RAVEN
German Shepherd / Korean Jindo
Lomita, CA | Service Dog Training
September 23, 2022
Raven spent her first day getting accustomed to her new surroundings. She weighs 67.10 lbs. Once she was settled we took to the streets to work on her leash pressure and check in. She would rather explore, it’s a work in progress. She reviewed touch, spot, cover, and at ease! She’s a champ at those. She had no interest in her food but enjoyed some of her treat, which is very normal for day one.
September 24, 2023
Raven spent her day working on her handler engagement while out on her walks and door manners. We are working on her automatic foundations that will eventually be done with limited cues or completely on her own! We did some more review today and worked on her commands around my other dogs. At the moment she is not fond of them in specific areas around her which we will be working on! Her settle is being worked on in the evenings and she gets treats often which is hard for new dogs so that’s great! She is not a fan of getting inside the crate but sleeps through the night once in and is working on her crate manners.
September 25, 2023
Ravens spent the day working on her side command as well as engaging with me on our walks. Her door manners are slowly improving she’s faster to make eye contact but still needs to be told at ease. She’s eating more of her food now and we’re using it to work on her crate manners. She’s still not a fan of the crate but she is eating and drinking out of it. She met my nephew today and wasn’t his biggest fan so we’re going to be working on that. She has begun whining for things she wants and we are doing our best to ignore her. She seems to do it more when she hears me but cannot see me, or wants snacks.
September 26, 2023
We’ve been working on some of her tasks today. She’s still being picky with her food, but she surprisingly enjoys eating it in her crate. She would rather have snacks as rewards for training instead of her kibble. If I dare offer her kibble as a reward, she spits it out and judges me! We worked on crossing the street and learning street boundaries today, it’s a work in progress. She enjoys our faster-paced walks with her little gallops. We’re working on interchanging speeds while still maintaining loose leash walking. She’s good at settling but I don’t think she understands what I’m asking. I think she’s just naturally calm so we’re working on putting it on a cue. She’s not entirely calm because she does like to talk to me about things that she feels are important. If I’m giving another dog more attention than her, or if it’s time to go in her crate, or if she sees me outside without her, or if I’m not close enough which means I’m on the other side of the baby gate cooking, she can be vocal, I was surprised.
September 27, 2023
Raven spent the day working in the yard with me having to tolerate my dogs as she’s coming around slowly. We got to see her off leash leave it and recall, which for me wasn’t bad. Her task are building momentum as her touch is getting better. She likes to give me sad eyes when I interchange what hand has the treat because she thinks I’m not going to give her a snack if I ask her to do the TOUCH command, then she’s pleasantly surprised when I do! Surprisingly, I realized her vocalizing was part of her separation anxiety so I’m having my family feed and play with her as well so we can work on that. Another foundation we began working on is transforming her alertness into a task and building the foundation of her positional changes to then have those become tasks of their own. Slow and steady we go.
September 28, 2023
Raven spent the day being my assistant at work. She had to deal with a lot of rude dogs and work on not growling at people in the car. We got to practice her task in some different locations as well as working around new spot places. Raven’s engagement is getting better on our walks and at different thresholds. She’s more likely to check in with me and or come back as soon as the leash hits the end. She is also improving on her crate manners eating in her crate on her own now. We also began working on her point command as well as prepping for her first test!
September 29, 2023
Raven spent the day being introduced to the E collar we worked on just finding her working level in different places as well as pairing it with loose leash walking, door manners and at ease. We did some more people watching today from the car and out in public she did much better out than in the car which is understandable. She doesn’t seem to understand the concept of touch instead of growl just yet but she’s becoming more open to the idea of touching after she growls or barks. Where out in public she does more of a stare and then she’s much more likely to touch so it’s coming along. We also ran some errands where she got to work on her new tasks in different environments and she’s developing some duration in them, but we haven’t put a cue to it yet. Today was also the first day she wore a vest without much of a fight we’re still working on her doing it willingly but also rewarding her for being forced to put it on. The same goes for her crate manners, she’s now excited to go inside the crate as long as the door stays open to eat food and drink water but she’s sleeping in the living room with the crate open in the meantime while we’re working on adding more time to being inside the crate.
September 30, 2023
Another long day for Raven in the books! She passed her CGC test today and was very proud of herself for letting strangers pet her and having to great strange dogs. We celebrated by going to Petco and letting her pick out whatever snacks and bones she wanted. I also made her try on some cute Halloween costumes that looked very adorable, but she was very huffy with me. I made-up for it by giving her some snacks. I invited some friends over and she is the life of the party. But she is working on polite greetings and holding spot. Her leave it for the snacks we are eating are doing pretty great!
October 1, 2023
October 2, 2023
Raven spent her day practicing for her next test while being a distraction dog! She worked on her tasks around other dogs and people as well as working on her off-leash recall. We worked on adding distance to her at ease, spot, and cover. Her leave it is improving around other dogs as well as her crate manners. She’s still working on polite greetings with strangers as well as her alerts in the car.
