Dedication

As you can see, we've been inactive for awhile, on and off. This is because of life and day to day needs. However when raising a service dog, especially a German Shepherd, little day to day tasks can be taught even in a busy lifestyle.
	For example, every morning before we have our morning outside play time, Nox goes outside to go pee. He knows to go down our apartment stairs, do not go near people he sees or doesn't know, goes pee, then immediately comes back upstairs. At first we did this by giving him a treat when he came back, now he does it to please.
Starting to place treats on his nose to balance them, first by holding his face, after repetition he learned to let us walk away the more treats he got. Now we're working on bringing things to and from places, working our way up to loading the washing machine and other larger tasks.

In the past few months he has learned how to help me up if I've fallen. We achieved this by a big field, I would throw something and he would go to get it, and sit and wait by the item. I would pretend to faint, he would come to me, and get a treat.
Once we had established he gets a treat, then we started “You get a treat if you are calm” once that was understood, it was on to the next step.
Then it was come to me, if I’m not responsive lay next to me and lick my hand til I come to.
After I began to move, Nox was to still lay beside me, until I grabbed his waist, and he and I would slowly get up together. Me leaning on him, and him supporting me.
You and your service dog are a team. You can learn as much from them as they can from you. Always remember to listen to your dog and their needs to create a better partnership that will last a lifetime.