Follow the training progress of Hunter an 11 month old lab in training to be an Autism Service dog for a 4 year old boy.
This training series category began yesterday.

Most visiting dogs get crated at night in my house. I don't want them chewing anything that will potentially make them very ill or worse, and I don't need the dogs posturing or fighting when my eyes are closed. Hunter however has fit in here beautifully and he slept next to my bed Tuesday night without a peep. The first night he was here, he crated fine, but one of the jobs that we hope Hunter will do is sleep in Merrill's room. For the last 4 years, Merrill has not slept in his own bed for more than a few hours, and we hope that by Hunter sleeping in Merrill's room and possibly his bed to keep him company, his parents will get some much needed R and R. Up high on our expectation list is to teach Hunter to alert the parents if Merrill gets out of bed at night, and one of our highest goals is to train him to track Merrill should he ever wander off.
Time will tell.

Hunter and Finney played in the yard for quite some time yesterday. There was one yelp, not sure by who, and then a bit of grumbling and posturing. By the time I turned my head and called to them, it was basically over. I caught a flash of Finney being the one telling the other dog off which surprised me, and I monitored them closely the rest of the day and saw nothing out of the ordinary. It is true that dogs live in the moment and are very forgiving creatures.
Hunter came to training classes at Pet Quarters with me last night wearing his service vest, and he spent nearly 4 hours there with me. For the first hour he was on a long down on and off, near the front door, and did really well.
It surprised me that when I told people they could not pat him many people asked why and when I said he was a service dog in training and that he was working, they still didn't understand. I mean I explained this over and over and over and over. In Hunter's case, he loves people and he needs to know that it is not free time when his vest is on. He is a big strong dog and could easily knock Merrill over getting up to go greet someone. A big part of Hunter's job will be to just "be" with Merrill. After an hour at the front of Pet Quarters he stopped even looking towards incoming people, and was starting to learn that other people and dogs were not there for him. Next hour was spent in a recall class where he did really well at being called away from the other dogs, and also learned to come and sit in front.
Alas all was not great in his first full day of training with me. He is still very interested in other dogs and postured (barked and lunged) at a few last night. The dog who got the biggest "woof" was an intact male. Hunter came from a good breeder who had kept him in tact to possibly be used in her breeding program, but due to illness in the family, she downsized her kennel and homed him with Merrill. Merrill's family did not castrate him. Hunter got a vasectomy.
I am not sure why a vet allowed this procedure for a service dog and Dagny-what were you thinking? This could turnout to be a major problem down the road. Hunter has a sex drive in tact.

Even with his barking incident with my little intact client, I used Hunter last night as the non reactive testing demo dog when I gave my class of 5 their AKC Canine Good Citizen test. He was the tester dog for 4 out of the 5 dogs and he was basically fine. Obviously I didn't use him for the little intact male. Hunter has bonded to me right away and he obsessed about me a little when I was testing the other dogs. In the last hour, I took his vest off and he got tons of attention from my class and the employees.

Ok, so far so good right? Wrong!
End of the night it is after 9:00 PM and I went to pick up my kids at the babysitter. I took Hunter in the house with me and he was not wearing his vest but was wearing his Gentle Leader. No sooner had the words escaped my lips that I would keep him on leash and that I wasn't sure how he was with cats when out came a kitty and off nearly went my arm. He exploded after that cat. Prey drive is a big problem for service dogs. Hunter will not be one if we can't work on it. I was exhausted and drained after the cat incident, and I crated him last night, and he slept like a log.
I need to find some dog savvy cats. Anyone got any?

To be continued.

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