Too cute?

So, I either underestimated how irresistibly cute Mal is, or overestimated that the general public knows not to pet/talk to Service Dogs. Mal did great! I'm really proud of how calm he was for his first store outing. He was minimally distracted and walked right beside me in "heel" position. The only times he broke sit/stay were when people tried to love on him. In only one case was this a kid, who gets a pass just for being a kid. The others were adults, in a town that sees a lot of service and comfort dogs. That's what gave me the first idea to look into Service Dogs once my GAD and Depression became to bad. Even the pharmacist was making kissy noises at him until I corrected him and she apologized. All his patches are on his back on this harness and she didn't see it. Still, how many non-service dogs that size come in to the pharmacy?

Anyway, we went to 2 stores. The first one we got my meds and took a lap around the store with my daughter Mojo in the cart. He was awesome! We left, picked up Jilly at school, and went to Wal-Mart to see my Mom on her lunch hour. I found a spot where the traffic was heavy but we could stand out of the way a bit and I put him in a sit/stay. He was good for the most part. As I said, he would break sit/stay when someone tried to interact with him, and he tried to get up a couple other times when I took my attention off him. All in all, it was a good first step in Public Access training, I just have to be more patient with the Public part...

Officially "In Training"

Today is the first "official" day of training Malcolm as a Service Dog. I know I could have just slapped his vest on him and taken him anywhere with little issue, but for my own anxiety level I had to wait until I had the paperwork in my hot little hand.I have been working on obedience since we got him, building on the basic classes that his former owner had taken him to. The biggest hurdle has been  distraction training. His former owner did not get him out into the world a great deal, (which is a big reason he worked so hard to find a good home for Mal) and so everything is SUPER EXCITING for him. I started taking him along as much as possible, dropping off and picking up Jilly from school, to the park, pet stores, etc and it has helped a lot.

In anticipation for being able to take him out in public for training, we have focused on just keeping his attention on me this week and reinforcing his basic obedience in the midst of distraction. I am guessing it will be months before we get into the meat of his specific Service training, but just having him there to focus on along with his natural tendency to know when I'm having a hard time and comfort/distract/redirect me is a huge help. I am planning to take him into Target with me this afternoon to pick up my meds. It will be our first trip into a non-pet store, and our first trip anywhere with his In Training vest on. The crazy thing is, I have a lot of anxiety about working him out in public, most specifically how people will be with him/me.

Hopefully once I break out Public Access cherry I will be more comfortable. Wish us luck!