You can teach an old dog new tricks
After some intensive training at Super Puppy Education in Foster, Debbie, the Labrador cross, has graduated from school and is back home with her family in Lennoxville, getting accustomed to her new job as an assist dog for Mandy Doucet and her husband Lambert Chavannes’ daughter Selena, who has autism.
Doucet and her husband had been looking into acquiring an assist dog through a foundation, but it would have meant giving up their current family pets; there were also waiting lists up to four years.
Because Debbie, who had been with the family for four years, was well-mannered and had a calm disposition, Doucet and Chavannes thought she might be up to the task. They brought her to Super Puppy Education for an evaluation.
Trainer Jennifer Boyle, while pointing out it was extremely rare, agreed that Debbie was a good candidate for assistdog training.
Debbie spent roughly four months training with Boyle and her partner Gimmy Duranleau, before returning home at the end of April to begin her new job watching over Selena.
Doucet said she is pleased with how things are going so far, adding that there is a noticeable difference in both Selena and Debbie’s behaviour since the dog has been back with the family.
“We got a crash course and learned the dos and don’ts,” Doucet said.
“Jennifer gave us a demonstration of how she works with Debbie.”
Doucet and her husband are now working on strengthening the bond between Selena and Debbie, and also bringing the dog everywhere possible so she can get used to new smells and environments and reinforce good behaviour while she settles into her new job.
Sleeping through the night used to be an issue for Selena, according to Doucet. Since Debbie has been back, she now sleeps in Selena’s room, even on her bed if she wants.
“We’ve only had one disruptive night since Debbie got back,” Doucet said.
Doucet said she and her husband used to need to wait for Selena to fall asleep in the living room and then carry her to bed. These days, she is more willing to go to bed with Debbie by her side.
When Debbie first returned home, Boyle brought Doucet out for a training walk with Debbie and Selena to demonstrate some techniques. The plan was to walk down to the end of the street and back.
“I knew Selena might get upset,” Doucet said, explaining that Selena expects a walk to have a purpose or a specific destination like the park, or the store.
When they reached the corner of Atto and St. Francis and turned around, Selena got angry.
“She tried to run to St. Francis,” Doucet said, explaining there was a lot of rush hour traffic at the time.
“Jen told Debbie to stay and she was able to hold Selena back from the road.”
“That was the first time I realized how useful she would be,” Doucet said.
Now that Debbie is able to serve as an anchor and a guide for Selena, Doucet said she doesn’t have to worry about catching her at the last second in a dangerous situation.
“I don’t have to steer her so much; I just steer Debbie,” she said.
Doucet said she brought Selena and Debbie to Provigo recently and there was an M&M display that upset Selena. “She thought it looked like a monster,” Doucet said.
Under normal circumstances, helping Selena would have required Doucet to drop everything and possibly abort the shopping trip.
Because Debbie was there to stay by Selena, Doucet had that extra bit of time to buy the milk, knowing Selena was safe.
When they go out in public together, Selena wears a belt that is attached to Debbie’s harness. She also has her own leash to lead Debbie, which gives her more independence. Doucet or her husband can always call Debbie to lead Selena in a specific direction if necessary.
“It’s impressive how hard she will pull if I tell her to come to me,” Doucet said.
“We’re pleased with the outcome,” Doucet said.
Doucet pointed out that there is a difference between Debbie and other assist dogs, trained from puppyhood.
“She knows what life was like before this,” commented Doucet.
While Debbie has been to restaurants and completely ignored the food, and jumps to attention whenever the harness comes out to go to work, Doucet said Debbie can’t hide certain temptations.
“It’s more with her animal social life,” she said. Debbie has always been a social dog, and can’t help but point out how much fun the retriever playing fetch at the other end of the park is having.
“She knows she has to choose to be disciplined,” Doucet explained, adding that even if she whines on occasion, she doesn’t abandon her job.
“If she’s whining, it’s never for nothing,” Doucet said, seeing it as a positive. She appreciates Debbie pointing out that there is another dog in the park, or something going on she may not have been aware of. Doucet said the other day Debbie started whining and she had no idea why. After a few minutes, she noticed there was a man about 20 feet up in a tree working.
“I can’t blame her for telling me that’s odd,” she said. Debbie does the same at home if there is something at home that is out of place or unusual. “I like that,” Doucet said. “We’re learning, she’s learning,” Doucet commented.
Super Puppy Education will continue doing follow-ups with Debbie and the family to make sure things are going well and correct any issues that may arise.
In the meantime, Doucet said having the new and improved Debbie back with the family is going very well.
“I’m glad I didn’t have to learn to love a new dog,” Doucet said, happy with the new tricks her old dog has learned.