I have trained two service dogs, with prompting from another svc dog owner that we can actually train our own. In both cases I watched to see what the dog was already prone to do and then rewarded that behavior while attaching a command word to it. From there I shaped the behavior, and there you have it. A friend who is a professional trainer aproved and is on standby in casearch anyone objects.

A key difference in my approach, I think, is the range of tones of voice (mine) and facial reactions (the dogs') that develop over time. They usually hear me requesting a help; they know that when I sound urgent it's urgent and that when I sound bossy I'm just putting that on for nervous observers. They know that when I point and speak a request at the same time, I'm being emphatic; the hand signals we develop together are complex.

~S~