[nagdu] anticipating

[Charlene Ota]

Hi, Julie, this is really useful, but I always maintain that I am in control
so I let the dog make the turn sometimes and sometimes I want him to go to
the curb just so we make sure we maintain the flexibility and that he
understand that ultimately I'm the boss! (smile!) He'll definitely turn his
had and his body a bit at familiar places to see if that's what I want, too,
and like you described, you can praise him for showing you and then tell him
to go on. As my train puts it, just tell him "not today, but good boy". I
guess it's that thing of maintaining a good balance so that you can still
direct your dog when you need to to go past a turn.

It's amazing to me sometimes just what the dogs remember. Once in a while, I
leave work and go a totally different way because I have to catch a
different bus to go to a meeting on the way home and when we're going out to
catch that bus I once in a while stop at Jack-in-the-box to get some food to
take with me. Well, we haven't done that routine in a few months. The other
day I left work to go to that bus stop and along the way he wanted to know
if I wanted to stop and get food. Ultimately, we were going to a different
bus stop than he's ever been to before so I had a bit of a problem getting
him to go to the corner and cross the way I wanted because it just wasn't
the way we ever go. I might add that going to work we pass by that same
Jack-in-the-Box every day and he never even looks at it then. The dogs
really are very intuitive and they know far more about our life than we
sometimes give them credit for! (smile!) Oh and it turns out that at the
intersection where we needed to cross there was some sort of an issue, maybe
and accident and policemen were there and had to guide me around the
situation so maybe that was why he was not to enthused about crossing there.

Charlene

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 9:14 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] anticipating

Heya all,

I will have had Monty two years tomorrow. We have worked together as a team
for about 10 months of that.  I was reflecting back on all the progress we
have made and how smoothly we are working together, at least most days.
*smile*

Anyway this morning on the way to work I was pondering the issue of guides
that anticipate turns.  My understanding is that most of the programs
discourage this.  I'm talking about a dog who makes a turn on a regular
route without direct direction from the handler to do so.  

Monty does this all the time.  I have actually cultivated the skill because
I appreciate it.  Of course if I feel him begin a turn and I want to go
another way I simply stop, praise him and give the new instructions.  Also
if we pass a place where we have turned in the past, but it's not a really
regular place, he'll sort of do a half turn with a pause and look back to
see if that's what I want.  I absolutely love this and can't imagine working
it differently.

My route to work is basically straight west with only a deviation of one
block north.  I vary the route as much as is possible.  It really makes no
difference where I choose to turn north, he always figures out where to go
at the next corner.  

I'd love to hear how all of you balance the initiative of the dog,
anticipating turns, indicating possible turns and the like.

Julie
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