After having my pelvis crushed in a car accident in 2003 I
had to have several surgeries, including a total hip replacement.I still suffer pain, difficulty getting
up as well as poor balance, which causes me to fall often.My solution was to train our Bernese
Mountain Dog mix, Ramble to help me.Ramble helps me get up from the floor or from a sitting or lying
position, stabilizes me when I walk and lets me lean on him when we have to
stand for long periods.He has
also been trained to push buttons to open a door, close a door using his paw,
turn lights on and off and more.
Most people have never even considered it but could your own
dog learn to help you?
After training Ramble, I decided I wanted to be able to help
people by training their pets to help them.If someone doesn’t have a suitable pet I will find them the
perfect service dog to be trained to help them.
I train all dogs using 7 essential commands I believe all
dogs should know.The commands
are; watch me, sit, down, stay, come, heel and wait.I teach them to walk perfectly on a leash and to “sit” every
time we come to a halt.I also
teach dogs to touch a target with their nose, which later is helpful in
teaching advanced commands such as turning on and off lights or pushing a
button.
We do plenty of work in public teaching dogs not to try to
seek out attention from strangers and learning quiet and controlled behavior.
Dogs stay with me a month or more and the owner of the dog
fully participates in training by meeting with me once a week minimum.
I take care of registering service dogs and I get them a
vest to wear in public as well as an ID tag identifying them as a service dog.
