While mom and Ivy were off on an adventure, I decided to work with Hannah on skills she was taught yesterday. She had done a great job in all areas except doorways.
Service dogs need to be courteous when going through doorways so they don’t hurt their handlers. The procedure is as follows:
- The dog sits and waits patiently.
- The human walks in (or out) the door.
- The human calls the dog, who can then walk through.
To do this, the dog needs to sit, stay, and heel). These were a struggle yesterday, so we repeated them over and over. After about 50 tries, she got it! What a good girl!
When we finished, we started walking around, waiting for Mom and Ivy. When they returned, the pups had an enthusiastic reunion.
The celebration was short-lived. A few moments later, dad came around the corner with a wheelbarrow.
Hannah was intrigued and decided to investigate. Ivy was torn between wanting to flee and trying to save her sister.
If the puppies were destined to be pets, that wouldn’t have necessarily been a problem. As service dogs, they will encounter lots of things that might seem scary. Our job is to desensitize them as kindly as possible. Ivy’s fear gave us an opportunity to help her get over it.
Since Hannah was unfazed, I picked her up and put her inside. She was comfortable! Then we put Ivy inside. She was cautious but fed off of her sister’s confidence. Before too long, she was fine!
After that, Ivy was more intrigued with learning about how it worked with its one wheel.
Dad is looking forward to taking them for a ride in it next time!
After that exhausting experience, they went inside and went right to sleep. They did a great job.
Written by Tracie Jaramillo
Hannah and Ivy 
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