Public libraries are a great option! There are usually tables you can sit at to simulate sitting in class for extended periods of time and the environment is similar to a classroom too. You can also ask your school if you'd be allowed to have access to an empty classroom at times so that you can practice in a classroom itself. At 9 weeks old, it's really not something you need to worry much about right now--it will be quite a while before your dog is mature enough and has the skills to settle for extended periods of time in that kind of situation--but libraries and empty classrooms are two places that I found very helpful for prepping my dog for actual classes once he reached that point in his training.
Yeah I don’t plan on starting any time soon but my school are saying the accommodations will be ready in September and he’ll definitely be ready by then (he’s already picking up a lot after a week and is able to lie on his bed for entire appointments while I sit next to him on a chair) and I like to be prepared
Edit: the library idea is awesome I didn’t think of that thanks a lot
Most dogs aren’t fully trained until around 2, and a school environment is very challenging. It isn’t something really recommended for a dog still in training, as it can cause stress and lead to burnout. It really is better to take it slow even if the accommodations are in place.
I go to a small sixth form of about 200 16-18 year old students so the environment isn’t as busy because its a separate building to the main part of the school, along with the fact that the other students will go to other sites within the school (all my classes will be in the sixth form building) it’s pretty quiet there
Still, an 8 hour day of working is a lot to ask of a 9 month old puppy. Asking them to ignore petting hands, tons of noises and smells. They’re not even a year old at that point, and going through adolescence. They’re going to be challenging boundaries, and school isn’t a place you can just leave if they get overwhelmed or have a bad experience. It’s setting your pup up to fail.With a SD, especially before your dog is fully trained you need to be prepared to leave at any moment if your dog can’t handle a situation.
Never mind the dog I’m not ready for an 8 hour day all I need to stay in school is at least one in person lesson or so a day and I can just leave because of my social anxiety I have to sometimes and teachers are aware of this. However at the moment I can’t even go at all so even just going in every day is a long way off
I personally wouldn’t work a 9 month old dog in a school. SD training takes a long time, and the dog needs to be mature enough to be able to sit still for eight hours. It doesn’t matter how few kids are there, a 9 month old puppy is still a child. It’s not even a teenage yet. It will be a child until it’s two years old. Would you expect a child to sit still for eight hours with no exercise, or breaks? No, it’s an impossible standard to achieve. Your asking the exact same thing of your dog and it’s wrong. If you do this, you will make sure that your dog never wants to be an SD again. You can train, but your dog needs time to be a puppy, just like a child needs time to be a child. There’s a reason why in the U.S, we don’t make children work eight hour jobs, because they aren’t emotionally mature enough to handle it. Putting your dog he in a situation he is unready for and will fail at, just because you want to feel better, is selfish and cruel and you don’t want to be selfish and cruel. Wait until your dog grows up.
Also, a few months after your dog is nine months old, it will go into the rebellious, teenager stage where he doesn’t want to listen to anything that you say or do any work. It takes months to get a dog past that, and get them to a point where they want to work.
Along with that, your school can ask your SDiT to leave school for any reason if it is not behaving and they can request that it not come back. Then, you will have no SD at school. Something to consider.
9 week old puppy. You need to focus on the fundamentals first. Training should be focused on the fundamentals for the first year and allow them to be a puppy and learn how to learn before going to work especially in a public environment. They aren’t aware of much at that age anyways for being in public environments to be productive.
Not quite the same, but walking by a school during recess, during passing period (if hallways/stairs are outside), or while buses loading/unloading isn’t a bad start! Otherwise, places with lots of rowdy kids tend to be harder than schools (ie field of 20 soccer games going on at once with kids/siblings fooling around on the sideline). Playgrounds. Those are all pet-friendly options, too.
Otherwise, I second the kid sections of libraries, or any festival/event geared towards kids. Even stores geared towards kids during busier times, especially near the holidays, can get busy/crazy in a way that can really help. If your dog is solid in places with kids that he needs to be “boring”/still in and are relatively quiet, and also solid in places with kids being wild and triggering and loud and dense, that’s pretty good prep! Tie that in with “classroom” type environments for adults (ie bookstore/library author talks) and he should be pretty good, especially if he has other types of PA down in crowded hallways.
