CLEVELAND — When Roxy, our Wags 4 Warriors puppy visits Channel 3, it’s all about socialization. She loves her belly rubs and we love getting those Roxy kisses.
But make no mistake, our pup is hard at work. She’s getting training every day, whether it’s going places with her handler Kayla DeLorenzo or spending time in the classroom.
RELATED: How to stop your dog from begging for food at the dinner table: A closer look at Roxy's training
If you recall, Roxy needs to learn a minimum of three skills to become a service dog for a veteran. Right now, it’s all about repetition and truly mastering that first skill, which is “front.”
“She repeats front. We do that a lot in training,” DeLorenzo explains. “It’s one of the most basic ones that we want to start with because she just looks at the handler and waits for what’s next.”
We watched Roxy “front” for DeLorenzo to demonstrate why it’s so important.
Also important is a command called “block.”
“Basically, it’s when the veteran feels uncomfortable, someone is coming too close to them, Roxy is going to put some distance between them in the block, either in the front or the back.”
Although she hasn’t formally started training for “block,” DeLorenzo was able to demonstrate with Roxy how it works.
And Roxy did a great job!
Lastly, DeLorenzo said she is working with Roxy on not jumping on people. We know firsthand how Roxy loves to give her kisses when she visits, and sometimes she will jump. We don’t mind, but DeLorenzo said we should see Roxy jumping less.
“Especially when we come here, we are socializing,” DeLorenzo said. “It’s very important to say ‘hi’ to everybody. She just needs to be released to do that. But she just gets so excited and she wants to jump on you. So, we have been working on her ‘off.’ To not jump on people and get so excited.”
Remember if you have a question for Kayla about Roxy, or service dogs send an e-mail to Roxy’s mailbag at 3LovesPets@wkyc.com
You can also send us pet story ideas that you’d like to see on the air!