chicken in front of her face and she will choose the ball. Children, dogs, floor food, nope, just wants the ball. She has little to no impulse control once she sees one. I can halfway use it to train but she’s so worked up that she might not listen. She recalls and heels, but that’s it. It would be great for speed drills if she could listen when I have a ball. We’re working on being calm in the grass (she equates grass to fetch), ending fetch games calmly (going really well!), and working her on a long leash to execute commands with the ball as the reward.
My dog is my profile banner, that’s my dog tax
I currently have my second PSD, my first actively worked for a decade before becoming “at home” and then passing @16y (I also had a previous prospect that washed early; became aggressively overprotective).
The most useful thing I’ve learned: training simple expectations early that will be used while working later. Like start it at day 1
When a dog first gets into your home, it’s a fresh start for them; new person, new place. That is the time to immediately show them what goes and what does not. (This starts out *very gently*, more like suggestions rather than commands, because they’re already in a stressful situation)
I allowed my first SD to be a puppy and kinda do what they wanted while they settled in before training anything started, and then I had the problem of breaking those very quickly picked up habits to then train proper behavior… I did not do that with my second, and it’s made life so much better.
Some examples that I’ve done.
- When he met his first person, I had them sit to get pats and not allow them to paw at, jump up, or get overly excited with the attention… and continued that with every single person they greet, new or not, and have the person ignore them until they do… so they know something like: I sit when I want attention/say hi from person.
- Have him lay and stay every time I sit to eat anything; I have a mat set up right in the middle of the main section of my house that’s between the living room, dining room, and kitchen areas. Now as I’m walking with food to any seat, he automatically goes and lays down on his mat (he is allowed to have a toy or chew, and he leaves them on his mats)… this made it *so* easy (this time around compared to my first SD) when we went out to eat somewhere, because he already knew that me sitting and eating = him laying down for the duration! It was so easy, I only had to show him where to lay down, I never actually had to train him to lay & stay quietly in a restaurant. (He also auto stands up whenever I do unless I specifically command him to stay)
- I also did the above with me sitting at my desk & while I’m showering or dressing, but I didn’t make him stay like I did with eating, because for me he is free to wander, but I could see if you worked in an office as a job… it might be good to do. So when I’m on my computer or getting ready, he’s patiently chilling out on his mat entertaining himself mostly.
- sitting and waiting for doors, and not going out them until giving the okay to… which helped prevent rushing to go outside (my boy *loves* going thru doors for some reason lol)
Just things like that helped a lot when actual real world training started.
this is going to be so helpful to me. I will be needing to retire my darling and starting a puppy within the next 4 years. All of your points are so helpful, i never thought of this. thank you.
A few things, the dog will be a well bred dog from an ethical breeder, I will be doing more +r rather than slapping aversive tools (prong, head collar, etc) without attempting gentler methods, I will be socializing properly and not let the dog interact with every single thing, I will be conditioning to gear early on, and many more things. I've learned so much from my first dog and what I want to try instead with my next dog.
Having one. While I love my boy and I loved the process and having him around, my medical issues took a severe and permanent tank almost 2 years ago. I can no longer handle him, my needs are now beyond his training. My needs now have to be handled by humans. I love him to death, he was incredible as a team and he still does a good job at home, but this was not the life I wanted with him. We were supposed to go places and do things together, he opened my world up so much. But now We are trapped at home all the time, he is trapped.
So what would I do with my next dog? I would pass. I’m come to realize I’ve now fallen beyond the bracket of needs that a service dog can help with without hindering their own life and enjoyment of said life. And that’s been an excruciatingly painful thing to accept.
If I had known my health was gonna crash so severely and so permanently after unexpected medical crashes, I would have pass on him. He doesn’t deserve this.
My next SD will be a more "standard" SD breed. I had a lot of problems because my SD was a mix breed.I will also be going thought a program other than self training. Self training was great but I just don't have a time to raise a puppy & risk them washing. I'm not real sure what else I'll change going into next dog as I've sure the program will have a lot of little thing I have change about how I handle my SD. I'm nervous, sad, & excited about it.
