Training Dogs

What are the goals of PSD training?


First, a PSD should be trained in basic obedience (e.g., sit, stay, come, down, go, leave it, etc.). Basic obedience instruction should employ verbal commands and hand signals. Training should be conducted, both, on and off-leash, first in low distraction environments moving gradually to higher distraction environments. Cap basic obedience with passage of the Canine Good Citizen test (see www.akc.org for details on this test).

Second, train for public access skills (i.e., behavior in public places such as restaurants, theaters, library, buses, subway, etc.). You should engage in at least six months of public access training with your dog. When you feel your dog is ready, put yourself and your dog through our public access test (see: http://www.psychdog.org/attach/Public_Access_Standard_Test_Sheet.pdf) You will need a professional dog trainer to administer the test. This person does not need to know anything about service dogs because of the way the test is written.

Third, teach the dog a few disability-related tasks (see task list for examples) and/or learn how to articulate your dog's "work". Start by describing the symptom you are dealing with. It needs to be a valid symptom that is characteristic of your specific disorder (see the DSM-IVTR). Then, describe in ‘slow-motion’ how you interact with your dog in a way that mitigates the symptom. While describing these interactions, focus on and identify the trained behaviors that make this form of assistance possible, no matter how simple or complex those trained behaviors may be.

Remember that learning is training. We believe that when a dog learns your physiologic baseline and can recognize deviations from baseline that are indicative of the onset of mental illness, then the dog is ‘doing work’ by facilitating handler insight related to the changes that are occurring in the handler’s own body. This, of course, assumes that the handler has learned to ‘read’ her dog as the dog is ‘reading’ her, a specialized skill that takes practice and sometimes mentorship from another PSD handler who can help new handlers recognize these valuable canine alerting behaviors.

No third party trainer or organization can train or teach your dog to recognize your baseline and its sequelae. This is a phenomenon that only occurs when dog and handler are together 24/7 for a period of at least six months. This is one reason we discourage folks from getting a PSD that was trained by someone else. Such dogs can only perform tasks, and most PSD handlers find that task performance is extremely limited in its utility. ‘Work’ is more useful to PSD handlers, because it is a form of assistance that does not require high levels of executive functioning in the handler. Such frontal lobe activity is often compromised when mental illness is active.

Persistent sadness

‘Hug’ command

Hopelessness

‘Cuddle’ and ‘Kiss’ commands

Hypersomnia (i.e., excessive sleeping)

Wake-up at specific time each day

Lack of motivation or apathy

‘Settle’ for Tactile Stimulation sessions

Short-term memory loss

Remind to take medication at specific times