CONGRATULATIONS TO SHELIA AND NOW SERVICE DOG, “CECE”! Our delightful trainer, Pat, had the Public Access Test with Shelia and her now Service Dog, Boston Terrier/Boxer mix “Cece”. Shelia suffers from anxiety, depression, fibromyalgia, severe pain, and needs medical alerts.
Pat writes:
“Shelia and Cece have done well with their obedience training! Cece is a happy and playful little girl who learned quickly that wearing her Service Dog vest means it’s “work time”. She learned her lessons through lots of good practice and public outings with her handler, Shelia. Her Public Access Test was finalized at Walmart in Helotes, demonstrating her willingness to keep her Boxer/Terrier personality in check with children, adults, noisy shoppers and carts. She even had the opportunity during her training to go to Laredo and watch a Cowboy Parade, with all the horses, crowds and chaos that goes with it. Cece was OK with all of it, and Shelia feels much more relaxed with her along.
Because Shelia has stability challenges sometimes when walking, particularly navigating stairs, Cece is continuing her training to learn how to retrieve a cell phone in the event Shelia falls. We are using the “Mark & Reward” technique to teach Cece to pick up and take an object to Shelia. Shelia is not getting in quality practice time on the retrieve training. Granted, it is precise and tedious work. Over the many weeks we have touched on it in sessions, and with the work I’ve personally done with Cece, I’m not seeing improvement in her retrieving behavior, so we will keep on working with that.