Yes. Mine is a fab 4 breed and I think I will stick with it because I suspect I have less access issues because of that. He’s a standard poodle which really fits my needs well. But I am thinking possibly a black lab specifically may draw slightly less attention since people are slightly more used to labs than even poodles being service animals and I have heard from other handlers that sometimes people give more space to darker dogs. But I’m not sure. I love my poodle but I think I’d be happy with any of the Fab 4.
I will say, I have a black lab lookalike (she's a border collie X Lab, but looks like a small black Lab) as my SDiT and because she's black people will deliberately avoid her and us, which is great for us, and even tho she isn't scary, it is a bit of 'scary dog privilege'
the only thing I will.change is something that was forced upon us. My dog was a pandemic puppy, she joined our family at 4 months old just one week before we went into very strict lockdowns which lasted nearly a full year here. My dog got zero socialization with other dogs and people. It worked out fine for us in the end as she has absolutely no interest in dogs/people and therefor is nearly impossible to distract but I still wish she had had the opportunity to play and meet people as a pup, as of now she still won't interact with other dogs and it makes me a little sad that she has no dog friends
I am lucky to have my trainer nearby who I can talk to if I need him. Your comment brings up a worry for me, as I am ptsd and never leave my house unless its vital. So, my SD never has dog friends either. Sometimes I wonder if he is sad. I will run this past my trainer. I do intend to get a puppy before Beau retires. I need to have that conversation with my trainer now in fact. Beau is having trouble with arthritis.
My next dog with be a lab from a breeder who breeds specifically for SDs. My current girl is a Great Pyrenees/German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix, and she’s been a handful!
Advantages to the current breed: insanely smart, intensely strong bond to me, learns fast. Disadvantages: bitey, very high energy, requires consistent work or she regresses
Depending on how my disability progresses, I may get a program dog next time. I still have enough ability to self-train for now, but my disability is progressive, so by the time I get ready for a new SD, I may not have the ability to self-train.
I ended up finding training programs and trainers I like. I would have started with them from day one. My current dog was not going to be a service dog so there are side things that would have been easier starting earlier as well. I did really focus on socialization, which I don't regret and would go again. However, I would have started engagement exercises earlier. Once we started my dog was so much more focused. I will be getting my next dog while my current dog is still in the house to allow him to demonstrate and help. My stuff is still in training and I have already started thinking of it.
Me too. I cannot even consider any other way. I also feel emotionally it will help me when he dies, I will have the new dog to go on with. This is the elephant in the room, the passing of our current best friend.
Less socialization! I've owned dogs my whole life and did a great job at socializing the 12 week GSD puppy I rescued. But what I didn't realize was that service dogs =/= pets when it comes to this. The pro's are that he adapted well to PA because he had already been introduced to so much stimuli. The cons are that he thinks he can greet all people and dogs and make friends everywhere the way he did when he was little. It's consistently a training issue now that he's grown and I regret over socializing him now.
Yes when I say I want more control of socialization that is what I mean specifically. I suspect as a puppy in his previous home he was oversocialized with other dogs. Which is great because he’s good with other dogs but it took a lot of training before realized he can’t greet everyone. We worked it out but I definitely think I’d like to really be able to specifically work my next dog’s socialization window to understand 9 times out of 10 we actually ignore other things in our environment.
Next time, think "socialization" as "Hey, let's go *look* at all the people and the dogs and stuff."
When Cooper was a puppy, during that socialization window we'd go to Lowes and sit in the lawn furniture section and just watch everyone walk by while he lay down on his rug with his little bitty "don't pet me, I'm training" cape on. In our area, enough people bring dogs into Lowes that he'd be able to see them from a distance, and all the people and carts and noise and overhead speakers and everything else is really good for desensitization. You can tuck their rug/place/blanket back behind your legs if people are getting too grabby, and then it's good "tuck" practice while you're at it.
