My training adventure with Mochi

by Mei B., 10 year old student writer

My mom said we would never get a third dog.  Lucky for me, my mom looks at puppies on Instagram. Not so lucky for me, my endocrine system stinks. Because of this I have type 1 diabetes, celiac, and hyperthyroidism. This means my pancreas doesn’t work properly, my body doesn’t like wheat, and my thyroid hormones cause anxiety. My mom decided to consider getting a puppy to train to be an  emotional support animal for my anxiety. We found a small dog that we liked and I got to pick him out but that was only the beginning.  In order to take him with me everywhere he needs to get special dog training. 

Early training

Early training I did myself. He knows to use the bathroom outside, he knows the basic commands: sit, down, come (when it’s convenient for him), and no. He doesn’t like to be told, “No.” It took him about two months to learn the basics. Now he is ready to learn more advanced skills such as being able to ride in cars, buses, airplanes etc. and not bother people. He has to learn not to bark, jump on people or things that he shouldn’t, and not misbehave or be rude.  He needs to learn how to properly walk on a leash. I want him to be safe and it’s important that he listens so he doesn’t get hurt. This helps him to be a good dog citizen. 

Benefits of special dog training

The benefits of a trained dog is that they will obey the commands that you tell them. And your dog will be safer if it’s alone or not alone, like if you’re outside in the front and there is no fence in the front yard they will not run away and get lost or hurt. They might be better with people that are new or old and will be nice and not bark at them. He will be more pleasant when you’re near him. If you’re training them to be a service dog, a benefit is they can be with you wherever you go (so you have a little or big friend with you). Your dog won’t destroy everything they come in contact with and wont tear there toys apart (after a couple minutes)

I hope you learned and enjoyed this and I learned a lot during this experience, like what my specific dog likes to do and how he behaves and how he behaved during the whole process. I hope you learned a lot about how you can train your dog to be a service dog or just to be obedient!