How long does it take to train a service dog? This article will research training Duration for Service Dogs
I. The Importance of Service Dogs
Service dogs play a crucial role in helping people with disabilities, providing various forms of support for individuals with visual impairments, hearing impairments, mental illnesses, and more.
1.For visually impaired individuals, service dogs are like their eyes. As defined by ‘visual impairment’, visual impairments can cause great inconvenience to people’s lives, and service dogs can help them avoid obstacles and guide them to walk on safe roads. For example, ‘There are service dogs that aid the visually impaired and disabled.’ These service dogs work together with visually impaired or physically disabled individuals, greatly improving their quality of life and safety.
2.Hearing impaired individuals can also receive significant assistance from service dogs. ‘Hearing impairment’ refers to hearing impairment, including conditions such as hearing impairment and hearing loss. For people with hearing impairment, service dogs can remind them to pay attention to surrounding sounds through specific behaviors, such as doorbells, phone ringing, etc. For example, when someone knocks on the door, the service dog can use specific actions to inform the owner that a visitor has arrived.
3.Patients with mental illnesses can also benefit from service dogs. Service dogs can provide emotional support and a sense of security to individuals with mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Hatch is attending attend classes with his PTSD service dog, Mina. She has already become popular with other students, he says. “Examples like this demonstrate the importance of service dogs in the daily lives of people with mental illness.
4.In addition, service dogs also play an irreplaceable role for people with other illnesses or disabilities. For example, for people with diabetes, the service dog can detect the change of the owner’s blood sugar through smell, and timely remind the owner to take corresponding measures. For people with limited mobility, service dogs can help retrieve items, open doors, etc., improving their ability to take care of themselves.
In short, service dogs play an extremely important role in the lives of people with disabilities. They not only provide practical assistance, but also offer emotional support and companionship, allowing them to live more independently.
II. Training content for service dogs
The training of service dogs covers multiple aspects, including basic skill training and special task training.
1. Basic skill training
Basic skill training includes basic movement training, Marker training, rope and non rope training.
1.1 Basic Movement Training:
(1). Firstly, we need to teach them the basic movements of sitting, holding, lying down, and coming over. For example, the command ‘sit down’ and snacks can be used to guide dogs to learn how to sit down. When the dog successfully sits down, reward it promptly and practice repeatedly to gradually form a conditioned reflex. The hold command can be issued when the dog is active, keeping it in a stationary state and training its concentration. The lying down command can be achieved by pulling the dog’s forelimbs backwards with both hands, lowering its body, and giving the command to “lie down”. When the dog lies down, a reward will be given. The ‘come over’ command can save a dog’s life at critical moments. During training, use a gentle tone to say the ‘come over’ command and extend your arm to invite the dog to approach. When the dog approaches, give a reward.
(2). In order to keep the service dog within the owner’s control, it is also necessary to train it to always walk beside the owner, which can be achieved through guidance and rewards during daily walks.
1.2 Marker training
1.3 Training with and without ropes
Marker training is to link the sound of a beep to rewards for dogs, improving their work motivation.
Marker training is an effective training method. Marker training is the process of using the sound produced by a beeper to mark correct behavior, and then rewarding it. After dogs learn to associate the sound of a sound stick with rewards, they will think there is something delicious when they hear the sound of a sound stick again, and they will work well. You can first familiarize the dog with the sound of the beeper, and then press the beeper and give a reward when the dog makes the correct behavior, gradually establishing a connection between the beeper and the reward.
(1). Pulling rope
Cultivate dogs to obey commands both when being led and when not being led. Training dogs that don’t like to use leashes requires time and patience. Gradual training is the best way to help dogs gradually adapt to the leash. You can start at home by putting a leash on your dog and gradually increasing the tension to let it follow you. If the dog stops, you can stop and wait for a while to let it feel the pulling force of the leash. If the dog follows you, you can give a reward. Suitable towing ropes can also be used. Generally speaking, a towing rope of up to 6 feet is the ideal length, which can give the dog enough freedom and allow the owner to maintain control over the dog. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the social skills of dogs by allowing them to frequently interact with other dogs or people, which will make it easier for them to adapt to the leash. Train dogs to recall and adapt to various environments outdoors.
(2). When training without ropes, recall training can be used to enable dogs to obey commands even without ropes. Select the dedicated command ‘come over’ to allow the dog to quickly return to its owner in special circumstances. Let the dog associate the “come over” command with the snack reward, so that it understands that there is something to eat when the owner says “come over”.
2. Special task training
Special task training is tailored to different types of disabilities, such as helping blind people navigate and reminding epilepsy patients of the onset of symptoms. Dogs can be trained with special tasks to meet the needs of different types of disabilities.
2.1 If the owner has completely lost their hearing, they can be taught to alert the owner when the doorbell, phone, or fire alarm rings.