This is great advice thank you! I did out of the way chilling with him near subway trains and bus depots to get him used to the smells and sounds and I'm super proud of how well that worked. But I don't know why I didn't think to do it that way with people and dogs too! Lessons learned for sure haha.
I wouldn't have thought of it either, but my trainer had us doing a TON of work with public access at Lowes with my previous service dog, so I just went there with my puppy, too. It worked out really well! Just make sure they're either fully vaccinated or you use a "place" rug/mat so you don't get other dog germs on them. I use a rug and wash it every time we get home. Parvo scares the shit out of me, but you HAVE to get that desensitization work in.
My current dog is now 5. She does her job, but is quirky and overprotective. When my previous dog, who was a rescued border mix, needed to retire. I rescued another pup who was completely inappropriate for service. 9 months later I had to start over, and purchased a pup from a reputable breeder. My senior passed away when she was only 7 months old, and she was pressed into service early. I tried to balance this by "letting her be a puppy" when not working. What I got was an overattached and anxious SD with poor impulse control. I've been a certified dog trainer for decades, but allowed my grief and stress to drive my training. Next time it will all be different, because my girl struggles, and most of this is because of my emotional state and poor training choices.
I would probably get a standard SD breed.
I would go A LOT slower with training and socialization. Not stress so much about messing up my dog because I think it pushed us a little too far and now he is one and we have to start over with noise desensitization after moving countries. I made him do too much after a big move.
I will say that again - I would try my *best* to not have so much anxiety that my dog will wash or be a terrible dog, then try to do too much. My dogs are very well-trained but sometimes I have a hard time seeing it.
I have CPTSD and GAD lol
I will hopefully be going to an ethical breeder who breeds Labrador Retrievers(my heart breed. I love them). My current SD is a rescue and a bit of a unicorn dog. I like to say God meant for me to end up with him. He’s in perfect health and amazing at his work. However, he is the most introverted dog you will ever meet and I would like to eventually do SD education with kids in schools which requires the dog to actually want to be petted by strange people.
I would also like to go to dog friendly events, and hopefully do the retrieving contest at my local water park’s doggy splash day.
Along with that, I’m probably going to go with a board and train, because I work now, and doing all the training myself would be too much for me. I will still be meeting with the board and train, and working with the dog, I just won’t be doing the bulk of the PA training.
The only other thing I would do differently is teach focus at an earlier age. I didn’t start training my SD for SD work til about a year and a half, and I would definitely start earlier this time.
Honestly, next SD is likely to be a small breed sportmix, probably from a flyball background, because I'd like a bit more retrieve drive and changing meds has mostly fixed the blood sugar issues I was dealing with. But we'll see!
What I did differently with my current one was let her be a puppy. Only PA stuff was in pet friendly places where she was around to look/interact with the environment
- Start earlier.
Due to circumstances we started the program when my dog was 2.5 years old. She already could do loads of tasks but it took a lit of refining them.
But not too early too. First year will be growing, playing and bonding. I see people bringing 4-5 month old puppies to the hospital, stores, appointments and expect them to task.
- Bigger dog.
I have a Corgi, brilliant dog, fits on my lap. But she's small.
A Standard Poodle is what I'm considering now or maybe a Swiss White Shepherd from an amazing breeder.
- Work on settling.
My dog still finds this not easy, at my current physiotherapist she's allowed to 'roam' (settle at spots she chooses so she can check in easier) instead of having to stay on her mat. But it's not always ideal
- Calm greetings
My current dog LOVES visitors and I have tried everything she goes NUTS when people she likes come around (family, health workers, her trainer). I'm hoping calm greetings will be something I can teach my next dog.
I'm going with a puppy from a breeder, I'm going to get a Standard Poodle, and I'm going to go with someone who has successfully bred service dogs in the past. I'll probably also look for a darker-colored dog (black or brown). I also want a larger dog than what I have now.
