[nagdu] speaking too soon

Wed Nov 11 17:45:53 UTC 2009

Lora,

Yeah, it's amazing to me, too. /smile/

Mitzi was a country poodle before she came to me, so pretty much everything
about the big city was really scary.  Poor kid!  I did have to do a bit of
immersion right at first, because I had to take her to the vet and I needed
to take her to the pet store to get some fitted stuff for her.  She was
clearly overwhelmed, but I was impressed with her courage!  Immersion is
when you simply throw the dog into a situation all at once so that it has to
deal.  There are times this is a valid method, but it's a lot to heap on a
nervous younster.

What I did with Mitzi, once we got the well puppy check and shopping out of
the way, was to take her on short, easy walks where she would be exposed to
all that scary stuff again, only now I could start working with her to teach
her that it isn't scary at all!  Not only is it not scary, but when she grew
up, she would be the mistress of it, using it as her stage to show off her
mighty talents!  Okay, so I got a little carried away with the affirmations,
but I guess every little bit helps.

So...  What I did with traffic was this.  I took her out on the sidewalk to
watch while I talked to her about it all.  At the time I was just talking so
she could hear the confidence and reassurance in my voice; I figured I might
as well talk about what was going on right then and move a step or two ahead
to refine my strategy for my own benefit...  This was back when I believed
all those wild claims about poodle verbal intelligence were just crazy talk.
/grin/

Anyway, that day we went on to a nice "sniff and stroll" around the sparsely
trafficked sides of the block then came home and played and cuddled.

The fourth side of our block then is a major thoroughfare, so we could hear
it from our front stoop.  We spent some time every day sitting out there
while I talked to her about what we heard going on around us.  Then I took
her down to the corner so she could watch while I talked it about it some
more.

>From there, we moved on to the stoplight a block or two away and just sort
of hung out while I talked to her and petted her and did some calming touch
and holds when she started to get too wound up.

Next step was to cross the street with the light, at a time that there
wasn't too much traffic.  Then we did some relaxing sniff and stroll before
we crossed back over.

And so on.  There's a name for the technique I cannot remember off hand.
But it involves providing gradual exposure to the object of fear without
pushing the subject past the edge of their comfort zone.  It's a technique
used in the treatment of phobias in humans, so you could find some pretty
good reference material on the subject, what with all the spare time you
have and all.  Teasing!  I know you're too busy for all of this, really.
/smile/

The method would probably work well with Trice.  The key is to observe the
dog's reactions closely so that you don't give him more than he's ready for.
This helps to refine your understanding of the exact nature and cause of the
dog's fears, as well; and it can give you clues to use in finding a way to
ease them as you progress.  Talking my own ear off seemed to work well with
Mitzi, so...

HTH

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Lora
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:17 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] speaking too soon

It does make sense. All the dogs that I know can handle working all day and
then playing in the evening. I have tried that with Trice and he obviously
needs more play time. Hopefully I can figure that balance out. OT do you
know how to get  him not scared of traffic? To me I am amazed that the
school graduated a dog who was scared of traffic and am Trying to work on
that.

On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 3:33 PM, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net
> wrote:

> AnnaLisa,
>
> Cool!  You nailed exactly what I meant.  /grin/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of AnnaLisa Anderson
> Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 10:35 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] speaking too soon
>
> Hi Lora,
>
> I'm not Tami, but I think what she means is that if the dog doesn't get
> much
> chance to play, and I mean really play like run around crazy play once in
a
> while, they start to go stir crazy.  It's like they just can't contain
> themselves anymore and they get all restless or find some trouble to get
> into.  I know Sunny is that way but especially when she was younger.  She
> is
> 7 now and still loves to play, but now play sessions in the house with a
> kong or a bone seem enough for her most of the time.  Unless it's a
> gorgeous
> day like today, then she wants to go across the street to the dog park in
> the worst way!  People are amazed that I actually just let Sunny be a dog
> once in a while.  They think a guide dog's life is nothing but work all
the
> time, 24/7, and I say no, of course it isn't.  So anyway, when Sunny has
> had
> a chance to run off some steam, she is much more settled and focused.  As
> one of the ladies on the LD list likes to say, a tired puppy is a good
> puppy.
>
> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>
>
>
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-- 
Lora and Trice
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