Sorry I missed last Friday. Last week was pretty crazy for me; 2 new tinnitus sufferers signed up for my program, new video, and working on the new interactive course that hopefully you all can experience yourself soon. Leo & I are still working on the sound alert training, and we did make progress. 👌 At this point, I stopped using treats during the actual alert practice. Now I ring the bell and wait to see if he will come to me on his own and do the right behavior, which is come over and make sure I pay attention. When he does come to me, I reward him with attention, affection, and a lot of “good job, Leo.” So the reward now is more about my response to him than food. Then I go to a different part of the house, let things settle down a bit, and do it again. Sometimes he gets it right away, and sometimes not so quickly. 😂 If I see that he is not making the connection, I try to catch his attention visually without saying anything, just enough to help him realize, okay, I need to go alert my dad that there was a sound. So overall, definitely making progress, but still more work and repetition needed. He still misses some of them, especially if he is busy with something more interesting at that moment. But he is definitely starting to understand the job better. The second update is that I got his (actual) service dog harness. That is helping a lot! 🐕‍🦺 Before, I was using that short leader leash, which worked, but honestly was awkward. Now with the harness, I can use a regular leash attached to something that is actually built for this kind of work. We already practiced with it multiple times, and he is adapting pretty quickly. ✌️ The next big test is going to be this Friday. I’m planning to take him to... the airport! 🛫 That will be a very different level of distraction and stimulation, so it will be a really good test to see if he can still stay patient, focused, and work with me in a busy environment. 🤞🐶 I’ll report back after that. What do YOU think will happen at the airport? Vote below.

Alright, it's Friday! Time for the next Leo update. This week we started working on sound alerts. 🚨 The goal is pretty simple: 👉 When there’s an important environmental sound, like a bell, alarm, something I should notice, Leo should come to me and poke my hand until I pay attention. So this is basically a two-step process. 1️⃣ Step one was teaching the actual behavior. Coming to me and pushing his nose into my hand repeatedly. For this, I used a small treat in my closed fist. At the beginning, he was just sniffing and trying to figure out how to get it. I only rewarded him when he actually touched or pushed my hand with his nose, multiple times in a row. So instead of one quick touch, he had to poke again… and again… and stay persistent. The idea was to build that behavior of: 👉 don’t give up, keep nudging until I respond After a few sessions, it clicked. 👍🐶 2️⃣ The second step is where it gets interesting. Now he needs to do that… because of a sound. 🚨 And this is not going that great so far. 😄 I’m using a remote bell that I placed near the door, so I can trigger it from anywhere. The idea is that when the bell rings, he comes to me and does the alert behavior. But here’s the problem: He’s smart enough to know when the sound actually means something. If someone is at the door, he already reacts on his own, barking, running to the door, showing me something is happening. That part is natural for him. But when I ring the bell remotely… He hears it, but he also knows there’s no one there. So from his point of view, it’s basically: “Okay… I hear it… but why should I care?” 🐶 Another funny part is that he’s already learned the first step too well. If he sees my hand move even a little bit, he assumes I have a treat and immediately comes to poke my hand. So now he’s reacting to my hand, not to the sound. What I’ve started doing now is hiding from him. 🏃‍➡️ I’ll go somewhere in the house where he can’t see me, ring the bell, and let him figure out that he needs to find me and do the alert.

Alright, so here’s the first update! The first thing we focused on this week was walking together. More specifically, walking with a short leash, what they call a 'leader leash.' Up until now, Leo was used to a longer leash, so he had more freedom to move around. This is very different. Now he has to stay right next to me, same pace, same direction. At the beginning, it was not smooth at all. (understatement of the year 😂) He kept trying to switch sides, crossing in front of me, going left, then right. Basically trying to figure out where he’s supposed to be. And honestly, I also had to adjust. Because this is not just about controlling him, it’s about both of us getting used to moving together. After a few days, it started to look much better. And now, after almost 2 weeks, he’s staying next to me pretty consistently, and we’re already doing this in public spaces too. For example, I took him to Home Depot. We walked through some pretty narrow aisles, sometimes with people around, and overall he did really well. A couple of times he tried to pull me toward things that caught his attention, but nothing too crazy. At one point there was another dog, and he definitely noticed… but he still stayed next to me and kept walking. We also went outside to the garden area and then back inside. The whole experience was actually pretty smooth. 🐕‍🦺 I’d say 95% of the time he stayed in sync with me, which honestly surprised me. One small step for dog.... one giant leap for service dog qualification! 🥇 I attached a photo and a 10-second video from one of the walks this week. Next step will be adding more real-world situations and distractions. This week we started working on alert behaviors (he alerts me of things happening). But I'll save this for the next update. 🐶 Quick question: Have any of you ever trained a dog like this, or seen this kind of process before? Happy Friday! Guy & Leo PS - Tagging the people I believe showed interested in this journey.

I’m currently training Leo to become a service hearing dog for me. This is actually not about tinnitus — this is about my hearing loss. My hearing loss is severe 😬, and because of that, there are situations where I can miss important things that most people wouldn’t. For example: - Someone rings the door while I’m in my office and I don’t hear it - Something loud happens outside that I should be aware of, but I miss it - Or I’m in a noisy place like an airport, and someone is trying to get my attention… and I don’t notice Leo does! So, part of his training is to alert me when something important is happening around me. It also means practicing in real-life environments like: - stores (Home Depot / Lowe’s) - public places - airports So it’s been a really interesting… and sometimes funny 😄 process. ❓ Here’s my question for you: Would you be interested if I shared updates about this journey here in the community? Things like: - how the training works - what I’m learning - what works (and what doesn’t) - and some real-life moments along the way 👉 Please be honest, though, I completely understand if this is not really interesting to others. I'll not be offended. I promise. 👍 🔔 Quick reminder: We have the workshop tomorrow, and we’ll be focusing on the attention loop and how to break it. If you’re planning to join, please comment below. I’d love to know who’s coming. Happy Friday! Guy.