lazyownerstraintheirdogs

"In 1998 we got “Dicker” from our local Dogs’ Home, a very active, 2 year old English Springer Spaniel. After only half a year with him, I got serious back problems with long episodes of not being able to walk at all and always having to be on medication. Even though my neighbours helped with walking him, it was obviously very difficult to give him the exercise and mental stimulation he needed.

Whilst doing a correspondence course in Canine Psychology at the Animal Care College, I decided to try and teach him to help me with various tasks. On one hand, because I could do with help (I was hardly able to bend down or to lift anything at all), on the other hand, because he desperately needed mental stimulation – well, just plainly something to do. So I concentrated on the following:

a) Pushing - The bathroom downstairs has a sliding door made out of thick wood. When this is closed and I am in bad pain (having to crawl on the floor), this is difficult for me to open. My dog could help by pushing it open.

b) Retrieving - He already retrieves several objects, but not “useful” ones or for any other purpose than play. Retrieving objects I might need when having difficulty in getting around can obviously be rather helpful.

c) Pulling - He could pull a (washing) basket and pull doors open or closed. He may even help me take off socks and trousers.

Before starting any training, I had to assess his build as well as his talents and capabilities. Dicker being a middle-sized dog cannot, for example, retrieve or push the same load a Bernese Mountain Dog would be able to “handle”. A Yorkshire Terrier will not be able to pull a full washing basket, but could get into areas for retrieves of small things that my dog might not be able to reach.

A dog does not have to be a fully trained Canine Partner for Independence / Service Dog to be of real help, nor does she have to be a Labrador or Retriever to learn what Dicker learned. Any dog that likes playing with toys can learn to retrieve different objects, depending on the size, strength and health of the dog. Any dog that is determined to get to her toy or a tasty treat will be able to learn how to push open a sliding door, again depending on the size, strength and also determination of the dog.

All training sessions were kept very short and we always finished with an exercise he does really well, even if this meant going back to really easy things like “sit”. Also, we kept the training very varied – a couple of “old” favourites, a couple of tries with one of the new things, again older exercises etc. With Dicker, it is easier to keep his interest this way. I did not want to do too much of a new thing, so he would not get bored or even scared. Most importantly, he got praised quite excessively, with me making a great fuss when he did what I wanted him to. Everything wrong was just ignored or commented with a “no”.

Pushing the sliding door

I put a tasty treat behind the door and closed it with Dicker watching. Being a rather greedy dog, Dicker pushed the door open without any hesitation whilst I said “push”. After about 5 repetitions (in 2 sessions) he did the 6^th without a hidden treat, but reacting to “push”. Big praise and end for the day. (This might take less greedy dogs much longer and for other dogs it might be more interesting to find a favourite toy behind such a door!).

He soon learned to push the door open reliably, whether the treat was behind the door, I was in the bathroom holding a treat or if I just stood next to the door and told him to push. He only pushed far enough though for himself to get through. So I struggled to find a way to make him push the door open further.

One day I was by chance holding the treat in the hand with which I point to the door when telling him to “push”. He jumped up to get at it, putting his front paws on the side of the door, thus pushing it open fully. Of course I made a huge fuss and finished for the day. So by holding the treat next to the door, he started to jump up reliably, but often missed the door with his paws. Soon he only needed to get the treat when he touched the door with his paws and opened it a bit more. Once he understood that, he only got treated for a properly open door – voila! With regular, very short training sessions, he now reliably opened the door wide just for the cue “push” and a treat afterwards.

Retrieves and emptying the washing machine

He did little retrieves in the house anyway (NOT out on walks! Everything else out there is too interesting!). I started with telling him to “bring it back” to reinforce the action. Very soon, he brought back all sorts of items, even from another room. Luckily, he does not mind what he puts in his mouth! So remote controls, wallets and even small metal cases are no problem for him.

The same day, as I was doing the washing anyway, I decided to find out if Dicker minds retrieving wet socks. After hanging up the bigger items, I placed the basket on the floor with 4 socks in it. I asked Dicker to “Bring it back”, pointing inside the basket. He immediately chose a sock, picked it up and brought it to me and did so with all socks on being asked. He got a tiny treat for every sock and, of course, big praise!

The next evening I put an old little towel into the open door of the washing machine, asked him to “bring it back” (pointing to it) and he retrieved it immediately. As he seemed to have no problem with his head near the washing machine, I just put the towel inside the washing machine (impatient as usual). I told him to bring it back and with no hesitation at all he stuck his head inside the washing machine and retrieved the towel! By then I was starting to worry what my neighbours think of my very enthusiastic outbreaks of “YES, what a good boy, you’re such a star” etc.!!