September 03, 2023
Raven spent the day working on her public access skills while we ran errands. She went with me to the doctor and worked on ger tuck and duration cover. She heeled beautifully with the side command next to the shopping cart at the store and worked on her tasks in different settings. Shes also making great strides towards being desensitized to her new vest!
October 4, 2023
Raven spent the day working on her issues with vests. We ran a bunch of errands and she even accompanied me to the doctors where they said she was so well behaved and pretty. She is learning the vest means she gets to do fun things and gets snacks but she is still not a fan of either vest. Shes is making great progress with her fixation on reflections and today we worked on improving our impulse control around cats and squirrels!
October 5, 2023
Raven had a big day today we spent the day running errands and working at a hospital working on her public access skills and dealing with a lot of strange smells and equipment. She then got to work with and meet other service dog teams and work on dealing with other dogs close to her. We went to an outdoor mall where we got to walk around lots of other people, dogs, strollers, toy scooters for kids to ride on. She did great working on her duration and distance spot as well as at ease every time we stopped to talk to someone. We are building how close she is to my side and walking smoothly through heavier crowds.
October 6, 2023
Ravens spent the day being my assistant at work, working around lots of other dogs and people. Today was super-hot so we worked on doing her tasks unvested at different locations as well as her people alerting outside and in the car which she’s making progress on, outside more so than the car but she is barking less in the car. We did spend the evening working with another service dog in a downtown area where there are a variety of nightclubs that have flashing lights similar to a rave. She got to work around the loud noises, the crowds, the flashing lights, Halloween decorations, the different smells, and she was able to take food and perform her tasks. She still needs more work on working around other service dogs in close proximity but she’s learning what she can and can’t do.
October 7, 2023
Raven had a grueling day spent working with a bunch of other service dog schools, programs, trainers, and teams on the Octa and Access buses. They closed the bus stop for us to work around all their corridors and we got to ride buses all day long for free getting on and off them as we pleased. We were working around a lot of different dogs of different training levels and ages. Raven wasn’t a big fan of going on the access bus ramp or how bumpy the public bus was but the more we rode the better she got and by the end of it she was settling nicely. She spent the rest of the evening decompressing with a long walk and adding duration to spot.
October 8, 2023
Raven spent the day at a dog show in the middle of nowhere! We got to see different breeds of dogs, temperament, and energy levels. We were on a business’s property for a fast cat event so we got to work around people running and their dogs chasing a bag to test their prey drive. She was very interested in that but she was a little concerned with all the dogs moving around in all directions around her, she did walk slower. At dog shows you’re not allowed to wear any training tools so we had to go with just her slip collar. Which was interesting to see her working basically naked, she struggled with healing through all the different dogs and at this event all the dogs are very high drive, high energy, wound up ready to go. So it was a different energy level overall then at a different type of dog show. Which was good for her to work around. A lot of the dogs made her nervous but she was able to do basic commands and work on responding in that environment. She slept the whole way home.
October 9, 2023
Raven spent the day running around town working on putting her task into real-life situations without a lure or food reward! We worked at the mall where she got to do all her different block and cover positions. We went into a bowling arcade place where she was very interested in the bowling ball, so we worked on that as well. She got to task while I attempted to play very loud arcade games and people walked behind me. Then we went to the gym where we worked on some machines so she could work on being out of the way. She learned to ignore a lot of different machine sounds and lots of people making strange noises and movements. We watched people running, swimming, doing weights, and stretching on the floor. I ran into my dad there and she had to work on not being distracted because he’s the biggest distraction to my training dogs, she did very excellent ignoring him until I allowed her to say hi. We then practice some jujitsu on the floor with a friend who goes to jujitsu classes. She seemed very uninterested in her spot. I flailed around and made lots of different noises, cries, shrieks, and she was unfazed. We thought that might have not been her trigger, so we crawled around the floor like a dog barking at each other and she thought we were crazy but again unfazed on her spot. We worked on her tasking inside the car with people walking by and getting in and out of the car tasking pretend arguments.
October 10, 2023
What an adventure Raven had today! We flew to Vegas at the crack of dawn and spent the day walking all over, around 14 miles total. She did have on some shoes to protect her feet from the hot pavement which she wore beautifully and had no complaints she definitely appreciated the protection! We walked up and down the strip where Raven picked up an unintentional task that was very amusing but also annoying because her car task is still something we’re working on for her to unintentionally choose a new task, sigh, she’s smart and stubborn. We were able to go to the Vincent Van Gogh Museum which was a very nice break from the Vegas heat. We frequented all the malls because AC is important, and it gave us a chance to work on our task around crowds of people which she did really great! We then took the bus to the movies to beat the heat some more and to give Raven and nap and rest her neck her collar died. So she went a little bit working without the E color I was very impressed. We were able to find a place to charge it and then after that we went to my favorite vegan restaurant in Las Vegas known as Panchos Vegan restaurant. The tables weren’t designed for service dogs to tuck but she made do. Then we spent a good chunk of the evening walking back to the airport where she phenomenally walked with a wheelchair and tasked with the wheelchair everyone was very impressed when they saw her! She also had to be completely naked for TSA which she also did phenomenally. We had an interesting flight back home where someone passed out on the flight, but Raven slept through all the chaos with her shoes and mutt muffs!
