Sjiriki came on a PA trip this week! I’ve been going to a gender clinic (finally, after 4 years of being on a waitlist!) and they wanted to have a physical appointment instead of our usual virtual ones. I was expecting Sjiriki to need a lot of help/support and was looking at this mostly as a training outing, but he absolutely aced it!! He held a pretty perfect heel, waited calmly at the reception and in the waiting room, and didn’t try to greet a single person, even when waking closely past them. The appointment itself ended up being very stressful for me (I don’t want to turn this into a vent post about the state of gender healthcare, but it’s rough out there guys 💀), but Sjiriki did so good there as well. He settled well when I was calm, watched me closely when I wasn’t, and let me know whenever I needed a break. We do probably need to workshop his alerts a bit, as while he starts off with just staring at me and then nudging me, if I do not listen he will eventually escalate by yelling directly into my face, which is not ideal. On the other hand, it is a very effective way to get my stubborn ass to listen 🤷🏻
He was again on point with his heeling whenever we walked outside so I could take a break, and near the end he even started walking me to the direction of our car, very clearly signaling that we needed to go home! I’m really super super proud of my boy, of course there’s lots he still needs to learn but today very much showed me what a wonderful service dog he is capable of becoming 🩶
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#husky #servicedog #servicedogintraining #hulphond #hulphondinopleiding #forcefree

Did a bit of training in the yard working on loose leash walking basics! We’re currently working through the leash walking course from Emily Larlham/Kikopup 😊 Despite Sjiriki’s remaining pain symptoms he has been really wanting to do more, so a bit of training is a great low impact way to give him some extra enrichment!
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#husky #siberianhusky #dogtraining #positivereinforcement #forcefree

Long time no post! Here’s a collection of photos from the past couple of months. We’ve been very busy with recovery from TCS surgery, but have also been doing a bit of training and some tiny adventures in between. Unfortunately Sjiriki is not doing super great at the moment though. His recovery started off really well, it was all very exhausting but he was making progress and slowly able to do more and more. Then since around 4,5 months post-op he’s stagnated, and we haven’t been able to break out of that funk despite his veterinary team’s best efforts. Different pain meds have helped a little, but his fysio, surgeon and pain specialist all agree that we’d expect him to be able to handle more activity and be in less pain now 6 months after surgery. Since we’re not sure what’s going on exactly we have a reevaluation scheduled with his surgeon to hopefully isolate where the pain is coming from, and will likely do a repeat MRI to have more information on where to focus his treatment. Fingers crossed for some answers! 🤞
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#husky #siberianhusky #servicedog #hulphond #caninetetheredcordsyndrome #surgeryrecovery #forcefree

Surgery was last week! Sjiriki’s been doing really well, other than the expected boredom of having to stay cooped up inside for most of the day. But he’s been allowed short walks again since yesterday, which he’s really enjoying!
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#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree

We’ve been quietly dealing with some health issues with Sjiriki for a while. From a pretty young age Sjiriki’s been dealing with pain in his body, specifically his hind end. He was first diagnosed with growing pain, but didn’t react enough to pain medication, and I just had a gut feeling that there was something else going on. After several more vet visits, scans, and referrals we finally have an answer! This week Sjiriki was diagnosed with Tethered Cord Syndrome, which basically means that his spinal cord is improperly attached, causing him a lot of (nerve) pain. This is generally pretty treatable with surgery, though not all dogs recover fully, some still needing pain management even afterward. But there is almost always a big improvement after getting the surgery! The specialist had an opening quickly, so he’s going in next Wednesday. I am incredibly stressed about the whole situation, not knowing if he’ll make a full recovery after surgery and uncertain about what that means for his future quality of life, and his career as a service dog. But I’m also grateful to have some answers and not have to keep searching for a diagnosis any longer. So overall some conflicting feelings and a lot of uncertainty still! For now I’m pretty busy getting everything in order for the surgery, preparing to keep him comfortable downstairs as he’s not allowed to walk up and down them, prepping enrichment to keep him busy, and dreading six to ten weeks of exercise restriction with an adolescent husky 😬 We’re just gonna take things one day at a time!
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#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree
#servicedog #servicedogintraining #psychiatricservicedog #autismservicedog #hulphond #hulphondinopleiding #autismehulphond #psychiatrischehulphond #assistentiehond #assistentiehondinopleiding #autismeassistentiehond #forcefreeservicedog

Went to a pet friendly store yesterday to let Sjiriki pick out a toy for his birthday (which I can’t believe is this weekend already!!) and since he seemed up for it we did a little bit of training as well 😊 We’ve not done much in the form of training for quite a while, especially not in public, so we kept things really simple. We practiced the counting game, the ping pong game, a few hand targets, and moving together. He did so good!
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#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree
#servicedog #servicedogintraining #psychiatricservicedog #autismservicedog #hulphond #hulphondinopleiding #autismehulphond #psychiatrischehulphond #assistentiehond #assistentiehondinopleiding #autismeassistentiehond #forcefreeservicedog
#forcefreetraining #forcefreedogtraining #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementworks #dogtraining

Canihiking with the best boy 😊 We’ve recently introduced a new cue for moving to the left side of the trail and he picked it up so fast! I introduced it at the start of a hike, and he pretty much had it down by the end. He’s such a smart baby 🥰
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#hiking #hikingdog #hikingdogsofinstagram #hikingwithdogs #canihike #canihiking
#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree #forcefreetraining #forcefreedogtraining #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementworks #dogtraining

He’s just too dang cute 🥰
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ID: a Siberian Husky stands on a trail, looking up at the camera with an open happy expression. He has his ears pricked forward, mouth partway open, and looks adorable.
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#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree

Started doing some muzzle training with Sjiriki yesterday 😊 He picked it up so fast, already pushing his nose in after the first session! I do need to get him a bigger muzzle I think, as this one seems just a bit too narrow around his cheeks. But it’s fine for now as a training prop!
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ID 1: a muzzle with a treat hole in the front is held close to the camera, framing the face of a husky who sits behind it, looking up.
ID 2: the husky pushing his nose into the muzzle to get a cookie through the treat hole.
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#muzzle #muzzleddogsaregooddogs #muzzleddog #muzzleddogsarentbaddogs #muzzleddogsaregooddogstoo #muzzletraining #husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree
#forcefreetraining #forcefreedogtraining #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementworks #dogtraining

Went out to the heather fields to take some pictures this week! Sjiriki only stood still for seconds at a time, but I still managed to snap one nice photo 😂
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ID: a Siberian Husky stands on a narrow trail among the heather, it’s purple flowers being lit by the sun just peaking out of the clouds above. The dog is watching something off camera, looking interested with his ears forward.
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#hiking #hikingdog #hikingdogsofinstagram #hikingwithdogs #canihike #canihiking
#husky #siberianhusky #dog #dogs #huskydog #siberianhuskydog #forcefree