Lancelot PTSD SDiT practicing at Petco

     
       Lancelot training at petco. We're trying something new at the end of the video. Apparently he only likes to take things TO me and not FROM me to someone else.. lol. We'll work on it. This is his first time being trained to do it. He did it on his own at the zoo with his water bowl, which was a huge surprise to me. Now I'm trying to teach him to do it on command. After that is mastered, then we will use that command to tell him to "go get ...... and bring it to mom" or "go get ....... and take it to .......".

      We also practiced distraction training and socialization with small animals while at petco. The only animals he was interested in were guinea pigs, ferrets, mice, and fish.  He didn't care about anything else, which surprised me because at the zoo he was pointing at the snakes to show me where they were. We're working on teaching him to point at all snakes to alert me if we ever see one out of a tank..

       His "stay" is also getting GREAT! I walked out of his sight, around a few isles and then back and then I went halfway across the store before he thought he should get up. We're working on not getting up at all unless I tell him to or unless he needs to alert me. More videos to come soon!

Service Dog in Training at the zoo

       So I went to the zoo today with Sir Lancelot (16 weeks), my Service Dog in Training. I couldn't have been more nervous because he's still a puppy. I wanted to take Addy, but I happened to have Lancelot the night before, so he's the one that got to go. But he was absolutely amazing. He was the perfect example of a model service dog (in training). He did everything right; didn't bark at any of the animals even though MOST of them were interested in him and came up to say hi! This was the most fun Zoo trip I've ever had.  I've never taken a Service Dog to the zoo before because I've always been nervous of them causing a scene due to the strange animals that they've never seen before. Anyways, it was a really great day.

       We did start off with a minor access issue because apparently "in training dogs in Missouri aren't welcome in the zoo; only full service dogs", but we talked to the ranger and he let us in because "trainers are allowed to have in training dogs, but not disabled people with in training animals" (which is true for Missouri). I live in Illinois. Since I'm also the trainer as well as the disabled person, it worked out. The only things we weren't allowed to do were go to the antelope house or play with the goats at the petting zoo (the zoo is legally allowed to do that). But I didn't mind.  So first we went to the snake exhibit house,  and apparently Lancelot can spot snakes IMMEDIATELY and points for me! I'm happy about that. Then we went to the lemur house and all the lemurs were so excited and interested in him! It was the cutest thing!  I have decided I'm getting one. Then we went to the big cats area and the pumas were super interested in him and came right up to the fence to check him out!  I wanted to snuggle with them; they acted exactly like huge house cats (curious of him but nervous, but kind of wanted to play). Then we went to the apes house and the gorillas and orangutans were super curious of him. The orangutan swung over to the glass, pounded on the glass 3 times and then tried to interact with Lancelot.  I'm really surprised he didn't bark or flinch at the pounding on the glass (I did). And then we went and watched some seals preform and they blew whistles and yelled and Lancelot just sat and watched,  cocked his head and sat still. And then we went to the polar bear exhibit and the polar bear played with him!! I'm not even kidding!  The polar bear acted like a dog,  pouncing to play and following us! He was my favorite. He was seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life! I've decided I need to adopt a Polar Bear and train it.  I'll post the links to those videos at the end.  A stranger recorded the bear and happened to get on camera where the polar bear was playing with Lancelot.  <3 So she sent the videos to me after finding me later in the park. Then we went and saw elephants and Lancelot was interested in them and put his paws up as if to say "What are we looking at over there, mom?" (So cute)

       I wish my phone wouldn't have died because those were seriously some precious moments.  I'll have to go again with a full battery. He even rode the train and was PERFECT. He's never ridden a train before. He even alerted when I sneakily did a surprise drill with him of hidden shakey hands. The only thing Lancelot didn't like were the penguins, because the floor was wet and it was in a cave. But we got to go through one of those spinny doors and he's never experienced that before. Another thing he did was a huge surprise to me. I gave him water in his collapsible bowl and when he was done drinking, he flipped the bowl over, stepped on it to collapse it,  and then brought it to me! I didn't teach him this, but I am totally going to mold that into a task! I am so proud of my boy. I could not be more proud of him for being a model citizen Service Dog. He didn't do ANYTHING wrong and I was worried for no reason. I am so proud. I am so glad that I took him to the zoo. I am going to try to take him often so that he can get socialization and so that I can train his reaction to the snakes into an alert to warn me if he sees a snake in the future. Here's some cute pictures I got before my phone died. But just FYI, the zoo is WAY more fun with a Service Dog to lure the animals over to you.  Lol!

3 Polar Bear-playing-with-Lancelot Videos: 

https://youtu.be/ErWlHbgYIO4

https://youtu.be/fiqPnC4RAzo

https://youtu.be/S5tTZRcTQKk

Sir Lancelot: PTSD Service Dog in Training at Walmart

Sir Lancelot task training at Walmart at 2 AM. 16 weeks old. Alerting to shakey hands, alerting to harmful behavior (nervous scratching/picking), and training to alert to tapping feet. This dog never ceases to amaze me with his intelligence.

Sir Lancelot learning to turn OFF lightswitches

Every once in a while, we need a friendly reminder that Service Dogs are not robots.. This is one of those times. He's doing well with his progress, but this was a VERY VERY busy day for him and he was tired.

Sir Lancelot PTSD Service Dog in Training at Starbucks

Sir Lancelot practicing his task training at Starbucks. He just learned to flip light switches the night before. Might as well get some educational Service Dog information out there while I'm there! :)

Sir Lancelot PTSD Service Dog in Training : Lightswitches

I'm sorry about the aweful music. It was not my choice as we're at a bar with a juke box. But this is Sir Lancelot figuring out how to turn on a light switch! I love this little genius.

Sir Lancelot PTSD Service Dog in Training: Touch Command

This is Sir Lancelot's first official step in Service Dog training. In this video, he is learning the touch command in order to be able to alert to shakey hands to prevent panic attacks before I have one. This is from step one to show you all how I train this task, although this is not his very first time learning this; we practiced in a quiet place first about 10 minutes prior to this video.

Sir Lancelot: PTSD Service Dog in Training

Sir Lancelot at 14 weeks old task training: alerting to shakey hands, distraction training, and beginner public access. This is at my boyfriend's work and it is a safe environment for me to train in because the people are all familiar with Service Dog etiquette and I am protected if for any reason anyone tries to mess with me or my SDiT.