October 11, 2023
Raven went to Sea World today! We worked around all of the touch pools she was very intrigued and thought she could also touch the pools too, but we worked on her leave it and tasking instead of paying attention to the sea life, she was reluctant at first but came around to it. We also worked on her working and healing with someone else in this instance she worked with my mom who was just told to give her certain commands and Raven responded well. The quality of her tasks around the different sea life varied which was interesting but we got to see what animals were more distracting to her and surprisingly she was most distracted by the sea lions and the roller coasters than any other animal. She was interested in the orcas but left them and tasked easily with a verbal command.
October 13, 2023
Raven spent the day working on her off-leash skills! Raven worked on healing off-leash, working with others, as well as tasking off-leash around distractions. We went to several stores one of them which was the Halloween store! We worked on building Raven’s confidence around the decorations that made noise and moved there was a particular clown torso that she was startled by but the other decorations didn’t really bother her, but we did a lot of confidence building at that store. However, at the other stores, she did really well, and we worked on doing her different tasks off-leash around distractions and different people. She seemed very eager to offer some of her tasks in anticipation and creative problem-solving! She was proud of herself especially whenever a passerby or a worker would mention how well-behaved and attentive she was or would mutter to someone else that she’s a legit service dog because of her behavior! She got lots of snacks and praise for all the compliments we got.
October 13, 2023
Raven spent her last day with my family at Disneyland! It was her final Test and she passed with flying colors! She worked completely off leash in a very chaotic environment and tasked for other people! Not only did she heel to a wheelchair impressively but also for other people she had just met! She worked on all her tasks for other people while I was in their presence while she was taking commands from them and being taken away from me without warning. We passed through the police canines without even batting an eye, we passed several different service dogs that either approached us because we didn’t see each other or from a distance passing by at the pet relief stations or exiting rides and everyone’s dogs were very respectful. She showcased her ability to go potty on command using head call in the designated pet relief areas. She was extremely calm and confident walking through the crowds of people for the most part she ignored everybody we didn’t have to tell her anything in terms of leave it. Her check-ins were frequent, and she anticipated tasks several times on her own. In the tight corners and moving forward with the wheelchair we were able to demonstrate her point command in different environments. She went on The Little Mermaid ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the Haunted Mansion ride. She was very curious in The Little Mermaid ride she was a little startled by the drops in the Pirates of the Caribbean, but she recovered quickly due to the splashing water being very interesting to her and the Haunted Mansion ride was a nice ride that she just relaxed in the AC. Her final weigh-in was at 66.6lbs and she’s all ready to go home!
Ravens Refresher
Raven is back for a refresher! Over the next week, she will be learning some new tasks while reviewing her previous commands!
January 4th, 2024
Raven spent her first day back reviewing her commands at Target! She was so excited and happy to work! She got lots of comments from people! We also began working on her 3 new tasks! Once we got home she immediately made herself at home and went looking for my cats!
January 5th, 2024
Raven spent the day at a dog show! She walked by hundreds of dogs and people from all walks of life. She worked on her new task, circling when people passed. Today was just getting her into the repetition of it and rewarding when she does it on her own. She also worked with my assistant to go over her previous commands as well as practice working out in public with men.
January 6, 2024
Raven spent the day at work being my assistant! She got to see some old dogs that she recognized and be a distraction for some new dogs. She got to work on her new tasks and we are beginning to put a verbal command to one of them! We spent some time in the car working on her car task with some potential hope, but she still prefers to nap!
January 7, 2024
Raven spent the day shopping! We went to different stores to work on our crowd control around different distractions people and styles of stores. She was a little distracted around children but she was excited to jump on me in public. She is improving with her new commands, adding a word to one and generalizing the other to put in public while wearing her vest and shoes!
January 8, 2024
Raven spent the day being a great assistant showing my clients some great public access skills! She even impressed a security guard who came and asked why she was off leash! She spent the evening being our supervisor while we built cabinets in our garage. She enjoyed practicing her task for him, he gives the best snacks!
January 9, 2024
Raven had a long day working on her tasks in public and showing off her public access skills! She is gaining confidence in her two new tasks. She is now comfortable jumping up and wearing her shoes! She got lots of compliments from on lookers. She and I were both exhausted afterwards!
January 10, 2024
Raven spent the day being my assistant around town. We worked on her task with different people, and she enjoys jumping on people for treats. We ended the day with some more shopping, showing off her exceptional public access skills, and getting many compliments! I rewarded her with a special bully stick treat for being so good!