Service dogs love to go to work
Animal-assisted interventions reduce stress through the simplest interactions
Dogs enjoy being with their human friends unconditionally, but the effect the animals have on people is often not fully harnessed.
While there are people in certain circumstances who need professionally trained service dogs to help them with daily living, the therapeutic effect of canines on humans can come from shorter-term exposure too.
Denice Nicholson from Cole Harbour, N.S. has had her five-year-old German shepherd service dog Dilly since March 1, 2018. Nicholson trained Dilly herself through the nonprofit Maritime Specialty Service
Dogs Society based in Truro.
“Dilly and I work on training every day,” she explained. “We use a clicker and treats. All her food comes to her as a reward for completing desired tasks. We started by learning what the clicker noise meant and build new skills slowly. The training method we use is based in the work of psychologist B.F. Skinner and is force-free or purely positive.”
The process took Nicholson and Dilly two years.
“I was new to owning a dog … let alone a big, smart, high-energy dog like Dilly,” she said. “We started when she was a little less than a year old, which is late for a service dog.”
Two challenges emerged early in the process for Nicholson. Firstly, COVID-19 made meetings with their trainer difficult. Secondly, Nicholson and Dill had to change trainers part way through.
Everyday training has been surprising for her, especially since Nicholson was completely new to dogs.
“(The biggest surprise) was how much I learned about interacting with people from training the dog,” she said. “I am a better communicator with humans, a better listener, more empathetic and easier to get along with and I credit these changes to the lessons I learned becoming a team with Dilly.
“The biggest things I learned are that the dog wants to work, they want to communicate with you. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to communicate best. In training a service dog, or any dog, the key is consistency and remembering that everything you do they are watching and learning from. There is no time when you aren’t training them; dogs don’t have an off switch.”
Nicholson feels dogs can be effectively trained without forcing them to learn.
“Some people think bribing and bidding the dog is somehow lacking. But I would rather tempt her to do what I want than punish.”
COUNTLESS BENEFITS
Shannon Noonan from Charlottetown, P.E.I., initially began working with dogs as a foster mom with the Ottawa Dog Rescue, where she adopted her first dog, Blue, a GreatDane/Pointer mix with whom she began her journey of more formalized dog training. Today, Noonan is the pet-parent of six-year-old Dalmatian Elroy and two-year-old Great Dane Truman.
During her time at Carleton University in Ottawa, Noonan used pet therapy to connect with students on a level she described as being unparalleled by other professional interactions.
“Beginning in the fall of 2015 … Blue and I facilitated a number of referrals to counsellors and provided a low-level, less resource-intensive outlet for students who simply needed a visit with the dog to cope with everyday stresses,” she said.
After a one-year pilot program with Blue, the Carleton Therapy Dogs Program expansion was proposed and implemented in the fall of 2018.
The program became recognized nationally as a leading approach to dog therapy.
Noonan’s faith in the program was reiterated seeing “therapeutic effects of animal contact, including reduced homesickness, increased confidence levels through social interaction, building trusting relationships and physical health benefits.”
Noonan noted contact with a dog increases levels of oxytocin (a stressreducing hormone) in the brain and reduces the levels of cortisol (a hormone that raises stress levels.)
LIMITING THE ACCESS
It’s becoming increasingly popular to take pet dogs to a variety of places. However, people may not realize this can potentially limit access to people with service dogs.
“I love dogs and love seeing them, but I just hope people remember that, when you take a pet dog in a store and I come there with my service dog, that makes it hard for Dilly to do her job,” explained Nicholson.
Dilly is highly trained, but she’s not a robot, said Nicholson.
“Pet dogs in stores are an unanticipated variable that we must account for and it limits our ability to go places,” she said. “I have seen pet dogs react badly to Dilly (ie: bark, attack, pee) and she can’t do her job taking care of me when she is also dealing with an enthusiastic or scared pet dog.”
There are some places Nicholson can’t go to anymore because she knows she and Dilly will run into at least one pet dog while there.
“It’s frustrating that my access to that business (and others) is limited in a practical way because people want to take their pets in the store. Similarly, bars and restaurants that welcome dogs on patios mean no patio for us. Also, if people could stop sneaking their tiny dogs in their jackets and bags into grocery stores, that would make a big difference to us too. Security might not see your tiny dog, but Dilly sure does,” said Nicholson.