[nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time to

Mon Mar 9 17:39:23 UTC 2009

That makes sense.  And I'll have to pay more attention to figure out how she
tracks...  I laid in the foundation for a lot of that sort of thing while we
were still doing leash work and socializing, and I viewed that overall
process as molding more than training as such.  Since my conception of the
end goal was fairly vague, I also used the time to observe and work out the
specifics of how we would need to handle specific situations and obstacles
as a team so that I could build those behaviors.  I did a lot of talking it
through out loud before I caught on that all that wild and crazy stuff
people say about poodle language capacity are in fact pretty darn accurate.
/smile/  So I have some odd commands that I still find myself using because
I would describe what I wanted to do to myself (and her) before I came up
with a command for it.  /lol/  It's interesting to come across a new but
similar scenario and discover that she conceptualizes it completely
differently than I thought she did.  So I might say "forward left" and get
nothing, then explain that we want to go around away from the trafiic side,
and she does her "aha!" thing and does just that.  Strange little dog.

Needless to say, I have learned to think of the command first, then use that
word for the verb in the logistical discussion.  I had a heck of a time when
we started going to the park, because part of the way we take a winding
trail.  It's paved, but since I plan to do trail hiking in the future, I
wanted to distinguish staying on the trail from our usual citified commands.
I began to think I would have to drag out a thesaurus to come up with a verb
for it, since the ones like follow, stay, etc. were already taken.  So we
walk the trail now.  Or the path, since I keep using that one without
thinking instead of generalizing any such route as a trail.  I can simply
use the command "trail" as a reminder once we get going, but when we come
upon a new trail/path that we need to follow to get back to a sidewalk, I
still need to say, "Walk the trail."  Or "Okay, Mitzi!  Let's walk the
trail!"

Hm...  She also knows "sidewalk," "side of the rode," "go to the edge,"
"find the crosswalk," and a few others I've come up with on the fly.  Which
makes wonder...  My dog appears to conceptualize, generalize and distinguish
in very much the same quirky way I do.  I - and a few others who mention it
and crack up about it - have only her behavior and responses to go by, but
it really does seem like it.  I will never know, but I am really, really
curious what's really happening in that active, lightening-fast brain of
hers.  And how it all looks to her.

The next time I train, I am so going to do what you do and come up with a
command/behavior list first!  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J.
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 5:34 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
to

Tracking is the same thing as shorelining or following a line of travel on 
the edge of something, like a curb, hall or change in terrain like grass to 
cement.

Does Mitsy have an easier time following a line of travel on the right vs. 
the left?

I think the main reason that guide dogs work on the left is because most 
people are right handed.   It has been the practice to work dogs of all 
sorts on the left, show dogs, obedience competitions, hunting dogs etc. 
When I was competing in dog sports this is how it was explained to me 
anyhow.

Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 11:32 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time 
to

> Hmm...
>
> This is interesting.  Being left-handed, I figured if everyone else works
> their dog on the left, leaving their dominant right hand free, I would 
> train
> my dog to work on the right, leaving my dominant left hand free.  Then
> someone recently told me she had heard the reason guide dogs worked on the
> left was so the handler would not have to drop the harness handle to shake
> hands.  Oh!  I wonder if that's it or if people work the dog on the left 
> for
> the same reasons they shake hands with the right...  That just works best
> for a predominantly right-handed population.  /smile/
>
> Is tracking, the way you guys mean it, something to do with follow?  Or 
> with
> patterning?  I haven't heard the word used in that context before.  Mitzi
> knows follow, but I've realized lately she prefers to pattern, and will
> sometimes be patterning when I think she's following...  Or is it the 
> other
> way around?  /smile/
>
> Living beyond the reliable sidewalk zone, I often wish I had trained her 
> to
> work on my left, since when we're on the side of the road facing traffic,
> she's the one closest to it.  Scares me all to pieces.  She does know to
> stay to the side of the road and not wander across the white line (when
> there's so much as that between us and traffic).  I don't necessarily 
> trust
> the oncoming drivers to do so well.  Then again, there's a long stretch
> where we have to walk with traffic coming up behind us as we walk in the
> pedestrian lane, which puts me on the traffic side with a whole lot of
> tension between my shoulder blades.  It would probably be worse if she 
> were
> on that side going that way....  I'm used to it now and don't get all
> weirded out just walking up to the store, but every now and then I still
> think about what we're doing and give myself the hopeless willies!
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Ron Davidson
> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:31 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
> to
>
> I never heard of a guide working on the right but I guess it is necessary 
> it
>
> the person don't have a good working left arm. Just like they train them 
> to
> work with wheel chairs. But I do feel the tracking on the left is taught 
> not
>
> a natural thing where in the ordinary dogs life do you see them tracking 
> or
> following specifically on the left.
>
>
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