Yes, the pup is amazing and adorable. But lately I have really been thinking about how modern did training affects us people. That was all positive, all praised based. It really changes you when you spend hours giving praise. I raise guide dog pups, we do the same "good girl" stuff. I think I'm a better person now, better to other people, because of that.


To be fair this is the message Steve Kuusisto gives in his wonderful Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet's Journey. We went to a talk he gave. We took out service pup with us. One of the in service guide dogs got up to say hi to my sweet baby. Who behaved herself.

I've had this one for about 1.5 years now. RavPower Customer Service is really good, better than other companies that do the same thing.

I bought it direct and actually thought mine was defective in the first few days of getting it but found out that my USB wall chargers were 1A, which charges it much slower. I asked them for a 2.4A and they sent me one free of charge. The 2.4A wall charger charges it full in 8-10h.

It charges my iPhone X about 7-8 times on a full charge, and with the iPhone 4 I had before I got the X I charged the bank once a month or once/3w. I bought it because it was the best value for the capacity and port amount, but there are better quality ones out there if you desire quality over everything.

It's pretty big, but I keep it in a backpack while threading the wire through the earphone holes. If you want something to fit in your pocket this isn't the one to go for, but I charge it once a week (and only charging my phone from the battery bank).

Hey everybody! This blew up way bigger than I would have thought, so here's some info about the dog, the gear and some of her training!

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Her name is Karma, she's 80 lbs of beast and loves her job! The vest I use is made by Caliberdog, https://www.activedogs.com/product/2457/caliberdog-k9-tactical-molle-vest/ and all Caliberdog bags to go along with it. 100% recommend, best I've been able to find, you don't cheap out on your gear, don't cheap out on your buddy's either! It's "tactical" because of the molle strapping, everything on it is load bearing (including metal cobra buckles), has two D rings and two load bearing straps that velcro down to the top when not in use so they don't get caught on anything! You can see one i didn't put down in front of the GoPro and the other folded down near the back.

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When she was 1 year old, I started adding weights to her vest, slowly, until she could carry all her own gear. We have done 60 Km (37 miles) hikes over 3 days and her pack starts out at 26 lbs on day one. She's tired at the end of the day, just like we are and she even tells us when she needs a break, she will just lay down to signal and we all have a quick break, some water, a few snacks and then keep going.

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I put the GoPro on her back for shits and giggles on the smaller hikes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyrAml4xbI&t=0 but they really aren't very exciting and it's super annoying making sure the battery is changed every hour and half.

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She has a huge prey drive and used to run after anything that moved, including big deer and a black bear. It took a lot of work to make sure she would keep safe off leash on the trails. She got lost on our very first off leash hike because of a wild turkey she saw and I completely freaked out, took 15 mins to find her. Now, if we have a big group (like in the video) she goes back and forth from the front of the line to the rear and makes sure everybody is accounted for. I bought a Marco Polo https://www.amazon.ca/Marco-Polo-Monitoring-Tracking-Locating/dp/B008MG5GRQ tracker, which has a little locator that sends out a signal and I keep the receiver on me, which points me in a surprisingly accurate direction.

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Let me know if you want me to answer anything else, I'm off work and can finally sit on my ass at home!

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Edit: here she was this winter pulling me on skates on the frozen river in Winnipeg, Canada. I've added a tear away first aid pouch to her vest this year. https://imgur.com/a/DOVT0ME

Ours is a Gentle Leader Head Collar/Halter.

Thanks for the kind words! Super happy with the results so far, turned an absolute wiggleworm of a puppy into a beast that is much, much, more manageable.

Yes! I let my husky pick out a toy at the dog store and she grabbed a squeaky hedgehog in overalls. This was a couple years ago and it's still one of her favorites. She carried it out of the store and still carries it around the house and plays with it constantly. I would never have picked it for her, but she ignores other toys in favor of hedgie. She loves it!

Highly recommend reading Cat Warren's book What The Dog Knows. It's about her training her first cadaver dog, and she does a great job weaving in some history and general info.


I finished it two months ago and immediately got my dogs enrolled in scent work classes lol.

Does your friend’s dog have the “do not distract during job” or something like that service dog vest ?
My classmate had it and when I asked them about the effective of the vest and she said it’s worked fairly well expect for some children

patches

vest

Im sure you already read all about them but Gentle Leaders are fantastic for leash training a dog. They don't act like a muzzle so the dog can still eat, drink, bark, ect while wearing them but they provide just enough pressure on the muzzle when they pull that the dog quickly learns not to pull while on a leash.

I adopted both of my dogs at the ages of 1 and 2, so they were full grown and already strong as hell (boxer/bullmastiff mixes are super strong for their size), and the gentle leader was a key tool I used to help them learn leash manners.

They hated them at first and spent the first 5 minutes trying to paw it off their muzzle but they quickly got used to wearing it and after 2 weeks completely stopped pulling while they were on a leash.

I no longer use the gentle leader and instead use this harness with the leash attached to both the harness and their collar. But I also keep 2 gentle leaders in our "emergency kit" along with an extra tandem leach attachment. The emergency kit is a kit I have put together in case something crazy like a fire or tornado happens and I need to be able to control them both at the same time when things are going crazy around us. It also includes extra meds for the one dog on a daily medication as well as enough food for 3 days.

I'm ordering a copy of this for my 2 year old!

Amazon link, for anybody interested:

https://www.amazon.com/Next-Doors-Dog-has-Job/dp/1921024879

That's Dickin Medal awardee Lucca, she's an incredibly good girl! The other good boy in the photo is her first handler Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham (who she now lives lived with (She died in January 2018 F)). She lost her leg in Afghanistan when a smaller IED went off after she found a 30 pound IED.

You can read more about her in Top Dog.

The one I have is a this one. Just something I found at random on amazon. Her mouth is soft, so no teeth marks after two years. I have a hard time grasping things so I have dropped it quite often. I have a screen protector on it, so no marks from my medical ID (looks like a credit card, but use to let hospitals know about my deep brain stimulator)

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Get a please do not pet I’m working vest.

DO NOT PET Dog Vest Harness with Removable Patches and Reflective Trim. Comes with 2 DO NOT PET Reflective Removable Patches.

You'r wish is granted https://www.amazon.com/SwimWays-Sea-Squirts-Doggie-Jacket/dp/B00JAM7QTC

Unfortunately it's a useless product and I'd advise everybody to steer clear from these comical "safety" products.

His other book called Thunder Dog about the September 11th attack is on sale in Kindle form for 99 cents.

Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog and the Triumph of Trust

https://www.amazon.com/OneTigris-Tactical-Harness-Training-Detachable/dp/B00SSGUIY6

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LCGNT96/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2da0CbNPNZAAY

there's also mutt muffs if your buddy needs ear protection

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004WCT8ZK/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1539816541&sr=8-14&keywords=herm+sprenger

https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Mile-War-Aleutians-Classic-Reprint/dp/0912006838


Thousand Mile War is definitely my recommendation.

Slap a pair of these on frightened puppers

Maybe it shouldn’t be illegal? And the only reason it is, is so that laws can be selectively enforced on communities of color - specifically, black men - and serve as a surrogate race control measure in the absence of Jim Crow Laws?

Read a book.

Specifically, this one