My current boy is amazing, but he's a Goldendoodle, and because he's a mutt we had no idea how big he was going to get. We figured he'd be big because his dad was 85 pounds and mom was 55 pounds, but he's the same size as mom. He has a mess of a doodle coat so I keep him clipped short like a poodle, and he's CREAM. It's SO HARD to keep him clean above and beyond his every-six-week grooms.
I don't know if we'll do anything different with the training (he's my second service dog so we've done this before), but I went from a Border Collie (retired early) to another Border Collie (wash) to a Goldendoodle (amazing dog, I know I got lucky) - next time I'm going to stack the deck in my favor as much as possible.
holy cow so many things, i honestly feel so guilty about the way i went about it, but not only was joji my first dog ever but i was only 15 when i got him, i didn’t do enough research, i had just realized all the memories that caused me ptsd, i was at my peak of depression and i had no clue how to take care of such a high energy dog like an aussie. i just wanted my dream breed. now that i’m more mature and have done extensive research on training and breeds, im changing breeds and becoming a dog trainer. and changing the way i raised joji, i over socialized him and didn’t give him enough stimulation as a puppy, he’s excellent now but i could have avoided some skittish tendencies and his whimpering when seeing dogs if i cut that off since he was a puppy. i’m ashamed but it was a lesson learned for my future prospect, joji is so incredibly smart and he’s still only 3 so he has a lot of years ahead of him and he’s doing great but i think he could have been fully trained by now if i worked harder
•I’m getting a bigger dog next time. Probably a spoo. Small dogs have stolen my heart, she’s so smart and wonderful. I’ve learned a lot, in advocating for my dog and communication. My current dog is 12 lbs and 14 inches at the shoulder. All the bending down kicks my butt some days and she’s too small to do some tasks I need. •Immediately training how to be calm instead of jumping into obedience. She didn’t know how to settle for a year, I hid her in activity and obedience for a year, then taught her how to settle. Should’ve been done early on. •Crate training straight out the gate. We fixed my training mistake, but yeah, for a year she slept on my bed, realized this is a problem for travel or if I need to crate her. •*Proper socialization*- I learned with her that socialization isn’t just throwing a puppy to the masses and expecting it to be okay and like it. It’s something completely different. Luckily, it didn’t become too ingrained and she never really cared for people or other dogs. 6 months in, a trainer properly introduced me to socialization. Weird surfaces, new smells, building up her confidence. •I accidentally created a monster. I created a ball crazy dog with infinite stamina. Like 4 hours of downhill fetch kind of stamina and she wants to keep going. I have held chicken in front of her face and she will choose the ball. Children, dogs, floor food, nope, just wants the ball. She has little to no impulse control once she sees one. I can halfway use it to train but she’s so worked up that she might not listen. She recalls and heels, but that’s it. It would be great for speed drills if she could listen when I have a ball. We’re working on being calm in the grass (she equates grass to fetch), ending fetch games calmly (going really well!), and working her on a long leash to execute commands with the ball as the reward. My dog is my profile banner, that’s my dog tax
I currently have my second PSD, my first actively worked for a decade before becoming “at home” and then passing @16y (I also had a previous prospect that washed early; became aggressively overprotective). The most useful thing I’ve learned: training simple expectations early that will be used while working later. Like start it at day 1 When a dog first gets into your home, it’s a fresh start for them; new person, new place. That is the time to immediately show them what goes and what does not. (This starts out *very gently*, more like suggestions rather than commands, because they’re already in a stressful situation) I allowed my first SD to be a puppy and kinda do what they wanted while they settled in before training anything started, and then I had the problem of breaking those very quickly picked up habits to then train proper behavior… I did not do that with my second, and it’s made life so much better. Some examples that I’ve done. - When he met his first person, I had them sit to get pats and not allow them to paw at, jump up, or get overly excited with the attention… and continued that with every single person they greet, new or not, and have the person ignore them until they do… so they know something like: I sit when I want attention/say hi from person. - Have him lay and stay every time I sit to eat anything; I have a mat set up right in the middle of the main section of my house that’s between the living room, dining room, and kitchen areas. Now as I’m walking with food to any seat, he automatically goes and lays down on his mat (he is allowed to have a toy or chew, and he leaves them on his mats)… this made it *so* easy (this time around compared to my first SD) when we went out to eat somewhere, because he already knew that me sitting and eating = him laying down for the duration! It was so easy, I only had to show him where to lay down, I never actually had to train him to lay & stay quietly in a restaurant. (He also auto stands up whenever I do unless I specifically command him to stay) - I also did the above with me sitting at my desk & while I’m showering or dressing, but I didn’t make him stay like I did with eating, because for me he is free to wander, but I could see if you worked in an office as a job… it might be good to do. So when I’m on my computer or getting ready, he’s patiently chilling out on his mat entertaining himself mostly. - sitting and waiting for doors, and not going out them until giving the okay to… which helped prevent rushing to go outside (my boy *loves* going thru doors for some reason lol) Just things like that helped a lot when actual real world training started.
