Building confidence is very important with any dog but especially for the workplace!
The main thing about building confidence is that you have to have a strong TRUST between you and your dog. When you build confidence for a workplace it is super important because, as we all know, a service dog doesn't know what situations they will be in on any given day.
I myself, work at Walmart as a customer host or a door greater. Which means that I never know what situations or people will be coming in and out of the door where I am watching to check receipts at any time during my shift. There are a lot of everyday distractions that can be going on at one time. Such as the intercom could be going off paging somebody, cart pushers could be bringing in carts and banging them together putting them in place, customers can be talking or kids could be yelling. Bell never knows what situation she will be dealing with during that day.
One thing I do with Bell is make sure that I have a soft mat that she can lay on while I'm checking receipts, so she has her own little place where she can chill out. She doesn't get to stay in one place long because I am moving around my area. But she does get some down time during my shift.
The way I got her used to those distractions was to have her around all of those distractions one by one when I could. I took her to work when she wasn't working at the door so that she could get used to every single thing. I gave her a treat when she passed by carts and did not react and I continued to reinforce the behavior with praise and a treat once in a while. I also did the same thing with children around the store I walked around the store and walked by children. Sometimes the children with pet her and I rewarded her with praise when she did not jump on them. Then I went back to the door where I had a mat and had her lay down there for several minutes just letting her observe the children going by.
Sometimes, as we all know, there are dogs that come in the door at Walmart that are untrained and/or under trained service dogs. The way that I got her used to being around other dogs in public and outside is that I had her staying in down and go through other exercises with other dogs around the community and in the store. This was a problem for her at first because she wanted to play and meet with every dog she saw there. Of course playing isn't appropriate or safe in a work environment. Now, Bell is pretty confident and does not react in a negative way when she sees other animals at Walmart or in public places.
So, I just want to reiterate that as long as you work with your dog and have a strong trust between the two of you. Your dog will trust you and be there for you whether it is in a environment that they are used to such as a home or a working environment or a environment that they have not gone to before. As long as you have a good bond and a good trust between the two of you, you and your dog will always be a confident team
Post written by C2C Canine Coach Micheal Chalupa
The Crazy2Calm Canine Coaches all believe on working to create a strong partnership between handler & service dog. It's important for us to trust that our dogs will do the jobs they were trained to do. And it's important for our dogs to trust that we will keep them safe and provide for their needs. This is why we wanted to share this post about a service dog team working in one of the most challenging and unpredictable environments around.
Door ways in general can be very stressful for service dog teams. It's important to train in these unpredictable places at a speed that our dog can handle it without stress. We have lessons that teach people who to train through this process in Public Access Class that is now available on Patreon!If your dog is struggling with confidence, we have multiple classes that can help depending on what that struggle is. Reach out to us via email at crazy2calmcaninecoaches@gmail.com for additional information.
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