Home for the Holidays

This may be controversial, leaving your service dog at home for the holidays. It’s something that should be discussed. There are reasons to take your service dog almost everywhere. There are also reasons to leave your service dog home. 

Family Dynamics

Family dynamics can be challenging during the holiday season without adding in disability and service dogs.  Families tend to either think someone with a disability is incapable of doing anything on their own, and cause issues by “helping” in ways that aren’t helpful, or completely ignoring the disability and need for accommodation to be made.

My own family can be challenging for me under the best of circumstances. They don’t believe I’m disabled, even though my doctors and the federal government say I am. They don’t think I need the devices I need to mitigate my disability.  This includes my service dog, Nick. 

Some of Nick’s tasks aid me in maintaining my balance. These tasks range from providing both visual and tactile feedback so I don’t fall to picking things up from the floor/ground so I don’t worsen my vertigo. My vertigo is a direct result of significant damage to my visual cortex from a significant brain injury.

Because this deficit cannot be seen with the untrained eye, it’s not acknowledged by my family. It’s severe enough that I cannot drive or even ride my bicycle. Walking without falling or staggering can usually be managed in a familiar, predictable setting. Loud noises, bright lights, crowded rooms with multiple conversations, and too much external stimulation in general, make my symptoms worse. Add in PTSD from a previous abusive relationship, and holiday get togethers become almost impossible to tolerate. 

Family Pets

I’ve normalized not brining Nick to family events because the stress of family reactions is too much for me. My mother insists he’s just a “pet” and needs to be relegated to play with her dog rather than help me. I’d rather not have Nick around that dog because it’s always over aroused and Nick then tends to become over aroused. 

Rather than letting Nick settle on a mat or near my feet, two skills he excels at, he would be made to stay outside during meal time. This doesn’t allow him to help me while I’m getting my food, or during the meal. Generally he gets worried because he can’t see me, he’s in an unusual environment, and with an over aroused dog.  

Children

For the most part, I only occasionally have children in my life. None of my friends have kids, my kids are grown and don’t have children, and my neighbors don’t have children. For the most part, the only time we encounter children is when we’re out in public.  My nieces do attend family events and currently have toddlers. The only time we see them is family events.  While Nick generally ignores children when we’re out in public, and my nieces are really good at watching their children, I don’t feel it’s necessary to subject to kids in this situation. 

The Hosts

A person’s home is not a place of public accommodation and the host isn’t obligated to invite a person’s service dog. Generally, I don’t go places where Nick isn’t invited. The exception would be a good friend’s home that wouldn’t appreciate Nick, especially if I had the option of a service human being available to help me.  I’d rather be asked “Why didn’t you bring Nick?” rather than impose him where he’s not wanted. 

The Dog

The single biggest reason to leave your service dog home would be for the dog’s benefit. We all deserve a day off, including the dog. Staying home in a quiet environment with a chew may be preferred by the dog rather than dealing with holiday distraction.  Every handler should have a plan in place to deal with the times a dog cannot or should not be working.  If I leave Nick home, alone, he’s left in his crate with something rewarding and appropriate to chew.  He usually just sleeps in his crate.  This is something I appreciate. 

I’m sure I’ve overlooked some reasons that you may want to leave your service dog home for the holidays. If you choose this option, for whatever reason, do not let anyone make you feel uncomfortable for your choice.  A service dog is just one of many ways to mitigate a disability. It’s also okay to decline an invitation. 

Consistency.

 Consistency in Training

Bringing  consistency to your training will improve your relationship with your dog , their ability to learn new behaviors, and your overall success of your teamwork. 

Consistency in the Behavior

When training a new behavior from the beginning steps of loading a marker and everything that follows, teach the behavior and reward nothing less than what you want in all future behaviors. If you expect a competition sit, then teach a reliable square sit, and  reinforce the sit that you have taught to maintain the behavior. 

Nick practicing a sit/stay while we were at an appointment. 

