Kasey Nash, Joyful Paws Review
I'm writing this review…read morefor Kasey Nash, Joyful Paws, because she is a superb trainer and I'm very grateful that she trained our dog Daisy to become a service dog. Daisy is a mini labradoodle and was 2 1/2 when she began training with Kasey. Previously she had had two intermediate classes at the K-9 Connecticut Education Center.
To summarize, in our first session Kasey explained in detail what would be involved, and stressed the importance of my involvement. Daisy had 20 lessons spread out over 6 months. Lessons took place in Kasey's very well equipped basement, Home Goods, Target, Petco, and Cabela Sports. Kasey sent detailed notes after each lesson on what and how to practice, and how to take commands to new levels. Daisy bonded with Kasey the first day, and became very excited at even the mention of "Kasey".
After a 5 week evaluation period she received her "Service Puppy in Training Vest" (a proud day). Approximately five months later, Daisy did a fantastic job on her service dog test which lasted more than two hours.
Daisy's primary task was location assistance and guidance. She learned to guide me through a department store such as Home Goods, stop at curbs outside, and more. To name just a few commands: Left, right, forward, outside, button, here, wait.
Kasey's method was to explain a new command, demonstrate it with Daisy, then teach me to perform the task with Daisy. Lots of treats were used! Before the next lesson, Daisy and I practiced the new commands extensively, at least three times a week along with previous commands. To give you a few examples of Kasey's teaching, we spent an hour or so getting on and off the glass elevator at Cabela Sports. Daisy learned elevator etiquette and got over fear of accelerations and abrupt stops.
The techniques I learned from Kasey allowed me to build on many commands during our practice between lessons. To name a few, elevator techniques were used to teach escalators. "Outside" was extended to "Back" and "Find the trail" while hiking. For fun, during one lesson, Kasey taught Daisy to push a "door open" assistance button. This took less than half an hour to my amazement. A year later Daisy still remembers this "button" command.
Kasey organized a number of field trips with her other dogs in training: Mystic Aquarium and a Scavenger Hunt to name two.
Kasey wrote an "Attestation Letter" about Daisy's training which was instrumental in getting service dog approval for Aer Lingus and later for EuroStar (train to UK).
I highly recommend Kasey Nash to anyone considering Service Dog training.
