Should I Use a Head Collar on my Dog?

When you see our dogs in advanced training, you may see them wearing a Comfort Trainer, which is a type of head halter or collar. The Comfort Trainer can be a valuable tool for people who have service dogs, especially if they do not have the strength to handle a bigger dog in some situations. In those situations, the Comfort Trainer helps keep the person safe while they work with their life-changing service dog.

However, it’s important to remember that a Comfort Trainer or other head collar is never a replacement for training good loose leash walking. A dog that walks perfectly on a loose leash while wearing a head collar must also walk perfectly on a loose leash with a flat collar.

For example, our director, Nancy, took SSD Meade to the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community last Saturday, and she decided to use a Comfort Trainer, even though Meade doesn’t usually wear one. She had been having some walking issues, but finishing the entire 5K Walk was important to her. She knew that the Walk would have lots of distractions for Meade and he would want to pull even though he’s normally good at loose leash walking, so she introduced the Comfort Trainer for her own safety.

By the morning of the Walk, Meade had adjusted to the Comfort Trainer, and he did a great job staying right by Nancy’s side for the entire 5K!

However, when Nancy and Meade did a meet & greet later that day, she decided not to use the Comfort Trainer, and something strange happened. Meade started pulling. He had no self control. The next day, Nancy took Meade back to the same location, using a regular flat collar, and Meade did wonderfully, even though there were more distractions than the previous day.

So why did Meade, who is normally very good at loose leash walking, pull so hard after the comfort trainer had come off?

The answer, Nancy believes, lies in teaching the dog self control.

At SSD, we work really hard to teach our dogs to have self control. They must wait at their food dish until they’re released to eat. They must walk through a doorway, turn around, and look at us rather than simply charging through. They must ignore food dropped on the floor, stay calm while being petted, and never jump on friends and visitors. One of our puppy raisers’ biggest jobs is teaching self control.

The hardest lesson in self control is loose leash walking. It requires constant vigilance and consistency. Dogs must never be allowed to pull. We start training loose leash walking when the dogs are just puppies, and we continue working on it for their entire lives.

If a dog pulls, a head collar of any kind never fixes the problem. A head collar will help keep you safe if you have a serious physical issue, but it will never teach your dog loose leash walking or self control. When Meade wore the Comfort Trainer for the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community, he didn’t have to exercise self control to stay by Nancy’s side. Once the head collar came off, he decided that he still didn’t need to use self control, so he pulled and pulled during the demonstration.

If you need to use a head collar for safety reasons, make sure to practice loose leash walking with a flat collar in easier places. The goal is to train your dog so that he or she has the self control to walk on a loose leash attached to a flat collar. If loose leash walking is very challenging for your SSD dog, please talk to us or to one of our wonderful puppy raiser mentors. We’re happy to help.

A Nubble Christmas

The weeks before Christmas are busy for almost everyone, and it was no different for Nubble. Donna and Lindsey took him to the Berkshire Mall so he could experience all of the hustle and bustle. This was an outing just for Nubble to gain experience. They didn't plan to do any shopping - a good idea since it can be stressful to try to find the perfect gift and train a dog at the same time.

At the mall, Nubble got lots of practice doing greetings. Many people came over to say hello. We have no doubt that he brought a smile to people's faces!

As they walked by Santa, there wasn't a line, and Santa called them over. Nubble did very well. Santa was great with him, staying very calm while petting and talking to him. At first, Nubble grabbed Santa's fuzzy sleeve, but when cued, he did a nice "leave it." When Santa was petting him, Nubble paid attention to Donna, just like he's supposed to. Then, while Donna and Santa had a conversation, Nubble lay down at Santa's feet.

They took Nubble outside for a break. However, as they were walking toward the doors, another dog was about to come inside. Nubble barked a couple times when he saw the dog, but Donna and Lindsey did a nice job setting Nubble up for success. They timed their departure from the mall so that Nubble was going out one set of doors while the other dog was coming in the other doors. It worked well because Nubble was able to stay focused.

When the went back inside, Donna and Lindsey kept their eyes open for the other dog. They saw him over by Santa waiting to have his picture taken. Using power treats, Donna was able to keep Nubble's attention on her while they went past the other dog. Nubble did great!

