My Doggy Journey
River was the first dog that I started to train as a service dog. She was six months old at the time. She did fairly well with it, though I learned a lot in regards to patience while training with her, and the value in waiting for a dog to think through what is asked of them. River started to slow down a few months into her training and was diagnosed with hip dysplasia so severe that her hips were almost popping out of the socket. Immediately she was washed as a service dog in training.
I then got Padfoot, a labradoodle. In comparison to River, he was the easiest dog in the world to train. He was flying through his training, and blowing me away with his willingness to please. I taught him new things weekly, and loved watching his enthusiasm for training. I had a lot of fun doing basic trick training with him, as well as obedience drills. At about six months old, he started having some urinary incontinence where he would occasionally dribble urine. At the same time, I had him neutered early, which led to chronic incontinence and resulted in him being washed as a service dog at a year old.
My third dog was Bellatrix, a goldendoodle. I attribute a good chunk of my ability to help dogs with confidence building to her. When I got her, she was terrified of everything. She would run away from the car when we got within 20-30 feet of it. It took a few weeks of patience, and continuously exposing her to new things at her pace before she came out of her shell. I worked with her on her public access skills and basic manners in public places. Unfortunately, we didn't work well as a team together. A lot of her personality triggered my anxiety, rather than alleviating it. I made the tough decision to send her to a service dog program, who trained her as a diabetic alert dog. She has passed all of her tests, and is a fully working service dog at this time.
My fourth dog was an Irish Wolfhound named Reign. To this day, I have never owned a dog that genuinely LOVED to work the way that Reign did. She jumped right into training, and started going to work with me at a call center when she was four months old. Being a giant breed, she presented her own challenges, including less endurance when it came to repetitive training. She pushed me as a trainer to find different ways to mix up training, and keep her interested. Reign was a year old when I started working for Molli in January of 2019, and I couldn't have asked for a better dog to start out that process. At a year and a half, she passed her public access test, all in one day with no food rewards. I was devastated when she herniated a disc in her neck just two months later. At that time, she became an at-home service dog. In May of 2020, Reign took a turn for the worst, and began struggling to breathe and was losing weight rapidly. I made the heart-breaking decision to euthanize her that same month. I cannot sing higher praises of Reign. She was an amazing dog.
When Reign herniated a disc in her neck, I got Tonks "Kevin" from a local breeder. She was a more timid, but extremely sweet dog. She didn't officially pass the program's temperament test, but both Molli and I had a good feeling about her. Training with her timidness has been challenging at times, but I had the foundations to be able to work with her. A year later, you would never guess that she started out as a timid dog.
I then got Padfoot, a labradoodle. In comparison to River, he was the easiest dog in the world to train. He was flying through his training, and blowing me away with his willingness to please. I taught him new things weekly, and loved watching his enthusiasm for training. I had a lot of fun doing basic trick training with him, as well as obedience drills. At about six months old, he started having some urinary incontinence where he would occasionally dribble urine. At the same time, I had him neutered early, which led to chronic incontinence and resulted in him being washed as a service dog at a year old.
My third dog was Bellatrix, a goldendoodle. I attribute a good chunk of my ability to help dogs with confidence building to her. When I got her, she was terrified of everything. She would run away from the car when we got within 20-30 feet of it. It took a few weeks of patience, and continuously exposing her to new things at her pace before she came out of her shell. I worked with her on her public access skills and basic manners in public places. Unfortunately, we didn't work well as a team together. A lot of her personality triggered my anxiety, rather than alleviating it. I made the tough decision to send her to a service dog program, who trained her as a diabetic alert dog. She has passed all of her tests, and is a fully working service dog at this time.
My fourth dog was an Irish Wolfhound named Reign. To this day, I have never owned a dog that genuinely LOVED to work the way that Reign did. She jumped right into training, and started going to work with me at a call center when she was four months old. Being a giant breed, she presented her own challenges, including less endurance when it came to repetitive training. She pushed me as a trainer to find different ways to mix up training, and keep her interested. Reign was a year old when I started working for Molli in January of 2019, and I couldn't have asked for a better dog to start out that process. At a year and a half, she passed her public access test, all in one day with no food rewards. I was devastated when she herniated a disc in her neck just two months later. At that time, she became an at-home service dog. In May of 2020, Reign took a turn for the worst, and began struggling to breathe and was losing weight rapidly. I made the heart-breaking decision to euthanize her that same month. I cannot sing higher praises of Reign. She was an amazing dog.
When Reign herniated a disc in her neck, I got Tonks "Kevin" from a local breeder. She was a more timid, but extremely sweet dog. She didn't officially pass the program's temperament test, but both Molli and I had a good feeling about her. Training with her timidness has been challenging at times, but I had the foundations to be able to work with her. A year later, you would never guess that she started out as a timid dog.