Blindness/Low Vision

Item Description

Service with a click! Learn how to clicker train your dog to push elevator buttons , turn in place, retrieve, patiently wait at doors, and more with Barbara Handelman’s Clicker Train Your Own Assistance Dog DVD series.

Barbara Handelman, author of Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook, is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant specializing in training assistance dogs for people with disabilities an often serves as an Internet mentor for service-dog teams in training. Her DVD series includes 4 DVDs and 1 instructional CD in PDF format. The series is intended for trainers who already know and are proficient with clicker training theory and basic training methods.

Each of the four DVDs include demonstrations and explanations of the various skills taught to service animals. Renowned clicker expert Karen Pryor who sells this DVD series in her online store  praises Handelman's work explaining that “Barbara has taken a set of key foundation behaviors and cues that underlie every behavior a service dog can do” and “shows you how they are actually shaped, via clicker training.” Handelman provides audible descriptions of what is going on and describes how to break down each task into tiny incremental learning steps.  (Handelman suggests that trainers who are blind and visually impaired may also find it helpful to first view the series with a sighted person who can relate the dog’s movements and behaviors in greater detail.)

This DVD series includes:

DVD One
Ready, Aim, Touch:  Basic Target Training & Advanced Applications

Approximately 45 minutes

•How to train nose targeting and foot targeting behaviors.
•Using targeting to work with light switches, drawers, cabinet doors, and handicapped access doors.

DVD Two
You Want me to Do What?!:  Teaching Position Changes & Tasks of Daily Living

Approximately 45 minutes

•Teaching position changes including: backing, turning in place, moving under, around, and behind.
•Helping with tasks of daily living such as taking off socks and jackets, brace and fall prevention and recovery from falls.

DVD Three
A Tale of Two Skills:  The Marriage of Target & Retrieve

Approximately 45 minutes

•All phases of training the basic retrieve
•Demonstrations of Sue Ailsby's "Two Grab Method".
•Proofing the "HOLD" with Debi Davis.
•Scent Descrimination using Kay Laurence's Methods.
•Using Scent Searching to find keys, phones and other personal items.

DVD Four
Part I:  Of Dogs, Doors & Self Control

Approximately 25 minutes

•Opening and closing interior and exterior doors, loading and unloading from vans and cars.
•Teaching self-control techniques.
•Line Farr's method of training "Wait at Doorways".

Part II: Preview of the DVD Series:  Temperament Assessments with Dee Ganley, CPDT, CABC/CDBC

Approximately 30 minutes

•Evaluating temperament when selecting Assistance Dog and Therapy Dog Candidates.
•Demonstrations and discussion of temperament assessments with puppies and older dogs.

Bonus CD:
 Acrobat® PDF Files on the CD-Rom:
How to use this DVD Series Manual, Scripts, and Complete Table of Contents (CD must be played on your computer)