[nagdu] Tracking, etc.

Wed Mar 11 23:42:34 UTC 2009

Nicole,

Interesting.  Did they give a reason?  I've heard some debate on the pros
and cons of using "follow," but finding a certain person can be awfully
convenient if you go shopping together and want to go look for different
stuff.  Or maybe my meanderings with Mitzi that I described are a good
reason.  /smile/  It does put the dog in charge, to some extent, deciding
which way to go and the like.  Then you have to get the dog to give up the
power and go back to letting you make the decisions.  We have had some
discussion about that a time or two, but now she seems to know the
difference between being on a "find" and regular guiding.

So maybe it depends on the pair whether it will work overall or not?

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Nicole B. Torcolini
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 7:25 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Tracking, etc.

At GDB, they discourage us from using find a certain person.

----- 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: Monday, March 09, 2009 12:47 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Tracking, etc.

Ron,

I get it now.  As for whether it's the right word or not, I am so the wrong
person to ask!  /smile/  I grew up in cow/sheep/horse/hunting country, so
the commands we -- and everybody else -- used as commands have to do with
those activities -- with breeds of dogs tailored to the activity in
questions.  Many of the commands used in obedience training have entirely
different meanings.

Take heel.  This is not something you want the cow dog to do to you -- or
any other human for that matter.  /smile/  The cattle herding breeds
naturally dog the cows' heels.  If you tell your dog to heel,  it runs in
and starts nipping the heels of any cow who doesn't get moving smartly in
the right direction.  On one short cattle drive which we handled on foot, I
carried my 2 or 3 month old blue heeler puppy in my arms while I trailed the
herd to keep the stragglers going and in the right direction.  One large,
grumpy old cow, more interested in expressing her individuality than in
following the herd, kept turning around and trying to get around me to go
back the other way.  Well!  Checkers got tired of this right quick!  She
leapt from my arms and charged right into that old cow's face, barking for
all she was worth, giving the poor creature the shock of her life.  She drew
back, snorting in astonishment, then sized up her foe -- about ankle high at
that time -- and lowered her head to have it out with this young upstart of
a cow dog.  Checkers did not even consider backing down!  She got that
obnoxious old biddy turned around and heeled her smartly the rest of the way
to the new pasture.  The herding behavior in those dogs is that instinctive.

So there's not a command equivalent to the obedience version of heel.  You
just sort of call the the dog back to you and indicate that you want it to
stay with you instead of heeling the herd.  So it trots along happily in
perfect heeling position because that is simply what it does.  For the
record, poodles do not do this naturally, except after a couple of years of
constant nagging and correcting and rewarding and then only if they're
really, really, really tired.  /smile/  Mine will do a fairly decent tight
heel as part of her "indoor manners," but would prefer to leash guide
instead.  /smile/  At least she doesn't feel compelled to inspect everything
-- and everyone -- at the same time anymore.

Tracking is something hounds do in pursuit of game, of course.  /smile/  So
when the word "tracking" came up, I got a truly entertaining visual out of
it.  In that sense, I realized during the holiday shopping that Mitzi does,
in fact, track when "finding" a person.  DD likes to go hither and yon,
price shopping for specific items, then coming back to look at all the
wonderful stuff he passed along the way, which will give him an idea about
something else he wants to look at...  I was using those shopping trips as
practice for Mitzi and me both, so we would go another way to navigate the
stores and crowds and center aisle displays.  Then, for a break, I would
tell Mitzi to "find dad."  Off she would go, with me just sort of keeping
pace alongside to see what happened.  She would take the most direct route
back to where we last saw him, then become very random but with an attitude
of great purpose.  Hm...  After the third or fourth time she started to turn
one way only to snap back to her original course, I forgot that my job was
to keep my eyes forward and concentrate on moving with my dog, and I started
watching her head, which she appeared to be holding lower than usual and
turning this way and that.  She didn't have her nose to the gruond in the
classic hound fashion, so it took me a while to get it.  She wasn't turning
her head to look, as I had assumed.  She was casting for scent.  Who knew?
I became absolutely sure that she was not looking when she turned right and
started down an aisle toward a series of large, mechanical reindeer and
santa displays, all revolving brightly and making little tinkling sounds.
She kept that same purposeful straightline manner until the bright moving
objects came into her peripheral vision (I'm assuming, since I would
actually see the moving lights and the dog at the same time, and that was
where they appeared to be).  Then she turned an on-a-dime 180 and went to
look for a better scent trail.  /smile/  Since we were in a separate, closed
off area dedicated to the big (and I might add gawdy) yard decorations, she
seemed to have some dilemma.  The trail led past those reindeer and santa
merry-go-rounds in several layers back and forth on both sides.  I know DD,
so I didn't need my nose to tell me exactly what he did when confronted with
those brightly lit and colorful wonders.  /grin/  I did ask later, though,
to verify that my assumptions were correct.

Which is getting off the point.  I did have a lot of fun on that trip just
going along and keeping up and taking note of what she did, since she was
sticking to the "find" command.  We did have to break the "find" to work on
going past those displays, which she sincerely did not want to do.  That
much bright light and movement flips a big switch in my brain, and I almost
can not keep my eyes from tracking it, not matter how hard I concentrate.
So when we went back to the "find," I was motivated by a shiny new headache,
complete with vertigo, to keep my eyes front and foreward and let my dog do
her thing to complete the task I had set her.  Good practice; lots of fancy
footwork in that environment.  /smile/

I honestly don't know what she's orienting to in her everyday work.  My big
task is still training myself to walk with the dog while she does her job,
without giving in to the temptation to watch where we're going and what's
under our feet.  My vision loss has reached the point where that's
extrememly not useful and results in ye olde headache with vertigo even in
bright sunlight, but that still doesn't stop me doing it unless I really
concentrate.  Maybe using those spells when I just have to "look" to try to
figure out what she's actually using to choose how to place us on vague and
winding routes will make it easier to keep myself from second-guessing her.
A girl can dream, can't she?

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Davidson
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 6:39 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

Tami

 What I mean by tracking is the dog is following a line or a permanent
fixture on it's left' Like a wall or the curb ,edge of sidewalk etc. It can
also use the back of a row of cars usually with caution. Do you ever notice
that when your dog is taking you around a barrier it slows down and has it's

head down. The dog is looking for hazards and also a safe route back to the
original line of tracking. I wonder if tracking is the wrong word here?

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