My service dog

[uppityperson]

My pup is now nearly 2 years old, very active and smart as a whip. She is a great doorbell and the alarm training happened in almost no time.

I can often not hear my alarm clock alarm due to bad hearing. A couple mornings I invited said pup on to the bed for a quick cuddle when the alarm went off. She picked up on the idea right away and faithfully wakes me when the alarm buzzes.

I was deeply asleep a couple mornings ago and she tried and tried and tried. 3 times the paws went on the bed and nose into my face. Twice up on the bed to try. I thought it was still very early and was very asleep so ignored her. Finally I got the whole paws, nose and whine whine whine, waking me to think she REALLY had to go out so I sat up to attend to her needs.

Then I heard the alarm and checked the clock. She persisted for over three minutes, trying to get me up. She got lots of attention, walkies, frisbee and treat for that.

She recently bugged my spouse when the stoce alarm went off and he did not attend to it quickly, has also picked up on that alarm.

She is a good dog and I was very pleased at her persistence, had to share.

[2theleft]

1. What a smart baby!!

What kind of dog? I have two pups, a doberman/hound mix and a boxer. I swear the doberman/hound mix is smarter than most people I know! The boxer? We laugh and say, "thing goodness she's gorgeous"

Are you thinking of training her to do other things? It's amazing what the fur babies will do for us with just the littlest bit of affection/encouragement!

[uppityperson]

5. She is a mutt.

Mom was blonde golden retriever with something that gave her a white forehead stripe, thinking probably border collie. Dad was a black and brown neighbordog, best guess was chow and black lab but they didn't know.

Boxers are beautiful and wonderful and creatures of their own boxerness.

I teach her tricks and work with her a lot, wanting a well behaved happy dog and she likes to do thing. Sometimes she gets so excited for a Treat that she will run through her tricks as fast as she can. I wait and tell her no, she has to wait for me to tell her what to do. When I figured out how smart she was, and how much she wanted to be trained (if that makes sense), how much she wanted to work, I started looking at videos of dancing dogs, Gin in Britain has been an inspiration on tricks to learn. I need to get a hoop, haven't done jumping things but she could.

As far as service work? Notifying us alarms are going off and people/cars are at our place are the best thing.

[2theleft]

6. Chance, the doberhound mutt extraordinaire was preceeded by Scout...

heritage of dubious distinction... Short and long like a corgi, maybe beagle, shepherd, and who knows what else...but she was the smartest dog I have ever been around...Sounds like yours with the treat excitement and running through her library very quickly to get the treat. It was so funny.

My boxer is a sweetheart. Pure sweetness, and the boxer wiggle and just pure happiness when I come home from being out for 10 minutes or 4 hours is just wonderful. Just wants to be a snugglebug, is intuitive to your feelings, and basically a lump of love.

I would love to see some videos of your smart girl doing her tricks if you ever feel like loading them! Love the fur babies!

[mopinko]

2. my daughter wants a service dog for ptsd.

we have a wonderful bulldog that would be exactly what she wants, except he is dog aggressive. he is also nearly 100 lbs, almost as much as her.
but what drive he has, and what empathy and understanding. at least i know he is there for me as i get old and fall apart.

[CountAllVotes]

3. Been hoping to get a service dog

Been on an assortment of "lists" for years now and I never hear a word from any of them except that there is nothing available where I live.

You are a lucky person to have managed to get such a great service dog!

Congratulations!!

[uppityperson]

4. Actually I got her as a 3 week old pup, raised and trained her. She is not a

"Service Dog (tm)" but my service dog, if that makes sense.

I knew the mom, was a very sweet smart young rescued dog, dad was neighbor dog. Mom walked away from pups at 3 weeks, so mine came to me then. I really really really did not like that part and yes, she has some issues being scared of other dogs, but is progressing ok in that regard. And is so trainable, wanting to help. I started teaching her tricks from a young age, she learned to sit at 4 weeks which is good because is the teenager pup decides she really doesn't want to come right now, she will plop the butt down on command.

My one regret is not taking at least 2 of the pups and looking for a new home for the second, but at the time, one was what I could handle. That said, she is very much ours, a part of our family.

I need to research to see what else others have done with their dogs, but so far when I find a hearing need, she fills it. I guess that is what is best.

Good luck on finding one. I know they are hard to get, too many needs and too few dogs that are capable. I was lucky in finding mine, being able to live in a place and situation I was able to have her. And greatly appreciate all her spins, bounces, "wake up mama"s.

[CountAllVotes]

7. You've done good!

Glad to know that you managed to handle this on your own. I'd considered doing it too and actually found a person that wanted to sell me a German Shepherd and would train it for me (or so she said ....). I had no confidence that this person could actually do this (no credentials whatsoever) so I gave up on that idea.

Still hoping and waiting ...

Best wishes to you and your new service dog!