2.2 If the owner has difficulty moving, they can be trained to help with small items such as keys, remote controls, and mobile phones.
2.3 The diabetes police dog is trained to detect the owner’s blood sugar level and remind them of potential health emergencies;
2.4 Epilepsy dogs can be trained to recognize signs of impending seizures in their owners in advance;
Epilepsy reaction dogs will take specially trained actions when their owners have seizures, including pressing the emergency alarm system or seeking external help.
2.5 Service dogs can also receive training in different settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, communities, and homes, to learn how to remain calm and focused in various environments and provide assistance to people. At a concert in Ontario, Canada, service dogs were trained to adapt to special situations and improve their ability to handle various situations. Each service dog needs to undergo various tedious training repeatedly. If it performs poorly, it may fail the assessment and fail to graduate smoothly. During the training process, service dogs should learn to behave obediently with and without ropes, obey their owners’ commands, and not run towards others casually. They should always be by their owners’ side and provide timely assistance.
III Factors affecting the training duration of service dogs
The training duration of service dogs is influenced by various factors. The following analysis will focus on three aspects: individual differences among dogs, training methods and intensity, and disability type requirements.
1. Individual differences among dogs
Dogs of different breeds and personalities have varying learning and adaptation abilities. For example, some breeds of dogs may be born with higher intelligence and obedience, making them easier to receive training and thus shortening the training duration. Some dogs with strong and uncontrollable personalities may have a stronger sense of class and may require more time to correct misconceptions and establish their owner’s authority. Like gentle, caring and gentle dogs, with high obedience and stability, good learning effects, and relatively short training duration. Dogs with timid personalities and a lack of security are sensitive to their surroundings and have high emotional fluctuations. Before training, it is necessary to establish their confidence and trust with their owners, and conduct desensitization training, which will undoubtedly increase the training time. Dogs with scattered personalities and easy distraction may have insufficient concentration, and their training process may be slower than other dogs.
2.Training methods and intensity
Scientific and reasonable training methods, as well as appropriate training intensity, can affect the duration of training. Among the various factors that affect dog training, the owner has the greatest impact on the training. The owner’s appearance, thoughts, emotions, actions, voice, scent, etc. can all be various stimuli for dogs and can form various conditioned reflexes. If not handled properly, it can directly affect the training effect.
For example, demanding too much from dogs often leads to setbacks in training; Mixing training commands with conversations with dogs can make it difficult for dogs to form a conditioned reflex to the commands; Not implementing the principle of “treating dogs according to their needs and treating them separately” will result in dogs performing extremely simple signal processing; Overlimit training can cause excessive fatigue of the dog’s nervous system and delay training time; Inappropriate rewards can blur the line between right and wrong.
In addition, climate and environment can also have an impact on training. Wind direction, wind speed, and wind force can affect the transmission of odors, change the direction of trace odors, reduce the concentration of odors, or confuse the odors of identified items. They can also affect the transmission of command sounds. When the temperature rises beyond the normal adaptation limit of dogs, it can cause fatigue in their nervous system, affecting the effectiveness of training; When the temperature is too low, the odor not only fails to rise and evaporate, but gradually sinks and floats on the surface, which significantly affects the training of tracking, searching, and so on. Excessive humidity affects the retention and transmission of odors; Low humidity accelerates the transmission and evaporation of odors, resulting in a shorter retention time. The surrounding environmental conditions of the training venue are also important. An environment with many people, noise, odors, and dogs can distract the dogs during training and affect the training effectiveness.
3.Disability type requirements
People with different disabilities have different needs for service dogs, and the difficulty of training also varies. If the owner has completely lost hearing, the service dog can be taught to remind the owner when the doorbell, phone, or fire alarm rings; If the owner has difficulty moving, they can be trained to help with small items such as keys, remote controls, and mobile phones. The diabetes police dog needs to detect the owner’s blood sugar level and remind them of potential health emergencies; Epilepsy dogs need to recognize signs of impending seizures in their owners in advance; Epilepsy reaction dogs will take specially trained actions when their owners have seizures, including pressing the emergency alarm system or seeking external help. Service dogs also need to receive training in different settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, communities, and homes, to learn how to remain calm and focused in various environments and provide assistance to people. Each service dog needs to undergo various tedious training repeatedly. If it performs poorly, it may fail the assessment and fail to graduate smoothly.
In summary, the training duration of service dogs is influenced by various factors such as individual differences among dogs, training methods and intensity, as well as disability type requirements. When training service dogs, it is necessary to develop personalized training plans based on specific situations and adopt scientific and reasonable training methods to improve training efficiency and shorten training time.
