Domino Service Dogs

Caitlin uses the word pull to ask Badger to pull her wheelchair. This saves Caitlin a lot of effort and is extremely helpful when Caitlin needs to get up a hill that is too steep for her to propel her chair all by herself. I have to admit that when Caitlin first taught Badger how to pull her chair it made me extremely nervous. I was afraid Badger would go too fast. Then one day I watched as Caitlin and Badger were on their way down a steep hill and just as I was about to grab a hold of Caitlin’s wheelchair Badger slowed her down. At that moment I realized that I would have to learn to trust Badger and put my faith in her abilities. Two years have passed since that day, and I am proud to say, that Badger has never let me down.

Paws up is a pretty basic command. It means for your dog to put his front paws up on something. You could use this command to teach your dog to put his front paws on a chair, table, washing machine, your chest, or as in the picture to the right the counter at a store.

Currently Jasper is working on paying for things at the grocery store. At the moment he will take cash with his mouth and  hold it while he jumps up and puts his paws up on the counter. However he is not so good at giving the money to the cashier. He usually turns his head to the side and drops it on the floor. You could also use this task to have your service dog hand a credit card to the cashier.

Paws up is one of the building blocks I have used to teach other commands such as light, door and get in the truck. I found that knowing paws up was also helpful when teaching the off command.

Carry is a relatively new command for Jasper. We started working on this last summer when I decided it would be helpful if Jasper learned to carry a bucket of vegetables from the garden to the back porch. Jasper did not immediately carry a bucket full of vegetables instead he carried a bucket with one small cucumber or a few tomatoes. By the end of the summer I was able to increase the weight I put into the bucket until it was about half full.

A few months later I was in the kitchen filling buckets with vegetable scraps to feed to the chickens and pigs on our farm. I realized that I had too many buckets and therefore I would have to make two trips or get myself some help. The only helper I had was Jasper so I handed him one of the buckets and he carried it all the way to the pig pen.

Recently I started asking Jasper to carry a small bag of groceries out of the grocery store to the truck. He’s pretty good at this task but every once in a while I hand him a bag that is too heavy. He lets me know right away by dropping the bag on the floor and looking up at me as if to say, “Are you kidding me?”.

Side means to stay next to your right side. One of the many ways that Badger provides assistance to Caitlin is similar to using a cane, except that Caitlin doesn’t have to carry Badger every where like she would if she used a cane. Since Caitlin would hold a cane with her right hand her physical therapist suggested that Badger be trained to work on her right side. As you can see Badger is quite comfortable working on Caitlin’s right side.

Heel means to stay next to your left side. Jasper and I have been working on mastering this command since he was a very small puppy. Our hard work has definitely paid off. As you can see in the pictures Jasper can heel off lead in a controlled environment. Jasper even managed to ignore the person walking toward us.

Get your leash is one of Jasper’s favorite things to do. It means we are about to embark on an adventure. We may be leaving to pick up the kids at school, a trip to the grocery store or a visit to the library it doesn’t matter to Jasper where we are going as long as he gets to go too.

When we are out and about if I put Jasper’s leash down he is more than happy to pick it up and hand it to me. All I have to do is say “bring your leash”. I think in Jasper’s mind he is just putting his leash back where it belongs.

I use the door command to ask Jasper to push the accessibility  buttons that open doors located on the outside or inside of public buildings. Jasper is getting very good at this command. However, he does have a more difficult time concentrating when there is a window near the button because he is very interested in looking through the window to see whatever is on the other side.

Jasper also has a difficult time figuring out what to do when there is a bench in front of the button. So far I have only seen a bench placed in front an accessibility button in one location. After seeing how difficult this made it for Jasper to reach the button, I began to wonder how a person on wheels would be able to reach over this bench and push the button. Especially a child like my daughter. After I shared my concerns with the manager of JC Pennies she was happy to remove the obstacle and place the bench in a better location.

I use the under command to ask Jasper to crawl under a chair or table when I need him to wait patiently out of the way of others. This comes in handy in restaurants, medical offices and other places where chairs or tables are available. I have also found this command to be quite handy at the library while I am reading a good book. Keep in mind that some dogs are just too large to go underneath a chair. Instead Caitlin places Badger in a position that keeps her as unobtrusive as possible and allows enough room for other people to walk around her. Allowing enough room for people to walk around her also helps keep Badger safe as people are less likely to step on or trip over her. Caitlin saves the under command for places like restaurants where the tables are usually large enough for her to fit comfortably underneath them.