[nagdu] Refusing to Work

Wed May 27 18:22:30 UTC 2009

I wonder about that hyper-vigilance, too, and if it can cause too much
stress for the dog.  Mitzi is one of those, even when it seems like she has
her head in the clouds and it is filled with butterflies.  I make a lot of
effort to give her off-duty time when we just play and have fun together,
and will take her on errands just on leash, with me using the cane, so she
gets to experience working situations without the full responsibility for my
nagivation and safety.  But she still leash guides, even in stores.  If
she's on a tight heel but sees something that might be in my way, she just
pulls me around it and goes back to heel.  I praise her, of course, then
worry that I'm reinforcing too much responsibility into her.  I guess time
will tell.

She has only refused to work a couple of times, and that was because I was
too sharp in correcting her, and she melted down.  Apparentlyl, that's a
poodle thing.  It also keeps me from getting lazy and resorting to negative
correction because it's quick when a more strategic response to a behavior
is far more effective in the long run.

She does like to play hard to get when I bring out the harness, and I'm
afraid I get a little overindulgent in playing along.  Until she pushes it
too far, in which case I just hang up the harness and grab my cane and go
without her.  That shapes her right up!  Just a few minutes ago, she pulled
a new one.  A friend stopped by on the way to the store, and it occurred to
me that it would be a good chance to throw Mitzi's harness on and go along.
The route is pretty dangerous, so working it with a sighted companion is
more relaxing and allows us to "practice" for when we're doing it on out
own.  So I grabbed the harness, and Mitzi went out the open door to the yard
and gave me that *up yours* grin when I called her.  Brat!  So I had a
quandary.  I didn't want a two mile walk with the cane because my hands and
arms arent up to that much cane work yet.  So I couldn't negatively
reinforce her 'tude by leaving her at home.  /lol/  I finally decided to
give it up and shut the door with her outside for awhile so that I wasn't
totally rewarding her.  Snot!

Also, because of her temperament, even as a super-mellow poodle, I want to
give her the option of not working, just so long as she knows it means she
won't get to go everywhere all the time.  I love having her as a guide dog,
and our teamwork is finally clicking in and getting really smooth as it
becomes automatic for me to just trust her.  A recent progression of vision
loss has helped me learn to sit up straight and fly right, because I'm all
discombobulated if I try to watch where I'm going.  But I think it's a good
idea to pay attention to such things and allow the dog to opt out when the
time comes instead of trying to force an unwilling dog.

It's just that, with her, it's not always easy to tell if she's just funning
with me or if she's refusing on some sort of principle.  Sigh.  Goober dog!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Buddy Brannan
Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 4:18 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Refusing to Work

On May 24, 2009, at 6:55 PM, Julie J wrote:

> Yup.  I have.   It's not a sign of good things to come.

I'd agree with Julie on this one. Having said that, the question is  
fairly general. Do you mean that your dog refuses to work (i.e. you  
get the harness, he isn't interested and won't go at all), or he  
refuses to work in specific situations, specific areas, or under  
specific conditions?

It's not a good sign in either case. How can you assure you won't run  
into said specific conditions, for instance? Depending on what those  
conditions are, it might be possible for you to avoid working your dog  
in those situations. But then you had better watch for generalizing of  
the behavior anyway.

My first dog had a bladder infection. After about three weeks of it  
not going away, he started standing across the room from me and not  
coming when I got the harness, very out of character for him at the  
time. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he was  
telling me he was done. Miraculously, right after the retirement, his  
bladder infection went away. One thing about Karl was that he was  
always on, even when he was off. I mean, even out of harness, he was  
still watching and seemed to feel on duty and responsible. Constant  
vigilance like that undoubtedly takes its toll and causes its own  
special brand of stress, and I'm sure that that contributed to his  
somewhat shortened working career; he worked for six and a half years  
and retired roughly six more before his passing. (Chet doesn't suffer  
from hypervigilance; when the harness is off, I could fall down a well  
and, unlike Lassie, he probably wouldn't notice. In harness, however,  
he's super and loves his work.)
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 746-4127 or 888-75-BUDDY

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