Consistency in Training 

When teaching a each behavior, teach it on a regular basis and in as many places as often. The more often a behavior is practiced and repeated. This will ingrain the behavior and make it more reliable. The more often the behavior is repeated, the stronger the behavior becomes. 

Consistency in Cues

Keeping cues clean, clear, easy for the dog to understand with consistency will training problems from forming. With my current service dog, Nick, I taught Get It (retrieving), Down, and Take a Bow with the same hand cue. When I was asking for any of the three cues, he wasn't sure what I was asking for. The solution was to rename the cues and change the signals so Nick was no longer confused. 

A long down stay at a distance in a busy environment becomes a simple request when practicing on a regular basis in different environment. 

Consistency in Yourself

Having a consistent training time daily and consistently asking for the behavior in new environments will continue to reinforce the behaviors. It's also important to break more complex behaviors down periodically so the entire behavior chain stays intact. 

Nick and I working on a new skill, loose leash while I'm on a scooter. 

Consistency with your Dog

Be as consistent as possible with your dog as you train so when unexpected things happen in real life, your dog is ready for it. 

In Sumary

Training with consistency will make training more fun and moves it along more quickly. 

Give Me a Break!

Taking a Break 

Is it worth it to take training breaks? Or change the focus of training? I think so, especially if there is an area the your dog is struggling with. 

Why Take a Break

You may wonder why a break might be necessary. The answer is both simple and complex. The most common reasons can be the dog not being ready for what is being asked and being overwhelmed by the tasks being asked. 

A blue Standard Poodle enjoying a creek.

When to Take a Break

It's important to look at what is being accomplished with training. If there are no gains, and learning has stagnated, it's time to look at what is happening. This is especially true if there are multiple things trained. It is easy to become overwhelmed at the amount of learning we ask of our dogs. 

A blue Standard Poodle sleeping on a bed

How to Take a Break

I rarely stop all training, unless my dog is sick and working with him just isn't reasonable. I do maintenance training by requesting the usual things he knows well, keeping tasks current and simple, keeping up obedience, but lessening the demands of going out for public access, not pushing new tasks forward, and not maybe even holding off on them. 

Returning from a Break

Once I feel my dog is back into his routine, acting more willing to learn, initiating tasks on his own, I reintroduce my training and evaluate the tasks he was learning before the break to see if  his brain is ready for retrying those tasks or if we should look at other things to work on. 

A blue Standard Poodle laying on a bed

Increasing Time Between Breaks

To increase time between absolute breaks, look for things your dog loves to do. Nick loves sniffing and finding things like most dogs. I try to give him time daily for some sniffing, either something I hide in the house, or just to catch up on the peemail. He also likes playing in water and seeing his friends, again, this is something I try to offer frequently. Lick mats, long lasting chews, and rewarding for being quiet on a bed or, sometimes just being allow to sleep when there's an available service human. 

Training with a Plan

Training with a plan is important for dogs as well as humans. 

Having a plan keeps training on tract with goals and plans. That is why if you take a class at PetSmart, PetCo or even a private trainer, there will likely be a path of learning that is followed. 

 

A blue, corded Standard Poodle, standing on a rock

As someone who prefers to work with clients one to one, I make a plan for each dog and family individual to based on their needs. 

A family with active children who want to participate may be given games that reflect that while an elderly couple may be given more games that can be played from the couch with the end goal being the same. 

 

An elderly man working with a poodle mis

Staying on plan, doing the homework that has been given and continuing to do the homework when the class is over is just as important as attending the classes you're paying for. 

To help me keep my own dogs training on tract, I keep a training log. This is especially important if your dog is in public frequently. 

How often you log training depends on how often you are training and what you are training. I don't log walks, in general, unless there is a reason, such as working on obedience during the walk, something I do often. 

It takes baby steps to reach big milestones, like passing a public access test, this is where the training plan can be especially useful. 

Scent Detection

 Scent training is a fun way to encourage your dog to have fun 

Dogs love to use their noses, and teaching them to find things with their nose reinforces this need. 

