Service Dog Tales: Learning That My Behavior Affects My Dog's Behavior

This week I tell the story of how I learned to modify my behavior for the sake of Sylvia's and my partnership.

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[mikeporemba]

As an Apprentice Assistance Dog Trainer (not a plug, Frayed Hat is not the service dog company), I really love this video series. My fellow trainers & I really want to be sure we're doing everything we can to make these partnerships or teams as beneficial, useful, and successful as possible for the children we place them with, and of course their families, as possible. To get it directly from a person utilizing these dogs & what they really do and mean to you is invaluable. I'll be sharing this with my team, thanks Nathan, great job!

[servicedogdakota]

My trainer always said listen to my dog, if he acted off it was probably me and it really helped me.

[WandaMay]

Darn you making me long for the day I get my own service dog more than usual. 😉

[jessicacoleman]

I know I'm late to this video but I wanted to say thank you it was what I needed to see today. It reminded me of when my service dog first came home and we were bonding. I have really bad anxiety and hadn't been able to sleep at night but just having him in the room made me feel at ease and put me to sleep. I forget sometimes how much he does for me.

[zenazen]

Respect for Sylvia! She herself is clearly not autistic, because if I was a dog and lying like that next to you while you're moving and jumping on the couch with a loud voice I would have barked at you (and maybe even bit you).

[truthseeker]

Thank you for sharing Nathan, Thumbs up!! : )

[meggles]

This is a great video! My first PA training session (pet friendly) with my OT SD was a complete disaster. He'd been an in-home SD for a few years prior, knew advanced obedience, had had plenty of exposure to a variety of situations/sounds, and was just a great all around dog.. but on that day, he acted like I had just picked him up on the side of the road and we didn't know each other AT ALL.. if there was a mistake to be made, he made it. Yes, in the intervening years, he's changed.. but more to the point, *I* have... it was too far, too fast and my headspace was awful and inappropriate for a dog that was out of his element and just didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. In hindsight, it made a great marker for the beginning of this adventure (and consultation with an experienced SD-trainer friend was invaluable to avoid similar situations in the future), but at the time it seemed like we were doomed. It even included an older lady tut-tutting at us from a bench.. yeah, we really hit the high water mark LOL. Any mistakes he's made since - when I've been careful to monitor BOTH of us - have been small and almost always the result of something obvious and easily correctable.

Really appreciate this vid.. such an important thing to remember about our relationship with our dogs, and how both ends of the leash need to be working together to make the partnership a success! (And I'm not autistic here, so I can't necessarily relate to how she helped you regulate yourself.. but I can certainly see how my own SD has helped me to be more aware of what/when my disability affects me so I can do a better job controlling it .. which is good for me, AND good for my family. Pretty amazing, those dogs :) )

[ROtto-puur]

Nathan, I run a non-Profit that trains Service Dogs for Veterans, First Responders, and other individuals in need of Service Animals. We mostly focus on PTSD Autism and other sensory or Psychiatric challenges. I LOVE your videos and would like to feature them on our page or during our free info sessions. Of course not without your express permission.

[TheGamingEevee]

Lovely video again, you remind me so much of myself and my dog Lucy relationship. I need to start understanding it's me causing her to not follow my commands and not her.

[pastichegraham]

Great video Nathan! Love you dude! :) And congrats on you and Silvia loving the life together that you've dreamed of! I'm so glad that your dog has helped you in everything that you needed to realize! Keep doing you! :)

[OakCroftFilms]

This video has just been tagged as "unsuitable for most advertisers." I guess because "autism" is in the tags?

[nakyer]

Nathan? Can you explain "deep pressure therapy"?

[vombatiformes]

Hi, I have a couple of weirdly specific questions I was wondering if I could ask you? I'm in the process of getting a dog from Susquehanna Service Dogs for autism also, and I was hoping I could hear from someone that's been through it already.

[juliaschiero]

shouldn't you retire Sylvia if she's 11 years old??