It's NOT all in how you train them...

Recently an ad popped up in my Facebook feed from an online trainer that promised "Service Dog Level Self Control".  Maybe you've seen it too?  First of all, as a long time Service Dog Volunteer and a Puppy Raiser I know that those dogs have had hundreds of hours of training (it's not a simple 4 step process!) and second, even with all those hours and expert training, not all the dogs develop "service dog level self-control", in fact not all the dogs the start a training program go on to become service dogs. Training is only one factor of many! Over the next few weeks, I'll highlight several of the factors that impact our training efforts. Some of these factors we have a lot of control over, some of them we have some control over and a few of them we have very little control over.  But in all cases these factors impacts the training experience for our pets and for ourselves.  Understanding these factors gives us a much better chance (a) being realistic in our expectations and (b) getting the most out of our training sessions. Stay tuned the next article drops in a few days