Denver's First Bus Ride (Patreon)

In this video you'll see Denver's first practice going on and off a bus. I purposefully went to the stop on this route where the bus drivers take their 7 minute break to use the bathroom. That means I have 7 minutes to practice getting on and off the bus when it's empty without feeling rushed. I'm basically just patterning pausing before getting on and off, and finding under my legs in the first available seat. What I liked was that by the time we did our third "lap" he was pausing on his own without a verbal cue.

Ignore my weird collar under vest placement. When we got to the spot, the bus came nearly immediately and I hadn't had him fully dressed yet so it was just a little equipment flub on my part.

Little stay mess up at 1:52 where I wanted to practice getting up without him getting up. Will need to work on that out of the bus context a few more times before bringing it to the bus.

Overall very happy with his attentiveness in this new scenario.

Reminder: use patterns (like getting on and off the bus in the same way several times in a row) to help a dog feel more comfortable and confident in a new situation.

Tip: if there's a city near you that has a city bus that just makes stops around the city in a loop for visitors, this can be a great way to practice. College campuses are also great places to use, as they often also have busses that just do loops around campus with multiple drop off points. Find out where the drivers switch drivers at the end of the shift, or use the bathroom. Most drivers will want to get through their route as quickly as possible so they can have a few minutes break before starting again. That's the ideal spot to practice.