Mallory Bergman, Dog and Assistance Dog Trainer (2025)

31/08/2025

Rory learning to do her wave cue away from handler.
This is a nice little trick i teach the dogs as a compromise for the person who has asked to say hi, and weve responded wirh sorry they are working HOWEVER "she will wave if you wave at her" this is enough to placate the child who wamted to say hi but also meant my dog wasnt distracted as just veiws this as another task. So far not to jinx but all teams have had 100% success using this (once dog has learnt it)

30/08/2025

Wish tonextend our thanks to Andrew at and Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre who helped me organise a fantastic training opportunity for these dogs today, where we got free run of the theater, auditorium and backstage and then access and even help from the staff for some added training in the gym which we would also like to thank just for making the day even easier for us.

Oppurtunities and training days like this make all the difference to these guys and thsir future as assistance dogs , so it is very much appreciated.

12/08/2025

Fantastic oppurtunity for some training for you and your assistance dog. Ive managed to arrange for a small group to go and not only practice within the theater auditorium while staff create noises ect for the dogs to work around, but also downstairs within the gym downstairs. The session will be planned by me and their will be tasks for everyone as well as some individual tasks so that the visit is worthwhile to everyone.

Theres only 2 spaces left and will be on a first come first served basis. If ive not seen your dog for a few months we will need a quick refresh so i can see that this is appropriate for your dog, which can easily be arranged.

Date: 30th august
Time: 10.30 til 13.30
Price: £75

If interested please pop me a message, you will get 48hrs to pay for your space until i offer to the next person waiting. This is going to be a fab opportinity if theater and watching shows is your thing or even if you need a gym buddy while you train, opening up a new experience for you both so if you ever did go the dog noes exactly what is expected of them and types of things happening in that environment.

09/08/2025

Little bit late to celebrate international assistance dog week, but in our defence weve had a very poorly flossie may on our hands so alot of things have been pushed to the side.

However i didnt want it to go by without mentioning these amazing creatures who train very hard and make their owners lives just that bit easier. Its not easy to train an assistance dog and being a trainer im constantly having to say just because you bought a dog to be your assistance dog that doesnt mean the dog will want to be. For a successful, long and happy partnership the dog needs to enjoy what they do as well. Echo for example is not a fan of just walking, but tasking to find who we came out with pick something up or grab my meds and shes the happiest she can be, even when she does deep pressure as a task, she knows shes helping and for her thats what she wants to do.... make it better so she can get you back for that ball game 🤣

So lets just take a few moments to celebrate them and give them that extra big cuddle for helping us 🥰

26/07/2025

Teaching a mat stay

Having discussed this with a trainer friend its obvious that depending on your specialty, us dog trainers use this mat settle as very different things. So heres what i want from a settle on the mat when i teach it.

For me when i get the mat out its a symbol to echo that we are going ro be sat for at least 10 mins probably longer so please take this time if you wish to take a nap.
Assistance dogs depending on the owners schedule could be out all day so its nice to give them a clear sign to be like ok, its safe for you to chill now, because im not going anywhere and your still find me in this chair when you wake up. Now the dog doesnt learn this instantly its built with trust each time you practice, but also repeatition.
So for echo everytime that mat of hers has gone down its usually ive stopped somewhere for a drink or some food or im at a hospital appt, basically we are going to be here a while.

Now to teach this i do describe it as "boring" the dog but i mean that what you do when the mat is out is boring to the dog so they never feel like they will miss out (ur be surprised how many dogs have fomo esp after covid) but they do feel safe enough to snooze which for a dog in public to do is very trusting anyways. It sounds easy but most dogs will be trained on a mat but will not be trained to settle, instead they stare at the owner, fidget and or wine until they get to leave because the owner is usually embarrassed or fed up cos the dog hasnt "settled"

For me the mat comes out, echo gets on the mat and goes straight into a down. Im not fussed if she rests her head down or not, i just want a chilled posistion. Once shes taken in the environmwnt she usually rests her head down or lies down on her side to sleep. However shes 3 years in now and therefore is well versed in a mat.
it was taught by placing her on the mat and doing "boring" jobs, Ie. make a cup of tea or grab tablet and get some work done. Initially id give an odd treat and then the gap between treats gets longer but once heads down treating stops. Instead once im done i cue her to get off mat and she would then get lots of praise and a reward. I dont ever wake her until im finished as it means she learns i will wake her before i leave creating the trust between us.