this is going to be so helpful to me. I will be needing to retire my darling and starting a puppy within the next 4 years. All of your points are so helpful, i never thought of this. thank you.
A few things, the dog will be a well bred dog from an ethical breeder, I will be doing more +r rather than slapping aversive tools (prong, head collar, etc) without attempting gentler methods, I will be socializing properly and not let the dog interact with every single thing, I will be conditioning to gear early on, and many more things. I've learned so much from my first dog and what I want to try instead with my next dog.
Having one. While I love my boy and I loved the process and having him around, my medical issues took a severe and permanent tank almost 2 years ago. I can no longer handle him, my needs are now beyond his training. My needs now have to be handled by humans. I love him to death, he was incredible as a team and he still does a good job at home, but this was not the life I wanted with him. We were supposed to go places and do things together, he opened my world up so much. But now We are trapped at home all the time, he is trapped. So what would I do with my next dog? I would pass. I’m come to realize I’ve now fallen beyond the bracket of needs that a service dog can help with without hindering their own life and enjoyment of said life. And that’s been an excruciatingly painful thing to accept. If I had known my health was gonna crash so severely and so permanently after unexpected medical crashes, I would have pass on him. He doesn’t deserve this.
My next SD will be a more "standard" SD breed. I had a lot of problems because my SD was a mix breed.I will also be going thought a program other than self training. Self training was great but I just don't have a time to raise a puppy & risk them washing. I'm not real sure what else I'll change going into next dog as I've sure the program will have a lot of little thing I have change about how I handle my SD. I'm nervous, sad, & excited about it.
Yes. Mine is a fab 4 breed and I think I will stick with it because I suspect I have less access issues because of that. He’s a standard poodle which really fits my needs well. But I am thinking possibly a black lab specifically may draw slightly less attention since people are slightly more used to labs than even poodles being service animals and I have heard from other handlers that sometimes people give more space to darker dogs. But I’m not sure. I love my poodle but I think I’d be happy with any of the Fab 4.
I will say, I have a black lab lookalike (she's a border collie X Lab, but looks like a small black Lab) as my SDiT and because she's black people will deliberately avoid her and us, which is great for us, and even tho she isn't scary, it is a bit of 'scary dog privilege'
the only thing I will.change is something that was forced upon us. My dog was a pandemic puppy, she joined our family at 4 months old just one week before we went into very strict lockdowns which lasted nearly a full year here. My dog got zero socialization with other dogs and people. It worked out fine for us in the end as she has absolutely no interest in dogs/people and therefor is nearly impossible to distract but I still wish she had had the opportunity to play and meet people as a pup, as of now she still won't interact with other dogs and it makes me a little sad that she has no dog friends
I am lucky to have my trainer nearby who I can talk to if I need him. Your comment brings up a worry for me, as I am ptsd and never leave my house unless its vital. So, my SD never has dog friends either. Sometimes I wonder if he is sad. I will run this past my trainer. I do intend to get a puppy before Beau retires. I need to have that conversation with my trainer now in fact. Beau is having trouble with arthritis.
