Meet Hunter my new client and weeklong guest in my home. I am helping the family to train their own Autism Assistance Service dog.
Here is a picture of the first night that we met. Hunter is an 11 month old Lab in training to be a service dog for a 4 year old low functioning autistic boy named Merrill. We have a long road ahead of us and there is no guarantee that Hunter will be the dog that Merrill will ultimately need, but we are hopeful.

Hunter has a lovely temperament and the family has already seen immediate improvement in Merrill in the presence of his dog.

I thought I would blog a little different this week and write daily about Hunter's training progress.

So here goes---

Hunter came to his first basic group class with Mom Dagny on Monday night, where he did fine, and the dog drove home with me until next Monday's class. When I pulled in the driveway, Tucker had a collie stuffed animal in his mouth that he had clearly sucked on for the entire ride. Shh, don't tell my kids.
The family lives 1 and 1 /2 hours away from me and it is not possible to get together as often as I would like. Staying in my home will give me insight into their unique training situation, while hopefully helping them to progress quicker. This weeks group training assignment is attention, heel, automatic sit, and loose leash walking, and we have worked on all of the above today. Along with that, he cannot take food from the floor, or beg in any way-ever. My dogs were fine with him right away, and Hunter and Finn have had many fine play sessions in the yard. I did not take him with me every where I went Tuesday as I thought it more important that he settle in and we get used to each other before I embarrass myself in public. He is after all an adolescent dog with very little formal training.
Tomorrow he will go everywhere I go.
He is quiet in his crate, and cuddly, very sweet and likes toys and balls. We took a short walk with his service vest on and he saw quite a few kids that he wanted to visit with, but settled quite nicely in a down while my 5 year old played. I noted that he was a little too interested in other dogs in my neighborhood. I had to remind myself that he is very young and has had only limited training.
All in all a great first day.
Service dogs also need to learn to potty on command so they can eliminate before entering a facility, and I realized that I need to use all Dagny's verbal commands and but first I need to find out what they are.

Below is an email except from Merrill's Mom Dagny explaining Hunter's job to me. The email was written when we were searching for a suitable dog. Both photographs were taken by her.

We realize that Autism in general and Autism Assistance Dogs in
particular are so new to the general community knowledge....

This is not to say that an Autism Assistance Dog does nothing but work
- there is a lot of free time, play time, and down time. All the
training is based on rewards and food treats, and there are very
specific cues. When the vest (or harness) goes on, it's time to work.
When it comes off, it's ok to be a dog who drools and chases a ball.
There are people in the community that will stop you to pet your head
every morning, and others that will come over to throw the ball for
you in the evening. There is a warm bed with your favorite Autistic
child to sleep at the foot of (or on the pillows!) every night. It
does take hard work, but there are many rewards in terms of food,
toys, attention, and love.

Note from Nancy--- while it not clear from this email, if the child was tethered to the dog, an adult would always be holding a leash.

E-mail this entry to a friend