Helpful Tips to Train a Service Dog

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Last Updated on April 5, 2022 by Pauline G. Carter

You’ve developed a solid bond with your dog. You also have house trained it, but you need a lot more now. Do you want to train your pet and turn it into a service dog? It is doable, and with the right training, your pet can exude the characteristics of a service dog.

For example, with the training, you can turn it in to become calm in unfamiliar settings, alert, reliable in handling repetitive tasks per your needs, and willing to please, to mention a few.

The best dog training services make the process a breeze, especially with the valuable information and laying a foundation to build on the skills and capabilities.

Here’re a few pointers to make the training process more productive. (Patriot K Nine is an example of recommended dog training services in Fayetteville).

Table of Contents

Goals

What do you want the dog to learn? Simply starting a session won’t get you anywhere if you have no clear and realistic goals. It would be best if you had a clear purpose, such as teaching the dog a certain skill.

This way, you’ll know if your progress is headed anywhere and, if not, what you may have to change to facilitate better progress.

Specific goals per session also keep you grounded since you won’t be excited after realizing the dog has learned a new trick, which might not be anything close to what you want it to master.

Your needs

A service dog can be trained to do certain things (Patriok Nine. This includes pulling a wheelchair, alerting you of oncoming traffic, or protecting, just to mention a few elements. This depends on the skills and capabilities.

The behavior also counts since you don’t want a service dog that pees/poops in public, causing unnecessary friction. As you tailor a training plan, consider your needs and the behaviors, capabilities, and skills the dog should learn to meet them.

Commitment

House training a dog is challenging enough. Now, add the specifics you need the dog to learn, including how they behave in varying public spaces. It takes time and commitment to realize notable progress. A typical training schedule of a service dog takes 120 hours, plus 30 more to train in public.

This is also distributed over a few months, ensuring you maintain short bursts to instill as much information to the dog as possible without overwhelming them, typically averaging six to eight months.

Time and commitment are critical considerations since you can easily get frustrated after a few weeks if your dog is not turning out as great as you thought. Before getting started, ensure you have the patience and time needed to train the dog adequately.

Practical strategy

How do you motivate the dog to keep learning? How do pros like Patriots training service dogs do it? A proven strategy is rewarding success. Fear, through punitive strategy, can initially seem like a good idea, but the last thing you want is a service dog that’s not confident.

You’ll continuously reinforce the dog’s desire to learn with a reward system. Don’t just focus on the dog, though. You also deserve a treat after a milestone since you need to stay on track to facilitate successful training.

Training a service dog is no cakewalk. The good news is that the online world is loaded with valuable resources that can help you supercharge your service dog training quests. With the resources, professional dog training, NC help, and the right mindset, you’ll pull through and turn it into a reliable service dog.