Diabetic Alert Dog

Mr Darcy, at 18 months, has practiced the mealtime routine for his whole life. He will never ‘charge’ his feeder, will never ‘maul’ a child with food because he has only ever been offered food when he sat and remained calm and patient and focused. no one wants a dog that jumps on them to get food – or at any other time.

Abi, as Mr Darcy’s handler, is the only one who feeds him. She is now able to ’stretch’ the pattern to include having him SIT earlier, before she even gets the food in the bowl, so he SITS, she gets the bowl, leaves the room, fills the bowl, comes back in the room, places it down, gets the water bowl, fills it, places it on the floor, steps away, makes sure he is watching her and then releases him  (”OK” is his release here) and he eats.

He is focused on her and her activity during the whole process and you can see him look to her for command / release.  She doesn’t even need to say his name to get his attention – she has it!

 

video: Mr Darcy at mealtime

 

These same concepts can be applied in many other situations. use your dog’s motivators as rewards for desired behavior .

Work on this idea when going in and out of doorways. You NEVER want your dog to see an open door as an invitation to run outside. So, start young : teach your pup that he ONLY goes outside when he sits and looks to you for a command.