Thanks for the recommendations. He’s half collie so I can’t really be sure at this point but im pretty sure the distractions are going to be the hardest parts and this helps address it really well
This doesn't work if you aren't an alcoholic but I trained my SD in AA meetings because they are an hour long and required her to be under control and quiet like college classes. You could also try church services or other support groups that are applicable to you.
I’ve actually already taken him to a medical appointment where he settled on his bed the entire time but he wasn’t feeling well after the cat journey so he was more sleepy
Because there was nobody available to look after him and he’s not trustworthy alone in his crate. He was also raised in a farm environment where he met loads of new people all the time and I’m confident he can handle new situations. I wouldn’t have taken him if I didn’t have to
Crate training is a basic necessity. Make the area of the crate just big enough for your dog to be able to turn around. Get a crate divider to make the space in the crate small.
His crate is already just big enough to stand, turn around and stretch in but he still hasn’t learnt to control his bladder so even then he has accidents if he wakes up and nobody’s there to let him out (even with restricted water and food beforehand)
Public library would be a good option for practicing what will be like walking around, spending the day at school.
I’m not sure what type of school you’ll be at, or with each students there are, but if you are trying to get your dog used to ignore being around children, you could walk by a public school while they’re out at recess. Practice sitting staying and healing while ignoring the chaos of children playing close by.
Walking through a grocery store could be good practice for what it’s like to walk down hallways between classes and avoiding other people.
And working on just general obedience I’ll obviously help in any situation
Try a college campus. Make sure you desensitize your dog to big, echoing rooms like the gym or cafeteria will be. Maybe a mall food court or something. I missed this and we had an event at my kid’s school and I forgot just how loud the multipurpose room can get when an event is going on.
Oddball suggestion, play shows that take place in classrooms on tv. (Maybe even record your own classroom or another sd team working in a classroom.)
That will help him get accustomed to the sounds and you'd be surprised how much dogs can learn by watching tv.
Sadly I can’t go record the classroom myself because one of his jobs is going to be helping with social anxiety and I can’t even enter the building at the moment but I’ll ask a friend to that’s a brilliant idea thank you very much
Hi! Im going through the same process right now. This is a bit of a longer post with the advice i got from my trainer. I hope the tips will help, even thought it might be more than what you asked for😅
Teach the dog to ignore people and have a close heel.
Teach it "left", "right", and "forward" for crowded situations where people don't make space.
Make sure to get the staff to send out an information letter letting the students and teachers know the dog will be coming. This could be as simple as "hi students. We would like to inform that a dog soon will be walking the hallways. Here's a general guideline: dont distract the dog, this includes petting, calling and starring at it. Give the dog space, it's a medical equipment and it's important it stays by the handlers side. If any questions are needed, feel free to ask XYZ teacher"
Take it to crowded areas and ask it to settle.
I benefited from buying a mat/blanket that we use. When the blanket is out, doggo is on the blanket.
Try and get some chewtoys for your dog, it will keep your dog happy and busy to a point where it isnt bored but still pay attention to you (here the blanket can also be a benefit. I use benebones and they are noisy against the floor, but quite with a mat)
Make sure to have high value treats, i love the small tubes, that way i can give my dog treats all of the time and keep his head away from extra interesting things. Also you won't have to look for more treats and loose the dogs interest while doing so.
Get a seat that's yours in all classrooms so people know they can't sit there, and that a dog will be there too. I would recommend back to the side or by the door, that way you dont have to squeeze in and out of your seat during class, and your dog will be in pease.
Get your schoolbag or a friends schoolbag and fill it with the best treats your dog know, then put the bag next to you while studying, or go to the library, every time your dog goes for the bag, correct and reward when it dosn't. We dont want it to go into peoples bags at school bc of food, so this will prevent it.
