Sandy, one of ASA’s service dogs in training did great today! I am so proud of Sandy! She did absolutely incredible! She stayed under the table the entire time at the restaurant even when the delicious smelling food came. She didn’t even look at it. She went to a coffee shop and was incredible with strollers and people walking tight to her. She worked hard in the book store and stayed super well! She even focused on heel while we weaved through those tricky block chairs in the store! Thank you @Amanda Taulborg for walking us through each step of preparing her to go out and be coool!

Hope you and your pups all have a wonderful Christmas! Sandy went Christmas caroling last night with my grandparents and I. She also did some really good comes this morning! What are your services dog doing this Christmas?

In this video, I’m working with our new poodle pup and introducing one of the most important foundations in our program: Marker Training (also commonly called clicker training). I use the verbal marker “yes” to clearly communicate the exact behavior I want. The dog performs the behavior → I mark → then immediately reward with food. This method works for every dog, at any age, and it’s how I start all of our new trainees. In this first lesson, we’re focusing on: - Building confidence - Making training fun and easy to understand - Desensitization and exposure - Stepping on/off objects - Getting comfortable with the training environment As we progress, we’ll move into: - Eye contact - Sit - Down - Stand - Confidence-building games - And a variety of other foundational service dog skills This is the very first step in creating a clear communication system and helping the dog feel confident, successful, and excited to work.

Atlas puts up with so much 🤪🤣 We have twinning Christmas spirit jerseys so we took some quick pics last night!

Alright doggo friends… I need to see your dogs living their BEST goofy, off-duty (aka “free dog”) life. Post a pic of your service dog (or pet) being a total happy potato! 😂🐶