Choosing a service dog candidate: 5 common mistakes

hi guys we are here today to talk about five mistakes that I see owner trainers make when choosing a service dog candidate now these are five mistakes that I have noticed are actually quite common throughout my work both working with hundreds of owner trainers both online and in person some of whom who have professionals help them choose a candidate and others who choose service our candidates on their own so today I have these five mistakes that I see for you I'm going to share with you excuse me but in the link in the description of this video I have a link to a blog post I've written where you can get all the information about choosing a candidate or at least more information about choosing a candidate so in that blog post I have a lot more details on choosing a breed finding an individual dog and then you can also get the link to our evaluation ebook where you can actually get my evaluation process inside that blog post as well so that's all in the link at the description at the link in the description of this video is where you can find that blog post and inside the blog post the link to the e-book with the evaluation process so today I want to share these five mistakes with you and then you can go to that blog post and that ebook to find even more about choosing a candidate if that's the the phase of this process that you're in okay so one and this one I see actually happened well I see all these happen really often but I see this one a lot so this is confusing lack of confidence with human sociability so one of the things that we really recommend all profession errs say you know when you're searching for a service-dog candidate one of the things you're looking for is a dog that is very social with people a dog who really wants to be with you a dog who really enjoys like verbal and physical praise so we're really just looking for a dog who really is very social with people very very human motivated human you know all that stuff but what I see happen is people confuse what is actually a lack of confidence with this human sociability that is a really important trait we're all looking for so what I mean by that is if you're going to for example evaluate a litter of puppies and again you can kind of the information in my evaluation process in the link in the description this video but if you're going to evaluate a litter of puppies for example it's really easy to think that the puppy that hangs out at your feet the one who refuses to leave you is being really social very human motivated very human social or something like that when in actuality that puppy may be too nervous to leave the people when I move just a little bit so I'm kind of sitting in some direct sunlight there we go that's better um so what we're looking for is a puppy who is confident enough to leave the humans and go explore his environment but prefers to be with the people so generally what I look for there when I'm evaluating a pious Peschel II a puppy but this this matters for older dogs as well so if you were evaluating like a potential candidate in a shelter or something like that these all apply as well so what I'm looking for is a dog or a puppy who goes away from me for a few moments at a time to go and explore the environment to go check things out and then returns to me regularly both on his own or when I encourage him to so if I just do the real general like hey puppy c'mere you're just the puppy come rushing back to me because he's really excited to hang out with me or or not right so that's where we're looking for human sociability not a lack of confidence and I see people confuse those two a lot because on the very surface they can kind of look the same because in both situations we have a dog who's staying near the people so this is one reason that when you go to evaluate a potential puppy or a potential adult older dog we always highly recommend that you bring a professional with you even if it is a dog trainer who doesn't have a lot of experience with service dogs because generally they're going to have a lot of experience reading dog body language and helping you separate out something like the difference between lack of confidence and human sociability right um but if not make sure you do a lot of homework on dog body language before you go to evaluate your puppy or your or your adult dog ok so throughout this whole video I mean both now the next mistake I see is confusing into pendants with confidence so one of those other traits that we tell people you're looking for in a potential service dog is confidence right we want to we want a puppy or an adult dog who is very confident one of my dogs is in a crate here and she's banging her bowl around we want a dog who's confident right they're going to need to be able to go into all kinds of different situations all kinds of environments around all kinds of distractions and we need for our service dogs to be confident but independence is not a good trait in a service dog I do not want an independent dog because if the dog is independent then he's there they're just they're a little more challenging to train they don't tend to care as much about things like verbal praise um we want humans we weren't really social with people we don't want independent so I've had people talk to me about you know choosing a puppy and he was so confident because he just went and he explored the environment and he was constantly exploring the environment he didn't ever come back to me and all these things and so again this is where a professional can help you pick out you know again independence versus confidence so this is where again where I'm looking for that puppy or that dog who is confident enough to leave me and is showing confident body language so you know I'm not not getting down and slinky you know Cesar you need to look up some dog body language stuff but I'm looking for a dog who's confident enough to leave me but then is constantly coming back and wanting to hang out with me or is very easy to call back to me so we want confident but not independent independence is not a helpful trait in a service dog at all now the next one is not testing food motivation so this is something that I think a lot of people don't think about until they've tied tried to train a dog who's not naturally very food motivated now