They practiced stairs at the mall, although they only practiced going down the stairs. It was too crowded for Nubble to be successful going up the stairs, especially since he still has a tendency to rush up. They took the elevator up and the stairs down. Nubble did very well going down the stairs. He also does very well with elevators. This particular elevator had glass walls, however, which startled Nubble at first. He seemed surprised to be able to see everything move. After riding the elevator a few times, though, he settled down.

Over all, he did wonderfully with the crowds. His loose leash walking was great! They also practiced "leave it" a lot. When they were in line to get a soft pretzel, there was a piece of pretzel on the floor. They practiced "leave it" with that piece of pretzel, and Nubble was successful! Donna then picked up the pretzel piece and threw it out so he wouldn't be tempted. While they were waiting, Donna dropped her keys a few times and Nubble would pick them up for her. It was a fun game to keep him occupied, and the people around them enjoyed watching Nubble work! It was quite a successful outing.

The Northeast Division held a Christmas get-together last week. Nubble went straight for the Christmas tree to investigate. They played dog games and the dogs got to open presents. They got squeaky toys! Meg, the Northeast coordinator, brought an activity board made of wood with little wells for treats. Each well had a sliding lid that the dogs could open with their paws or nose. SSD Slate and Burnaby did well sliding open the doors. Nubble had a different method of getting the treats out. He picked up the board and dropped it. When a treat fell out, he picked the board up and dropped it again until he got all the treats out!

Nubble went to the vet to be neutered. Although he was a little cautious for a few days afterward, you would never have known he had surgery. He was acting just like his normal self.

Nubble's loose leash walking has been coming along. Donna has stopped using the gentle leader halter because it causes Nubble too much stress. Instead, she uses an EasyWalk harness, which fits over his chest and shoulders. Nubble does very well with that. Donna only tries to use the EasyWalk when she knows there is going to be a challenging environment. Otherwise, she works with the leash attached the Nubble's collar. It's been working well. Nubble now accompanies Donna on her Saturday morning errands, and she feels completely confident holding a cup of coffee when they leave Wawa.

We're looking forward to what the new year brings for Nubble!

Our Trip to Zoo America

What could be better than going to the zoo on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Going to the zoo with a service dog-in-training!

Fifteen service dogs-in-training went to Zoo America for a puppy class outing. Throughout the year, we take the dogs on several outings so the dogs get experience working in public. Although our puppy raisers frequently take their dogs out in public, these special planned outings are also helpful for the puppy raisers because it gives them a chance to work in public while our trainers are right there to give support and answer any questions they might have.

Our Zoo America is always a fun outing, and it's a wonderful opportunity for the dogs and puppy raisers to practice their skills. With so many distractions, it's a challenge for the dogs to stay focused. Our puppy raisers were ready with power treats (treats like chicken, cheese, or other yummy things that the dog only gets in challenging situations), which really helped the dogs stay focused on their handlers.

Because the dogs were around so many different animals, it was a great opportunity for puppy raisers to practice reading their dog's body language. They needed to watch their dog to make sure that they weren't becoming too excited or stressed from the zoo animals. For example, when we stopped at the wolves' area, we paid special attention to the dogs, and if they started to get too excited, or started barking, the puppy raiser removed them from the area. SSD Topaz approaches the wolves in this video. You can tell from his body language that he is aware of the wolves, which are about twenty feet in front of him. However, he is still able to focus on this puppy raiser - see how he turns and looks at her? As soon as he gives her his attention, she clicks and treats.



In addition to watching the dogs' body language, we also paid close attention to the zoo animals' behavior because we did not want to upset them or cause too much stress. We had to be especially watchful in the wolves' area, because as soon as the alpha wolf smelled the dogs, he started pacing. If he and the females of the pack started to get stressed, we removed the dogs, even if the dogs were just sitting there quietly observing. In this video of the wolves, you can see the male wolf pacing back and forth. You can tell that he's very aware of the dogs, although at this point he is not overly stressed about it.