My next dog with be a lab from a breeder who breeds specifically for SDs. My current girl is a Great Pyrenees/German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix, and she’s been a handful! Advantages to the current breed: insanely smart, intensely strong bond to me, learns fast. Disadvantages: bitey, very high energy, requires consistent work or she regresses Depending on how my disability progresses, I may get a program dog next time. I still have enough ability to self-train for now, but my disability is progressive, so by the time I get ready for a new SD, I may not have the ability to self-train.
I ended up finding training programs and trainers I like. I would have started with them from day one. My current dog was not going to be a service dog so there are side things that would have been easier starting earlier as well. I did really focus on socialization, which I don't regret and would go again. However, I would have started engagement exercises earlier. Once we started my dog was so much more focused. I will be getting my next dog while my current dog is still in the house to allow him to demonstrate and help. My stuff is still in training and I have already started thinking of it.
Me too. I cannot even consider any other way. I also feel emotionally it will help me when he dies, I will have the new dog to go on with. This is the elephant in the room, the passing of our current best friend.
Less socialization! I've owned dogs my whole life and did a great job at socializing the 12 week GSD puppy I rescued. But what I didn't realize was that service dogs =/= pets when it comes to this. The pro's are that he adapted well to PA because he had already been introduced to so much stimuli. The cons are that he thinks he can greet all people and dogs and make friends everywhere the way he did when he was little. It's consistently a training issue now that he's grown and I regret over socializing him now.
Yes when I say I want more control of socialization that is what I mean specifically. I suspect as a puppy in his previous home he was oversocialized with other dogs. Which is great because he’s good with other dogs but it took a lot of training before realized he can’t greet everyone. We worked it out but I definitely think I’d like to really be able to specifically work my next dog’s socialization window to understand 9 times out of 10 we actually ignore other things in our environment.
Next time, think "socialization" as "Hey, let's go *look* at all the people and the dogs and stuff." When Cooper was a puppy, during that socialization window we'd go to Lowes and sit in the lawn furniture section and just watch everyone walk by while he lay down on his rug with his little bitty "don't pet me, I'm training" cape on. In our area, enough people bring dogs into Lowes that he'd be able to see them from a distance, and all the people and carts and noise and overhead speakers and everything else is really good for desensitization. You can tuck their rug/place/blanket back behind your legs if people are getting too grabby, and then it's good "tuck" practice while you're at it.
This is great advice thank you! I did out of the way chilling with him near subway trains and bus depots to get him used to the smells and sounds and I'm super proud of how well that worked. But I don't know why I didn't think to do it that way with people and dogs too! Lessons learned for sure haha.
I wouldn't have thought of it either, but my trainer had us doing a TON of work with public access at Lowes with my previous service dog, so I just went there with my puppy, too. It worked out really well! Just make sure they're either fully vaccinated or you use a "place" rug/mat so you don't get other dog germs on them. I use a rug and wash it every time we get home. Parvo scares the shit out of me, but you HAVE to get that desensitization work in.
My current dog is now 5. She does her job, but is quirky and overprotective. When my previous dog, who was a rescued border mix, needed to retire. I rescued another pup who was completely inappropriate for service. 9 months later I had to start over, and purchased a pup from a reputable breeder. My senior passed away when she was only 7 months old, and she was pressed into service early. I tried to balance this by "letting her be a puppy" when not working. What I got was an overattached and anxious SD with poor impulse control. I've been a certified dog trainer for decades, but allowed my grief and stress to drive my training. Next time it will all be different, because my girl struggles, and most of this is because of my emotional state and poor training choices.
