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Originally Posted by marcerella02  i got an email back today from the man in charge of pet therapy here in London and he said there are 53 dogs on a waiting list to be tested and only 36 get tested a year... yikes, but he also included the test and it seems that Layla may need a year or two to work on a few things... which is ok.... i have a few questions
1. They need to be able to drop a metal bowl 6 feet away from her and not have her react... well Layla is afraid when a baggie falls on the floor... any ideas on how i can get her used to this... i'd say it is beyond normal fear... it is something that can affect her whole day.... if we are using a fly swatter to kill a fly.. she is done for the dya... this all started last christmas when we were in Florida and she heard a firecracker.. we were outside peeing (ok SHE was peeing) and she wasnt ready for it.. before this she could care less about thunderstorms... and now... she is a complete mess... anyways.. an ideas on the bowl would be great
2. She needs to be excited and easily calmed.... should i use a key word... like easy??? i am not usre how to teach *be calm*
3. She needs to be comfortable around a wheel chair.. any ideas where i can get her exposed to this??? i don't know anyone in a wheel chair or who owns one.
any help would be so great.. i want to work with her for a few years so we can have this down and pass the test with flying colors... i want so bad to be a therapy dog with her... Thanks! |
My little Delsi passed her therapy dog test but they never dropped anything close to her. It wouldn't have bothered her if they had.
I would say get a small metal mixing bowl, put it on the bare floor with a couple tiny bits of cheese in it. You sit right beside the bowl. She will have to work at getting the cheese out which will make a noise. Let her get used to that noise completely before helping the noise along by tapping the bowl on the floor just a tiny bit at a time till she gets used to each stage of noise.