I'm so proud of my boy and how smart he is! I've been having a lot of #SelectiveMutism days because of my #AutisticBurnout I'm experiencing since my father passed. Because I've been mute for a few days I realized I was having issues communicating with my boy Birger. He knows hand signals for things like sit, down, stay, up, etc, but redirecting him and getting his attention I realized I was depending only on vocal commands such as focus or using his name. This was proving to be a problem so I reached out to my trainer and asked for some advice on the matter. He suggested with the focus command that I add a clap or whistle, something I could do that wasn't verbal related. So because I had some words today we worked on him coming and focusing on me when I whistle. And it's working! He went under the couch today and I didn't know where he was. I whistled and he came right out to me and looked at me! Praise and treats were given of course, im just so proud! It's only been a short training session of this and he gets it! #ServiceDogInTraining#ServiceDogHandler#MothersDay#DogsOfMastodon#MiniDachshund#Dachshund#Autistic#ActuallyAutistic