From trainer Andrew, who is working with 19 year-old Daveed and his SDIT, Redmond. Daveed has a rare disorder called Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) – but he is motivated, positive, and ready to keep on working with Redmond so he can live on his own! Daveed’s family ordered a special Medical Alert ID for Daveed with all his medical information and emergency contacts on the back.

“This session occurred on Friday the 26th at 3:00 pm. We worked on everything previously discussed – more repetition to reinforce the behaviors. I did introduce Daveed to the beginning steps of teaching Redmond to drag things like a clothes basket. How we began with this behavior was by putting a ball in a sock and enticing Redmond to grab it. When we found that the dog doesn’t have toy drive, we put cheese in the sock (Redmond’s favorite) and got a much better response! As soon as Redmond showed interest in it, we marked the behavior with the chosen word and reward. This will go on until the Redmond is able to take the sock in his mouth and then give it back.

We also reinforced the heeling maneuvers that we worked on previously – we introduced Redmond to a higher distraction level; the front yard. We worked the dog on sit/stays and down/stays. We worked him on loose leash walking and heeling maneuvers. This is very important because Daveed has an unsteady gait and Redmond needs to learn how to stay in a heel despite the gair. We worked Redmond on controlled entry into the house, and then worked on the act of the dog sitting at the bottom of the stairs until Daveed gets up to the top (or down on the bottom) and releases him.”

BRILLIANT TRAINING IDEAS, ANDREW!!! GREAT WORK DAVEED AND REDMOND!!!!