Ps. This dog is not echo, but a clients lab learning to settle who had previously struggled due to a different association with a mat. This was her first proper settle after i suggested a new mat with no previous association and look how incredible she is, no more staring down her mum 🥰

25/07/2025

Would like to extend a massive thank you to Hollywood Bowl Stevenage and there manager for helping me arrange an afternoon where i can bring my clients and train their assistance dogs around different environments.

This one was particularly challanging because not only was their 2 assistance dogs which had to ignore each other but they would be able to feel the vibrations from the bowling balls but also it was incredibly loud in there with things like balloons bursting and kids running around. Super hard for the dogs who both love kids, so they did incredibly well to ignore and remain focussed.

Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability)

24/07/2025

Doggy dementia

Yes, its a thing dogs get to and honestly its hard. Im going through this right now with my eldest gretal, so i wana hightlight some symptoms you can look out for but also how i make her life as easy as i can for her.

Initially her first symptom was vacantly staring at walls almost like staring into space and then suddenly shes back in the room with us again. Id say this went on for a few months before other symptoms appearred. Now its worth noting shes also pretty deaf and you have to shout for her to hear you, she can sleep through the other 2 barking when a visitor comes in and can sleep very soundly.
Few months after that first symptom we noticed she is sleeping ALOT more infact shes probably more asleep than she is awake and when she is awake she looks like she cant keep her eyes open. She also randomly barks for no reason. Also mind your fingers! If she thinks theres a possibility theres food there shes guna try take it.

The vacant expressions are more frequent now and i could see the panic on her face on our walk when me and floss had gone on ahead and not realised she had stopped. We were roughly 10 paces infront of her but she couldnt hear me shout cos she was panicking. I waved my arms calling as i began to head back to her and i could see the releif on her face when she remembered who i was and i wasnt just a random waving frantically.

Within the last week shes also urinated in her sleep and not realised.

Its hard to watch her go through this, and really all i can do is keep her happy. I leave everything up to her now, i ask if she wants to come for a walk or if she wants to go swimming (hydro) or does she want to go to the lakes (as per pic) which she still actually enjoys and feels like is her old self as she tells the labradors off (always said shes the fun police).
Practicality wise i have a tag on her harness now which says she is deaf incase i couldnt recall her straight away as she has to be looking at me to use had signal to return. Now because shes having more vacant moments i will be using a long line for walks to keep her and everyone else safe.
Ive also purchased reusable puppy pads as id never want to kick her off the furniture so instead im protecting newhere she sleeps.

So far her appitite is still pretty good and shes still the little pig she always has been around food. Honestly shes worse than 2 labradors!!

I know other than making her comfortable and happy, theres npt an awful lot i can do. I will be talking to the vet to discuss any supplements i can give her which may help, but in the mean time im keeping her brain busy with lots of enrichment toys, which if you no us, will no we have loads.

If anyone has any advice from experience id love to hear it in the comments, as other than seeing a frienda dog go through it, im learning as we go too.

17/07/2025

So i wanted to talk about this situation. Now usually i can tell when my arms and legs are going to loose feeling and i cant use em but this time, i did end up on the floor unable to move. Obviously echo has been trained for this even tho its not a regular occurance (been alot of lying on floors i some of her training)

It was a beautiful flow of events for echo, she came and checked me while i was on the floor, disappeared off and came back with medicine bag (on steps) and promptly went round to lay her front half on me. The weight of her lying on me brings the nerves back round quicker so i can regain feeling. I was so proud she remembered to be fair.