what I mean by food motivated of course is a dog who will eat food that I offer him under a variety of different circumstances so I want a dog who is willing to work for food and will take that food from me both at home and around distractions and in new environments so one of the things that I see is this is something a lot of people don't think about if you have a dog currently who's not very food motivated who you're you're labeling as having low food motivation that's definitely my phone ringing now there we go um so okay so back to what I was saying so if you have a dog who has low food motivation there's a lot that we can do to increase that to teach our dogs to accept food reinforcers in multiple environments but service dog training is hard enough we have a lot of behaviors to teach we have to teach our dogs to do those behaviors around a lot of environments we really want a dog who who is very interested in the food a dog who is who wants to work for that food is very food motivated and it's something that I think I just see a lot of people not purposefully test this and then bring home a puppy or an older dog who every time they offer a treat goes you know maybe I'll take it maybe I won't so food motivation is a big one and it's something that I recommend that you you purposefully and intentionally test for and again you can find information on that inside our evaluation ebook which is in the in the link in the description of this video will take you to a blog post that has that ebook now the next one is making the decision based on emotions so this is one that I know a lot of people are not necessarily going to agree with me with me on but this should not be a solely emotional decision going in to evaluate a litter of puppies or evaluate some adult dogs you don't necessarily want to choose the dog that you connected with the most or the dog that you know chose you or the dog that you just had this extra spark with or fill in the blank um now if you have multiple dogs who have tested equally they're people motivated they're food motivated they're confident they've got all these great things going for you but you have an emotional connection with one dog over the other then of course go with that dog but one of the things that I see a lot of people do is they say oh go valuate a litter of puppies and go with the one that chews you or go with the one that you feel the connection with but those dogs don't necessarily have the qualities you need for service work and relationships can be built you don't have to have this magical x-factor in order to have a really great relationship with your dog I have seven dogs in my home seven and only one of them was a dog who I chose because I had an emotional connection with okay every other one was chosen for me by the breeder my breeder you know spent eight weeks with the puppies knew what I was looking for did their own evaluations and chose those puppies for me based on the temperaments that those puppies were displaying over the eight weeks that they were with their breeder so like a bonus tip here is it's really in my opinion worth it to go with a very good breeder with lots of service dog experience even if it means that you have to spend an extra six or nine or twelve months saving up money to be able to afford that puppies purchase price but your breeder should have gotten to know their puppies really well and they should be able to help you make this decision so in my home even leo my service dog in training right now he was chosen for me by his breeder who has a way more service dog training experience than I do so I trusted her to make that decision um so again I'm not saying that there's it's not important or or if you have multiple dogs that test well not to choose the one that you're feeling this emotional connection with but this should not be a purely emotional decision this should be a decision that is also made based on an evaluation test based on logic based on your discussions with your breeder or the foster parent or whoever who knows the dog better than you to make sure that this dog you're bringing home this dog that you are banking so much on that you are investing so much in has the qualities that is going to help it be a good service dog this is hard enough without choosing a dog whose genetics or temperament or not tendencies aren't going to work with you this is a long enough hard enough process there's no reason to make it harder by not choosing the dog that already has the qualities we're looking for okay so then the last one is not thinking through their breed choice so this is again something that I see a lot of people make mistakes on there are as this is something that I have other videos on and I talk about in depth in the blog post in the link in the description of this video one of the questions I get a lot is what's the best breed for service work or can fill-in-the-blank breed can adele nation or a husky or a German Shepherd or a cocker spaniel can they be service dogs I'm gonna say that you can probably find a good service dog candidate in any breed but you're going to have to search harder in some breeds than in others so we talked about the Fab Four you've probably heard about this in service dog training labs golden retrievers poodles and smooth Colley's tend to be the Fab Four that people recommend the most for service work because those breeds tend to produce puppies with the temperaments we need for service work now you certainly could go outside I know lots of successful owner trainers who use breeds outside of this okay so I'm not saying you can't find a good service dog candidate in an on and off breed so the one that isn't one of those fab 107 for breeds but you're going to have to search harder and I think the other thing that a lot of people don't think about is that if you have a breed outside of those you're gonna draw a lot more attention in public so if you have a Dalmatian or you have a greyhound or you have a Great Dane or you have a anything that isn't a golden retriever a lab or a poodle you're gonna get a lot more attention you're gonna get a lot more staring you're gonna get a lot more questions and that's just something to consider whether that's something that's ok with you or not so if you're somebody who the extra attention in public makes you nerve or it makes your