Being a dog trainer is a life that is full of highs and lows. I became a dog trainer not only because of my love for dogs but also because I have a passion for helping people connect with animals in a meaningful way. I truly believe that dogs should be seen as a member of your family, not just a household accessory. Some dogs are just loving companions, and other dogs have big jobs to do, like my student Yuba!
Yuba is a miniature Australian Shepherd who works as an Autism/PTSD/Anxiety service dog. She is a bright spirit, whip-smart, and cute as a button! We first met in early spring of 2017. Her pet parent, Christiana, contacted me for more information on my group classes and training methods. She asked lots of great questions, and I could tell from the start she knew exactly what she wanted in a trainer, and I was more than happy to work with her! Christiana learned about Positive Reinforcement training through her studies on self-training a service dog. She read about how to interview trainers to make sure that they were a good fit for you and your training goals. As a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and Alliance of Therapy Dogs Tester/Observer who uses rewards based methods, I was at the top of her very short list of potential trainers.
As she began her search, she was looking for two main things; they must be a Positive Reinforcement trainer, and they must be willing to meet with her prior to signing up for classes. Christiana is disabled, so she learns in a very specific way, and the trainer’s personality and teaching style really need to fit with that! She contacted other trainers in the area and no one seemed to be a good fit… until we met. At the time, I was volunteering weekly at the Watauga Humane Society in their Diamonds in the Ruff dog training program. That January, I had seen Christiana and Yuba at the Winter Paws dog show, and with Yuba’s unique name and looks (and, of course, her winning “Best Wiggle Butt”!) I had a little bit of an idea of who they where when they emailed me. I knew they frequented to dog park at the Watauga Humane Society(having seen them there while I worked with the shelter dogs outside), and agreed to meet with them any Sunday while I was there volunteering.
“I really appreciated you meeting us that first time and getting on the ground with us. That was so touching and I really truly still appreciate all that you do for us and this community!”
When I walked out into the lobby to meet them, Christiana and Yuba were seated on the floor near the back of the lobby. I walked back, and, naturally, joined them on the floor. We spent about 15 minutes chatting, and I really enjoyed getting to know both Christiana and Yuba, hearing more about their goals, and getting seriously interviewed about my classes and methods. It was so refreshing to meet a pet parent who had done so much homework before we even met! I felt like we were a great match, and knew we could achieve great things together. I couldn’t wait for group classes to start so we could hit the ground running on their Canine Good Citizen and Service Dog training!
Unfortunately, only two weeks after we met, Yuba was aggressively attacked in the dog park. Christiana and Yuba had headed to the park to meet a few friends. On their way through the park, Yuba was surrounded by 5 much larger, and pushy dogs. Yuba used normal dog body language to ask the dogs to back off, and Christiana moved in to get her out and away. As Yuba became more fearful, she began to growl. All but one pet parent moved in to collect their dogs as Christiana called Yuba away from the last remaining dog. As Yuba ran towards Christiana, the last dog attacked. Christiana and a friend were able to pry the larger dog off Yuba, although Yuba and both people received several puncture wounds in the process. In just 5 minutes, a lovely Sunday afternoon and all their plans were destroyed. Fortunately, nobody sustained major damage, but Yuba had a lot of recovering to do from the attack; she had to receive stitches, a drain, and wear a big cone for weeks to heal up physically.
I will never forget the heartbreak I felt when Christiana contacted me to let me know about the attack and to ask for my help. Suddenly, our training goals were very different. While we still wanted to work towards Canine Good Citizen, Service Dog, and Therapy Dog training, we also now had emotional trauma to work through and heal – for both Yuba AND Christiana! As you can imagine, a service dog needs to be calm and collected in the face of countless distractions, environments, and dogs. In order to work through their trauma and emotional distress when encountering new dogs, we made a multi-dimensional plan to teach both Christiana and Yuba new skills to avoid questionable situations. We also addressed the emotional side of things through Counterconditioning and Desensitization. Counterconditioning is a process where you create a new association and emotional response to a stimulus or trigger. In this case, the unpleasant trigger was large dogs. Desensitization is a process where you slowly and methodically expose the person (or dog) to the trigger to help them become less sensitive to it. By combining the two, we were able to help both Christiana and Yuba overcome their stress and anxiety around large dogs.
We met, and I taught them how to train specific leash skills and communication skills for Yuba and helped them begin their counterconditioning plan. Once they were both feeling more secure around large dogs, we would have them join group class for the desensitization protocol. Being in group class offered them a chance to meet many new dogs, of all ages and sizes, in a very controlled environment.
Over the past year, it has been a true joy to get to know Christiana and Yuba and watch them blossom as a team. Through games, play, and lots of fun challenges, both Christiana and Yuba have learned not to fear other dogs, and how to quickly remove themselves from situations they feel uncomfortable in. Level Up group classes were the perfect mix of obedience skills, trick training, and play to really bring about a full transformation. Yuba has reached her Public Access Training as a service dog and is quick to learn and perfect all the tasks she needs to know to help Christiana through daily life. I am happy to say that there are no remaining issues from the dog attack, and they both recently passed their Canine Good Citizen evaluation with me! I must say, it was a big “proud mom” moment for me to watch them pass with flying colors! I am so grateful to have been part of their journey, and I can’t wait to continue learning and growing with them!
