[nagdu] shorelining

Wayne Merritt wcmerritt at gmail.com
Thu Mar 12 19:07:14 UTC 2009


When I first came back with my new GSD guide, she had a big time of
navigating around all the people and staying on the left wall. Since
I'm in a rehab center environment, there are a fare number of new cane
users, which are taught to walk on the right side. So between the new
users walking toward us and my GSd staying on the left side, we had a
bit of a time of it. She still hugs the left wall and prefers the
left, even when going up stairs, but she's better able to handle going
around people and swinging canes. Unless someone just pops up right in
front of her, or if she gets in a bind and can't vear out of a
situation before the person reaches us, which is usually in a very
close spot when they're not far away. Going down stairs she stays to
the right, but going up, it's to the left. Weird.

Wayne

On 3/11/09, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Julie and Mardi,
>
> I have the same problem with right-hand turns from Mitzi sometimes still.  I
> just thought it was her little quirk.  When I was teaching her the word
> "right" on a loose leash, I don't remember her having that problem, now that
> I think back.
>
> Actually, someone called my attention to the fact that our right turns are
> still quirkly by asking why we kept pirouetting a circle whenever I asked
> her to turn.  Uh....  Duh...  Huh?  How embarrassing!  /lol/  So I started
> watching.  If we stop at an intersection and turn right, that doesn't
> happen, except for sometimes....  It hadn't occurred to me yet it's probably
> exactly what you describe, and that's how Mitzi solves the problem of
> ensuring good clearance.
>
> The bright side is, now I know what to do about it, too.  /smile/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Julie J.
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 5:40 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] shorelining
>
> Mardi,
>
> I was having the same problem with left turns. I found that if I c/t when
> his head turned left, then one foot...it really helped him understand what I
>
> wanted.  Once I focused on the smallest bit of left movement the concept
> really took off.  I didn't need to break it down very much at all after the
> initial first few bits.
>
> I think left turns are harder because the dog is turning away from you.   A
> left turn also requires more thought from the dog for clearance and graceful
>
> maneuvering.  Or at least with Monty this is what I am finding.  Right turns
>
> are pretty much one fluid movement, while left turns require a chain of
> tasks.
>
> It sounds like Shaman is coming along very nicely.   I love to hear about
> how you work your dogs and how you train specific tasks.
>
> Julie
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mardi Hadfield" <wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 3:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] shorelining
>
>
>> Hi every one,  Nala naturally walks to the left. I use the term, step left
>> and step right, when I want my dogs to keep left or right. I am teaching
>> Shaman, the left turn and right turn now and I am finding that he does ok
>> with right, but I have to push him to the left to get him to turn that
>> way.Even with the clicker, he still has not gotten it yet. I think maybe
>> he
>> just doesn't like going left. He has been learning every thing else I have
>> taught him, quite fast,but not turning left. I am always worried that I
>> will
>> run over his toes with the wheelchair.I need more hands. I really have my
>> hands full with the clicker, the treats, the wheelchair controls and the
>> cane and the dog.I will be glad when Nick has a break from school,so he
>> can
>> help me.I had planned to have a dog already trained before he went back to
>> school,but it did not work out that way.After having to career change
>> Wanagi, because of her hip injury, and then not being able to find another
>> dog right away, well I have had to do most of Shaman's training on my own
>> so
>> far. I will definitely need Nick's help when it comes time to train Shaman
>> on the bus lifts and avoiding stairs. I can do the elevator work my self.
>> He
>> is doing very well in traffic now and is better about
>> distractions,although
>> loose dogs are still a problem. He is beginning to get it about stopping
>> at
>> curbs and drive ways, and the other day,there was some garbage on the road
>> in our path and he went around it on his own.  I used to travel against
>> traffic when not using side walks, but was told by a cop that I needed to
>> go
>> with the traffic like bicyclists,as my chair was considered a vehicle.
>> There
>> are a lot of sidewalks that I don't use as there are no curb cuts to get
>> on
>> them or get off. There are also some that are so uneven that I prefer to
>> use
>> the street rather than jar my spine every 2 minutes.Also there are some
>> sidewalks that end abruptly with a drop off. Arizona has no common sense
>> when it comes to building sidewalks. One of these drop off sidewalks is at
>
>> a
>> bus stop,so I avoid using that bus stop.I have on occasion ,gotten stuck
>> in
>> gravel as the county prefers to use gravel instead of sidewalks. I have
>> also
>> gotten stuck in mud. It is a lot easier to just use the side of the street
>> to travel on.  I find that I don't get lost as often as I used to when I
>> had
>> more vision,if that makes any sense. Nala knows her way around pretty well
>> and the only time I tend to loose by bearings is when I have to go some
>> where I am unfamiliar with. If I have gone some where at least twice and
>> said the name of the place,Nala knows where we are going and will take me
>> right up to the door.Some times when we are passing a bus stop, she tries
>> to
>> stop there. I have to tell her that we are not stopping there today. Some
>> times if we are going on a familiar rout, she thinks we  are going going a
>> certain way and tries to turn down a street that we are not going on.Again
>
>> I
>> have to tell her that we are not going that way today. She is definitely a
>> thinking dog.I keep telling her that I am giving the directions here,not
>> her. One time ,early in her career, I was coming home from a friends new
>> apartment,and it was really dark and I turned down the wrong road and lost
>> my bearings. I stopped and tried to figure out where I was. I told Nala to
>> find home and she took me home. I just hope that Shaman can be  as good a
>> guide as Nala is.  Have a great day,   Mardi and Nala,semi-retired and
>> Shaman, gdit
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