Maison the Boxer |Service Dog Obedience
We have a very high standard of behavior for all of the dogs that graduate from our programs. Our service dog graduates take it to a whole different level with their advanced training. Maison is a boxer that we originally trained when he was six months old. We taught him all of his commands, good manners, and introduced him to working around distractions.
Maison returned at a little over a year old to build upon his skills. Now that he is more mature, we can expect more from him. The amount of distractions that he can perform around is much higher, and he can also work for a longer period of time.
During this second training program, we added in three elements that are essential for any service dog.
- Advanced Obedience
- Public Access
- Task Training/Work
We raised our standards for Maison’s obedience by having him work for longer spans of time, and by making the exercises harder. We added an off leash aspect to all of his commands, and increased the duration of his stays and places. We also added lots of food distractions, as he is highly food motivated and will have to deal with lots of food distractions during his career.
Next, we started to tackle his public access work. Some of the places that Maison went with us while in training was the mall, the airport, Target, Walmart, and a restaurant. Because he is still a service dog in training at this point, we are always very diligent about ensuring he is acting appropriately. He did wonderfully, and most people were amazed to see a boxer being so calm and well mannered.
Lastly, we started his task work. Maison is training to be a balance assistance dog. One of the main things that he needs to do is help his owner get out of chairs. We taught him a brace command to allow him to do this. Whenever he gets the cue “brace” he will stand and be steady while his handler uses a handle on his vest to stand up. His other tasks include retrieval of dropped objects and counterbalance on stairs.
Maison won’t be a fully fledged service dog until he is 18-24 months old. We’ve laid all the foundation for a long career of balance assistance for this young boxer. He started his task training and public access with us, as well as obtaining his CGC and CGCA.
Maison’s excellent obedience also helps in other areas. His owner is involved with horses, and wanted Maison to be solid around them for safety. Good obedience training coupled with a stable temperament means that Maison is perfectly behaved around the barn.
If you are interested in getting your dog this well trained, please check out our programs.
If you would like to learn more about the CGC and CGCA titles and what they are like, you can find out more here.