All of the dogs were very interested in the wolves. Can you guess what other animal almost all of the dogs were extremely interested in? The fish! At the bears' area, you can watch the fish through the glass, and almost every dog that saw them was fascinated by them, especially since they have probably never seen a fish before. SSD Topaz wasn't entirely sure what to make of the fish, but he did a great job and didn't bark at them.



SSD Star and Falcon also though the fish were fascinating, but they are not so distracted that they can't pay attention to their handlers. Watch how Star's puppy raiser works with her to get her to walk nicely on a loose leash. Once they get to the fish, Star does an "up."



SSD Hendrix, on the other hand, wasn't interested in the fish at all.



SSD Journey, one of our dogs in advance training, spent some time near the bear's habitat. She seemed much more interested in her puppy raiser than in the bear, though. Even when her puppy raiser pointed to the bear, Journey just looked and then turned right back to her puppy raiser. Wonderful!



One of the most important skills a service dog can have is the ability to walk on a loose leash. Throughout our entire zoo outing, we continually worked on loose leash walking, which can be very challenging for dogs, especially when there are such great smells around. Loose leash walking is all about self control for the dogs. They need to ignore distractions and stay right next to their handler. In this video, SSD Grace works on loose leash walking. Watch what Grace's handler does when Grace starts to pull ahead. He stops, backs up until Grace comes back to him and turns around. Then when she starts loose leash walking again, he clicks and treats.



Why is loose leash walking so important? Imagine a balance dog and their partner walking along the sidewalk to get to the car. As they get close to a tree, the dog smells something wonderful. He lunges to get to it. His partner is thrown off balance and falls.

Now picture a service dog for a child with autism. While the parent is holding the leash, the child is holding a special strap attached to the dog's harness. If that dog pulls on the leash, the child is going to be pulled as well.

Loose leash walking is important, and the dogs need to do it all the time, in every environment. The zoo was a great place to practice!

Thank you to Zoo America!

We try to plan several outings for the dogs-in-training, and we're always open to suggestions. We look for places that have lots of sights, sounds and smells. For example, we've done a Ghosts of Gettysburg tour, Chocolate World, a memorial day parade, a bus ride, and National Night Out. If you have any ideas for other places in Central PA where we could take the dogs-in-training, please let us know in the comments. Thank you!

Whatever Happened to the Rock and Roll Stars Puppies?

Where are the Rock and Roll Stars puppies now?

Jagger, Hendrix, Dylan, Grace and Zappa are almost 14 weeks old, and they're happily learning everything they can about the world with their puppy raisers.

On Wednesday, they had their last early socialization puppy class. When puppies first join their puppy raisers, they attend early socialization classes with their littermates. These classes are as much for the puppy raisers as they are for the dogs. Puppy raisers have the opportunity to ask questions and learn tips and tricks for training the dogs.

In this last class, we practiced loose leash walking, where the dog walks calmly next to its handler without pulling. The leash must be nice and loose. Loose leash walking involves a lot of self control, which is one of the most important things a puppy raiser can teach the dogs-in-training.

Why is self control so important? Imagine a balance dog assisting his partner to walk through a parking lot. The partner is holding on to the leash and the balance harness that the dog is wearing. Suddenly, the dog smells something wonderful in the grass three feet away. He dashes over and plasters his nose to the spot. His partner is yanked sideways and falls to the pavement. At the very least, she is bruised and may have difficulty getting back up, especially because she now needs to convince her dog to abandon the interesting smell and return to her side. She could also have a broken bone, or worse.

A dog with self control would have ignored the wonderful smell in the grass. He would continue to walk calmly beside his partner, assisting her safely across the parking lot.

Self control extends to more areas than just loose leash walking. Dogs must have self control around food, at doors (waiting calmly and not dashing through), around other people and animals, etc. In this last early socialization class, however, we focused on just loose leash walking.

First, we had each puppy demonstrate loose leash walking with their puppy raiser. The pups all did very well!

In this video, SSD Grace walks next to her puppy raiser on a nice, loose leash. Notice how she focuses on her puppy raiser. At one point, she turns and looks at one of her littermates, but instead of lunging toward him, she demonstrates wonderful self control and looks back at her puppy raiser.