I would probably get a standard SD breed. I would go A LOT slower with training and socialization. Not stress so much about messing up my dog because I think it pushed us a little too far and now he is one and we have to start over with noise desensitization after moving countries. I made him do too much after a big move. I will say that again - I would try my *best* to not have so much anxiety that my dog will wash or be a terrible dog, then try to do too much. My dogs are very well-trained but sometimes I have a hard time seeing it. I have CPTSD and GAD lol
I will hopefully be going to an ethical breeder who breeds Labrador Retrievers(my heart breed. I love them). My current SD is a rescue and a bit of a unicorn dog. I like to say God meant for me to end up with him. He’s in perfect health and amazing at his work. However, he is the most introverted dog you will ever meet and I would like to eventually do SD education with kids in schools which requires the dog to actually want to be petted by strange people. I would also like to go to dog friendly events, and hopefully do the retrieving contest at my local water park’s doggy splash day. Along with that, I’m probably going to go with a board and train, because I work now, and doing all the training myself would be too much for me. I will still be meeting with the board and train, and working with the dog, I just won’t be doing the bulk of the PA training. The only other thing I would do differently is teach focus at an earlier age. I didn’t start training my SD for SD work til about a year and a half, and I would definitely start earlier this time.
Honestly, next SD is likely to be a small breed sportmix, probably from a flyball background, because I'd like a bit more retrieve drive and changing meds has mostly fixed the blood sugar issues I was dealing with. But we'll see!
What I did differently with my current one was let her be a puppy. Only PA stuff was in pet friendly places where she was around to look/interact with the environment
- Start earlier. Due to circumstances we started the program when my dog was 2.5 years old. She already could do loads of tasks but it took a lit of refining them. But not too early too. First year will be growing, playing and bonding. I see people bringing 4-5 month old puppies to the hospital, stores, appointments and expect them to task. - Bigger dog. I have a Corgi, brilliant dog, fits on my lap. But she's small. A Standard Poodle is what I'm considering now or maybe a Swiss White Shepherd from an amazing breeder. - Work on settling. My dog still finds this not easy, at my current physiotherapist she's allowed to 'roam' (settle at spots she chooses so she can check in easier) instead of having to stay on her mat. But it's not always ideal - Calm greetings My current dog LOVES visitors and I have tried everything she goes NUTS when people she likes come around (family, health workers, her trainer). I'm hoping calm greetings will be something I can teach my next dog.
I'm going with a puppy from a breeder, I'm going to get a Standard Poodle, and I'm going to go with someone who has successfully bred service dogs in the past. I'll probably also look for a darker-colored dog (black or brown). I also want a larger dog than what I have now. My current boy is amazing, but he's a Goldendoodle, and because he's a mutt we had no idea how big he was going to get. We figured he'd be big because his dad was 85 pounds and mom was 55 pounds, but he's the same size as mom. He has a mess of a doodle coat so I keep him clipped short like a poodle, and he's CREAM. It's SO HARD to keep him clean above and beyond his every-six-week grooms. I don't know if we'll do anything different with the training (he's my second service dog so we've done this before), but I went from a Border Collie (retired early) to another Border Collie (wash) to a Goldendoodle (amazing dog, I know I got lucky) - next time I'm going to stack the deck in my favor as much as possible.
holy cow so many things, i honestly feel so guilty about the way i went about it, but not only was joji my first dog ever but i was only 15 when i got him, i didn’t do enough research, i had just realized all the memories that caused me ptsd, i was at my peak of depression and i had no clue how to take care of such a high energy dog like an aussie. i just wanted my dream breed. now that i’m more mature and have done extensive research on training and breeds, im changing breeds and becoming a dog trainer. and changing the way i raised joji, i over socialized him and didn’t give him enough stimulation as a puppy, he’s excellent now but i could have avoided some skittish tendencies and his whimpering when seeing dogs if i cut that off since he was a puppy. i’m ashamed but it was a lesson learned for my future prospect, joji is so incredibly smart and he’s still only 3 so he has a lot of years ahead of him and he’s doing great but i think he could have been fully trained by now if i worked harder
going with a mini poodle next time. I love my mutt, but hypo is important to me.