The next morning I had to do some washing anyway. When the washing was done, I only took out a shirt and a big towel. After that, Dicker retrieved every single item out of the washing machine and gave them to me. (In my case, as I have problems bending down, I prefer him to get the items out of the washing machine while I stand next to the machine. The washing basket is on top of the washing machine, so I won’t have to bend down to lift it either. So Dicker gives me the retrieved items and I then just drop them into the washing basket. I am sure it would equally be possible to teach your dog to take the items out of the washing machine and then drop them into a washing basket.)

At this very first stage, he got a treat for every single item of washing he retrieved from the washing machine. Over the course of a few weeks (according to his eagerness), the amount of treats was reduced, first to one after two retrieved items, then 3 etc., until he emptied the whole washing machine in one go. At least for Dicker it was and is also important to give verbal encouragement – and I mean encouragement as in happily cheering him on, not commanding constantly. After all, these exercises are supposed to be mental stimulation as well as “quality time together” and only then help for me. It’s no use becoming too eager or even forceful, especially when the dog, like Dicker, may prefer to go to the fields and sniff around rather than actually doing things with his humans!

Pulling

I have a strong, short, red/white rope (the so-called “motivator”) which I use for the pulling ideas, so he has a known and liked toy to work with. As he retrieved this with no problem anyway, I put a thin rope onto the “motivator” and fixed that to a door handle, so the “motivator” hangs down easy for Dicker to grab. The door was half open and I told Dicker to “Bring the rope” and “pull” (the latter only to get him used to the word!). He got hold of the rope and walked backwards. A couple of times he dropped the rope, but picked it up again and pulled the door nearly closed (the locks are too tight for the doors to be slammed shut, therefore it will always only be a “nearly” shut or opening from lean-to). Naturally he got loads of treats and very enthusiastic praise. During the same very first session, he also did the same pulling to open the door wide (with the rope on the other side of the door, obviously).

After only a couple of training sessions he opened and closed the doors just on the cue “pull” without dropping the motivator in-between.

As he now did this, I started with him pulling the washing basket. I fixed the motivator with the thin rope to the small side of the basket and asked Dicker to “pull” (the empty basket!). At first he only pulled it a little bit on the wooden floor, but soon, after very few sessions, he pulled it from the washing machine to the garden door as well as in the garden on gravel! It took a lot of encouraging, but he soon started to understand what I want him to do and did it with a wagging tail.

When Dicker was quite comfortable pulling the empty washing basket around, I started slowly to put items of washing in it. As the weight increased only very gradual, he never minded and in a couple of days we had reached the “end-weight” – half a load of washing in the basket for him to pull.

After only about 10 days of training, Dicker showed that he not only knows what I want him to do with the washing basket, but also that he understands how to cope with pulling such a big thing. One afternoon I brought the washing basket inside, filled with dry washing from the tumble dryer and put it on the floor next to the garage door. This filled basket he then pulled over the gravel in the garden, into the house, there into the living room, around corners and passing some obstacles like his basket and a couple of chairs. He did that with no help and only some verbal encouragement, no stopping and no treats in between!

After a couple of weeks of training this, I decided to start something new again to prevent boredom creeping in the training sessions. I sat down on my bed and pulled a sock half off my foot. Then I called Dicker, made him sit in front of me, holding the “sloppy” bit of the sock in front of his mouth, asking him to “hold” (he knew that word already before the start of this “helper” training). To my surprise, after only hesitating shortly, he grabbed the end of the sock and on “pull” he did pull it until the sock came off! I was absolutely over the moon and obviously he got huge praise and some treats. He did it like that again a couple of times, so we stopped for that day. During the course of about 2 weeks, I helped less and less with the sock, so he had less and less “sloppy” sock to grab hold of. Also, it became apparent that he can only take the socks off if they are quite loose socks. Very tight-fitting ones he can hardly grab hold off and they are too tight to be easily pulled off around the ankle as well. So to make sure it does not get too difficult, we stuck with using old, fairly loose socks.

Years later, Dicker still does all these “tricks”. He has learned loads more things – and the more we do, the easier he understands new tasks! I am so proud of him! We have also bonded even more due to this intensive training.

I think the main reason for success with this was that I really needed and wanted Dicker to help me. I am not really keen on tournaments, shows etc., so all other efforts at training were always only half-hearted on my part. With this though, I was genuinely happy about every step forward. I am sure dogs feel this difference and work so much better for it!" (Jutta)