[nagdu] ranting handling skills?

Tue Aug 3 01:18:40 UTC 2010

I have found everything said about the doggy distractions very
helpful.  Brie and I have had problems with dogs as well.  She is not
aggressive but she thinks that every dog (especially the little ones)
are her playmates.  The puppy push ups (sit and down over and over
again) seem to work.  Also, using the gentle leader is never a bad
idea.  I brought one to convention, and I should have used it more
than I did.

Working with a new dog is never easy.  It will get better though.
Everyday, gradually, you will find that things get easier.  If you
ever want to chat about anything, just feel free to email meoff list .
 I live on a college campus as well.  Better yet, it's right in the
middle of a very dog friendly neighborhood.  Those little dogs are
very distracting.  Just practice as much as you can with other dogs.
Having a guide dog on a college campus is great, but there are many
challenges that come along with it.  Good luck.

On 8/2/10, Susan Jones <sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Jenine,
> I used the Gentle Leader with Rhoda at Convention too:  Not all of the time,
> but definitely in the exhibit hall, and around the Common Ground, and in the
> Affiliate Action suite, where there were people with food around in random
> places.
> I was really pleased with the results--made a big difference!
> Although she didn't particularly like it, I think Rhoda was actually
> happier, too, having narrower boundaries, and being more focused on what she
> should and could do, rather than distracted, and getting into trouble
> lunging for food.
> Told on ya, Rhoda!
> Susan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Jenine Stanley
> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 10:51 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] ranting handling skills?
>
> Laura,
>
> You've received some really good advice here from Julie and others.
>
> My standard advice is to call your school and talk with an instructor about
> what specifically works with your dog. What concerns me is the growling.
>
> Swap can initially in new places have some serious dog distraction issues.
> He wore a gentle leader for the first couple days at the recent conventions
> so I could better catch his early signals. I got one of the few negative
> comments about that too. Someone said "Well, you're a school employee. Your
> dog should never behave that way."
>
> Yeah, right. <grin>
>
> One of the things we tell people about distractions, be they dogs, food,
> kids, whatever, is to react, not analyze. When you feel him ramping up, give
> the appropriate verbal correction or redirection, like "leave it", and then
> praise if he does so. Don't try to figure out why he's wiggling, prancing or
> pulling with neck stretched 2 miles ahead of you. Sorry Swap, gave ya away
> on that one. <grin>
>
> Boy can I empathize though with feeling as if you are the worst handler out
> there. You aren't, or you wouldn't have made it out of training. Now the
> real work starts though. Frustrating, oh yes, no doubt, but once you get him
> over this hurdle, and hopefully the growling stops, you'll be a great team.
> I've had a dog who lunged growling at other dogs and it's not fun. I tell
> people that lunging is one thing but lunging and growling takes it to
> another level as it's a symptom of a larger issue that, if not handled
> correctly, and sometimes even if handled correctly, can mushroom. It's not
> you causing this though. That was the hardest thing for me. What did I do to
> cause my brilliant Doodle Girl Molly to become a psycho dog around other
> dogs? Nothing. She'd never been attacked or otherwise harmed. It turned out
> to be one of those Labradoodle things that happen to some but not all of
> that breed mix. It happens to any dog sometimes.
>
> It's important though to get it stopped, the growling that is, or at least
> try to figure out, with the help of an instructor on site, what's causing
> it. No one wants to have another service animal approach them lunging and
> growling. It's scary. The instant Molly began snapping, her career was over.
> The growl can lead to the snap and I don't want to scare you, but if you
> catch it early and try to figure it out, sometimes you can stop it from ever
> getting that far. I didn't, putting it off to a one-time thing, a particular
> dog, etc.
>
> Good luck and hang in there. You have a school that will back and believe
> you.
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Julie J
> Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 9:24 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] ranting handling skills?
>
> Lora,
>
> Firstly I don't think there is anything wrong with your handling skills.  I
> can totally understand why you might feel that way though, given your bad
> luck with previous dogs.  It takes time to really settle in, just keep with
> it.
>
> Monty has been a struggle with dog distractions.  When he was a puppy he
> used to bounce up and down and make the most pitiful noises because I
> wouldn't let him play with every dog on the street.  Yeah, really not good.
> Now I can only tell he sees another dog by the way his body shifts and he
> gets intently focused on something.  As you work with Kori longer you will
> be able to pick up on the more subtle signs that he sees another dog.
>
> In the beginning of working through dog distraction insanity, I would stop
> at the first signs that things were amiss.  Sometimes this meant turning
> around and walking a different way, sometimes walking up a driveway to let
> the other dog pass or turning and facing away from the other dog worked.  It
>
> would just depend on the particulars of the situation. After getting some
> distance between us I would get Monty to do something easy that he could be
> successful with.  I kept this up until he was settled and focused again.
>
> As time went on the distance to the other dog got shorter and shorter and
> the level of the reaction lessened.  He has been working as a fully trained
> guide for about 9 months now.  He has had a couple of slip ups where he was
> inappropriately interested in other dogs, but generally if I sense he is
> about to do something stupid, which isn't often, I stop, pivot 180 degrees
> and ask him to do something else.  Generally the something else is sit, down
>
> and a hand target.  I only ask him to do something that I know he will be
> able to do so that I can praise him for the good behavior.  By turning my
> body away from the other dog I am breaking his attention to that dog.  The
> incompatible behaviors allow him to regain focus on me and for him to be
> successful.
>
> As time goes on his interest in other dogs continues to lessen.  It is
> pretty rare that I have to do much more than verbally coach him past other
> dogs these days.   And now that I've said that he'll prove me wrong. *smile*
>
> It takes time, patience and consistency.  It might also help to jot down
> notes each day about how he did.  Then it's a lot easier to see the progress
>
> you are making.
>
> HTH
> Julie
>
>
>
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-- 
Julie McG
 Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding
Eyes for the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16