Being a confident service dog handler isn’t something that comes naturally to anyone, unless you’ve had multiple service dogs throughout your life.
Here are 5 ways I’ve improved my confidence as a service dog handler over the past year of having my service dog, Atlas.
1. Practicing Basic Commands At Home
The first few days of being a service dog handler were spent practicing basic commands at home to help grow our bond and make sure Atlas knew I’m in charge.
To do this, we would train during his breakfast and dinner meals. Sometimes this would be with obedience commands such as “sit”, “come”, “stand” and “stay”. Other times I would put his mobility harness on to practice his tasks such as forward momentum pull, which I use for getting out of a chair or getting momentum to go up a hill.
Practicing these skills at home first allowed us to be more in tune with each other and allowed me as his handler to learn his quirks and what motivates him in a controlled environment.
2. Going On Short Public Outings
Once I felt like we understood each other after a few days of working at home, we began small outings. These outings were mainly to restaurants and stores to work on tasks and obedience in a slightly more distracting environment so that we could continue to build our bond and confidence in each other.
We would go to the store for 30-45 minutes or to a restaurant for a longer (at the time) outing to work on perfecting his ability to settle under tables.
These small outings were a turning point in my confidence as a handler. They allowed me to see that he was confident in almost any environment I put him in which led to longer outings and new opportunities to grow as a team over time.
3. Not Being Afraid To Give A Correction
One of the hardest things about being a handler is correcting your service dog if they don’t do what you ask or are distracted. This is something I struggled with in the first few months of being a handler because I was worried about how he would react.
As we became more in tune with each other, I’ve learned that it’s okay to ask him for a behavior again if I’m not happy wirh what he gave me or he did it incorrectly the first time.
At the same time, the corrections and amount of times I have to ask for a certain task or command before he completes it have decreased as our bond and relationship has increased. This is because Atlas trusts me as his handler and knows I would never put him in a situation we couldn’t handle together.
4. Longer Outings And Trying New Things
This past school year was my senior year of college and Atls attended and lived on campus with me. This meant we were doing longer outings routinely and constantly being exposed to new experiences together.
We attended classes together, which I elaborate on in 6 Things To Know When Bringing Your Service Dog To College. This was a new experience for us as a team as this was Atlas’ first year on campus with me, but because of work we had done throughout the summer, he had no issues adjusting to college living or settling in classes.
We also began going on routine training outings with a friend of mine and her service dog in training. This allowed me to connect with another handler and share experiences and tips with each other as well as train our dogs around other dogs in a safe way.
As a Florida resident living close to the theme parks, I frequently visit them, so it was somewhere I knew I wanted Atlas to be comfortable. We started off slow just walking around the parks, allowing him to see, hear, and smell everything. Once I knew he was comfortable and rather “autopilot” about it, we tried out some rides. He even has a few favorites!
Sometimes, though, new experiences don’t always go great. One experience that I exposed him to a bit too early at first was moving walkways. I wasn’t a confident handler yet and that caused him to be curious about what we were doing rather than just going for it.
Once we had that experience, we didn’t try another moving walkway for about 6 months. We recently tried again and had an incredibly positive experience because we were much more confident and prepared as a team.
There is such a thing as doing things too soon, but just because something doesn’t work at one point doesn’t mean it won’t work when you try again down the road when you are more confident in each other as a team.
5. Teaching New Concepts
Now that I’ve been a service dog handler for a little over a year, I’ve gained confidence and skills which have allowed me to further Atlas’ training by teaching him new skills both for fun and as tasks.
Right now, we are working on an interruption task where Atlas will nudge my leg when I begin to display a specific behavior, as well as an eye contact command to encourage him to “check in” with me both on and off duty.
Without mastering the foundations of being a handler, I couldn’t successfully teach him these new things.
Being a service dog handler is all about building trust in your canine partner and taking small steps to increase your bond so that the two of you can tackle all that life brings together.
Do you have anything that has worked for you and your service dog to increase your bond and confidence as a handler over time? Feel free to share!