Next Training for Jax

[JoeLacy]

Any thoughts on these?

Public Access
Psychiatric Service Dog Society

Delta Society
Delta Society - Improving lives through Service & Therapy animals

TDI or other?

[lizzybeth727]

To get public access with a dog for psychiatric reasons, you have to have a medical condition, diagnosed by a doctor, that warrants having the dog with you. It's just like any other assistance dog, but actually probably more difficult because there's no outward sign that you have a disability. If you don't have a disability, you cannot have public access with your dog as a service dog.

So I'd recommend TDI if you are interested in doing therapy work with him.

[JoeLacy]

Originally Posted by lizzybeth727

To get public access with a dog for psychiatric reasons, you have to have a medical condition, diagnosed by a doctor, that warrants having the dog with you. It's just like any other assistance dog, but actually probably more difficult because there's no outward sign that you have a disability. If you don't have a disability, you cannot have public access with your dog as a service dog.

So I'd recommend TDI if you are interested in doing therapy work with him.

Ok, thanks, while some would argue I have a psychiatric problem, I don't think I would qualify "most" days.

I'm not sure if I would do therapy, but thought it might be another level of basic training aka CGC 102. I've done volunteer work in the past and it was very rewarding, just now with my dog.

[DanL]

Delta is VERY difficult, it's like TDI on steroids. Dogs have to be completely non reactive to anything. The lady whom I've referenced in some other posts about TDI has a Delta dog and she said how hard it was to get that certificate.

[stardogs]

IMO Delta is the gold standard for AAA/T animals - they don't have to be non-reactive, but they must be very predictable, well-trained, and truly enjoy the work. Both handler and animal are scored during the evaluation which is not the case in most other AAA/T animal evaluations. The Delta evaluation contains 22 items, divided into a Skills Test and an Aptitude test, compared to the CGC's 10 items (regular items, not the crazy ones your evaluator did lol). I believe TDI has just a few more items on their test than the CGC.

I am an evaluator for Delta Society, so if you have any questions, let me know.

[JoeLacy]

Originally Posted by DanL

Delta is VERY difficult, it's like TDI on steroids. Dogs have to be completely non reactive to anything. The lady whom I've referenced in some other posts about TDI has a Delta dog and she said how hard it was to get that certificate.

Cool! If it was easy it wouldn't be worth setting the goal. There is a Delta evaluator near me and it might be worth a visit.

I didn't see anything here, that was just over the top too hard.
http://www.deltasociety.org/Document.Doc?id=2

[JoeLacy]

Originally Posted by stardogs

IMO Delta is the gold standard for AAA/T animals - they don't have to be non-reactive, but they must be very predictable, well-trained, and truly enjoy the work. Both handler and animal are scored during the evaluation which is not the case in most other AAA/T animal evaluations. The Delta evaluation contains 22 items, divided into a Skills Test and an Aptitude test, compared to the CGC's 10 items (regular items, not the crazy ones your evaluator did lol). I believe TDI has just a few more items on their test than the CGC.

I am an evaluator for Delta Society, so if you have any questions, let me know.

Please point me to some information. You mean no squealing squeaky fuzzy things? Ah gee...Delta is no "real" test then

Jax is great with cats, but small dogs yapping their heads off make him nervous and me too for that matter.

[Jynx]

I think you should take a class in rally or try going for some obedience titles..now I know you may not be interested in the 'boring' obedience ring,,but you can get an ILP on him via AKC< and get him into the ring, while the title(s) may mean nothing to you, it would definately give you something to 'go for'...this could be a "challenge" )))

[lizzybeth727]

The thing with passing the therapy dog test, though, is that IMO the dog should ENJOY doing the work. Because it can be very stressful, being around people who are sick, stressed, and depressed, and dogs definately pick up on these emotions. It's one thing to "tolerate" being around other people and "tolerate" being petted and all that - almost any dog can be taught to "tolerate" being a therapy dog, IMO - but the dogs that actually enjoy it are difficult to find. And if he doesn't enjoy it, why should you make him do it? It's just something that you will need to self-evaluate - how relaxed and happy is he throughout the training and the work.

The service dogs that I train do work that's similar to therapy work.... they're out in public a lot, meeting new people, getting petted and talked to by strangers, etc. It is extremely difficult for us to find dogs with the right temperment to tolerate these situations, and occasionally we will find dogs that will tolerate the work but clearly don't enjoy it. We consider it extremely selfish to ask a dog that doesn't enjoy the job to do the job every day for the rest of his life. Even if he can do it. So we find a job that's more suited to that dog.

[JoeLacy]

You know Jynx, I don't want Jax to turn into a robot dog. I just want him well balanced and easy to handle in a variety of circumstances. The more I work with him the tighter the bond and the faster training will go.

I'm not a stickler on precision with him. If I'm walking loose leash with 6" of slack in the leash, I don't really care if his cheek is on my thigh or in front of my knee. He's got 6-12" there and I'm fine with that. I want him to look where he's going and check in every now and then.

Jax is slow to do commands anyway, he gets there but often take a second or even 2 or 3. He's getting better as he's settling in, but snappy would not be a word I would use to describe it.

What Jax does best is jump. Jax is not a small BC and he's not full grown. He was 36lbs when I got him and a month later he's 40.9 today. Even at that, the vet says he's underweight by a few lbs. We think 42-45 he'll look healthy and maybe 45-50 full grown. Jax was not the runt of the litter.

His vertical leaps get oohs and ahhs and sometimes even applause at the dog park. I don't know how high he goes, 18-24" maybe more. He's a big powerful BC and can really run. So far, no dog has beat Jax to the tennis ball, and I mean none.

He's a no joke dog that's for sure, and the real deal. I plan to do some photos of Jax leaping soon. It's cool to watch for sure. "Air Jax" is a word you could use.

Maybe flyball, he's afraid of the Frisbee. I haven't worked on that but he's Air Jax on a Tennis ball. It would be a shame to waste his athletic prowess in any case.

I was thinking of Delta or TDI course to go with one course, like Agility, Flyball or something. No rush on any of it, just thinking ahead.