Why Ongoing Testing Matters When Training a Service Dog

The public access test is only one part of the picture

Whether a public access test is administered by a professional trainer, nonprofit organization, government body, or is conducted by the handler themselves, teams benefit from practicing the test several times.

I like to start by taking teams to situations similar to where they will be tested and practicing a chain of a few behaviors together. At another session, we put more pieces together. Eventually, the team works through the entire sequence, with increasing distance between behaviors and fewer treats in the handler’s pocket.

In BC, it is appropriate to give a dog one or two treats at appropriate points during the public access test, such as after a long settle. The goal isn’t to suddenly eliminate reinforcement because the test is coming. It is to have a dog who can function reliably while reinforcement is appropriately reduced.

Learning to take a test is part of being prepared

There is another reason to practice the test itself: taking a test is a skill.

Imagine preparing for a multiple-choice examination and then discovering that the questions require long written answers. You might know the material, but if you’ve never learned how to demonstrate that knowledge in that format, you could still struggle.

The same thing can happen with a service dog public access test.

Handlers need to understand not only which behaviors are assessed, but what the evaluator is actually looking for and how the “questions” will be presented.

In BC, the public access test has 40 points. That sounds intimidating until you look more closely at what those points represent. Simply coming through a doorway accounts for four points, and coming back through the doorway accounts for another four.

Understanding the exact criteria makes the test much less mysterious. For a doorway, for example, the question isn’t simply, “Did the dog go through the door?” You need to understand what the dog is expected to do before, during and after going through it.

The evaluators I have personally seen, and the reports I’ve received from students, have generally been very supportive of teams. They understand that testing is stressful and that a handler’s disability can affect the experience. They also understand that a dog can respond to the handler’s increased stress or may be unfamiliar with the particular environment where the test takes place.

If a disability requires a modification to how a particular part of the test is performed, communicate that to the evaluator ahead of time.

What is the public access test really testing?

The long list of individual test points can make it seem as though the evaluator is testing dozens of unrelated behaviors. But I think there are really four bigger questions underneath the test.

• Is the dog safe in public? This is about risk and is one reason public access testing is often connected with the justice system within governments.
• Does the team work well together? This provides evidence of training and teamwork.
• Is the dog being appropriately cared for? Health, safety and stress levels matter for a working dog. The dog needs to be physically and behaviorally capable of doing the work and appropriately cared for.
• Does the handler understand their rights and responsibilities? A service dog handler needs to know how to navigate public access, including what to do when faced with an access challenge.

Understanding these larger purposes can make the test much less intimidating. Instead of thinking, “I have 40 things to get right,” you can begin to see what the assessment is actually trying to determine.

Don’t wait until the test to discover what your dog can really do

One of the most useful things about a practice test is that it can reveal the difference between what we think our dog can do and what our dog can actually do in a particular situation.

Those aren’t always the same thing.

Handlers may have trained individual behaviors without properly chaining them together. They may assume that because the dog can perform a behavior at home, it has generalized to other environments. They may try to fade treats or other reinforcement too quickly. Or they may discover that their dog isn’t yet confident enough to make good choices without constant direction.

Sometimes the handler doesn’t yet know what to do when something unexpected happens.

This isn’t necessarily a dog failing. It is information about what needs more training.

Ongoing testing starts long before the public access test

There is another kind of testing that I think is even more important.

In education, formative assessment means evaluating what is happening as learning takes place and making small changes along the way. I use a similar approach with dogs.

I often call these activities experiments rather than tests.

Once a dog has the foundation training for a behavior—acquisition, proofing, generalization, changes of location and enough repetition for the behavior to become part of long-term memory—I want to give the dog opportunities to show me what they actually understand.

• Can the dog choose the appropriate behavior in a new situation?
• Can the environment itself become part of the cue?
• Can the dog perform a familiar behavior with minimal or no direction from the handler?

A simple experiment might be dropping the leash in a familiar environment. What does the dog do? Does she think it is time to play? Run away? Continue walking with the handler as though the leash were still being held? Pick up the leash and return it?

At the other end of the spectrum is a well-trained dog walking through a mall. The dog matches the handler’s gait, changes speed when the handler does, turns when the handler turns and stays appropriately positioned without constant cues.

The handler doesn’t have to micromanage every movement. The dog has learned that being near the handler and moving with the handler is the job.

A practice test can uncover problems you weren’t expecting

During one practice test, we discovered that a dog didn’t like being in small spaces.