Drug detection, pest detection, produce detection, and bomb sniffing are some of the jobs we think of when it comes to scent training, but there are also many medical conditions that dogs can learn to alert to that are scent related, cardiac, some seizures, high and low blood sugars, and increased anxiety to name a few. 

Scent training is a great way to entertain your dog if it cannot be outside or active for any reason. It's also a very useful skill. 

Nick has been trained to find my phone by scent alone, without adding additional scent to the phone. Finding the phone is helpful because I constantly loose it, and every with the sound alert, Nick is able to find it and bring it to me much quicker. 

He also alerts me to low blood sugars. Being a diabetic, this is important. I have had many lows in the middle of the night that he has alerted me to, but I had not realized what he was doing. 

Scent training is much simpler than it sounds. Even though we may not be able to smell what the dog is alerting to, the dog can do so reliably. It becomes a fun game, especially when there are great treats as a result of the alert. 

Since I live in an area where rattlesnakes are endemic and I take Nick into the outdoors, I will be training a rattlesnake alert as his next scent game. The alert will be different than the others because rather than directing me to the snake, he will be directing me away from it. 

There are many areas of competition for scent dogs, from Barn Hunt to formal Obedience. 

Once a dog has learned an initial scent, training the next scent is much easier than the first. 

In conjunction with Yoopers Paws of Love, I will be offering an on line scent based medical alerts class in the fall. 

The ABC's of First Aid for Dogs.

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First aid for dogs is good to know, even if you don't have pets. The priorities are the same for humans and animals, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. 

Always have your dog checked if there is anything going on, even if symptoms seem to have resolved after applying first aid. 

Airway, the ability to move air in and out of the lungs is and should be the first priority. 

Without an airway, oxygen cannot get to the lungs. There are many things from swelling and trauma to choking that can obstruct an airway. 

Swelling that might obstruct the airway would be any swelling of the mouth, lips or tongue. This can be caused by something the dog has put in their mouth, even if they didn't swallow it. An example, local to me, is a frog that secretes something that makes dogs faces swell. It happened to my Newfoundland, and every other dog she played with at a creek near my house. Dogs can take diphenhydramine, sold under the brand name Benadryl, but is something you need to check with a veterinarian before administering. The dose is weight dependent. Benadryl comes in a liquid for children, which makes it easier to give to a dog that might be having difficulty swallowing, which will be an issue with swelling.   

Trauma to the airway can also cause difficulty with moving air, or obstructing the airway. This will be case specific on what can be done. Unless you are trained, inserting an airway can be dangerous and cause more damage to the air way. 

Obstruction to the airway, such as choking can be caused by eating a toy or object that is too big to swallow. In this case, removing the object, either with a finger sweep or the Heimlich Maneuver are simple techniques that can save your dog's life. 

Breathing is the second priority

Breathing is the act of moving air in and out of the lungs. There are many reasons a dog may not be able to breath. Preforming rescue breathing for dogs is possible, and fire trucks now often carry. oxygen and masks desired to be used on pets. 

Knowing how to perform rescue breathing for your dog is important to keeping the airflow going. First, check for a forgone object in the airway by pulling the tongue out until it's flat. If there is something, remove it with a gentle finger sweep. After doing this, close the mouth, then breath into your dog's nose until the chest rises. Do this in a steady fashion. If possible have someone else call the vet to see what to do next. 

Circulation

Circulation is all about blood flow. If the heart is not beating, CPR can be started. This is done by compressing the chest, to compress the heart to simulate regular heart action. 

Circulation also involves any bleeding or blood loss, so this is internal and external bleeding. If you see a large amount of blood, it's important to stop bleeding as fast as possible. Ideally, the wound is cleaned and dressed with a sterile dressing, but this is not always realistic. If the blood is pulsing or spurting, that means an artery has been compromised. In that case a stopping the bleeding takes priority over cleaning the wound. Apply pressure, ideally at the spot the pulsing blood is coming from. 

