Moving Up

Sugar has most of your typical obedience commands down pat- sit, stay, down, up, come, and she's a big fan of hugs- as a matter of fact, she came pre-programmed with the hugs command. When we first took her home from the humane society, whenever we came home from work, she'd jump right on up, put one paw on my front hip bone, the other on my lower back and would not budge until I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a hug.

We had dog training today over at one of the local malls. She has seen escalators before and boy, she let it be known she was not a fan. With a treat and a lot of patience, I could get her to lie down on her belly with her front paws just about a half an inch from the edge of the actual escalator stairs.
Today, we got up and down the escalator a half dozen times- I could not be more proud of her!!!! She still wasn't having it after seeing several other service dogs go up and down, and I hate having to force her to do anything- she's too smart to have to be forced. I'll find ways to explain things to her, but force is ALWAYS a last resort with Miss Sugar Mae.
One of the security guards got curious, and, after realizing why Sugar was sitting there with me, watching the other dogs go, then lying down at the bottom- over and over- he very politely asked me if she was scared. I told him yes, she was pretty frightened by the idea. He offered to shut off the escalator so she could get used to the metal stairs without the issue of motion frightening her more. After thanking him profusely and double-checking with our trainer, I agreed. Sugar still looked at those things like they would eat her, but I more or less picked her up and put her on them, right behind another dog. Realizing the only way out was up, she bolted after the other dog, just as I'd hoped. It was hard for me to keep up, but once we got up and down the stopped escalator a few times, we popped right on the moving half, and, while she didn't care for the motion, she didn't fight me on it. We went up and down those suckers over and over, and, between the escalators and the other training we did today, that girl went through an entire bag of treats. I could have been less generous with them, I'm sure, but I was much too proud of my girl to deny her further reassurance that her hard work was paying off. I've never seen a dog look so proud of herself.

We haven't been going out much these last few weeks, although yesterday, she made it through a hospital visit with flying colors. The only moment of question we had was when I wouldn't allow her on the couch next to me in the waiting room. I have absolutely no issues with her being on our furniture, or getting up on furniture elsewhere when told, but remaining professional is of paramount importance to me when I take her out somewhere. I don't ever want to give anyone a reason to question her ability as a service dog, nor question my role as her handler.