Hi and welcome to the first post on the Sherbert Service Dogs blog. I have often wanted to make longer format posts for my training pages on social media, but can sometimes max out the word count. Thus, this page was born!
If you're new here and haven't taken a peek at the rest of my website; hi! I am Annika, the owner, founder and a little bit of every job here at Sherbert Service Dogs!
I am a disabled young adult and service dog user myself. I have had dogs for over 12 years, and got my first service dog over eight years ago, and have trained many dogs, worked with in training puppies and trained my own service dogs!
When my service dog journey began, we had no clue how to start, or if you could even train your own dog. There are a few programs in Canada that place Autism service dogs, but even less that will place dogs with individuals over twelve, or with complex issues or in need of cross-training (for multiple disabilities).
Enter Sherlock! The best thing that ever happened to me, and my heart dog. We worked hard together, and I was always worried Sherlock would wash out, not being a typical breed for service work. But we kept at it, and he made it as an amazing service dog, and was by my side throughout many life changes.
He was a challenging and easy dog all at once, his border collie side making him a hard worker who could go all day, and his golden retriever side made him eager to please and very handler oriented. He worked by my side for six years, but fully retired back in the end of 2022, and now lives as a spoiled pet, and works as a demo dog for my clients who need help with dog distraction training, and online example videos for my virtual clients!
Sherlock loves the following things:
- frisbee
- food (especially cheese)
- belly rubs + butt scritches
- chuck it balls
- stealing all the dog toys and hiding them under his bed
- and hiding under all the blankets
Now enter Albert. My first dog I bought myself, my first purebred dog, my first well bred dog. He's chaotic, full of personality, his tail never stops wagging, he has a huge love of life and makes many who meet him smile. He's the dog who healed my hurt, and showed me how to live life again. He was bought with the intention of being my service dog, and some side goals of competing in various dog sports, and he hasn't disappointed!
When he isn't working alongside me, Albert does agility multiple times a week, hikes, runs, trains, helps my clients in training pups learn how to behave in public, and will hopefully start Scent Work in 2024!
Albert always finds a way to make me smile, even on the darkest days, with his quirks, and makes me proud with the work he does everyday. We joke he's a local celebrity since our local Starbucks Baristas all know him by name and greet him before me.
One of the many things Albert unintentionally taught me is that poodles can make exceptional service dogs with dedication, a solid temperament, and learning how to train with poodle quirks.
A great example being Albert learning to retrieve items. He has a training dumbbell and one of my old medication bottles for retrieval sessions. He very quickly learned "hold" and "get it", but "bring it to me" has been a harder one.. As he has taken to throwing the item at my leg and hoping he'll get a treat for his retrieval.
As I mentioned, I have had the honor to get hands on experience with various breeds of dogs, both pet, service dog, and puppy in training alike. I learned to work with both dogs, and how to teach their humans (a hard skill at times when you're working with cute puppies)
I also have worked with some wonderful and talented trainers with my own dogs, and been able to take the knowledge they shared to help my clients approach training with their dog in a fun, effective way. I strive to have dogs that I work with love their job, and see it as a game that they love to do, and their handler be the dogs biggest reward.
I've received comments from strangers in public, and even the JIBC Assessor that my dog has a great natural focus!
When I started thinking of the idea of starting a service dog program to help people like me, who struggled to find where they fit, and how to start their service dog journey, I wanted to shape my program to be what I would have wanted when I started. I love being able to help clients work alongside reputable breeders who will offer lifetime support for their canine partner, offer online resources and information for training for my clients who can't come to Langley often, and as one of my clients pointed out: provide dozens of photos and videos for them free of charge! 😂
That's all I've got for today, but I'd love to hear from all of you, on what you'd like to hear about! Service poodles? Flying with a service dog? Started dog versus owner trained assist?
Drop those ideas below, and I'll chat (write?) again soon,
Annika Giesbrecht
Sherbert Service Dogs
Love this! “Service poodles? Flying with a service dog? Started dog versus owner trained assist?” I’d love to hear about all of these!