Service Dog training starts where all dog training starts — The Basics. Here is the list of cues I start teaching on Week 1:

ACTIVE CUES

• Get Busy
• Settle
• Sit
• Waffles! (name recognition and recall)
• Marker Word loading (“Yes!” or “Nice!”)
• Uh-uh

PASSIVE CUES

• Kennel up
• Get Dressed
• Trade You
• Come
• Touch

BUTTON CUES (PASSIVE)

• Outside

Our “training sessions” are 2-3 minutes long, multiple times per day. Waffles’ attention span is typical of a puppy his age, and that’s about as many repetitions as little pups can manage at first! It’s important to remember that these little tykes sleep about 16-20 hours a day at this age, and it’s very easy to over-stimulate and over-tire them, at which point they turn into tiny piranhas, much like human toddlers do.

Beyond this, the first month of training focuses on establishing a routine, socialization, bite inhibition, taking treats gently, not climbing up on people, “trading” for appropriate things to chew, crate-training, self-soothing, and exposure to new things, places, and people. This isn’t always easy since puppies haven’t had all their vaccines yet, so service and guide dogs are often socialized “in arms” for a little while. They get to visit partner businesses, libraries, senior centers, nursery schools, and so on to get exposed to as many people and new things as possible (all while being mindful of their personalities and level of comfort, of course!) The goal is to meet 100 new people between 8 weeks and 12 weeks of age!

This is also when we start housebreaking (potty training) and tether training. The schools and programs I’ve worked with tend to follow Dr. Dunbar’s puppy training methods for socialization, crate training, tether training, and self-soothing training to promote the growth of confident, even-tempered pups, and prevent separation anxiety. Waffles is being introduced to a schedule that includes training, playing, napping, settling, socializing, chilling out and self-entertaining, and overnight sleeping (interrupted by potty breaks, of course!)

Here’s the Order of Learning table we use to train up the foundational behavioral basics. [Note: we introduce other cues/words during this period, but they’re not “the basics”!]

Once we’ve established a daily training routine and schedule, I’ll share it! It will take me a week or so to get to know Waffles, how he learns, how he burns off energy and settles, and what kind of rhythm will work for us.

My past schedules tend to go 1h-1.5h playtime, 2h nap. Kind of like this:

6 am: Wake up and potty.

6am-7:30am: Breakfast in crate, playtime and training time!

7:30am-9:30am: Nap

9:30am-10:30am: Potty, playtime, training time!

10:30am-12:30pm: Nap

12:30pm-2:00pm: Potty, lunch in crate, playtime, and training time!

2:00pm-4:00pm: Nap

4:00pm-6:00pm: Potty, party, and training time, off-site socialization/training time!

6:00pm-8:00pm: Nap

8:00-9:30: Potty, Diner in crate, playtime, and training time! Cut off food and water at 8:30pm.

9:30pm-1:30am: Sleep

1:30am: Potty

1:30am-4am: Sleep

4am: Potty

4am-6am: Sleep

How’s it going so far? Too early to tell. First nights are always hard, but this morning we fell into a nice pace. He crated himself up for his second nap and didn’t fuss for very long before zonking out. There haven’t been any accidents in the house yet, and he’s practicing “Get Busy” like a big boy. He’s enjoying exploring, getting rewarded for the word “Waffles” and for doing his dirty sinful business (as we affectionately call it here), and for accidentally plopping his butt down on the floor. So far, he’s catching on quickly!

Nap time for everyone, now. Woofs to everyone. More soon!