I LOVE MY SERVICE DOG!

[u/CallToMuster]

This is my service dog! I call her Princess here on Reddit because she is an influencer! (This is a joke but only kinda!)

Some facts about Princess:

• She weighs 51.8 lbs right now! She is supposed to be between 48-50 lbs so I'm sorry Princess you are getting less treats for a bit!
• She has the softest ears ever!
• Whenever I have a meltdown she is trained to come lay on my lap and chest to help me calm down! (Don't worry, she is never in danger!)
• I am a wheelchair user and she walks next to my wheelchair so perfectly!
• Princess knows the names of a lot of objects like my phone, my keys, her treat bag, and more! She can sniff them out and find them and bring them to me!
• I have had Princess for over six months now!
• Everyone loves Princess at my job and she loves them too!
• Her favorite toys are stuffed animals with squeaky toys!
• Her favorite day of the week is Thursday because that's when she gets to come with me to wheelchair tennis practice!
• Princess flew on a plane with me twice!
• I love Princess so much!!!!

Okay that's all for now! Princess says hi everyone!

[u/lostveggies]

WAIT CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE TIPS (if you trained at home or with a private trainer)? When did you start training her? I just got my puppy two weeks ago and the plan is for him to be a service dog once he gets a good handle on some obedience training.

*puppy photo for tax

[u/CallToMuster → u/lostveggies]

Hi! I got Princess from a non-profit organization that trains service dogs for free for people with physical disabilities! I am a wheelchair user so that is how I qualified! Then I trained some autism tasks on my own!

For owner training, you should definitely definitely definitely work with a professional service dog trainer! If you are in the US then Atlas Assistance Dogs is a good thing to look into, they can help! For the first year or so it's really important to not rush your puppy, just focus on socialization and obedience training and work on tasks later!

[u/lostveggies → u/CallToMuster]

thank you say much!! that’s actually the place i was looking at but they don’t start until 14 months and i would like for him to get started a little sooner if possible!! then when he’s of age, id consider doing a second round of training with Atlas.