With all bleeding applying pressure will allow the blood a chance to clot and form a natural patch. 

Peri pads, or maxi pads make great dressings because they will absorb blood while decreasing the flow rate of the bleeding. Vet Wrap, Coban, also known as self sticking bandage wrap is nice for holding these dressings in place. Vet wrap has other uses as well, such as protecting paw pads from rough terrain. 

Vet Wrap

Poisoning 

Poisoning is an issue anyone with pets should be concerned about. Prevention is key, like most other aspects of trauma. Training dogs not to put things in their mouth without permission is key here. This does not mean not to train a retrieve. On the contrary, training to bring things to you that do not belong to the dog will prevent most cases of ingesting things they should not. It also solves a host of other issues. 

If your dog does eat something you are unsure is safe or not, call Animal Poison Control. The people who work there have the resources to tell you what steps to do next at their finger tips, and are a resource for the veterinarians treating dogs as well 

Keeping the phone number and address of your local emergency veterinarian should be a no brainer, program it into your phone and post it on the refrigerator with your other emergency numbers, so if your busy taking care of the dog, someone else with you can easily make the call. 

This is a great link to basic first aid for pets.

A simple first aid can also be made with a child's diaper, a pair of tweezers, a pair of small bandage scissors, liquid Benadryl, and vet wrap. Wrap all the supplies in the diaper. 

Part of effective first aid is looking at things you have on hand or can easily carry that can be used for dual purpose so you are not adding too  many things to what you carry. 

Training

Really? Why do I need a muzzle?

Training is important to keep your dog as calm as possible when dealing with emergencies. A dog that is comfortable with something on his or her face, being in a crate, being handled, and the noise and sensation of things like clippers, will be less stressed when being handled by emergency carers, especially if you are not able to be with your dog for any reason. 

Things to have in your first aid kit. 

Keeping a basic first aid kit is simple and something we should all have. Be ware of getting a first aid kit that is just small bandages, it likely will not have enough resources to treat what needs to be treated in the field or at home. Again, I recommend having maxi or peri pads and vet wrap on hand. My sister was kicked by her horse and needed sutures. When she arrived at the emergency room with her leg bandaged with a maxi pad and vet wrap, the treating physician was impressed with her "improvised" dressing. 

Basic first aid is about dealing with the issue at hand, in the situation, and following up with the veterinarian as soon as possible. Ideally we would all have a way to carry our dogs out of the wilderness if an injury occurred. Other options might be a vehicle rescue, depending where you are. 

A car first aid kit and one in your house is a must. Things like extra leashes,  a carry sling, bandages, air splits and medications you or your dog might need. This is someplace I would consider keeping emergency medications, but note that cars get hot in warm environments and medications will go bad quicker if exposed to too much heat. Carrying those medications in the daily go bag or purse would be a better option. Also be sure to check expiration dates on the medications and bandages regularly, and replace all that are out of date. 

This is a great first aid kit for dogs that go places.

The Go Bag

I keep a go bag from my dog. It has extra leashes, a long line, his shoes, water, bowls, treats, a muzzle, and usually acts as my purse, holding my phone, keys, wallet, lip balm, a small container of vaseline, and Musher's Secret.

My favorite day pack

I love the Osprey Daylite Plus day pack because it doesn't feel like I'm wearing a pack when it's on. I took it on an overnight trip last summer, and had to carry it everywhere I went. I was impressed with how comfortable it is to wear, how much it holds, and how light it is. There are two water bottle pockets, many zip pockets, and even a sleeve inside that can hold a lap top, papers, or a water bladder with a straw. 

Musher's Secret

Musher's Secret can be used in cold and heat to protect paw pads and noses from the sun, heat and cold, as well as chaffing. I've been known to rub some into my hands when they are dry. This is one of my favorite dog products. 

In Conclusion

It is impossible to be over prepared for injury or first aid for humans and dogs. It is much better to be over prepared and ready to act if needed.