FREE Webinar – Service Dog Retrieve Skills – 5 Common Training Mistakes. Presented by Veronica Sanchez
Member FREE Webinar for January 2026
Use the membership discount code you can find in your member area
On-Demand Webinar: Watch as soon as you register
Webinar Description
The retrieve is an important skill for service dogs. People with various kinds of disabilities often need their service dog to retrieve medications, phones, and many other objects of different shapes and sizes and materials. Not only is the retrieve itself a task that is important for service work, but the components of the retrieve, take, hold, carry, and give serve as foundation skills for many additional complex tasks. Commonly needed tasks like opening doors, giving items to other people, and assisting with dressing are all based on components of the retrieve.
However, the service dog retrieve can be deceptively challenging to teach. Trainers often make technical mistakes in the training process. This can result in a service dog that chews, drops and even damages items that the handler needs. If the trainer has not considered aspects of the handler’s disability, the dog may not be able to deliver items securely to the handler. Additionally, inadequate training of the retrieve can make it difficult to teach the many service dog tasks that build on components of the retrieve.
This session will examine five common mistakes that trainers make when teaching the service dog retrieve and discuss multiple strategies to address these problems. It will cover technical aspects of training the retrieve, as well as disability considerations that are critical to the successful training of this important service dog task.
Learning Objectives:
- How to identify the components of the service dog retrieve and understand how these components serve as foundation skills for many service dog tasks.
- How to set incremental criteria to teach the service dog retrieve.
- Learn strategies to successfully troubleshoot common problems encountered when teaching the service dog retrieve.
- Understand how to adjust the training of the service dog retrieve to ensure that the end task meets the handler’s disability needs.
Your Presenter – Veronica Sanchez
Veronica Sanchez M.Ed, CABC, CPDT-KA is the founder of the Cooperative Paws Service Dog Coach™, an educational certification program for professional trainers in service dog training. Veronica also offers a variety of online courses on service dog training and often speaks and writes on service dogs for professional associations. She is the author of the book, Service Dog Coaching: A Guide for Pet Dog Trainers.
Veronica has a masters’ in education and a bachelors’ in psychology from George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia. She also has a certificate in brain research in education from the University of Washington. She has supported owner-trainers training service dogs for mobility, hearing, mental illness, neurological problems and dual guide-mobility work.
Veronica’s interest in service dogs is both personal and professional. She has a disability herself, a neurological condition called generalized dystonia, and she has trained her own dogs to assist as service dogs.
PPG Members
PPG Members, use your Member FREE Webinar discount coupon code at registration to access your membership rate. The code can be found in your membership area.
Not yet a member? Click here to join and begin receiving discounts on PPG member events.
Bookings
Log in if you already have an account with us.