Crowley The Service Dobie

An Ongoing Journey

Just like many trainers, I have my own dogs at home that I love and adore. As a person with disabilities, I am currently training a dog I rescued in November of 2020 as a Service Dog. Crowley is a 14 month old Doberman Pinscher and still a puppy in development. As such, he is in constant training and I am posting bits of his journey as mile-markers as to how far he comes. My hopes are that someone can gain something from watching this journey, be it an appreciation for working dogs or the inspiration to further your own dog's training.

From Adoption To Training

Crowley came to me through sheer luck. I had been discussing adding another member to my pack for a long time. My disability had impacted my life to a degree where I was limited in the things I could do, places I could go alone. A service dog was one way to mitigate my disabilities. At six months old, Crowley was given up to be re-homed by his former owners. He weighed in at 42 lbs and was a curious, playful pup with an overall easygoing attitude. On the day I met him, I did a quick temperament test, checked him over, looked into his eyes, and knew he would be going home with me.

(I love Dobermans and had been considering going through a rescue to adopt one. Though I had never met him, I'd already expressed interest in "King" - Crowley's former moniker - and his training before his previous owners decided to give him up. It's very common that someone gets a large working dog and does not know how much time and energy go into raising and instilling leadership. I'm always sad to see it happen.)

Crowley started puppy training immediately, using an interactive environment to test his tolerance for dogs and people. This exposure led to intensive exposure training and Crowley was trained daily in basic etiquette with high distraction. As his training increased, we graduated to four trips per week to Pet Friendly locations at the end of December to work on public access training. This exposure to new places as well as distractions like crowds and children enhanced his training to a point where he was reliably well behaved in public. On January 9th, I felt comfortable with gifting Crowley his first vest and patches. I couldn't have been more proud. Still in Pet Friendly locations, we had one more month of training in the works before I ran Crowley through a Public Access Exam. He passed with flying colors.

The next step in his training - the training that is still in progress - is tasking in public places. Tasking is best defined as any task Crowley does to mitigate my disability. Crowley is trained for many facets of my disability such as reminding me to take me medication, picking things up for me, and behavior disruption. I'm not entirely comfortable talking about my disability openly as it's a struggle that has impacted my life in nearly every way; however, I cannot express more gratitude to the dog that keeps me upright. His course from here on out is no longer just behaving under distraction but focusing on me and what I need while doing every day things. He is with me every day as I go through stores and restaurants and learning how to navigate every day situations with my needs and his development in mind. Crowley is still learning. He has a long way to go, as the average training for a service dog lasts at least two years and needs refreshing periodically. He is allowed to make mistakes but while wearing the vest, he is held to the highest standard.

Thank you for reading about Crowley's journey as a service dog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!