Training Trio for Independence

Rene (left) with Leigh and Addie practicing "leave It" using the click method at the 205 Mall.

By Linda Bane

Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1988, Rene Corbin had never considered getting a service dog. She and her wife Leigh had adopted Addie, a 4-year-old Australian cattle dog mix as a pet from the Oregon Humane Society after losing their previous dog to cancer. The three of them enrolled in a local obedience school and successfully worked from beginning through advanced obedience training and passed the Canine Good Citizenship Exam.

Then Rene had a flare-up of symptoms. Impressed by Addie’s intelligence and willingness to work, the obedience trainer suggested she be recruited for the role of Rene’s service dog. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service dog is any dog that is specifically trained to assist a disabled handler with tasks of everyday life. Owner training, in which the disabled handler trains his or her own dog (often using consultations and support from professional trainers) is a lesser-known option in acquiring a service dog.

When the Corbins began researching, everything led them back to Addie as the chosen dog. The expense of buying a previously trained dog was prohibitively high, and both Rene and Leigh were leery of adding another dog to the household. “I wanted it to be Addie,” Rene Corbin says.

After more research, they found certified dog trainer Mara Windstar and Paws to Freedom, a non-profit Portland organization dedicated to helping people who are training their own service dogs. They began weekly training sessions as well as ongoing, intensive practice.

“It was a whole different ballgame,” says Leigh, who attends all trainings with Rene and Addie. “Everything was different. We had to start seeing the training from the dog’s perspective.”

With assistance from Windstar and other volunteers at Paws to Freedom, Rene and Leigh use a self-described “tag team” approach to training. New behaviors are often introduced to Addie by Leigh, and then practiced by Rene until they reach perfection. Leigh is also able to work with Addie consistently when Rene’s symptoms are too bad to participate in the practice.

Windstar applauds the two-trainers/one dog approach to Addie’s training. “It does indeed take a village to raise a service dog.”

They use the clicker method of training, which involves the use of a small noise-making device paired with a treat or other reward to let Addie know when she correctly performs a behavior. Addie, in turn, learns to work happily and reliably on a steady diet of praise and rewards for a job well done.

Besides the praise and rewards, however, Addie also benefits from her new role. “As a herding dog in a city, she needs something to do,” says Leigh. “She needs a job.” Addie’s list of training requirements was extensive. Since each service dog must be individually trained to assist their handler, Addie’s new job involves helping Rene with tasks she finds most challenging. Dropped items, which could cause a fall for Rene, are easily picked up and returned by Addie. Addie is even learning the names of different items she can retrieve for Rene, giving Rene even greater freedom.

Learning object discrimination (having a separate cue to pick up a cell phone, for example, and a different cue for a set of keys, and a different cue for a pencil, and the list goes on from there) is a challenge for Addie. “When she’s excited, she picks up everything,” says Leigh.

Navigating crowds and providing stabilization and bracework are also on the training agenda, as Rene’s vision and balance are impaired. One of Rene’s goals is a return to Portland’s Farmer’s Markets, which she enjoyed until dizziness got the upper hand.

“One of my symptoms is ‘camcorder vision’,” Rene says, explaining that her vision is similar to the jarring movements you see on taped video footage where the camera operator is walking or running. “It gets overwhelming, especially in crowds.” Addie will be a steady and stabilizing presence at her side.

On top of the task training, service dogs also need to learn to be calm in public and ignore distractions.

In addition to specifically trained tasks, besides at-home practice, the training trio also commonly takes their “homework” out into public, to reinforce what Addie has learned at home — and also to practice working around the distractions of their busy Northeast Portland neighborhood. Community involvement is central to this training model, with many training sessions taking place out in public, from shopping malls to downtown Portland, sometimes via public transportation.

“Everything and everyone in our environment are learning encounters for service dogs in training,” says Windstar, who has been working with service dog teams for the past five years. “Success is built on support.”

Linda Bane is a volunteer trainer with Paws to Freedom Service Dog Teams and Education. For more information or if you’d like to get involved with Paws to Freedom, please visit www.pawstofreedom.com.