[nagdu] Haas anyone ever gotten lost in their own yard?

[sblanjones11]

Allison and listers,
Something you might do is take a radio out with you, so you can hear where
the house is.
I have a friend in Georgia who has a retractible clothes line attached to
her house.  She takes the spool with her and rolls it out, then follows it
back as it recoils.
I have reliable light perception, so turning on a light helps.
Susan & Rhoda
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Laurie Mehta
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 3:19 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Haas anyone ever gotten lost in their own yard?


Hi Allison,
You've obviously already thought of several things that can help in the
future, but here's another possibility to consider.  /smile/ 

I don't know which program you trained with (whether or not they teach
this), but it is often beneficial to work with teaching a guide some leash
guiding in safe settings such as, for instance, your own yard.  

You can slowly work the dog up to finding the house, for example, by giving
him/her a helpful start (pointing him/her in the right direction and naming
the destination).  After relieving the dog, even if you're fairly close to
the house, tell your dog "forward home" and let him/her lead you on leash
back to the house, for instance.  Each time, try doing this from farther and
farther from the house.  (You hold the leash relatively close to the clip to
feel the direction of travel.) 

I have used a technique of naming things plus setting the dog up for success
(pointing the dog in the right direction) and I've taught my dogs
destinations such as our mailbox, the place where we wheel the garbage
container out to on pick up day, the place where we wheel our recycling
container out for pick up and home (to mean whatever building we have just
come out of).  

I did not attend a school that teaches this.  I got the idea from my own
experiences, and was affirmed and encouraged by listening to the GDF grads
talk about it.  I use the same technique as for teaching a dog to find a
certain thing, that I was taught by instructors at the program I did attend.
/smile/   

I have had much success with teaching this to three dogs now.  You just need
to take it slowly and use patience with your dog.  

hth-- Laurie
--- On Sun, 4/5/09, Allison Nastoff <anastoff at wi.rr.com> wrote:

> From: Allison Nastoff <anastoff at wi.rr.com>
> Subject: [nagdu] Haas anyone ever gotten lost in their own yard?
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009, 10:08 AM
> Hi List,
> I had a rather frightening experience last night.  I was wondering if 
> a similar experience has ever happened to any of you, or am I the most 
> directionally challenged person in the history of humankind (grin).
> Usually, I can brag that Gilbert is a perfectly behaved dog.  He 
> always obeys me, and when I take him out to relieve, I take him to his 
> designated spot just off the porch in the grass, he does his business 
> efficiently, and we go back into the house without incident.  But 
> every once in a while, and it seems to be when snow has just melted, 
> and there are all kinds of new currious scents, he will get so 
> preoccupied with sniffing that he leads me far past his relieving 
> area, and I get lost.  It has only happened twice, but last night was 
> the most frightening because it was midnight and I was completely 
> alone.  On top of that, I forgot to put my cell phone in my coat 
> pocket, and I didn't even bring his harness so he could work me home 
> if I got lost.  Living in the same house for 18 of my 19 years, you 
> would think I should know the way around my own yard right?
> Anyway, I live in a rural suburban area with no sidewalks and a two 
> acre yard.  I took Gilbert into the grass, and he peed like he was 
> supposed to, but then he started walking and sniffing.  At first, I 
> thought he was just sniffing out the perfect spot to poop, but after 
> awhile when we started getting farther and farther from the house, I 
> realized he was sniffing out of naughtiness, not looking for a place 
> to poop.  I gave him a correction and tried to tell him firmly, "let's 
> go home.  The trainer did recommend that I have Gilbert on a long 
> leash when he relieves, but I prefer short leash because on long 
> leash, it is harder to tell when he is squatting to poop, and harder 
> to find it when he is done.
> I turned in what I thought was the direction of my house, and used an 
> old trick I figured out when I used to get myself off the school bus 
> and walk up the driveway.  I slapped my right leg with my hand, and 
> the sound echoes off the house, thus leading me in the right 
> direction.  What I didn't realize until last night though is that this 
> echoe can also bounce off trees, so before I knew it, I was walking 
> into a clump of trees.
> A huge weakness of mine is that I am a panicker, so when I realized 
> that I had walked into a clump of trees, of course I panicked.  I ran 
> in circles trying to pick up an echoe, and when I did hear one and 
> follow it, I only went deeper into the trees.  I tried shouting for 
> help but no one heard me.  I tried waving my arms, but there was 
> nobody outside, and even if there had been, I now realize they probaly 
> wouldn't have been able to see me from where I was anyway.  I don't 
> know how long I wandered in panick, but finally rational thinking did 
> set in.  I realized that I could either camp out there all night, or 
> calm down and retrace my steps.  I knew I was capable of the latter.  
> I told Gilbert to sit, took deep breaths, and realized that I could 
> hear cars.  If I followed the sound of the distant cars, I would end 
> up back at my driveway.  I turned around, ducked through the tree 
> branches and followed the cars.
> When I slapped my leg again, I heard the familiar echoe, and this time 
> the echoe led me the right way.  I have never been so overjoyed to 
> feel blacktop under my feet!
> Last night during the ordeal, I was on the verge of tears, but since 
> all ended well, I can now reflect back and laugh.
> If I made it home alive in the worst possible circumstances, getting 
> lost on my college campus will be a piece of cake now.  And I also 
> learned why cell phones were invented (grin).
> Allison and Gilbert
> 
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