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As a service dog handler who has been personally accompanied by a dog 24 hours a day 7 days a week for over eleven years, I have had just about every experience possible with a service dog right beside me. Ive been to football games and experienced the roar of a crowd as the winning touchdown has been scored, Ive been to amusement parks with two puppies in training in tow and squeezed myself and my service dog on an airplane more than 50 times. I was a newbie handler for the first several years of Liames life and like you, I had been told to socialize my puppy to as many people, places and things as possible. But as a new handler, what I didnt know is if there were places you should never take a service dog in training or even a fully fledged service dog. Laurence from Topeka Kansas has our question of the week. Laurence wants to know if there are any places you should never take a service dog in training to. See what my advice is so you can prevent a mistake that could easily ruin your dogs’ ability to become a stably temperamented public access service dog.
Never take service or service candidate dogs to dog parks, animal shelters or pet shops to avoid serious Canine diseases. I know people partnered with dogs that have their vet do annual check up inside their car to avoid sick dogs.
I Agree 100%. I would also recommend not bringing a DAD into a movie theater. (For the same basic reasons). THANK U!! 🙂
I sort of understand what is being said in this video, but Schutzhund or IPO dogs are required to tolerate the sounds of gunfire, as are police dogs. While in policing it is obvious why dogs must remain calm and focused despite gunfire, the temperament test of Schutzhund says that dogs with sound of mind and nerve are able to understand that loud noises that do not pose an immediate treat to the dog should not be worried about. is it not an advantage for dogs to learn that fireworks or the loud noises of a movie theatre are not a threat to them? If this isn’t socialized into the dogs how can one take ones dog to loud venues? how else will they learn how to work for their owner if they are never put under that type of stress? I don’t want to give up going to the movies just because of my mutt.
Additionally while I agree with Ruth’s belief that service dogs should not be going to dog parks or animal shelters. I don’t think avoiding those places to ensure their dog stays healthy is the right idea. Don’t we need to expose dogs to illnesses and bacteria in order to allow their immune systems to build up resistance?
I was told not to bring my dog to dog parks to avoid their getting behavioral rewards from entities that are not the trainer and thereby diluting the ability of the trainer to be the ULTIMATE reward for the dog and the dog’s inclination to work.
It really boils down to the ability to control the environment. When you are initially training a police dog to be OK with gunfire, no police officer in his right mind would shoot off 800 random shots right next to the dog in 5 minutes, like the rapid fire loud banging of a fireworks show. You start slow by shooting off one round at a time and control the distance the dog is from the initial gun fire. You cannot control the distance from the fireworks show nor the timing of the fireworks in a public performance.