Building skills

Turner's doing well on many fronts, which is much more a testament to his temperament (and his great breeder who matched him with me, and the puppy raiser who got him out to see the world) than to my skills as a trainer. I've been slacking, because grief and struggling to keep up with my reduced work schedule without a service dog didn't leave me with a lot of oomph to come home, grab the boy and go out again.

But he's doing momentum work in harness on short outings, and that helps. He's starting to pick up things I dropped while he wasn't looking (generally not on purpose, just the way my hands are), he's been desperately trying to comfort me when I cry (and he's too sensitive to my emotions to be a good psych service dog if that was his primary job.)

In short, he's stepping up as a service dog.

He's still a puppy. He's not yet 18 months. He's in the teenage butthead stage, so some days the urge to throttle him is strong. Some days, he works his butt off for me, and is sweet as can be, and makes my life easier.

Those easier days are more frequent. His help becomes more consistent. I trust him more, and I trust him on things where I can't trust my body. I trust he'll keep me on my feet when vertigo strikes. I trust that when my hands dump things onto the ground, Turner will bring them back to me (and I give him really good treats to keep up that behavior.)

He's not yet got the attention span for long, complicated outings, but his attention span is growing. I'm really pleased with the progress I see, and the future those skills should make possible.