Is your dog ready?

How do we know our dogs (and honestly us as humans) are ready to try a bigger outing with our dogs?

Settling is area that most dogs need extra work in, especially during adolescence.

There tends to be this general assumption that because a dog is going to be a Service Dog (big maybe here) that they need to learn how to process long outings right from the start! But the problem with this is that we don't always recognize that dogs need to grow into a roll.

A recent project I have been working on with the service dog program handlers, is understanding that our dogs can't just go on outings without any preparation.

Below is a quick checklist I made for the handlers to think about how they are setting everyone up for a successful outing.

Outings- Involve taking dogs out of their normal learning environment and into situations where they might not be the priority and face more novelty (if you take a dog on an outing about 80% of your attention needs to still be on them)

When is the team ready to do outings together?

• Double check to see if a location is pet friendly vs not

• Discuss with your trainer if there are any concerns that need to be addressed before a specific (harder) outing

• Remember that even though they will be service dogs- these are still adolescence and are only capable to processing so much novelty and stress at once

Team requirements:

• Team has practiced skills required prior to the outing (loose leash walking, attention, passing specific types of distractions, settling for a duration of time)

• Handler knows how to notice and recognize early stress signs prior to dog escalating

• Handler has a back up plan

  • Is able to leave a situation early if needed

  • Can recognize environmental challenges and get space

  • Has a back-up handler available if needed

• Has brought proper supplies for management

  • Mat

  • Toy/bone/kong

• Treats / food

Team has successfully worked through easier distractions levels

• Has a system for allowing and not allowing greetings

  • General rule is if the dog is vested their greetings with others should be minimal, calm, structured, and short in duration

• Knows how to identify and manage safety concerns:

  • Avoiding trash/food items on floor

  • Keeping dog out of the way

  • Advocating for dogs needs

  • Can set a recovery plan

Post Outing follow-up- Work with a trainer to identify areas of struggle and create a training plan to continue to build skills, even if the outing went well. 

• Duration of outing

• General emotional state of the dog

• How consistent did they follow known cues

• What cues had higher latency (took longer to do- if they even responded)

• What was your settle/ relaxation protocol

• How did they respond to specific distractions

• What happened after the outing

Example story:

One of our pups recently did a long 2hr church outing. Though the outings itself went well with the dog self occupying, settling, and needing little breaks. The handler noticed that once they got back the pup was antsy for a while after. He recognized that though the dog did well, he needed decompression from all that settling and newness. He played a few quiet games and did some enrichment for dinner before trying to wind the dog back down.