“I thought this group was for training and training help?"
Yahbut - The training we're doing on the list is mainly based on the Training Levels that are on my website. These are a coherent set of training sessions that take you from the dog (and handler) knowing, basically, nothing, to having a dog that knows how to learn and also knows many, many of the behaviours and attitudes that he'll need in any situation he might encounter. Very specific behaviours that a dog would need for very specific sports or jobs are usually related to the Levels, but are generally outside the scope of this list. Sit and Down, how to teach them, how to add the cues, how to proof them, are definitely part of the Levels.
The questions you're asking - for instance, how to get the dog not to lie down at the register - indicate that you probably haven't read the basic Levels information that this list is based on. We think you'll have a much better idea of what to do and how to do it after you've gone through that information.
I have a 9-yo Service Dog (Scuba) and a year-old Service Dog In Training. The SD went all the way through the Levels several years ago, and the SDIT is working on Level 5. My SD is currently getting ready for a Draft Test. Many of the Levels behaviours that she has learned were enormously useful when working toward the Draft Test - walking near me, stand, stay, allowing herself to be handled, sidestepping, for instance - but other things she needed to know, like pulling, centering the cart when going through narrow spaces, and not walking close enough to me to run the cart into me, are not part of the Levels, though the attitudes she learned through the Levels enabled her to learn the whole thing in about 6 training sessions total.
My SDIT, besides continuing to work on her career, is also getting ready for her first obedience trails, her first Rally trials, her first agility trials, her first water trials, and a conformation show. Most of the conformation, obedience and Rally behaviours are built into the Levels (heeling, eye contact, comes, fronts, finishes, heeling, sit, stand, down, stay, sidestepping, attention to other people, being handled, gaiting without looking at the handler), as are some of the agility behaviours (attention, working as a team, following my body language, contacts, sit, stay, come), and some of the water trial behaviours as well (retrieve, stay, come, go to platform). In each of these jobs, however, there are specific behaviours that, while not part of the Levels training, are greatly helped by the what the dog has learned in the Levels (conformation - looking at the judge as he walks by. Agility - jumping, weaving, following body language at a distance, commitment to obstacles. Rally - right finishes, left about turns. Water trials - swimming, applying Loose Leash Walking to swimming with the handler, carrying the bumper, boarding the boat).
It's the same with their "real" jobs - Service work. A lot of what they do is part of the Levels - sit, down, stand, stay, loose leash walking, heeling, coming, retrieving, go to mat, eye contact, Zen, for instance. And some things are not part of the Levels - bracing, for instance. BUT again, the Levels help a lot. Pottying on cue is part of the Levels. Working it to the point that a Service Dog requires (where the dog will go whether he needs to or not, and can then hold it for, say, air flights of up to 7 or 8 hours at a time) isn't, but you have a foundation to build on. Lying under tables in restaurants isn't part of the Levels, but is made up of behaviours the dog has learned in the Levels - go to mat, down, stay, Zen. Whether to sit or down at a register, or whether to stay up at the counter or back off when handing money to a clerk, are specific behaviours not part of the Levels. BUT again, these are advanced skills which build on the basics the dog learned in going through the Levels.
What we're trying to say is that you should read through the Levels, develop an understanding of the organization of them and what your dog will learn as you go along.
Sue eh?
" I would forget to say "wait" and the accidents happen more frequently."
Right there in one sentence is the whole foundation and philosophy of my
training. It's not my responsibility to control the dog. It's my responsibility
to teach the dog to control himself.
Sue Eh?