disability works or it makes things like anxiety attached or panic attacks happen then this is a very valid thing to consider whether or not that extra attention you're going to get from something like a Samoyed or a Dalmatian um because can you find a Samoyed or a Dalmatian that makes a good service dog probably I'm sure that those that they do exist those breeds don't tend to have that the temperaments and the qualities we're looking for but I'm sure they exist out there if you dig deep enough but you're still going to get a lot more attention with those breeds than you are with something like a lab so when I have Leo out in public I never get people who say Oh what kind of dog is that and then want to talk to me for five minutes I get a lot less staring I get a lot less I didn't know that breed could be a service dog I'd get I get the occasional oh I have a lab at home right but I don't get all the stopping and the staring and the questions that I used to get with other breeds that I have brought into public so think through the breed think through making sure it's a good breed for you and your lifestyle make sure that it is a breed that you can find a good service or a candidate in and make sure that you consider whether or not this extra attention is going to be a problem for you and you're going to see both in owner trainers and in higher-profile you know dog trainers who also have service dogs you're going to see Border Collies or Australian Shepherds or Dalmatians are these other breeds that are service dogs and it's not because they can't be good service dogs Border Collies for example it's both Border Collies because I am a border collie person I've had a bunch of them I will have more throughout my life and I have even placed one as a service dog generally Border Collies don't have that the temperaments we're looking for for service work generally they can be I'm going to throw a bunch of labels at you they can be stubborn they can be low food motivated they can be sensitive and noise sensitive there are a lot of things going for Border Collies that don't make them good service dog candidates that doesn't mean exceptions don't exist but it means in general these breeds don't have a lot of the qualities that we're looking for um and so it's something to consider and really dig in really really do your research on the breed because you also want to make sure that it's a good breed for you and your lifestyle so if you're a Barry are you a very active person or do you spend a lot of time at home do you have to go to a lot of loud environments do you I mean you just you have to look at your lifestyle and decide whether or not a breed is a good fit for you and I always recommend reaching out to breeders to people who own that breed to owner trainers who have worked that breed and doing a lot of research to find a good a good breed for you and then a good individual for you so like I said you can absolutely find individual dogs outside of those those Fab Four but you're gonna have to look harder you're gonna have to dig deeper and you have to you're gonna get more attention and that's just something to to consider if that's worth it for you so again might these five mistakes I see a lot are confusing lack of confidence with human sociability remember I want a puppy who's confident enough to explore the environment would prefer to hang out with me confusing independence with confidence so confusing a dog who is I'm just really independent and is spending way more time leaving me than coming towards me with confidence just because you're independent doesn't make you confident and just because you're confident doesn't make you independent independence is a is not a helpful trait for a service dog independence is a bad trait for a service dog to have not testing food motivation this is something we tend to take for granted you want to test for this and make absolutely certain that your service on candidate is interested in food and it's going to work for food in all kinds of environments making the decision based on emotions is another mistake that I see this shouldn't be a solely emotional decision there should be there should be evaluations there should be conversations with the breeder or the person who knows this dog better than you there should be some good thought in here don't bake this decision based solely on your emotions and make sure that you really think through your breed choice so if you have always had German shepherds and you're very good with German shepherds and you're very experienced with them then do your digging and and find the dog that has a good suitable temperament for service work but if you've never had a German Shepherd if this is your first dog or something like that and maybe something like a lab or a poodle would be a better choice so if you guys have any questions about this you can always ask them inside our Facebook group train your service dog with confidence we get a lot of discussions in there about choosing the right dog and choosing the right breed for you and like I said in the link in the description of this video is it will take you to the blog post that I wrote on choosing a service dog it will walk you through choosing a breed choosing an individual the ebook link in there is also where you can find the evaluation process that I use when I choose a candidate if I haven't been matched me if I've been matched by the breeder so like I said you know Leo's breeder knows a lot more about service dogs than me so I let her just match me and my client with Leo instead of doing my own evaluation um in my own home six of my seven dogs were matched for me by their breeder or by their rescue and that because they knew what I was looking for and they knew the puppies really well so they were able to match a dog who had the temperament that would fit my lifestyle the best so that is what I have for you today if you guys have any questions check out our Facebook group like I said train your service dog with confidence and then check out the link in the description this video if you need more information on choosing a candidate and I will talk to you guys later have a great night

Channel: My Service Dog and Me

Views: 30,135

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Id: F5kL4kdAh5s

Length: 19min 25sec (1165 seconds)

Published: Fri May 08 2020