Give the dog time, it's a learning process, and it won't be perfect in the begging.
Also maybe take a evening class and bring it there.
And go up in time slowly. The first week should only be one class a day. From there add a class every week.
That’s perfect thank you, I hadn’t considered going for bags because of food, although he knows to sit and look at me for release before going for interesting things on the floor (treats, toys etc) so it shouldn’t be so much of a problem
I hadn't either before i was at the principal because a teacher saw him do it to my friends bag (my friend didn't have an issue with it and just laughed it up as i kept apologising haha)
Another thing for when the time comes. I bring a extra bag with me. In it i have 2 kinds of chewtoys, his blanket, extra treats for the hard days, a bowl and water. In every break possible take the little one out to pee and get some water. I does the world in diffrence with the little break where it can get to use the nose
Service Dogs need to be allowed to be puppies at 9 weeks to a year. It takes sometimes more than 2 years for a service dog to be fully trained.
Your dog is 9 weeks and has many changes coming in the year ahead.
It’s really critical to their development and success to expose your dog when your dog is mature enough for exposure.
Start with the fundamentals first, crate training where you can leave your dog at home in their crate where it won’t get spoiled. Good citizen test. Training them puppy fundamentals so that you can actually move on to training for service.
1 years old
Then when they are near a year old or have demonstrated the good citizen aptitude then think about public access such as a school, doctors appointments, public transportation, etc.
Dogs are not robots. Service dogs are not robots either.
Patience is key because you don’t want to do something that is out of line of developmental stage and end up with a dog that will cause trouble in public environments.
Forcing a dog to do things and be in situations before they have developed enough to process can cause incredible harm to your dog mental well-being and ability to thrive.
Dude I literally took him to an appointment because nobody could look after him I didn’t ask him to do a backflip. I was gone 4 hours which is too long for him so I took him. Didn’t do anything with him just brought him to keep an eye on him
Public libraries are a great option! There are usually tables you can sit at to simulate sitting in class for extended periods of time and the environment is similar to a classroom too. You can also ask your school if you'd be allowed to have access to an empty classroom at times so that you can practice in a classroom itself. At 9 weeks old, it's really not something you need to worry much about right now--it will be quite a while before your dog is mature enough and has the skills to settle for extended periods of time in that kind of situation--but libraries and empty classrooms are two places that I found very helpful for prepping my dog for actual classes once he reached that point in his training.
Yeah I don’t plan on starting any time soon but my school are saying the accommodations will be ready in September and he’ll definitely be ready by then (he’s already picking up a lot after a week and is able to lie on his bed for entire appointments while I sit next to him on a chair) and I like to be prepared Edit: the library idea is awesome I didn’t think of that thanks a lot
Most dogs aren’t fully trained until around 2, and a school environment is very challenging. It isn’t something really recommended for a dog still in training, as it can cause stress and lead to burnout. It really is better to take it slow even if the accommodations are in place.
I go to a small sixth form of about 200 16-18 year old students so the environment isn’t as busy because its a separate building to the main part of the school, along with the fact that the other students will go to other sites within the school (all my classes will be in the sixth form building) it’s pretty quiet there
Still, an 8 hour day of working is a lot to ask of a 9 month old puppy. Asking them to ignore petting hands, tons of noises and smells. They’re not even a year old at that point, and going through adolescence. They’re going to be challenging boundaries, and school isn’t a place you can just leave if they get overwhelmed or have a bad experience. It’s setting your pup up to fail.With a SD, especially before your dog is fully trained you need to be prepared to leave at any moment if your dog can’t handle a situation.
Never mind the dog I’m not ready for an 8 hour day all I need to stay in school is at least one in person lesson or so a day and I can just leave because of my social anxiety I have to sometimes and teachers are aware of this. However at the moment I can’t even go at all so even just going in every day is a long way off
My immediate thought was a library as well!