At first, we thought he might be afraid. But that didn’t fit his calm, confident demeanor. He actually tried to enter the spaces; he simply had trouble turning around once he was inside.

This was a physically active dog who hiked and swam regularly, but he wasn’t particularly flexible.

Once we identified the problem, we could train for it. We worked on stretching, taught a tight spin, and used corners and barriers so he had to enter a space and turn around to get back out. We also began crate training, even though his handler had never needed to use a crate.

It took time.

That is why I encourage teams to practice early enough that there is still time to make changes and, if necessary, push the actual assessment date back.

Sometimes the dog isn’t the one who needs more training

I’ve also seen dogs react unexpectedly to babies, including babies being carried and the sound of a baby crying. Responses have ranged from highly protective behavior to a lunging, predatory response.

In many cases, the handler had never expected their dog to respond that way.

But what interests me just as much is what happens next. When a handler is shocked by their dog’s behavior, they may not know what to do. Without food or corrections, they may simply repeat the cue because they haven’t developed another strategy.

In these situations, the dog isn’t the only one who needs training.

This is one reason I do one-off practice tests with people who haven’t been long-term students. A practice test can expose gaps in the handler’s understanding just as easily as gaps in the dog’s training.

Train beyond the test

One of my biggest concerns is when people treat the public access test itself as the standard they need to train to.

It isn’t.

We should always train beyond the test because real life is much more intense and unpredictable than any controlled assessment.

Consider something as simple as a dog-aggression assessment. The test may require a dog to ignore a neutral dog at six feet.

But in public, your dog may be barked at, lunged at, or approached unexpectedly from behind.

Those situations need to be addressed in controlled training with known dogs before they happen in real life. You want to know what reaction your dog is likely to have and what your response will be.

That way, when something unexpected happens, muscle memory can take over. You don’t want to stand there wondering what you should actually do-or panicking.

Record your practice tests

One of the simplest things I recommend is recording the entire practice test.

Have someone video it, or have the person conducting the assessment make notes or record observations.

Then watch or listen afterward.

• Where were your strengths and weaknesses?
• Which behaviors did you misunderstand?
• Did you know what the evaluator was actually looking for?
• Did your dog perform the behavior but require more help than you realized?
• Did something unexpected happen that you weren’t prepared for?

I usually finish a one-off practice test by showing the handler how to address one or two of the major weaknesses I’ve identified. Often, that is enough for them to continue on their own. Sometimes they come back because they realize they need a better understanding of the overall training process.

Passing the test is not the finish line

Some people don’t prepare for a public access test at all. Others treat passing it as the end of their dog’s education.

Neither approach makes sense to me.

A service dog continues to learn throughout its working life, and an owner-trainer needs to create a system for maintaining and reassessing those skills. Some jurisdictions require testing annually or every two years; even where it isn’t required, regular maintenance is important.

It is easy for time to pass. A dog may forget a skill that isn’t used regularly, or become less accustomed to an environment or situation she hasn’t experienced for a long time.

Training and testing are ongoing.

Ongoing assessment changes as your dog ages

In the early years, revisit and refine the basics.

In the middle years, introduce new things to keep learning interesting for your dog.

In the later years, watch carefully for changes in interest, movement and performance. These can sometimes be signs of aging, pain or another physical change.

Health can change suddenly, but it can also change gradually in ways that are easy to miss unless you are paying attention.

One of my own dogs, Lucy, taught me this.

Long before she developed obvious neurological problems as a very senior dog, I noticed that she wasn’t lifting her rear legs as high as she once had.

While filming her tracking in shallow snow, I noticed drag lines between the footprints of her rear feet. Later, I noticed she was reluctant to jump into the car in the garage, although she would happily jump in on the driveway.

The difference turned out to be the surface. The driveway provided a little more texture and traction. Once we put a mat down in the garage, she was able to jump into the car easily again.

That observation didn’t come from a formal test. It came from knowing what Lucy normally did and noticing that she was doing it differently.

Testing is information, not judgment

The word “test” can make people nervous. It can sound like a judgment: pass or fail, good dog or bad dog, successful handler or unsuccessful handler.

I think we can look at it differently.

Testing is a way of asking questions.

• Where is my dog right now?
• What does she understand?
• What can she do independently?
• What environments or distractions are still difficult?
• What does she need more experience with?
• What do I need to learn?

And, as the years go by, is my dog still moving, thinking and working in the same way she always has?

The public access test is one structured way to answer some of those questions. But the most valuable assessment is the one that gives you information you can actually use.