Boone-My Anatolian Unicorn

[Baymule]

Looks like a bone to me.

Boone even picks up clothing and gives it to you? That’s phenomenal, a testament to your outstanding training skills and a testament to Boone’s intelligence. Wow. Both of you are incredible.

 

[peteyfoozer]

Looks like a bone to me.

Boone even picks up clothing and gives it to you? That’s phenomenal, a testament to your outstanding training skills and a testament to Boone’s intelligence. Wow. Both of you are incredible.

Yup. He hands me anything I point at. Sometimes it’s hard for him because he plants his big old feet on top while picking it up but “back up” is a cue he understands so he works through it…usually Sometimes I just get a corner of something I have to yank out from under him

 

[peteyfoozer]

Is that a...foot in the picture, to the right of Boone, near the table leg?

It’s what’s left of a deer leg bone. The hunters give us the legs, hearts and livers if I remember to post a note requesting them

 

[peteyfoozer]

Boone is doing really well with “close the door” from a distance. He will now close Fen’s crate and the bathroom door when I ask him to. #gudboiboone

 

[peteyfoozer]

Welp, Boone is definitely a PITA adolescent. My ever tractable, hard working, obedient pup is now a whiny, argumentative, demanding teenager.
He argued when we first got to DR office as he didn’t want to sit still in the waiting room. He quite literally backed up with my leash in his mouth and tried to eat his way through it saying he could leave. He did however, hand me my purse and my glasses, which constantly fall off my head. I wound up taking him out and leaving him with Randy.

We went to his favorite feedstore and he was a very good boy, and enjoyed seeing all his friends, who called out to him as soon as we walked in. Unfortunately, while I was using the restroom, I required both hands to pull my pants up into place and he decided to crawl underneath the wall to introduce himself to the lady in the next stall. Luckily, she was thrilled.

Then we went to the bank to see if we can get a loan to pay off the credit card. All was well, he was a little antsy. I had to keep dropping my glasses on the floor or setting my purse down for him to pick up and hand me because I had to keep his mind busy or he was trying to army crawl around and sniff everything, but all in all he was doing really well…until..

…Some old guy walked into the bank with his poodle on a leash and a large older lab loose, who immediately charged over to which Boone immediately took offense. It was all I could do to hold onto him. They were nose to nose, Boone was roaring, the guy finally came for his dog, which thankfully Boone didn’t hurt and I took Boone outside after apologizing to the loan officer and we’ve been sitting in the car ever since. Randy‘s going in to do the shopping because of the store that was supposed to have it already for us to pick up doesn’t.

I can’t risk this ever happening again. thank God Boone didn’t kill the other dog but a service dog isn’t supposed to do that so I think we’re done with public access with both dogs and I’m just **** out of luck

He’s a good boy, and I was hoping he wouldn’t get more difficult as he matured, but I’m just not confident there’s too many dogs out there that shouldn’t be and if there was an altercation, I might lose him and I can’t do that so he’ll just help me at home and I’ll have to use a walker or a wheelchair from now on when we go places.

 

[Margali]

I'm glad no one was hurt at the bank! What would be the proper service dog response to another dog charging his human? Truly curious...

Hopefully once he gets past the teenager stage, he can go back to being your in-town service dog.

 

[SageHill]

I believe they are just to ignore any other dog no matter what they do.

 

[peteyfoozer]

I'm glad no one was hurt at the bank! What would be the proper service dog response to another dog charging his human? Truly curious...

Hopefully once he gets past the teenager stage, he can go back to being your in-town service dog.

A finished Service Dog is not to try to protect its owner or itself.

 

[Baymule]

A finished Service Dog is not to try to protect its owner or itself.

Linda impossible for an Anatolian.

 

[peteyfoozer]

Now that I’m home, and not stressed out and reacting, I’m able to step back and deconstruct what happened.

Initially Boone let out his “I’m a dog!” Bark.
When the lab raced across the room at us they were literally touching noses. The other dog moved in and got rude at the same time Boone changed to a warning bark At no time did either dog bite.
I feel like a complete fool as I had citronella spray on my treat bag and never thought about it. The other dog should not have been off leash and should not have charged at us.
Boone was reactive but not wanting to hurt the dog. It could have been tragic due to Boone’s size and power.
I am going to to pull him from public access and just work on his tasks, skills and obedience. A little a lot of stuff goes the last few months because I just haven’t felt very good. I didn’t have any energy to do any training with him all these new things anxiety meds of blood pressure meds that Ivermectin the patches I feel better be more focused with him tonight. He learned to take my socks off and he did really good!! He’s starting to figure things out at a faster pace so there’s a lot I can do, I need to
Find someplace where there’s a couple dogs on leash in a controlled situation where I can start working him through and understand that he’s not gonna get to play with every dog he sees. Then I need to proof him. If he can nail this reactivity by the time he’s mature I’ll give him another try. If not, I spend most of my life at home and that’s what I need his assistance. It’s just very hard for me to go to town and not have his support.

Tonight he just wants to play the “gud boi” game. He’s opening and closing the bathroom door, he found my wallet and brought it to me, handed me all the dirty clothes and took my socks off.
If I’m mobile tomorrow, I’ll have him start working on taking off my jacket. That’s a lot more complex and difficult, but I think he can do it.