Here, SSD Jagger walks on a loose leash. Look at that attention! He doesn't take his eyes off his puppy raiser.






While one puppy was demonstrating loose leash walking, the other puppies had the opportunity to practice down-stays, meaning they relax in a down. SSD Dylan gives a nice down-stay while he waits his turn to demonstrate his loose leash walking skills. To keep him focused and to reward him for such good attention, his puppy raiser gives him treats.




After each puppy demonstrated loose lease walking, we had the puppy raisers exchange puppies. Now the puppies had to do loose leash walking with an unfamiliar person! The reason we had them swap puppies is because the pups will eventually have someone else training them. When they go to advanced training, they'll have a new trainer, and eventually, they'll be paired with a partner when they become service dogs - all different handlers who will have slightly different ways of asking the puppies to do the same thing. The puppies need to be able to adapt to different handlers.

The Rock and Roll puppies did a great job! In this video, SSD Zappa walks nicely on a loose leash. His attention is on his handler, even though she's not his usual puppy raiser. Notice how Zappa gets a little excited near the end of their loop around the room and jumps on his handler. She does a great job resetting him. She simple backs up until Zappa is back in position for loose leash walking, and then they move forward again. After they've taken a few steps, she clicks and treats. We call this the "penalty yards" method of training loose leash walking. As soon as the dog starts to pull, or in this case, jump, the handler backs up until the dog returns to its place at the handler's side. Once they've taken a few forward steps on a loose leash, the dogs gets clicked and treated.




SSD Hendrix settles right in with his new handler. He walks on a loose leash right past his brothers and sister and completely ignores them.




The next time the puppies come to puppy class, they'll be joining the rest of the dogs in training. We're sure that both puppies and their puppy raisers will be well prepared to join the regular classes. Send them some good wishes in the comments!

The Dogs Visit the Zoo

It was pouring rain yesterday, but that didn't stop us from visiting the zoo! Our service dogs-in-training went to Zoo America in Hershey for a puppy outing. What great experience for the dogs!

Watch a video of our zoo outing

Although it was a challenging outing, the dogs and puppy raisers did a great job. Practice started even before we walked through the doors of the zoo. The dogs practiced loose leash walking on the path leading to the doors. Here's a video of SSD Hawk and his puppy raiser working their way along the path. In loose leash walking, the dog must walk next to his handler so that the leash is nice and loose. In this video, notice how as soon as Hawk starts to pull, his handler stops, backs up and turns around to get Hawk refocused and walking on a loose leash.



In this video, SSD Misty walks nicely along the wooden walkway near some of the animal cages. To keep her walking on a loose leash, her handler is clicking and treating every few steps. A high rate of clicks and reinforcement makes sure that Misty's attention stays on her puppy raiser and that she continues loose-leash walking without getting distracted by the interesting smells and animals.



The zoo animals were often as aware of the dogs as the dogs were aware of them. We wanted this to be a fun and safe trip for everyone - dogs, puppy raises and zoo animals - so not only did we watch the dogs' reactions to the animals, but we also watched the animals' reactions to the dogs. If the dogs got too agitated and started barking, we removed them from that area immediately. Likewise, if the zoo animals were getting too agitated, we removed the dogs, even if the dogs seemed calm.

In this video, you can see that the elk is very aware and interested in SSD Journey. The elk stands very still and stares at her. Journey is also aware of the elk, but notice how she is still focused on her puppy raiser. She keeps making eye contact with her puppy raiser, and when she's given the cue up, she reacts right away to put her feet on the fence. The presence of the elk does not distract her to the point where she does not pay attention to her puppy raiser.



The wolves were the biggest challenge for the dogs. As soon as the wolves noticed the dogs, they began pacing along the fence, and many of the dogs wanted to go right up to that fence. This was a great opportunity for puppy raisers to use power treats (treat the dogs love, which are only used for challenging situations) and keep the dogs' attention on them. We kept visits to the wolves very short for the well being of both the dogs and wolves. In the video, notice how SSD Tundra stands right by the fence to watch the wolves, but when her puppy raiser asks for her attention, she gives it to them.



Overall, our trip to Zoo America was a success! Great job, everyone!