IV、 Training duration at different stages
1.Puppy training
This stage mainly involves basic socialization training and initial instruction learning, which usually takes several months. Generally speaking, it is best for dogs to start their puppy training around three months old. During this period, dogs are already able to understand some commands and have some basic conditioned reflexes.
1.1 Firstly, it is necessary to find a dog that is of appropriate age.
It is difficult to determine whether a puppy under 6 months old has sufficient intelligence and attention to become a service dog, even if it is chosen by professionals in charitable organizations, there is a high elimination rate in the actual training process.
1.2 At the same time, to evaluate the health status of dogs, service dogs need to have good health status, such as dogs with arthritis and other diseases may not be able to perform the duties of service dogs.
1.3 It is also necessary to evaluate the intelligence and excitement level of the dog, and choose a dog that is not afraid or panicked when approaching oneself. Physical movements such as wagging its tail, walking directly towards a person, and lifting its head can show its confidence. Ask the original owner of the dog which commands have been taught to it. If the basic commands have been trained, try commanding it to sit and hold, observe whether it becomes impatient, whether its attention is focused, and whether its response to the outside world is rapid.
1.4 In addition, to assess whether a dog is good at socializing and able to handle any situation freely, qualified service dogs need to be able to confidently handle various situations and people. If they show anxiety and unease in certain situations, it may harm their owners. If the dog has not been neutered yet, please neuter it first. All service dogs have been neutered, and female dogs cannot function properly during estrus. Male dogs are also more likely to have difficulty concentrating, and neutered dogs are generally less irritable.
In the puppy stage, service dogs must learn basic commands such as sitting, holding, lying down, and coming over. In order to keep them under the control of their owners, they also need to be trained to walk beside their owners at all times. You can consider use Marker training to mark correct behavior. Once the dog learns to associate the sound of the sound with the reward, it will work well when it hears the sound of the sound. This stage usually takes two to three months for puppies to gradually adapt to human interaction and learn basic commands.
2.Growth training
As dogs grow and undergo more complex task training, the duration may last for several months or even over a year. During the growth period, dogs can be trained with special tasks according to the different needs of people with disabilities. If the owner has completely lost hearing, the service dog can be taught to remind the owner when the doorbell, phone, or fire alarm rings; If the owner has difficulty moving, they can be trained to help with small items such as keys, remote controls, and mobile phones. The diabetes police dog needs to detect the owner’s blood sugar level and remind them of potential health emergencies; Epilepsy dogs need to recognize signs of impending seizures in their owners in advance; Epilepsy reaction dogs will take specially trained actions when their owners have seizures, including pressing the emergency alarm system or seeking external help. Service dogs also need to receive training in different settings, such as hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, communities, and homes, to learn how to remain calm and focused in various environments and provide assistance to people.
Each service dog needs to undergo various tedious training repeatedly. If it performs poorly, it may fail the assessment and fail to graduate smoothly. The training time at this stage is relatively long, which may take six months to a year or even longer, depending on the dog’s learning ability and the complexity of the task.
3.Post adjustment and consolidation
After pairing the service dog with its owner, there is still a period of time for adjustment and consolidation training. This stage is mainly to help service dogs better adapt to the owner’s lifestyle habits and special needs. Service dogs need to be obedient and follow their owners’ commands, both with and without ropes, and cannot run towards others casually. They should always be by their owners’ side and provide timely assistance.
It is very important to teach dogs not to run towards others casually, as owners will always need the help of service dogs. If it runs around, it won’t be able to provide timely help. This stage may take one to two months to establish a closer connection between the service dog and the owner, ensuring that the service dog can provide stable and reliable assistance to the owner in various situations.
V. Professional organization for training service dogs
There is a very special service dog training institution in the United States called Canine Companions. They are the oldest and largest service dog provider organization in the United States. Since 1975, they have housed over 7200 service dogs. Currently, over 2600 graduates collaborate with service dogs through their organization, and there are also over 1400 dog caretakers who care for their puppies. This organization provides service dogs for children, adults, and veterans with various needs, including physical and emotional support. The service dogs they provide can master over 40 commands and complete tasks such as picking up items, opening and closing doors, drawers, and refrigerators.
Institutions like Canine Companions provide personalized training programs based on the characteristics and needs of each dog. They focus on cultivating dogs’ love for work, allowing them to master various skills during training to alleviate the burden on people with disabilities. At the same time, these institutions will hold graduation ceremonies for service dogs and their owners after the team training is completed, ensuring that they can return home smoothly and start a new life.
Professional organizations place great emphasis on personalized training and continuous follow-up during the training process of service dogs. They will develop exclusive training plans based on the characteristics and needs of each dog, and continuously adjust and optimize them during the training process. At the same time, they will also maintain close communication with their owners, understand the progress of their dogs’ training and living conditions, and provide better services and support for their dogs.
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