Service Dog In Training Ollivander rides BART

10 month old Ollivander, my standard poodle service dog in training, rides BART to the city (San Fransisco). This was his first time riding BART under the bay, and only his second time in the city. Oh, and we were chronically late!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• service
• dog
• in
• training
• bart
• train
• subway
• escalator
• san
• francisco
• silver
• standard
• poodle
• assistance
• psychiatric

[Buffheart]

I thinks it's very brave of you to tell total strangers all about your disability. Aren't you worried what they will think?

[francoroni]

@Buffheart I think as long as we in the mental illness community are ashamed of our illnesses and hide them away, others will also be afraid and ashamed of them. Therefore I tell others about it and make it not scary-- and I find 99% of the time there is either a positive or neutral response. Only 1% or so of the time do people get scared and walk away. Usually people are very happy that I have shared, and they share their illness or that of a friend with me and feel liberated.

[lilfarfa]

Hi! Harley and I are both very impressed! I don't know why it's taken me so long to see this! I know Ollie is much further ahead now and close to ready to shed the "in training" patches! When Ollie is looking backwards, is he looking for his Daddy?

[francoroni]

Thank you! Yes, he's almost ready to graduate... another month or two I think for some fine tuning. He was indeed looking at his daddy when he looks behind us. When he was a pup he wasn't used to hubby following us and videotaping us. Now he thinks it is fairly normal LOL!

[AngelsAllAroundMe]

I'm confused on what the dog is being trained for. It seems to get easily distracted, and if a person who had physical disabilities w/walking...well, I couldn't keep up w/the dog. Also, I didn't see anything impressive but the normal tricks that dogs do for treats. I'm training my own dog to b a service dog, & I found this video confusing. Can u explain any of this 2 me. TY :)

[francoroni]

If you read the description of the video and the captions during the video, it says he was only 10 months old at the time, (5 months into his public access training). This was his first time taking the train into the city, and he had been to the city only 4 times before this in his life. The dog is being trained for me, as I have a disability. He will be a psychiatric service dog-- remember not all disabilities are visible! Check out our more recent videos to see our progress.

[meebzilla]

@AngelsAllAroundMe You can't seriously believe an average dog would calmly and without hesitation hurry through those BART gates, run up a scary escalator, and enter a train full of strangers? If you don't find that impressive you obviously don't know enough about dogs to successfully train a service animal, nor do you have the slightest idea what service dogs do beyond the stereotypical guiding or pulling. Try psychdog.org and learn what PSDs do before judging so harshly.

[AngelsAllAroundMe]

I'm sorry that I angered u w/my questions. I totally did not intend 2 do that. Yes, I read the caption b 4 I asked u the question. Yes I know that not all handicaps r visible. Yes I know it takes a while 2 train service dogs b cause if u read my comment u will see I'm training. I'm just on youtube to learn like u. I thought ur videos r VERY helpful 4 me w/my dog, but I really could've done w/o all of the sarcasms. Sorry 2 bother u. I won't subscribe just 2 not trouble u any further.

[seabreezzee]

Very enlightening and very helpful

Thank you...

[francoroni]

No, I don't do private instruction but I know a great trainer! Her name is Nancy Frensley and she works out of the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. All the trainers there are great, but especially Nancy and Elissa Cline.