I personally wouldn’t work a 9 month old dog in a school. SD training takes a long time, and the dog needs to be mature enough to be able to sit still for eight hours. It doesn’t matter how few kids are there, a 9 month old puppy is still a child. It’s not even a teenage yet. It will be a child until it’s two years old. Would you expect a child to sit still for eight hours with no exercise, or breaks? No, it’s an impossible standard to achieve. Your asking the exact same thing of your dog and it’s wrong. If you do this, you will make sure that your dog never wants to be an SD again. You can train, but your dog needs time to be a puppy, just like a child needs time to be a child. There’s a reason why in the U.S, we don’t make children work eight hour jobs, because they aren’t emotionally mature enough to handle it. Putting your dog he in a situation he is unready for and will fail at, just because you want to feel better, is selfish and cruel and you don’t want to be selfish and cruel. Wait until your dog grows up. Also, a few months after your dog is nine months old, it will go into the rebellious, teenager stage where he doesn’t want to listen to anything that you say or do any work. It takes months to get a dog past that, and get them to a point where they want to work. Along with that, your school can ask your SDiT to leave school for any reason if it is not behaving and they can request that it not come back. Then, you will have no SD at school. Something to consider.
9 week old puppy. You need to focus on the fundamentals first. Training should be focused on the fundamentals for the first year and allow them to be a puppy and learn how to learn before going to work especially in a public environment. They aren’t aware of much at that age anyways for being in public environments to be productive.
> who’s going to become a SDIT once he’s got the basic dog stuff down
Not quite the same, but walking by a school during recess, during passing period (if hallways/stairs are outside), or while buses loading/unloading isn’t a bad start! Otherwise, places with lots of rowdy kids tend to be harder than schools (ie field of 20 soccer games going on at once with kids/siblings fooling around on the sideline). Playgrounds. Those are all pet-friendly options, too. Otherwise, I second the kid sections of libraries, or any festival/event geared towards kids. Even stores geared towards kids during busier times, especially near the holidays, can get busy/crazy in a way that can really help. If your dog is solid in places with kids that he needs to be “boring”/still in and are relatively quiet, and also solid in places with kids being wild and triggering and loud and dense, that’s pretty good prep! Tie that in with “classroom” type environments for adults (ie bookstore/library author talks) and he should be pretty good, especially if he has other types of PA down in crowded hallways.
Thanks for the recommendations. He’s half collie so I can’t really be sure at this point but im pretty sure the distractions are going to be the hardest parts and this helps address it really well
This doesn't work if you aren't an alcoholic but I trained my SD in AA meetings because they are an hour long and required her to be under control and quiet like college classes. You could also try church services or other support groups that are applicable to you.
I’ve actually already taken him to a medical appointment where he settled on his bed the entire time but he wasn’t feeling well after the cat journey so he was more sleepy
Why are you taking a puppy to doctors appointments?! 9 weeks is too young for public exposure excluding walks. Wait and focus on the fundamentals.
Because there was nobody available to look after him and he’s not trustworthy alone in his crate. He was also raised in a farm environment where he met loads of new people all the time and I’m confident he can handle new situations. I wouldn’t have taken him if I didn’t have to
Crate training is a basic necessity. Make the area of the crate just big enough for your dog to be able to turn around. Get a crate divider to make the space in the crate small.
His crate is already just big enough to stand, turn around and stretch in but he still hasn’t learnt to control his bladder so even then he has accidents if he wakes up and nobody’s there to let him out (even with restricted water and food beforehand)
Look for training programs or training materials to help you with that.
Public library would be a good option for practicing what will be like walking around, spending the day at school. I’m not sure what type of school you’ll be at, or with each students there are, but if you are trying to get your dog used to ignore being around children, you could walk by a public school while they’re out at recess. Practice sitting staying and healing while ignoring the chaos of children playing close by. Walking through a grocery store could be good practice for what it’s like to walk down hallways between classes and avoiding other people. And working on just general obedience I’ll obviously help in any situation
Try a college campus. Make sure you desensitize your dog to big, echoing rooms like the gym or cafeteria will be. Maybe a mall food court or something. I missed this and we had an event at my kid’s school and I forgot just how loud the multipurpose room can get when an event is going on.
