I currently have a 12 year old lab who has retired to my grandads house in Ireland, and she has inspired me to get a labrador for service dog work. Does anyone have any tips as to training labradors? I was about 3/4 when I got Sausage (my lab) so i never trained her and my dad didnt bother to her, hence why she is at my grandads. So i havent much experience in training labs. I did however train a labrador puppy agility and some small obedience tasks so i have a decent amount of knowlodge on how they like to be trained etc. Just need a few tips!
Hi there and welcome! First of all, I'm sorry to hear that Sausage had to go to live with your grandad. You must miss her since she's been with you since you were so young. I hope you're doing OK and get news of her being happy in Ireland. Second, that's great about you wanting to learn how to train a service dog. My Rottie in my avatar was Brogan and while he passed at the venerable age of 13, he was my service/assistance dog and best friend for his whole life. In the US, it's possible to work with a professional organization to train your own dog to become a service dog and that's what I did with Brogan. The rules are a bit different in the UK (is that where you are?), but there are also assistance dog organisations and trainers who can give you advice and help. Are you currently looking for a puppy or a dog to start training with? What type of service do you need your dog to help you with? These are the first questions to ask. Also know that training a service dog from puppy to certification takes about 2 years of work. That doesn't mean that you can't have a lot of fun with your dog during that two years, but just so you know it takes a while. With a puppy, the first year is usually the basics of socialization and obedience, then the second 6-12 months gets into the actual service tasks. Socialization, whether you get a puppy or adult, is super important, as your dog will be out in public and needs to be comfortable with a ton of really different types of situations and environments. Luckily for you, socialisation is a lot of fun and a great time to bond with your dog. My service dog school used these two books: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LQ8OP...olid=3S6ZDBYB2N5J6&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LQ8OW...olid=3S6ZDBYB2N5J6&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it I'm not recommending you buy them (you may not be able to in the UK anyway) but just have a look at the descriptions and table of contents for the kind of things that are taught for the certification. Assistance Dogs Europe is also a good place to have a look for information on types of service dogs and schools that train/administer the public access test. There are a lot of great people on the forum with lots of training experience, so hopefully you'll get the help you need to get off to a running start.
Thanks a bunch! I have trained service dogs before, so i know all of that sorta stuff and i will probably get a trainer after a few months of having the pup and them learning the basics. The service dog will be multipurpose, and a few tasks would be pyschiatric responces (anxiety attacks, flashbacks etc) and then medical ones like syncope responces, alert to dairy/gluten in food and mobility (only when they are fully grown tho). Do you think it would be easy enough to train a lab? I have heard lots of good things about them with SD work. Also im sorry to hear about Brogan, he sounded like a great companian