Usually if this happens theres no1 around or im not in a state for a picture but i asked my neice to take a picture for me to discuss on here (neice also gave me the pillow). Now its a good example of if you see a dog lying with or on someone and is labelled as an assistance dog, please dont try to remove the dog as like Echo it is more than likely they are lying in a certain way to help the handler and it will have been practiced ALOT. This is also 1 reason the dogs coat will be labelled as do not separate from handler because that dog noes exactly what theyve got to do. IF the person needs n ambulance leave the dog until medical staff are on the scene as they will have the training to know best next step.

I know the dog will look cute ect but remember they wont be "just chilling" therefore the public cant go touch the dog because it doesnt look like they are doing anything, TRUST THAT TEAM, they work as partnership and probably know each other better than another family member would know them. So again LEAVE THE DOG ALONE, if owner is conscious of course ask if they need an ambulance, if not conscious ring the ambulance anyways, leaving the dog alone.
If echo was removed my nerves could have gone on to full on jerking so her weight is needed she also knows exactly where to lie on me for this grounding to work.

16/07/2025

Just a few shots from our outing at the weekend with Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability) client at both gravity trampolining park and mulligans crazy golf in stevenage.
You can see how she managed to settle lovely on her mat at trampolining park, despite owner who i made get up and down to imitate sorting out things for kids and you can see this very quickly became "ok mum always returns so im going to just chill and wait", even if mallory moves to 🥰

Then 2nd onto crazy golf where you can see just how alert she is in the first picture to the tennis ball on the floor, compared to the ones later on where shes still interested but her posture is much more chilled and not ready for action. She even came face to face with a tiger as he appeared right as we came back down the stairs, which caught her out but we showed her it wasnt real by tapping his head and allowed her a quick investigation before she is placed back in a down to continue (as you can see she made friends with him very quickly)

Being able to take these dogs to this type of place is so helpful for their training especially when the owner has young kids and these will be the type of places where she will hang out in future after passing. Having managers in these establishments that were so helpful and up to date on their disability laws was just refreshing as well making my job and the clients experience so much easier! We will both be saying how accomodating and fantastic they were.

Please be aware, as they were training sessions, to be polite, i did go and speak to the managers before the actual day so both places were fully prepared that we were turning up and when, so no one was caught off guard or disturbed on a busy day of business. Respect works both ways 😁

15/07/2025

One of the holes being played by her owner, while she is carefully placed out the way of any holes before us and before the next one. For a dog who absolutely loves a ball game, i think this pair did fantastically. At beggining she was very excited as we dropped the tennis ball into position and did get up, hpwever after the 1 replacement into a down she caught on vwry quickly this tennis ball wasnt hers. FANTASTIC work.

Even conqueuered some scary stairs which had the gaps you see through like a true champ!

Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability)

06/07/2025

Want to also extend a big thank you to Mulligans Stevenage and manager Conner for allowing me to bring my Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability) client along saturday morning and not only allow us around the courses to train but also gave us a golf club (we used a tennis ball for safety) so we could play some holes and really get some fantastic training in, for a ball loving dog to ignore the balls!
Both myself and my client are very thankful to you and your very helpful staff. Thank you.

05/07/2025

Wish to say a massive Thank you to and to manager Sam for allowing me to bring my Dog A.I.D. (Assistance In Disability) client in this morning and allowing us to spend time training her, preparing for when her owner with 2 small kids is able to feel fully confident in being able to visit in the future knowing her dog knows exactly what to expect.
Again HUGE thanks from us both.

Monday	10:00 - 16:00
Tuesday	10:00 - 16:00
Wednesday	10:00 - 16:00
Thursday	10:00 - 16:00
Friday	10:00 - 16:00

Mallory Bergman, Dog and Assistance Dog Trainer

31/08/2025

30/08/2025

12/08/2025

09/08/2025

26/07/2025

25/07/2025

24/07/2025

17/07/2025

16/07/2025

15/07/2025

06/07/2025

05/07/2025

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