TRAINING // My goal this year was to improve Mandana’s ability to work around dogs. I knew this was going to be an issue bc we had very limited resources for training with dogs for the first few years of her life. I didn’t have regular access to a car so we walked the city to do our training and that led to us being charged by nearly 20 different dogs over a couple years. This year our resources improved a lot so we started going to a training center frequently and practicing outside dog parks more.
During our training we uncovered that a big part of Mandana’s dog reactivity is related to resource guarding and her feelings of codependency. Her training masked a lot of it because she feels very supported by being with me and following my cues so she often didn’t appear reactive and was very reliable when on leash but when she is off leash on her own with dogs she panics in a very loud and forward way.
We hired a canine behavioralist and am making progress. I pulled her from public access but the behavioralist is confident she can easily be an amazing service dog and that these are minor problems that are very fixable. I’m not too worried about her service work right now. I wouldn’t have gotten her to begin with if I had a problem with “washing” a dog from public access. My health has improved so much with my weekly injections that I can get by in public with mobility aids for now. Besides that I want to focus my energy on rehabbing my body and making sure Mandana feels safe & happy in life.
Our training right now is very focused on behavioral modification and we are capitalizing on our good communication and cooperation skills. We’re learning how to use consent to facilitate dog interactions instead of her feeling like she has to control the situation on her own by being pushy. If you’ve made it this far in the post just know that we are on a bit of a time crunch, not to get her back into public access but to ensure we are ready to welcome home our next prospect who should be born in October if we’re lucky ;-)
