Service Dog Task Training: Circle

 Disclaimer: teaching your dog this does not make it a service dog unless you have a disability that it helps mitigate. Please refer to the ADA's service dog FAQ (https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html) for any questions pertaining to service dogs. 


Many people with PTSD struggle with people touching them and walking through crowds. Most service dog handlers with PTSD train their dog a task called "circle" (or sometimes rotate) to help limit how often this can occur. To train your dog to do this follow the steps below.


You Will Need:

-treats




To start, you will need to be inside your home where there are limited distractions and you can have your dog off leash. I suggest walking your dog and doing basic obedience training before you start this. Take a treat in your hand and get your dogs attention with it. Now lure your dog in a circle around you with the treat. For the beginning of this exercise you should spin in a circle with your dog. Use a toy or other object to mark the beginning and completion of each circle. I personally like to use the middle of my couch. Every time you reach that spot at the end of the circle mark and reward. Make sure to always go the same way when you are just teaching it. You can switch directions later! Also, remember to change the spot you use to remember the beginning/end of the circle frequently.  

After your dog follows the treat without much coaxing it is time to add in the command. Tell your dog to "circle" then repeat the above steps. When you have done this approximately 10 times repeat the process in the opposite direction. 

Now it is time to start standing still when giving the command. Stand still and give them the verbal command. If needed, you can lure them while standing by passing the treat around yourself. The goal here is to get them to walk around you without being lured now, so try to refrain from doing it at this point. Remember to reward with a treat every time they complete a circle around you. 

  When your dog has this down pat, it is time to start weaning off of the treats! Slowly start holding back the treat when they circle. You can start this by not giving the treat every 4th time for a few days then every 3rd time and continue decreasing. Remember it is important even when fully weaned off the treats to give a treat on occasion to keep reinforcing the behavior. When you have this down in the house move outside where there are more distractions. gradually add in more distractions until they dog can do this in public!

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