[nagdu] street crossings

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Julie,

Er...  I didn't know I was training Mitzi about curbs for guide work when
she figured out the system we use now just in the course of our first few
walks to the park.  By the time I realized there was a right way to teach
her to do it and started worrying about how to do it just right, I happened
to notice that the little bugger was leading me across streets just find in
a way that worked for both of us.  Whew!  Well, I sort of worked out how I
preferred to go about crossing streets duruing those early walks and talking
to her about it and praising her when she did something I found useful, so I
actually was training her.  I just didn't know that I was supposed to be
training her to do it the right way.  /lol/  Chalk one up for ignorance.

Anyway, she goes from the middle of the sidewalk on the one side to the
middle of the sidewalk on the other side, unless there's a curb cut, which
she will use.  I think I've misstepped a couple of times when I was tired,
and she doesn't like that at all.  So if there's a curb cut, she will use
it.  This works for me, so it's okay.  I've learned to navigate that way, I
guess.  Otherwise, she does the middle of the sidewalk thing.  Unless
there's a lot of foot traffic, then she will find a way to take me to the
edge of the curb where I can place my feet properly to step off.

So I guess a better way to say would be to say that she goes from curb to
curb on street crossings just as she goes from curb to curb between street
crossings.

There was one tricky intersection in our old neighborhood on a narrow yet
busy street where there were zigs and zags in both streets of the
intersection so things did *not* line up in a sensible manner.  We ended up
compromising on how we did that one.  I wanted to be all proper at first,
and was annoyed that she seemed to be trying to cut a corner somewhere and
was being stubborn about it.  Then I happened to notice how much she was
watching every which way and how tense she was, especially when she was
insisting we do it her way and realized that she was actually taking the
safest route because it was the quickest.  So we just did it improperly and
were both much less tense.  I guess I had been hearing what she was trying
to tell me but didn't interpret those sound cues correctly because I was too
worried about crossing the street properly.  Not saying she gets to make all
the decisions about crossing streets, but I have learned to listen to her
when she argues with me and try to figure out why.  /smile/

I totally don't get that method you described either or why someone would do
it that way.  Maybe so the handler knows there's a step up or something?  

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 6:01 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] street crossings

When you cross a street with your guide dog, do you cross straight across no
matter where that lands you on the far curb or does your dog target the
pedestrian pathway?  What happens if you aren't lined up absolutely
perfectly, does the dog automatically correct the error or do you end up in
a straight line from where you were aimed?  I'm meaning a small bit of
misalignment, not 45 degrees off.

I'm asking because I've trained my guides to target the up
curb/sidewalk/path regardless of where it is.  Then I was reading  something
or another on the internet where some guide dogs are apparently taught to go
straight across and then make a 90 degree turn to get to the sidewalk.  That
seems way weird to me.  

Thoughts?
Julie


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