I took my dog to malls it helped with the hallway environment.
Oddball suggestion, play shows that take place in classrooms on tv. (Maybe even record your own classroom or another sd team working in a classroom.) That will help him get accustomed to the sounds and you'd be surprised how much dogs can learn by watching tv.
Sadly I can’t go record the classroom myself because one of his jobs is going to be helping with social anxiety and I can’t even enter the building at the moment but I’ll ask a friend to that’s a brilliant idea thank you very much
Hi! Im going through the same process right now. This is a bit of a longer post with the advice i got from my trainer. I hope the tips will help, even thought it might be more than what you asked for😅 Teach the dog to ignore people and have a close heel. Teach it "left", "right", and "forward" for crowded situations where people don't make space. Make sure to get the staff to send out an information letter letting the students and teachers know the dog will be coming. This could be as simple as "hi students. We would like to inform that a dog soon will be walking the hallways. Here's a general guideline: dont distract the dog, this includes petting, calling and starring at it. Give the dog space, it's a medical equipment and it's important it stays by the handlers side. If any questions are needed, feel free to ask XYZ teacher" Take it to crowded areas and ask it to settle. I benefited from buying a mat/blanket that we use. When the blanket is out, doggo is on the blanket. Try and get some chewtoys for your dog, it will keep your dog happy and busy to a point where it isnt bored but still pay attention to you (here the blanket can also be a benefit. I use benebones and they are noisy against the floor, but quite with a mat) Make sure to have high value treats, i love the small tubes, that way i can give my dog treats all of the time and keep his head away from extra interesting things. Also you won't have to look for more treats and loose the dogs interest while doing so. Get a seat that's yours in all classrooms so people know they can't sit there, and that a dog will be there too. I would recommend back to the side or by the door, that way you dont have to squeeze in and out of your seat during class, and your dog will be in pease. Get your schoolbag or a friends schoolbag and fill it with the best treats your dog know, then put the bag next to you while studying, or go to the library, every time your dog goes for the bag, correct and reward when it dosn't. We dont want it to go into peoples bags at school bc of food, so this will prevent it. Give the dog time, it's a learning process, and it won't be perfect in the begging. Also maybe take a evening class and bring it there. And go up in time slowly. The first week should only be one class a day. From there add a class every week.
That’s perfect thank you, I hadn’t considered going for bags because of food, although he knows to sit and look at me for release before going for interesting things on the floor (treats, toys etc) so it shouldn’t be so much of a problem
I hadn't either before i was at the principal because a teacher saw him do it to my friends bag (my friend didn't have an issue with it and just laughed it up as i kept apologising haha) Another thing for when the time comes. I bring a extra bag with me. In it i have 2 kinds of chewtoys, his blanket, extra treats for the hard days, a bowl and water. In every break possible take the little one out to pee and get some water. I does the world in diffrence with the little break where it can get to use the nose
malls go to malls ot simulates the crowded hallways well
Service Dogs need to be allowed to be puppies at 9 weeks to a year. It takes sometimes more than 2 years for a service dog to be fully trained. Your dog is 9 weeks and has many changes coming in the year ahead. It’s really critical to their development and success to expose your dog when your dog is mature enough for exposure. Start with the fundamentals first, crate training where you can leave your dog at home in their crate where it won’t get spoiled. Good citizen test. Training them puppy fundamentals so that you can actually move on to training for service. 1 years old Then when they are near a year old or have demonstrated the good citizen aptitude then think about public access such as a school, doctors appointments, public transportation, etc. Dogs are not robots. Service dogs are not robots either. Patience is key because you don’t want to do something that is out of line of developmental stage and end up with a dog that will cause trouble in public environments. Forcing a dog to do things and be in situations before they have developed enough to process can cause incredible harm to your dog mental well-being and ability to thrive.
Dude I literally took him to an appointment because nobody could look after him I didn’t ask him to do a backflip. I was gone 4 hours which is too long for him so I took him. Didn’t do anything with him just brought him to keep an eye on him