Laurie had two AMAZING training sessions with new client, Desiree, and her 6 month-old St. Bernard mix, Ollie! Desiree suffers from epilepsy, so we will be training for the Public Access Test while simultaneously training for epilepsy detection.

Desiree is a brilliant young woman who works with troubled juveniles. She brings Ollie to work where he stays in her office, and Ollie provides such a calming presence for the juveniles she counsels. At the first session, Desiree was completely prepared – had a vest, the right collar and leash, a treat bag, the right treats; she REALLY read the training manual and was ready to go!

Ollie is wonderful, and will make a wonderful Service Dog. At our first session, we just went over the basics of training and how the epilepsy training will work. They practiced “sit”, “down”, “stay”, and “leave it”.

At their second session, they went to Petco. Ollie heeled extremely well on the leash. He easily avoided distractions and did wonderful “watch mes” while heeling with Desiree. Laurie did a lot of work with Ollie herself, then had Desiree step in. Ollie did wonderful meet and greets, and was perfect when meeting people and other dogs.

Desiree and Ollie have an extremely tight bond. The next thing they have to work on is trying to get Ollie not to always feel he has to be near Desiree when she gives the command “I’m OK”. Ollie is perfect for this kind of work, and Desiree is a joy to work with!!!